A Few Thoughts on the Economy

*This post was written on more than a year ago on 9/12/08, but was left in my drafts, because I wanted to do a more in depth treatment of the subject. I decided to publish it as I was cleaning out my blog drafts, because I realize that much of what I said at the time has proved to be increasingly relevant and true. I did not alter the original draft except the final paragraph where I suggest a blog to follow.

Begin post of 9/12/08

My mind has been on the economy a lot lately. It is not news to anyone that the national and even global economy is not healthy. When commodities, debt, and equity markets are wildy gyrating and the country's biggest banks and financial institutions are struggling for survival, it is clear that there are systemic structural problems. I look at the death spiral of Washington Mutual, Lehman Brothers, the implosion of Bear Stearns, the government takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the unprecedented efforts by the Federal Reserve to loan treasuries in exchange for junk debt to member banks and investment banks, and the list goes on, and I begin to wonder if I am going to wake up to panicked lines at the bank and empty shelves at the grocery store.

It is an immeasurable blessing to be a citizen of this wonderful country, the United States, and to have lived my life in such a time of prosperity, relative peace and unparalleled innovation. But, we are seriously in trouble. We have forgotten our great Constitution. We have permitted our government far too much power. And as government at all levels has meddled and tinkered, sometimes with the best of intentions, and other times purely to accrue more power and money, it has shown almost universal ineptitude in trying to solve problems which can only be solved by free interchange of commerce and ideas.

I am a believer in the free market, and I think the most recent economic catastrophes are the result of greed and unsound investment coupled with government interference which botches almost every problem it tries to solve. I'm an optimist at heart, but there seems to be a perfect storm for a protracted recession or worse.

I follow a couple of blogs, which I started back in 2005 when we were shopping for our most recent home, and the economy was rocketing on loose credit and a huge influx of foreign money.

9/26/09
One of the blogs I follow is globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com. I strongly recommend it. Michael Shedlock is right on the money, both in his predictions and his general political principles, and has been now for years.

Great T-shirt Design Contests

I really like contest based t-shirt websites. Threadless is the undisputed leader in this category and they have created an entire art community around their concept and a $30-$40 million business. shirt.woot comes in a close second. They also have created a serious cult following around their business model, and they have an oh-my-gosh-that-is-so-bizarrely-funny writing style that is simply awesome to behold. There are some good second tier sites as well. Teextile is a great one and I have purchased their product before. Design By Humans is also one that produces top notch artistic product.

American Promotions used to sell thousands of screen printed t-shirts a year, when we were more of a bricks & mortar business with a local customer base, but we really don't sell a lot anymore, because we frankly aren't real competitive in that area.

I do have a partial ownership with my family in a great facebook application t-shirt design website called Status King. We're selling one off t-shirts there but it is a pretty limited niche market.

For Firemen and Those who Love Them

Yesterday, I posted about the terrible wildfires we had in two locations on the mountains circling our valley. As firemen from all over the area and the US Forest Service swarmed to the sites, and the aircraft loaded with flame retardant soared overhead, it gave me pause to think about the folks who choose that dangerous line of work. I admire and respect them.

Here are three nice promotional items to celebrate the heroic fireman.

Imprintable Stress Toy Fire Helmet

Fire Hydrant Cookie Keeper


Firehouse Mug

Halloween Themed Promos

We just sent out our second subscriber email for American Promotions using the RatePoint system today. I love it. The design tool is great. It takes some getting used to for the non web designer types like myself, but it is easy enough for anyone who posts a blog or uses WordPress to get the gist of. I have a designer on staff who does some of our work, so we are able to put together some pretty nice designs, but I don't think that kind of training is at all required for the RatePoint system.

Anyway, our second mailer to our subscriber list was for Halloween Themed Promotions. The RatePoint generated webpage for it can be found here http://bit.ly/zWJJF

Promotional Retro Stuffed Animals - Sock Style

These retro style knit sock stuffed animals are a unique alternative to the standard balls of fur in a logo t-shirt. They have classic good looks and a great comfortable feel. They are on the spendy side for a promotional stuffed animal, but the right recipient will be so thrilled with the quality and adorable style, they are worth the extra money.

