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must earn the MASN. They are only available to PPAI staff and are
not transferrable to industry practitioners. Association staff at all levels
must earn a Trained Advertising Specialist (TAS) certificate.
Staff are also required to meet continuing education requirements
to ensure that PPAI staff members are always well-informed of new
industry trends, concepts, ideas and best practices.
Learn more about the PPAI Certification Program and PPAI’s
professional development opportunities one PPAI’s website here
Continued From Previous Page
and the distinction between our well-estab-
lished supplier/distributor industry and the
overall promotional products marketplace.
Today’s promotional products buyer has
many options outside of our industry. Aside
from domestic options through new players
such as Amazon, Café Press, Zazzle, VistaPrint
and Custom Ink, there are many overseas
options. For the past few years, there has been a
“Small-Order Zone” at the Hong Kong Gifts
and Premium Fair with hundreds of vendors
offering small-quantity, quick-ship services.
Alibaba and other Asian portals provide U.S.
buyers with instant access to thousands of
Chinese factories, but without the quality and
compliance oversight of a PPAI member.
It isn’t just purchasing options that are
evolving—so are our customers. Millennials
—the youngest members of our industry who
came into adulthood after the year 2000—
have different norms, values and buying
habits than their baby boomer parents.
Technology isn’t something they’re just learn-
ing to deal with—it’s part of their DNA.
They expect to be able to buy online, do
research about you and your products and
share their experience with all of their
friends. They expect your website to work as
well as Amazon with all the same rich fea-
tures they’re used to, including comparisons,
reviews and one-click ordering. They’re
socially conscious. They care that you’re buy-
ing from factories that pay employees fairly
and have safe working conditions. They
expect the products you’re selling to be safe.
Webster defines tipping point as “the criti-
cal point in a situation, process or system
beyond which a significant and often unstop-
pable effect or change takes place.” No one can
deny there are great changes occurring in our
industry. Some of us are experiencing them
sooner or to a greater degree than others. How
close is the tipping point at which the industry
as we know it is irreversibly altered? How are
you preparing by updating your business prac-
tices, by investing in technology and by edu-
cating your team, as so many did at the
Product Responsibility Summit?
Whatever the changes, PPAI will contin-
ue to be your closest ally in providing sup-
port, education and affordable tools. I hope
you will take advantage of all your
Association offers, that you will respond to
whatever challenges the future brings and
that you will continue to have great success in
the promotional products business for many
years to come.
PERSPECTIVES
Continued From Page 4
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WE’RE CHANGING THE WHOLESALE PRINT BUSINESS.
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