When a state agency needed to promote the prevention of infectious diseases at a dozen colleges and universities, it turned to the branded merchandise industry.
According to a distributor in the state, the agency has found that the use of promotional products has been effective in reaching specific targets. “You get a much better return on your investment when using promo products to target a cluster area than launching a statewide campaign of TV and radio ads,” says the distributor, a 30-year veteran of the promo industry.
The agency wanted large quantities of products that would appeal to students. So, the distributor sought out 130,000 stadium cups, tote bags and rally towels (decorated with the school’s colors and logo, along with the public health message) for each of the colleges.
Because the distributor’s trusted suppliers can’t maintain inventory at the levels the agency needed, importing was the only option. That’s where Prime Line, a hard goods division of S&S Activewear, PPAI 100’s No. 5 supplier, came in.
Loren Richardson
Outside Sales Territory Executive, Prime Line
Prime Line offers a Source Abroad program, allowing distributors to customize its inline items and factory direct options. By sourcing the enormous quantity of items from overseas, the supplier was able to meet the distributor’s deadline for delivering the products to the schools.
Promotional Products Work!
According to the distributor, the project resulted in increases in program participation, including specimens received and tested (over 1.4 million), greater awareness of available programs and a reduction in infectious disease cases.
“This is what one state agency did to promote public health,” says Loren Richardson, outside sales territory executive at Prime Line. “It wouldn’t have been possible if we weren’t able to source these products from overseas. We hope for that to change somewhere down the road, but that’s not today. So, we still need to be able to have access to these products at a reasonable rate.”
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“Even if we import a million stress balls straight from China,” Richardson adds, “that’s still a million stress balls that had to be printed, inventoried, shipped, received and distributed. We’re not talking about importing a finished product that gets distributed. We’re talking about items that create jobs.”
LEAD 2025
Richardson will be participating in PPAI’s Legislative Education and Action Day 2025 on April 7-8, when PPAI members and staff will meet with members of Congress and their staff on Capitol Hill to discuss pending legislation and issues relevant to the promotional products industry, including tariff concerns.
“LEAD offers an important opportunity each year to advocate for our industry through direct conversations with members of Congress and their staffers on Capitol Hill,” says Rachel Zoch, public affairs and research editor for PPAI. “This year, we are especially excited to be working with Thorn Run Partners, our eyes and ears in Washington. With their guidance, we’re hoping it will be an especially impactful event.”
Learn more about PPAI Public Affairs here.
For questions or suggestions on regulatory or government affairs issues, please contact Rachel Zoch at RachelZ@ppai.org.
