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Tuesday
December 9, 2008 Are Advertising Specialties Recession Proof?Filed under: ASI Canada Our industry survived the last two recessions relatively well and there are some very important reasons why.
Wednesday
November 26, 2008 Advertising Specialties Impressions StudyFiled under: ASI Canada During the past week I have been having conversations with members from the east coast to the west coast about the state of the industry in Canada.
Tuesday
November 18, 2008 A personal message to the industryFiled under: A message from Leslie I don’t believe there is anyone in Canada that has not heard of the tragic passing of Brandon Crisp last month. Maybe it’s because I’m currently living in Barrie and living in a smaller city brings out a more personal involvement.
Monday
November 10, 2008 When the going gets tough!Filed under: ASI Canada What a roller coaster it’s been in the past few months – record high gas prices, then dropping to lows not seen for a long time. A dollar at par, then dropping like a stone, the stock market falls, then record increases only to fall again.
Monday
October 27, 2008 Five Cities in Five DaysFiled under: ASI Canada The first ever fall ASI Road Show was a huge success, not only was attendance strong in all five locations everyone I spoke to loves the format. The regional table top style show allows for greater interaction between the suppliers and distributors,
Monday
October 20, 2008 A great day to drive to Montreal!Filed under: ASI Canada I am sitting in my hotel room in Montreal getting ready for the first leg of the fall ASI Canada Road Show. It was a perfect drive to Montreal today, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky and it is a beautiful time of year to be driving. The leaves are still in full colour, vibrant reds, bright oranges and yellows. It’s pretty much the end of the season now so I was quite happy to be driving today to get a chance to view the true beauty of the fall season. I’ve always loved driving, while I will admit that as I get older the driving is not as easy on me as it used to be and I’m not suggesting that I enjoy the normal day to day rush hour driving. But I love road trips I find it peaceful and it gives me time to think, today while I was driving I was thinking about the first road trip I took the twins on. They were not even two years old at the time, it was Spring break and Fred was on the seminar tour out west so I decided to pack up the car and take Tamasin and the twins on a trip down south. I made the decision to strike out at night that way the kids could sleep though the night while I was driving. Later that night after we had pulled over to eat I got the girls settled down with a bottle and was ready for the long drive thru the night. Everything was quiet in the back seat and I was happily listening to music as I drove along, then I felt something on my head. It happened a couple more time so I felt my head and it was wet. I couldn’t figure out what was wrong the sunroof was closed and it wasn’t raining I had no ideas where the dripping coming from. I pulled over at the next town and checked out the interior of the car, that’s when the giggling started, the girls weren’t asleep as I thought, they had discovered that if they put their fists in the bottle that the milk would spray out the top. A lovely mess! At this point let me point out that we had taken Fred’s NEW Volvo – he insisted, as it was a safer car then mine. So, I get the girls settled again explain to them I’m not impressed with their new trick and keep on driving. It’s silent in the back and as planned I drive thru the night, the next morning when the girls woke up I pulled into a town to get them some breakfast, when I opened the car door to get them out I discovered to my horror what looked like fork marks in the door panels. I knew they didn’t have any forks back there and at first I couldn’t figure it out, then they confessed to me they were biting the doors. Did you ever see the movie Turner and Hooch? Well, just before Fred had left he and I had taken the girls to that movie and they were actually going thru a stage of playing hooch. I was able to get the car cleaned to get the milk out (mostly) but wasn’t able to do anything about the doors. We did have a great trip although there were a couple more situations with his poor car. We got home the day before he did and I spent the time getting the girls to do a welcome home sign for him that we put up on the front door. I also coached them on a plan. As soon as the limo pulled up and Fred got out of the car the twins ran up to him hugging his legs yelling love you daddy, love you daddy. Fred was so happy to see the girls and while he had both girls in his arms I said, oh by the way honey there’s a couple of little things I should show you in your car! You could see by the look on his face that he was not pleased with all the damage we had done to his car but he took it really well! In fact, months later he was going to Europe for the PSI Show and I decided to take another trip with my mother and the girls, this time to South Carolina. Once again he insisted I take his car as it was safer, I think he probably thought we couldn’t do much more damage, little did he know! I’ll tell you this story later…. But, do check back this week as I update you on what I think are the best new product ideas at the road show this week. This week I have something with me, when you come to the show you’ll see it – let’s see if you can figure out what it means! See you on tour and for those of you out west I’ll post a picture and you can try and guess what the meaning is behind it!
Thursday
October 9, 2008 Do elections bring out the WORST in people?Filed under: ASI Canada Or, maybe it’s just me? This morning I suddenly realized I’ve been a little cranky lately, some might say “what do you mean lately?” I’m not known for being a warm and fuzzy person. While I admit I am really not all that friendly, I’ve always been an introvert and when in a large group of people tend to stick close to my friends because that’s my comfort level – I don’t think I’m really what they refer to a female dog as.
Monday
September 22, 2008 The Decline of Civility!Filed under: ASI Canada This past Saturday I watched with interest a documentary on CTV titled; ”To Hell with Manners” and boy did it hit home with me! A couple of weeks ago I was at the TOPS Show in Toronto and was invited to a number of the distributor hospitality rooms. One of the questions I asked each of them was; how many of your clients that R.S.V.P.’d actually showed up? This was met with disappointment by those I spoke to, what I discovered is that the number seems to run around 25 – 30%. While some might think well it’s a trade show and clients aren’t really obligated to attend, you’re right. But, why do they R.S.V.P. and not show up? Some of the distributors put a lot of effort into their Hospitality Rooms – including a hot lunch in one that I attended and the clients invited knew the lunch was included. This is not isolated, it’s now common, it happens everywhere today, the Ontario Chapter hosts monthly meetings and they include food for people attending. Once again people register and think nothing of just not showing up. The Chapter has now instituted a $20.00 penalty for registering and not showing up, sad that it’s come to this – but I don’t blame them! This year at the seminars in one of the cities out west close to 40% of the people that registered to attend did not show up. The seminars include both breakfast and lunch and yes no one is under any obligation to attend except for the fact that they R.S.V.P.’d then didn’t bother to show up. Sorry, but that’s just plain BAD MANNERS! While I was discussing this lack of manners with people at the hospitality suites I heard a number of stories including people that R.S.V.P.’d for weddings and didn’t even call before or after – they simply didn’t bother to show up! A family event where a person requested a special vegetarian meal then never showed up – the excuse given was she didn’t feel like going. It’s amazing today that so many people just don’t care anymore – events whether they’re business or social take a lot of time and effort to organize. Not only is there a lot of time invested in these events they are very expensive. But there are some people today that have absolutely no respect for the people involved in hosting these events. What the show really demonstrated was how poor basic manners are in society today but I think we all knew that. The big question is – what will it take to bring manners back to a society that seems so far gone?
Tuesday
September 2, 2008 Back to BusinessFiled under: ASI Canada The last long weekend of the summer is now just another memory – hope you were able to spend some quality time with family and friends. Those lazy hazy days of summer are now behind us and we are starting to get prepared for that all important last quarter selling season. Statistics show that about 40% of the industry’s total sales are processed from October to December.
Thursday
August 28, 2008 HAPPY LABOUR DAY CANADA!Filed under: ASI Canada As I was preparing for the upcoming long weekend I began to wonder how the last long weekend of the summer got started. So, of course I googled it and here’s what I learned – Labour Day, like hockey, basketball etc started right here in Canada! “Labour Day began in Canada on April 15, 1872, a mere five years after Confederation. |
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