PPB February 2016

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70 • PPB • FEBRUARY 2016 CONNECT
PPAI member benefits like legislative action tools, product
safety initiatives, professional development and thousands of
dollars in business savings, we are giving them the opportunity
to develop as industry leaders.”
As part of the new agreement, SAGE Mobile served as the
official show planner app for The PPAI Expo 2016, and will do
the same for Expo East 2016 in Atlantic City, New Jersey. With
SAGE Mobile, attendees can view complete event schedules,
create walk lists, navigate the show floor using an interactive
floor plan, add notes, pictures, videos and voice memos as
they visit booths, and more. For more information on using
SAGE Mobile at shows, visit
“I’m a huge supporter of both SAGE and PPAI and I am glad
to hear that the Power of Two relationship is continuing,” says
PPAI member Suzan Bolski, president/CEO of distributor
Anything Goes Promotions, Inc. “SAGE’s technology has made
my business more efficient and PPAI’s resources and professional
development have helped me bring my company to the next
level. We know we can always count on both SAGE and PPAI for
help and support. For the distributor community, this is great
news because access to SAGE Online, plus the unequaled value
we receive from PPAI membership, means we will more than
cover our cost in dues, making it a profitable opportunity for us.”
For more information on PPAI’s member benefits and sav-
ings opportunities, call PPAI at 888-I-AM-PPAI (426-7724) or
visit For questions regarding SAGE services
or the $495 SAGE credit, please call 800-925-7243 (SAGE) or
visit
In May 2015, the PPAI Board of Directors approved the
Association’s Industry Branding Initiative, a five-year plan to position
promotional products as a top-of-mind and preferred advertising and
marketing tool among professionals responsible for branding, advertis-
ing, media planning and media buying. In one of the first concrete
steps of the plan, PPAI selected Saxum as its agency of record for the
initiative in December.
PPAI developed the branding initiative aided by research on buyer
purchasing habits and preferences, and in collaboration with industry
leaders, PPAI’s Public Relations Advisory Group and the Chairman’s
Roundtable Work Group. Oklahoma City-based Saxum will work
with PPAI to implement an integrated communications plan, includ-
ing strategic brand positioning, media relations, integrated creative
content and a paid media campaign launching the promotional prod-
ucts industry’s first cohesive awareness and branding initiative.
“PPAI chose Saxum because of its unique approach to integrated
communications, which we are confident will complement and
enhance our ongoing efforts to raise awareness of the industry among
promotional products buyers and the media,” says Paul Bellantone,
CAE, PPAI president and CEO. “As we continue to work toward
bringing the industry together under one mission, one purpose, and
one voice, partnering with Saxum will help us meet the challenges of
the market and create a powerful voice for the industry.
“Our industry represents one of the oldest forms of branding and
advertising; we are sixth among traditional and digital advertising
expenditures, and we are the eighth-fastest-growing medium, but
many marketers and advertising agencies have yet to take full advan-
tage of promotional products,” adds Bellantone. “PPAI and Saxum will
work together to drive key messaging and elevate the fact that promo-
tional products deliver the highest rate of reach, recall and response
among major forms of advertising.”
Along with national and trade media outreach, Saxum will work
with PPAI and the promotional products industry to develop the
industry’s first multimedia evidence-based promotional products case
study campaign library as a resource to media and buyers.
“As an integrated marketing communications firm, we understand
the importance of identifying and maximizing all of the marketing
tools that make up a balanced campaign, and that includes promotional
products,” says C. Renzi Stone, founder and CEO of Saxum. “We’re
excited about working with PPAI to expand understanding of how and
why promotional products should be critical and strategic components
of every organization’s marketing strategy, right from the start.”
PPAI Signs On Public Relations Agency For New Industry
Branding Initiative
SETH BARNETT, who for more than
three years has served as PPAI’s govern-
ment relations manager, has transitioned
to a new role at the Association: diversity
development and engagement manager.
Part of the member engagement and
regional relations team, Barnett’s posi-
tion is a new one at PPAI and will focus
on the strategic integration of demo-
Seth Barnett Named PPAI’s First Diversity Development And
Engagement Manager