Busy Start To the Promotional Year

Welcome to the first issue of Promo News in 2008 and what a busy start to the promotional year! We’ve already had PSI in Dusseldorf see review in our Blog section and as I write this, colleagues are setting off for Pro8 in Amsterdam. Very shortly we have the Trade Only show at Coventry’s Ricoh centre. February sees the Promota show and then it’s not long until the Promotional Marketing Exhibition
at Olympia in April where promotional-merchandise.org.uk will have a stand (837), so do come and see us.

In terms of promotional products it’s going to be a busy year too. As always, we have Valentine’s day looming and we have lots of ideas for promotional products for this occasion in our feature. Easter comes next and then June sees Euro 2008. Although England is no longer in contention, this competition has, and will, create great business opportunities for the promotional merchandise market. And who knows what’s around the corner. The promotional merchandise market is very quick to spot an opportunity and react to its needs. New fashion trends create opportunities to expand the promotional product portfolio (for example the eco friendly shopping bag) and the wealth of creativity in this industry also ensures that traditional products are given a figurative lick of paint and represented in a fresh light.

We have an example of one such entrepreneur in this issue. Calypso Rose took a fashion accessory (the Clippykit bag) and turned into a successful promotional product. Her skills won her the BPMA Entrepreneur of the Year Award in December 2007 and you can read her thoughts on the industry in our interview section.

Although I’ve been involved in this industry for a number of years, I still look forward to exhibitions and to reading the latest industry news to find out what those clever promotional product manufacturers and suppliers have thought up next. So keep me informed of your events, product launches and campaign successes and I’ll keep the industry informed about you!

Carole Bull
Editor

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