Corporate Gifts And Incentive Products Coming To ESP

ASI helping promotional products distributors break into lucrative incentive market

TREVOSE, PA – July 6, 2016 –The Advertising Specialty Institute® (ASI) today announced over 50,000 corporate gifts and incentive products from top suppliers will soon be available to promotional product distributors in ASI’s technology platform, ESP®.

ASI joined forces with RepLink to feature more corporate gifts and incentives in ESP, which manages the promotional industry’s entire supply and marketing chain. RepLink is the incentive industry’s merchandise database, linking top incentive suppliers, their reps and promotion and incentive companies in the $76.9 billion corporate gifts and incentive industry. These popular brand-name products are used to recognize and reward employees and customers in employee safety, sales incentives, customer loyalty and wellness campaigns.

The additional corporate gifts and incentive products will be available in ESP in August, allowing distributors to choose from a world-class selection of merchandise. ASI will offer demonstrations at ASI Show® Chicago, on Wednesday, July 13, and Thursday, July 14, at McCormick Place.

“As a dedicated and innovative industry leader, ASI is doing everything it can to help distributors build their business by offering a full slate of opportunities to tap into the fast-growing corporate gifts and incentive industry,” said Timothy M. Andrews, president and chief executive officer of ASI. “Adding products from RepLink to ESP is a huge first step in a multi-pronged effort to expand and grow the promotional products industry by introducing it to a lucrative new market.”

“RepLink is pleased to provide access to brand-name incentive merchandise from our industry database,” said Jon Hanson, CEO of RepLink. “We are proud that these products from the industry’s top suppliers represent the popular items most frequently redeemed in incentive programs.”
 
ASI is also partnering with the Incentive Marketing Association (IMA) and the Incentive Manufacturers and Representative Alliance (IMRA), a strategic industry group of the IMA, to present incentive products to exhibitors and attendees at ASI’s Chicago trade show.

“Many of us who sell well-known brand merchandise have been working with ASI distributors for years,” said Spencer Toomey, IMA president. “This new relationship between ASI and RepLink will allow us to reach a broader audience and make it easier for the distributors that we are already working with to see our new styles and promotions and stay current with our regular merchandise.”
  
Distributors who upgrade their current ESP Web® license can add corporate gifts and incentives to their line to help increase their client base. To educate over 160,000 distributor sales reps throughout North America on the benefits of selling incentives and corporate gifts, ASI offers:

  • A new Corporate Gifts & Incentives Pavilion sponsored by IMA/IMRA at ASI Chicago, the largest promotional products show of the summer, attracting nearly 600 exhibitors and 4,500 attendees.
  • New Corporate Gifts & Incentives education track presented by the IMA/IMRA at ASI Chicago on Tuesday, July 12: “Incentive Opportunities to Diversify Your Business and Grow Your Bottom Line” and “How to Build Your Business with Incentive and Corporate Gift Programs.”
  • An online training kit featuring sell sheets, testimonials, presentations and case studies to help distributors sell into the corporate gifts and incentive market.

In addition, ASI’s award-winning magazines, Counselor® and Advantages®, will consistently publish print and online how-to articles on ways distributors can expand their business by adding corporate gifts and incentive programs to their offerings.

Click here for more information on upgrading an ESP Web license to search for corporate gifts and incentive products.

About ASI
The Advertising Specialty Institute (ASI®) serves a network of 25,000 suppliers, distributors and decorators in the $22 billion promotional products industry. ASI’s flagship product, the technology platform ESP®, manages the industry’s entire supply and marketing chain. ASI also produces award-winning digital and print content, live events and educational programs that enable companies in 61 countries to be more efficient, productive and profitable. ASI’s Counselor® magazine provides the most authoritative business content in the industry, and the ASI Certification Program features 500+ live and online education courses for over 40,000 professionals. The company, family owned and operated since 1962, is proud to have been consistently ranked among the “Best Places to Work” in Philadelphia and Bucks County, PA. For more info: www.dev-asicentral.com.