The Advertising Specialty industry is essentially about advertising specialties or promotional products. It involves the imprinting of a company logo or information on almost thousands of diverse products to help endorse acompany name or the theme that the product carries. This business is a multi billion dollar industry with sales exceeding $17 billion in the United States. Some of the products that are umanufactured are T-shirts, hats, golf shirts and jackets, pens, calendars, drink ware, bags, office products, magnets, etc.

The industry is comprised of two main companies, namely the suppliers and the distributors. The supplier companies generate the product and imprint it with a message. Suppliers do not sell to the public, but dispense their lines through distributors. Distributors are required to have considerable know-how about the products available and should be able to generate promotional ideas based on the client’s finances and messages they wish to send through the promotional pieces. Distributors are the companies that sell to customers.

There are two industry relations that support the advertising specialty industry. One is a profit-driven association called the Advertising Specialty Institute (ASI). The other association is a non profit organization that is the foundation of the industry and how it began. The Promotional Products Association International (PPAI) was started in 1903. The industry was called Advertising Specialties, the new name PPAI, adopted in 1993, better reflects the nature of the industry. It is a dynamic and active industry that continues to evolve every day thanks to the Internet and international influence. Even today, the term ‘Advertising Specialties’ is used by many people who have been in the industry for years. However, those that have been in the business since the mid 90′s, generally refer to it as the ‘Promotional Products’ industry.