Theo the Tiger stuffed animal
Freddy the Frog logo stuffed animal
Buster the Dog stuffed animal with tee, tie, medallion or bandana
Miles the Moose stuffed sock animal
Morris the Monkey stuffed animal

Here is a glamor shot of Theo:

Unique products from the Las Vegas ASI Show

Tim Andrews, the CEO of ASI put together a little two part video of unique an new products at the Las Vegas ASI Holiday and Incentive Expo. Here are the links:

First 7 featured products

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tj9lf44V4AI&feature=channel

The full color denim stainless steel bottle, the bamboo plate, and the 2 gallon full color cooler are all real standouts. The watering device for your Christmas tree is one of the ugliest things I have ever seen. It is one of those inventions that makes you realize that the recession has not gone long enough as we are still creating all kinds of things that people simply don't need.

Here is the 2nd video with 8 more products. I liked the light up ice cubes, the light up cup, and the full color digitally printed umbrella.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6I6ykx9tlUs&feature=channel

Want the parents to love you?

Are your customers young parents? Want them to love your brand? Outfit their baby with adorable snap front reversible jacket by Precious Cargo. It's ready made for your screen printed message - on both sides.

Fire in the Rogue Valley

Yesterday was an eventful day in the Rogue Valley. There were two major fires scarring the mountain sides and dozens of homes were threatened and at least one burned to the ground. There was a fire on Roxy Ann Peak and another one down near Ashland, Oregon. We have had very hot, windy weather - I believe that it hit 109 today in Central Point.

Here is a picture (credit to the Mail Tribune) for the Roxy Ann fire.


Whenever a major fire like this hits close to home, I think about how vulnerable we are where we live. We also live in a heavily treed and sometimes dry mountainous area. Granted our house has been around since the 1930s, so I think it has a decent chance of survival as it has survived pass fires. It is just one of those days, where I am reminded that nothing is permanent, and a healthy person emotionally needs to be ready to part with their material possessions or accept Nature's sometimes destructive will when they cross Its path.

Baseball Themed Promotional Products

Since my last post was on Tommy Lasorda, I think a few baseball themed promotional items are in order. Here are a few of the favorites from our website:

Baseball cushion seat (I love this one although I don't know how durable it is over the long haul)
Baseball tin with mints
Baseball cell phone holder
Baseball metallic balloon
Baseball clip

And here are five more from elsewhere on the web:

Baseball Foldup Flyer
Baseball Bat and Magnetic Pen
Baseball Sunglasses (you'd have to be with the right crowd for these as they look really cheesy)
Baseball Antenna Topper
and now for something authentic
Authentic Major League Baseball caps

Tommy LaSorda in National Portrait Gallery

On my way home from work today, I heard a wonderful radio piece on NPR about baseball great Tommy Lasorda. Today is Tommy Lasorda's 82nd birthday. Happy Birthday Mr. Lasorda.

I learned a lot about this remarkable man I did not know.

• He has been with the Los Angeles Dodgers organization for 60 years, 20 of them as manager.
  
• He worked himself up through the organization with a dream to pitch in the big leagues, but only ended up playing 26 games.
  
• He didn't achieve the level of success that he wanted to as a player, but he seems to have no regrets.
  
• He seemed to me to be completely at peace with his path in life and he talked about how each decision changes who you become - the trajectory of life.
  
• His greatest accomplishment, in my opinion, is that he credits his path in baseball with meeting his wife, and he has been with her for 59 years.
  

It was a wonderful store and can be found here. I suggest you listen to it and read it. It sounds like he has mellowed in his own age as he was no saint.

The painted portrait is found in the National Portrait Gallery, a branch of the Smithsonian.

Nightmare!

Well that gave us a scare. We had switched a lot of our emails over to the americanpromotions.com domain because of problems with spam. However, in so doing our domain provider renewal notices were not getting to us, and we didn't know that the domain registration expired today. Then without notice, the screen went to an expired domain page and we all panicked.

With immeasurable relief, I got right on the phone and learned that it was not too late. $64 later, we are fine for the next four years.

Upgrade your stadium cushion

This self-inflating stadium cushion is an upgraded variation from your standard foam style. It has a 5" x 5" imprint area. I ought to try it out to see if it is actually more comfortable. I'm sure it functions like the Thermarest cushions I use when I camp.

Close to Marketing Fame

Earlier this year, we were contacted by a professional balloonist about putting together a promotion involving a now famous movie which I won't name here, which prominently featured balloons as one of the central plot devices.

