Full Version: New ASI Category
From: Engravin' Dave (DATAKES) [#1]
7 Jan 2007
To: ALL
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ASI®
Launches Membership for Decorators
Provides advertising specialty decorators with
marketing resources and business services to grow sales.
TREVOSE, PA – Advertising Specialty Institute®, the largest media and marketing organization serving the ad specialty industry, today launched a new membership category for decorators to provide decorators of ad specialties with marketing resources and business services to grow sales.
The new membership allows decorators to use the business-building tools and expertise provided by ASI and its respected network of 23,000 members to grow sales, increase exposure in the ad specialty industry and develop more efficient operations.
Decorators can be contracted by distributors to imprint logos with the type of transfer with which they specialize and companies that are devoted to decorating blank products for use as ad specialties can apply for a decorator membership from ASI, including: embroiderers, embroidery digitizers, monogrammers, engravers (laser, thermal and traditional), sublimation providers, screen printers and heat transfer providers.
Timothy M. Andrews, president of ASI, explained that ASI is stepping up to fulfill a need in the industry.
“Decorators have been asking me for a membership package that gives them access to the best marketing and business products from ASI,” said Andrews. “This is an exceptional opportunity for thousands of decorators across North America and is particularly exciting for the group of 22,500 subscribers to industry magazine Stitches, who are contract decorators wishing to connect and do more business with ASI distributors and suppliers.”
Andrews also commented that readers of Wearables Business and Uniforms magazines are excited about this opportunity, because many of them are involved with decorating products in their day-to-day operations and will be able to use the quality tools available at ASI to find decorators and to improve their operations.
Larry Basinait, executive director of membership services for ASI, sees much potential for decorators to expand in the marketplace.
“ASI is in the unique position to provide access to companies that have a distinct need for decorator services,” Basinait said. “Decorators in the $17.8 billion dollar ad specialty industry can move their business to the next level by using the valuable resources that this membership category now provides them with.”
Basinait also noted that the contact information for decorators will be published in listings for classifieds in Counselor® magazine and in issues of the redesigned Quarterly Register™ from ASI. Other ASI products will offer greater access, as well as more details about decorator members, as the category continues to evolve.
The new decorator membership package includes many important benefits and tools for firms to use to grow revenues.
Each new decorator member will receive an ASI number - the key to instant recognition and credibility - that provides access to more than 3,400 suppliers and 20,000 distributors of advertising specialties, and will also receive free attendance to the ASI Show!®, invitations to educational Webcasts and seminars about business marketing, access to directories of suppliers and distributors and online distributor location lookup on ASICentral.com®.
In addition, companies that are currently ASI service provider members will automatically become decorator members. They will receive the full benefits of a decorator membership, including better access to the ASI distributor and supplier network, for the same yearly membership investment as before.
The decorator membership package is available to new members for $595 annually, plus a one-time application fee of $150.
For more information about ASI membership for decorators, visit www.joinasi.com, or contact Larry Basinait, executive director of membership services for ASI, at 800-546-1416, or at lbasinait@asicentral.com.
From: LipChip [#2]
8 Jan 2007
To: Engravin' Dave (DATAKES) [#1] 8 Jan 2007
From: John (ICTJOHN) [#3]
8 Jan 2007
To: Engravin' Dave (DATAKES) [#1] 8 Jan 2007
Dave,
So in other words, ASI has finally felt the pinch of distributors jumping ship to go with more affordable service providers. They put out a press release with a bunch of "mumbo jumbo" and call it a new category. I my opinion, I don't think these newly expanded businesses were ever excluded from membership. As long as you had a business that was a "reseller" and filled out their paperwork they would take your money (at nearly twice the price) and call you a distributor. Now they can welcome a whole new class of businesses to their fold................Not me..... I left them after they continued to be greedy, greedy, greedy.
btw,
I think you know I am not ranting at you...... just towards ASI :/
From: RALLYGUY (RALLYGUY1) [#4]
8 Jan 2007
To: John (ICTJOHN) [#3] 8 Jan 2007
I have to agree completely..
I'm pretty sure this is not a new offering....anyone that wanted to be a vendor could have been a vendor for this $150 fee in the past.....I believe that they are just advertising it now and letting the smaller decorators know more about being a vendor.
Frankly I doubt most small or home businesses can compete with the prices that the larger companies can do the work for......If they can....it will just be a matter of how long it takes the boat to sink....it all depends on how big the discount hole in the hull is........
From: Harvey only (HARVEY-ONLY) [#5]
8 Jan 2007
To: RALLYGUY (RALLYGUY1) [#4] 8 Jan 2007
A beautifully turned phrase.
From: Engravin' Dave (DATAKES) [#6]
8 Jan 2007
To: John (ICTJOHN) [#3] 8 Jan 2007
John,
This press release hit you the same way that it hit me.
I was an ASI listed company for a year, then jumped ship because of the constant pestering to buy this, subscribe to this, etc. It was helpful during that first year to get my company hooked up with the suppliers via the ASI catalog program. It at least got me familiar with many of the sources.
Since my departure from ASI about four years ago, I haven't subscribed to any paid services. Even without paid services, my promotional product sales continue to grow. 2006 sales were up 80% over the prior year, and my week 1 sales of 2007 blew away that of the same period a year ago. I've convinced myself that I really don't need the services at all.