PPB May 2020

T he world as we knew it changed in the blink of an eye. One week it was business as usual with distributors visiting clients’ offices and placing orders for upcoming events, and suppliers planning for summer trade shows while their factories busily turned out logoed products by the thousands. Then it all stopped. The virus, now known as COVID-19, first gained attention in January as a health crisis half a world away. By late March, it had escalated into a global pandemic that has killed thousands, quarantined cities, shut down restaurants and theaters, cancelled conferences, concerts and sporting events— including the 2020 Olympic Games—and closed businesses from coast to coast. In the promotional products industry, these actions have resulted in mass cancellations of distributor orders and left suppliers with warehouses full of products with nowhere to go. The lack of sales hit the industry hard and fast with some companies reporting sales down by 70 to 90 percent as of April 1. The downward spiral has also restricted the ability of many industry businesses to keep all their employees on their payroll. An unknown number of promo company employees were undoubtedly among the first 6.6 million who filed U.S. unemployment claims by April 2. With all but essential businesses shuttered inmany states and provinces, a deafening lack of demand for promotional solutions and most people in the U.S. and Canada living under shelter-at-homemandates from the government at this writing, promo distributors are using their ingenuity to try to keep their businesses alive, their customers engaged and tomaintain some sense of normalcy. Ronn Torossian, a crisis management expert with more than 20 years of experience working with national and international brands through disruptive and unexpected Working In A New Reality Promo distributors, hard hit by their clients’ temporary business closures and event cancellations, hang on as the economy tumbles by keeping customers their key focus. by Tina Berres Filipski FEATURE | New Reality 44 | MAY 2020 |