This year, the Print & Promo Marketing brand joined ASI. It’s a natural fit of the print and promotional products industry, and it created a space for the PPM brand to further explore the enormous print industry. To discuss the print industry means to talk about commercial printing, decoration, signage – really anything you can put ink on could fall under the jurisdiction of “print.” With that, we’ve compiled the top 10 stories from this year that have featured an element of what most distributors would view as the print industry, and maybe some that might surprise people to learn includes print.

1

10 Post-Election Takeaways for the Print Industry

Following the election of Donald Trump in the 2024 election, Women in Print Alliance director Lisbeth Lyons held a webinar with female advisory advocates to discuss what could be next for the industry overall. With experts from fields such as manufacturing, customs policy and communications, the panelists speculated what the next four years and beyond could bring.

2

Trademark Trial Involving Penn State & Print-on-Demand Company Kicks Off

Print-on-demand has been huge in the promo, print and decorated apparel space. Distributors and decorators have realized that they can minimize wasted products and, therefore, costs by printing designs onto film or directly to garments as necessary. This trend has caught on with the growth of e-commerce, too.

With this, though, decorators need to be aware of the legality of their designs. One decorator spurred legal action with Penn State University over designs that he claimed were in the public domain, while the university cried trademark infringement.

3

6 Steps To Launch a Direct Mail Campaign

In an increasingly digital world, there is still space for print products. Direct mail is an effective way for brands to reach their audience, especially if they use their data wisely.

In this feature, we go step-by-step from creating your personal brand, building a mailing list, identifying your audience, creating calls-to-action, testing and following up.

4

Double the Impact: What Print & Promo Distributors Should Know About Each Market

The idea of being a “one-stop shop” is appealing to customers. If their campaigns need both print and promo, end-buyers would love to work with one single distributor who can handle both. The same goes for distributors working with one supplier who can handle all aspects of the job. It limits variables and makes the process go much more smoothly.

For printers or promo pros interested in bringing in new capabilities, there are things to know, like artwork and graphic design challenges, competition against big-box companies or online printers, and more.

5

Proforma Printhouse Makes Third Acquisition in Three Years

Kalamazoo, Michigan distributor Proforma Printhouse acquired fellow Michigan distributor Wise Promotions/Christman Screenprint. Going forward, the business is known as Christman’s Powered by Proforma.

Christman has been in the printing and graphic arts industry for more than 100 years, beginning business in 1917.

6

Adult Website Address Accidentally Printed on Packaging for ‘Wicked’ Dolls

“Wicked” is one of the biggest movie franchises in recent memory, bringing the beloved Broadway show to the big screen with the first of two installments. Naturally, there is quite a bit of branded merchandise. Mattel released a line of toys with a printed component on the packaging that instructs fans to visit a website related to the movie.

However, someone didn’t do their due diligence when writing up the copy for the packaging, as the URL printed on the products was actually for a similarly named adult website.

7

Sabrina Carpenter’s Coffee Shop Pop-Ups Have Experiential Marketing Takeaways for Promo Pros

Sabrina Carpenter has had a big year with the release of her album “Short n’ Sweet,” and one of the ways she’s marketed herself is through pop-up coffee shops, playing off of the theme of her hit song “Espresso.”

The installations have included branded merchandise and print components to fully brand coffee shops across the U.S., transforming them into promotional campaigns on their own.

8

PRINTING United Expo 2024: Mastering the Efficiencies of Direct Mail

Panelists at the PRINTING United Expo in Las Vegas joked about the often repeated overreaction “Print is dead.” The experts on the panel reflected on the prediction that email would usurp direct mail as the primary way to reach prospects, and how even in a digital world print has its place.

In this explainer, the panelists go into how to create cost-efficient, but still eye-catching, direct mail pieces, how to use software advancements to your advantage and more.

9

6 Markets To Target Now With Print

If you were a promotional products distributor who started selling print in 2024, or maybe it’s on your to-do list for 2025, this conversation with Rusty Pepper, head of new markets and partnerships at Taylor OnDemand, part of Taylor Corp., is for you.

Pepper outlines popular sales verticals for the modern print market, like healthcare, retail, nonprofits, hospitality, tech and youth sports, and how print and promotional products distributors can appeal to clients in those areas.

10

Olivia Rodrigo

Yet another example of a pop star harnessing the power of immersive print displays: Olivia Rodrigo teamed up with not only Sony, but also the New York MTA, for a branded pop-up in the New York subway.

The campaign featured signage inside the subway cars mirroring a normal transit map with branded touches, large-format signage to transform the platform itself and branded MTA cards.