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Two days out of the office will help to transform our industry From The Show Floor Nigel Bailey I am going to say this now, and will keep repeating it right up to show time in January: TONS2010 is much more than just a day. You will all want to visit the most important event of our working year, but plan to come for two days! Those of you exhibiting, make sure you plan in enough staff and enough literature and samples! A lot of the feedback from last year – and we did get a lot – pointed to the fact that visitors missed out because they did not allow enough time to get the best out of the show and some exhibitors were just caught out by how busy the show was, right up to the close. I can hear the cries already of “I can’t afford to take two days out of the office”, but you can really, if you plan in advance and want to have the best chance to see all the latest products, all the best catalogues and find new suppliers – or are you going to leave that to your competitors With the show increasing in size, there will be more of everything. Once again, we are planning innovations and once again, the customer will be king. You really cannot afford to miss the event of the year, whether exhibiting or visiting – there is so much going on. The stakes are high. With more than 250 projected exhibitors expected to show to a record number of visitors, the Ricoh will be a hive of activity on January 27 and 28. With the added benefit of a series of industry relevant Power Sessions and seminars (and of course, the best awards dinner to network at), there is no better place to spend two days to prepare yourself for the coming year. The teams here are currently working flat out to deliver a great show for you. As I write this, pre-registrations are kicking off (or more precisely, clicking in), exhibitor inquiries are still coming in for the last few stands and now of course for the bpma pavilion. We are even getting near-daily inquiries Clients want to see proof Re: the article on p20 of <strong>PPD</strong> 13 regarding supply chain transparency, we understand the concerns highlighted by Evan and a number of other suppliers. However, we also understand why our customers are demanding this as a prerequisite for supplying promotional merchandise. Our customer may be contacted at any time by the press and asked if they are using a particular factory that has been using child labour, and they need to quickly confirm whether or not the factory is in their supply chain. BTC Group are meeting with SEDEX in the near future, along with a key wholesaler and one of our largest customers, to discuss and reiterate these concerns. SEDEX are currently aware of the complexity of our industry so we aim to push for an amendment to the system that will offer the same Your Letters ethical results while also helping to protect supply chains. There is not an overnight solution. However, we still need to prove to our customers that our suppliers are doing their utmost to ensure their supply chains meet or exceed minimum ethical standards. In the meantime, we are accepting ethical audits such as SMETA reports with the factory details removed, thus protecting our supplier. A few years ago, simply having an ethical policy was enough, but now our customers need proof. It is also not limited to our largest customers. As awareness of ethical issues grows, so does the number of customers increasing their level of responsibility. Jon Birrell Senior Marketing Manager BTC Group about dinner tickets. We are again working closely with the bpma and other organisations. The bpma Pavilion has allowed us to bring an exciting new aspect to the show, while working with the IPIA means that we can bring to promotional product distributors easy access to the £6 billion-a-year print management sector. It’s an easy bolt on to your existing business – in many cases, the buyers will be the same people you sell promotional products to, so it’s a very easy in and a great way to add turnover and margin, especially in the current climate. The remainder of the year is going to be interesting. I want to see the promotional products industry expand and I am sure you all do too. We all need our industry to grow; we all want a bigger slice of that cake. With business gift sales now over the £1 billion mark, how are we going to increase that Only one way, really – we need end users to buy more product. That sounds simple, but growth in our marketplace has been largely organic and unorchestrated until now. It is up to us all to grow our market. Suppliers and distributors, all of us need to work together to raise awareness about promotional products and how effective they are as a stand-alone item or as part of the marketing mix. And we will play our part. We want to empower and equip suppliers and distributors with the best tools possible. Shows and exhibitions are a time when the whole industry can come together. The better equipped and the more knowledgeable suppliers and distributors are, the better they’ll be prepared to champion promotional products and enthuse enduser buyers. Online Marketing Executive Trade Only are looking for an Online Marketing Executive based in Manchester to join their dynamic team. The successful candidate will be self motivated, have a strong desire to succeed and be able to work on their own initiative driving the business forward by assisting our product managers to promote our market leading solutions. You will have at least 2 years experience in all aspects of online B2B marketing and have experience of mailings to prospective and existing customers. You will be pro-active and innovative and will implement a comprehensive communication campaign to keep in close contact with our substantial customer base. Trade Only are the industry leaders in technology and information services to both suppliers and distributors for the Promotional Products Industry in the UK and therefore offer a competitive salary package along with excellent career progression opportunities. To apply for the exciting role, please send your CV to: diane.mensley@tradeonly.co.uk www.tradeonlysearch.com Regulars 45
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