Benefits of Dealing with APPA Members

APPA began in 1986 and includes the regions of Australia, New Zealand, New Caledonia, Vanuatu and Taiwan. APPA members include over 560 of the top promotional product companies in the region.

APPA provides their members with the following advantages:

• Education programs
• Association discounts not available to non-members
• Dispute resolution
• Yearly trade shows showcasing the latest innovations in promotions
• Industry acknowledgement through our yearly Pyramid Awards
• Ethical and Professional standards to achieve
• Flow of information from our international counterparts

JEM Promotional Products have been proud members of APPA since 2001
(Membership Number: #D2266)
Total Promotional Products Sales 2004

Sales in Australia 1.56 billion (an increase of 35% in the last 3 years)

Sales in New Zealand 213 Million (an increase of 30% in the last 3 years)

This compares to the Australian Advertising Federation (AFA) estimate of $9,360 million in major media expenditure for 2003.

Reach:

• 71% of business travelers surveyed at an international airport recently reported having received a promotional product in the last 12 months.
• Moreover, 33.7% of this group had the item on their person. The item was promoting the givers logo repeatedly to the participant and their associates.

Recall:

76.1% of the respondents could recall the advertisers name on the product they have received in the last 12 months

In comparison, 80% of participants answered yes to reading a newspaper or magazine in the last week but only 53.5% of them could recall the name of a single advertiser.

APPA Benefits to Corporations and Marketing Professionals

• Dispute Negotiation. 90% of the complaints we receive come from companies who have bought promotional products from a NON-APPA member. We are powerless to intervene on your behalf if you take that risk. Corporate clients can lodge complaints for resolution with APPA and we will liaise with our members to help resolve your problem. APPA can only assist in dispute resolution if the promotional provider you deal with is an APPA member!
• National Events. Events are held throughout Australia and New Zealand showcasing successful promotions and new products for corporate clients. These events can be specifically targeted for your corporation or be one of our larger events (for example a yearly event we host in conjunction with AMI).
• Education Programs. These programs are organised and co-ordinated by our staff run by our CEO or our Regional Committees. We provide speakers and short classes on the best use of promotional products, navigating our industry successfully and present successful promotional product case studies.
• Industry Research. APPA is continuously spending time and money researching the promotional products industry. These results are formulated into useful brochures to be used as a Marketing tool for members. Some research results are available to non-members upon request.
• Legislative issues,Industry media and PR programs. Legislative issues will be lobbied for on the member’s behalf. This action is subject to being approved by the APPA national board. APPA has a Public Relations Programme in place to promote awareness and the usage of Promotional Products and to enhance the future of our industry.

APPA is a proud member of the International Federation of Promotional Product Associations and the APPA CEO currently serves as its Vice President. We promote professionalism, ethics and communication throughout the world wide, multi billion dollar promotional industry.

APPA members are on the cutting edge of the promotional industry and continuously out shine non-APPA members in the creation of some of the best promotional campaigns and most innovative products supplied in the Australasian region.

APPA members get involved with marketing departments early in the process and offer what we call the “Product Perspective” to the marketing mix. If correctly utilised, this perspective can save companies thousands of dollars.

The true power of promotional products is not the product. It’s the advertising and response elicited by the delivery of that product in a properly constructed campaign.

If you are dealing with an APPA member, they have worked hard to become one and achieved a status within our industry that assures you, the client, of the highest quality of products and the creativity to make all your clients promotions successful.

Make sure your company has reached the benchmark of excellence in the supply of promotional products and become an APPA member!

Old favourites still popular
So where does the money go? The answer is that while marketers talk about new, innovative products, the tried and true clothes, caps and pens continue to be Australia’s most popular giveaways.

At the top of the list are wearables, which at 27% of industry sales are more than twice the value of number two product category, writing instruments. In third place are desk, office or business accessories.

Figures from the US-based Promotional Products Association International (PPAI) are remarkably similar. Almost 30% of US sales are wearables, followed by writing instruments and desk accessories.

The PPAI research also suggests that the breakdown of promotional products has been quite stable over the three years to 2003. Long term trends show wearables are increasingly dominant at the expense of glass wear and ceramics and recognition awards. Despite falling prices, electronics still account for just 2% of sales.

Aside from promotional products, half of the Australian businesses surveyed are involved in incentive programs but these usually represent less than 10% of revenue. Merchandising programs are more valuable to Australia’s promotional products distributors. Of the 64% who supply merchandise, almost one in three said it represented more than 25% of annual incomes.

How promotional products are sold
Presenting the products on offer has traditionally been done using catalogues – either a collection of supplier material or a dedicated catalogue. The APPA research reveals that almost half of Australian promotional product companies produce their own but one in three has neither a printed nor an electronic catalogue.

Commissions for salespeople are also widely used by Australian promotional product distributors to encouraged sales. The majority of the surveyed companies paid commissions to representatives, mostly in combination with a salary.

A few big players and thousands of small operators
If you look at any company who claims to include promotional products as a part of what they offer to customers you would find approximately 4,500 promotional products businesses, from print brokers, stationers, embroiders and engravers through to distributors. Many of these companies buy from promotional product professionals, add their mark up and pass it on to their clients.

The APPA research was more specific, dealing only with distributors. It estimates that more than 2,200 businesses supply end users with promotional products, which equates to average annual sales of $689,000. In reality though, few businesses reach this level. The industry has thousands of small players who earn substantially less. While around 3% of companies enjoy annual sales of more than $5 million, the sales of 72% are less than $500,000.

Not surprisingly, the polarity of the industry is also reflected in staffing levels. Almost half of all promotional products distributors employ just one or two people and another 41% have three to nine employees.

Whether judged by the number of employees or annual sales, bigger distributors tend to belong to industry association APPA. Members have average annual sales of more than $2.1 million compared to the average for non-members of $498,000 (although it should be noted that companies are now able to join APPA as Associate Members with turnover of $100,000 per annum or more.)

The reasons for the difference are debateable. Perhaps it simply proves that larger businesses have a greater opportunity to be involved in industry events. On the other hand, maybe building professional networks and sharing ideas is a competitive advantage.

Article written by William Kestin – APPA CEO – Copyright © 2006- All rights reserved

(Courtesy of JEM Promotional Products ©2007)

If you have any questions relating to promotional products, please don’t hesitate in contacting us.
JEM Promotional Products
Phone: (02) 8205 1334
E-mail: enquiries@jempp.com.au

Website: www.jempp.com.au