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Industry-wide Pride In PPB ’s June “Perspectives,” PPAI Director of Publications/Editor Tina Berres Filipski shared her observations on the industry’s successes in pivoting to new markets, reaching out to customers and building connections. Thank you for writing such a great article and making me feel very proud to be a supplier for the promotional products industry and to have the opportunity to work with amazing distributors across the country. I read the article and it seriously brought tears to my eyes. I went back and read over it a second time and felt a sense of pride and hope. You inspired me. Thanks! LINDA HINIKER National Account Manager Carlson Craft North Mankato, Minnesota PPAI 111603, S6 What’s Next For The Promo Industry? Danny Rosin, CAS, co-president of distributor Brand Fuel, Inc. in Morrisville, North Carolina, shared his predictions on the future of the promo industry, post-COVID-19, in PPB ’s July issue. Rosin’s piece touched on the importance of design, working from home, online programs and more. Thank you for the article. During COVID-19 a lot of businesses— promotional products companies included—have more time to reflect, re-plan and sometime pivot their strategies for the business. Some of us have had to quickly adapt to move our business virtual, but during COVID it also pushes forward a lot of technologies in a short amount of time. Most businesses are very comfortable with their Zoommeetings; virtual meetings will be here to stay and it might save us a lot of time traveling to and from meetings. However, questions I wonder myself as a promotional products distributor include, are big trade shows and conferences going to be back? How about big sport events? Concerts? On the other hand, we have had more conversations with clients who had previously said “no” to a company store that now want to look into a branded program for their business, or for schools and sport teams to create virtual fundraising pop-up stores. I do believe there are opportunities out there; it might not be what we are used to doing but we need to adapt when the marketing changes. SWIRE HO Director of Sales and Marketing, #thepromoguy Garuda Promo And Branding Solutions Los Angeles, California PPAI 620267, D1 The Human Element In Business Blogs The “Question” section of the October 2019 issue of PPB shared a distributor’s query on blog content and to what degree its content should share the “human” side of the business and the people who work there. I just started our company blog a fewmonths ago. I amwriting articles about subject matters that I know about from business that might not be common knowledge. For instance, one of my last articles was how to calculate UPS charges on an oversize package. I did another article on how to measure screws for furniture. I am hoping it will be relevant to my customer base and therefore might get me some traffic. IRA LICHTENSTEIN Vice President of Marketing Richardson Seating Corp. Chicago, Illinois PPAI 232090, S3 feedback Send feedback on articles in PPB or opinions on industry issues to JamesK@ppai.org . 8 | SEPTEMBER 2020 |