PPB March 2016

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8 • PPB • MARCH 2016 FEEDBACK
FEEDBACK
“HOW MANY PROMOTIONAL
PRODUCTS do you have within
five feet of your desk?” This is
one of the first questions I was
asked when we landed in Las
Vegas to experience our first
PPAI Expo.
The seemingly simple ques-
tion was thought-provoking
because the answer is, more than
I realized. I suspect I’m not
alone. On my desk, I have 18
promotional products. In my
office, I have upwards of 30. By
being exposed to industry lead-
ers, suppliers and distributors
who attended Expo, I have
an even higher personal
awareness of how these products
influence me in my own
purchase decisions.
Value + Influence = A successfully
leveraged promotional products
campaign for an individual.
As we fine-tune our mes-
sage, we must remember that
products must have value to
their end-users and the product
must tell a story about the
brand that paid for it to reach
them. If either element is miss-
ing, then the campaign is a fail-
ure and a waste of money. The
world doesn’t need more pens,
cups or paperweights, especially
if they are paid for without a
true brand purpose. We must
encourage marketers to use their
limited resources wisely and
make sure there is a real brand
connection and purpose for
sharing more pens, cups and
paperweights with the world.
This means understanding the
objective of giving away these
items and asking our distribu-
tors to make this a part of their
sales pitch. Is it for brand recog-
nition, rewarding a customer or
simply pushing a brand mes-
sage? Or something else?
Saxum is eager to refine the
brand positioning for the promo-
tional products industry. Rather
than focusing on promoting the
association, we plan to capture
the attention of stakeholders and
arm PPAI members with a con-
sistent message to present a united
front to buyers of promotional
products, members of the media
and analysts. Our challenge is to
determine how we can properly
contextualize the value of pro-
motional products in relation to
other forms of marketing.
To steal an anecdote from
PPAI Expo Keynote Speaker
Seth Godin, black and white
cows aren’t unique; they blend in.
But a purple cow, now that
would be a sight to see. It would
be disruptive and attention-grab-
bing. Something one couldn’t
ignore. We want to help the pro-
motional products industry break
through the noise in the adver-
tising industry to do something
truly remarkable—and help
identify the purple cow that
changes the conversation.
Thank you for welcoming us
and sharing your ideas. We look
forward to working with many of
you as we launch this industry
branding initiative in 2016 and
beyond.
Renzi Stone
CEO
Saxum
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
IN DECEMBER, PPAI SELECTED Oklahoma City, Oklahoma-based PR
agency Saxum as its agency of record for the Association’s Industry Branding
Initiative. The initiative is a f ive-year plan to position promotional products as a
top-of-mind and preferred advertising and marketing tool among professionals
responsible for branding, advertising, media planning and media buying. In
January, a Saxum delegation attended The PPAI Expo 2016 for an up-close look
at the industry.
An Introduction
To The Industry
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