According to the Advertising Specialty Institute (ASI) (Trevose, PA), North American sales of advertising specialties and promotional products reached more than $16 billion in 2000. This represents a median 20 percent increase in sales from 1999--other ad media, including television, print, radio and outdoor posted increases of only five percent or less. The sales figure was culled from ASI's database of 16,500 distributor members.

ASI vice chairman Marvin Spike says the weakened economy and the rise of the dot-coms helped fuel the industry's growth, noting that budget cuts involving traditional advertising media and wild spending by e-commerce firms gave ad-specialty sales a boost. Advertisers who cut major media budgets turned to promotional products and programs to motivate sales and maintain top-of-mind presence. Many who downsized also reportedly turned to promotional-product counselors to help create and implement the activities.

COPYRIGHT 2001 PRIMEDIA Business Magazines & Media Inc. All rights reserved.
COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group