PPB January 2016

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PPAI HONORS THE RICH
HISTORY of the industry and
five of the individuals behind
it with a new program:
Promotional Products
Pioneers. The program shares
the stories and honors the
contributions of those whose
business acumen and techno-
logical skills have played a
key role in the advancement
of the promotional products
industry thanks to their vision,
drive, innovation, character,
leadership, and, in some
cases, new business models
and technologies.
PPAI owes a debt of grati-
tude to the inaugural class of
Promotional Products
Pioneers including Norman
Cohn, Forest P. Gill, Frank P.
Krasovec, Norm Stern and
Ralph B. Thomas. Be there
when the group is recognized
during the Chairman’s
Leadership Dinner on
Monday, January 11, 2016 at
7 pm at the Mandalay Bay
Convention Center’s
Ballroom J during The PPAI
Expo in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Tickets can be added to show
registration at
or pur-
chased on site from
Registration while they last.
Norman Cohn
The Advertising Specialty
Institute (ASI) is the largest
information service provider
in the promotional products
industry serving a network of
more than 25,000 distributors
and suppliers throughout
North America. At its helm
stands the legendary Norman
Cohn, who first got involved
in the industry selling food
gifts while in junior high
school as an extension of his
family’s grocery business.
Then, through a number of
acquisitions, the family busi-
ness expanded to become
the largest supplier in the
industry at that time.
In 1962, the businesses
were sold in order to acquire
ASI from Joseph Segel, and
the organization began to
grow rapidly by introducing
innovations to the industry
such as the first full-color cata-
log, sending orders by fax
(“Customers were in disbelief
that it would work, and it took
a lot of effort to convince
them it wasn’t just magic,” he
says) and the first industry-
specific, computerized busi-
ness software system to man-
age supplier and distributor
businesses. From its start, the
Introducing PPAI’s
Promotional
Products Pioneers
BY TINA BERRES FILIPSKI
JANUARY 2016 • PPB • 37