After considerable research and some scrambling to put together prototypes, we came very close to winning a promotional contract to help premiere one of the biggest movies of the year, but we ran into one problem, our giant $75 balloon prototype, (of which our customer wanted to do 800 for the full order) popped!

Sometimes, marketing glory is just not meant to be ;)

Holiday Moose

I'm already starting to see holiday promotions on our vendors' websites, and we are starting to sell some cool weather items. This Bellisimo Moose would be the perfect winter promotion and way to show you care for the company working to convey a feel-good and fun gift.

Nine Ways To Motivate in Tough Times

Here is a great article by contributing writer Kenneth Hein to the Counselor magazine about motivating people in tough times.

http://www.asicentral.com/asp/open/content/content.aspx?id=3706

The 9 ways are:

1. Lead by Example
2. Offer Incentives for Strong Performance
3. Be Flexible
4. Buy Them Lunch
5. Keep People Informed
6. Invest in Marketing
7. Make Them Better at Their Jobs
8. Image Matters
9. Create Clear Goals

This has a lot of good nuggets for getting your organization through the recession.

Keeping out the skunks

We live in the country, and we try, albeit pathetically, to be country people. Currently, we are raising a rooster and 11 laying hens. One of my sons is expected to do most of the work, and we buy the eggs from him so he can earn extra money. The problem is, we are very inexperienced in the shelter of chickens, and we seem to lose more to predators than we keep. We have lost a couple dozen hens to predators over the last couple of years, and we are really putting forth a concerted effort to do better with this set.

One of the arch enemies of our chickens is a small family of neighborhood skunks. They also frequently territorially mark our property with their trademark scent. Tonight, a good friend came over with his kids and set special traps to catch the skunks. He has captured and killed three of the critters in the protection of his own flock of chickens, and now we are hoping we can use his resourcefulness up here.

I actually like skunks, in that I think they are very interesting and cute animals. Nevertheless, we cannot have them ravaging our poultry investment, and I don't have the courage or the time, or the desire to try to manage a catch and release which means transporting them in my car.

Skunks can be great marketing mascots, because they are so memorable. One of America's best franchises, Aire-Master uses the skunk to market with winking irony.

Here is a cute skunk promotional stress toy which could be used to remind your customer service staff to not let their customer service stink and for other fun applications.

Princess Leia Headphones and other rejected Star Wars promotions

I found a fun gem of a link of concept art for Star Wars promotional products which didn't quite make the cut. My favorites are the Bantha slippers and the Leia Headphones as pictured below.

Link and picture courtesy Action Figure Insider and the Ottertorials blog.

http://www.actionfigureinsider.com/ottertorials/2008/02/10/rejected-a-long-long-time-ago/

Chris Jones remembers 9-11

Chris Jones is not only one of my dearest friends, but he is also one of the best writers I know. His September 11th blog post is well worth the read.

http://thechrisjonesgroup.com/chrisjonesmortgage/2009/09/11/never-forgetwhat/

My favorite paragraph reads:

"So on this 9/11, I’ve decided to remember these two things: one, that I never know what day will be my last day, what hour my last hour, what act my last act, and those days, those hours and deeds are precious beyond expressing. And two, because that is true, if I truly remember that, then every hour and action should be one that I am proud of. That if this turns out to be my last communication with the world, I want to be proud of it."

Amen.

Promotional product distributors I admire

I'm in the business of selling promotional products. I founded American Promotions, Inc. in 1996 while I was still in college. In recent years, our company has moved online, and we have found that most of the more innovative businesses in our industry have a substantial online presence.

So when I see competition which are web savvy and doing it right, I take notice.

I've decided to give some of the competition a sincere hat tip:

1. 4imprint.com They are one of the biggest, but one of the best. I admire everything about the way they do their website. They are innovative. The Slide tool is ingenious and patent pending (darn it!). They are the industry leader in building trust.

2. promopeddler.com These folks are fellow Oregonians. They are very smart with their search engine optimization and the "Ideas Guru" blog and videos are a lot of fun as well as a good way for buyers to get the creative juices flowing.

3. discountmugs.com Technologically, these guys are awesome. They allow you to design the image and artwork on your drinkware right on the website, and they direct sell a good percentage of the merchandise on the site, so the pricing is fantastic. I have read reviews that their product quality isn't very good. Maybe that is why buyers continue to find little sites like ours. ;)

4. inkhead.com The name and the logo rock!

When the competition is as good as the companies above, I don't mind saying so. One day our site will reach those lofty levels.

SIGG cited for BPA liners in water bottles.

Iconic Swiss water bottle manufacturer SIGG has admitted in an official letter from the CEO, that water bottles manufacturered prior to August 2008 contain bisphenol-A. In the past SIGG had dishonorably kind of skirted this issue by maintaining that their bottles did not leach BPA, but they remained opaque about the actual chemical makeup of the liner in order to keep their product appealing in the marketplace with BPA so prominently and negatively portrayed in the news. Here is the full article from the Advertising Specialty Institute http://asicentral.com/asp/open/content/content.aspx?id=3760

9-11

I logged onto the Drudge Report this morning and saw this picture. No caption. No link. Just the picture. I was struck with poignancy. It has been 8 years. I quietly shut my eyes and prayed.

Great Geek Promo for Your Office Party

This is an "empowering" geektastic promo for your next Star Wars themed party. I mean who wouldn't want a "light sword" (code for avoiding the trademark folks over at LucasFilm) proudly emblazoned with the corporate logo?

Gravatar

I just set up a Gravatar account, a global avatar, which follows my posts. I don't think it will work on this blog as I am using a different email address. I was bugged by the fact that the account is undeletable and their terms of use seem way to broad to me, but I need the tool as I'm going to be blogging a lot more directly to the ameripromo.com website.

Enjoying RatePoint

RatePoint practices what it preaches. The website's motto is "Reputation is Everything" and RatePoint is definitely living up to it. I wrote about this company about a month ago, and they continue to impress.

American Promotions has been signed up with their service for about five weeks - first for a free trial period and now with a paid subscription. Soon after signing up, I received a personalized email with a representative of the company offering to set up a time to walk me through the service. I went ahead and set up an appointment, and the rep spent a solid 20-25 minutes with me on the phone showing off the features. Talk about ease of use! The service imports your contacts like any other service does, but the power comes in the tools used to manage those contacts and to get feedback both negative and positive from a business's customers.

RatePoint is similar (from what I understand) to Constant Contact. It is an online contact management service which enables a business to send email communications to opt-in lists of contacts. It is subscription based, and is very affordable starting at about $17 - $18 a month.

The service differentiates itself with their customer feedback and surveys which I'm excited to try out. My graphic designer and I are also very pleased with the email design building tool. There are over 100 templates predesigned to choose from, and every component of the template can be easily modified with basic skills to produce a slick and professional looking product.

After spending more than an hour toying with the various features of the email design system, I wanted to go over it with our in-house graphic designer. I quickly used the live chat with a RatePoint CSR and to learn whether we could both go into the design editor remotely on the same account and review it simultaneously. I learned this is totally possible, and you can even collaboratively edit the same template together (similar to Google docs). However, it is not recommended as it requires frequent refreshing or you end up undoing each others work.

I'll post more about the service as I learn more about it and use it. Continually impressed.

Polyconcept: A promotional products juggernaut

Leed's is the most powerful player in the U.S. promotional products market, which is something I've known for a long time. I've always been impressed with their remarkable efficiency, their innovation both in products and in decorating and delivering those products. They are a huge company, which makes them all the more remarkable.

I personally prefer working with smaller businesses, because it represents my values. I like to support smaller family companies. However, all companies want to get bigger, and I don't begrudge a large brand because of their success - only if they begin to be arrogant and abusive to their customers.

Leed's is one of those companies that started out as a smaller family business and became much larger and did it well.

What I did not realize is the scope and the power of the company behind Leeds: Polyconcept. Polyconcept is a Dutch company and appears to be a promotional products juggernaut. They are approaching 700 million euros a year in sales, and about 50% of those come from their business divisions in the United States and Canada.

Polyconcept's service brands in the U.S. and Canada include Leed's, Bullet Line and Journalbooks, three of the largest brands in the promotional products industry. American Promotions, Inc. is a distributor for all three of these fine brands, but I simply had no idea that they had all consolidated under the same corporate umbrella.

I wonder if it is any indication of more consolidation to come in the industry's future.