Hatswork Round-Up: October 24, 2019

In today's Round-Up, we're looking at how one Fast Company ^{4 1} article rocked our industry by referring to promotional products as cheap conference ^{18 2} swag which set in motion a number of online counterattacks.

Fast Company

It's Time to Stop Spending Billions on Cheap Conference Swag ³

Last November, this article was published on Fast Company ^{4 1} followed by a lot of backlash within our industry.

The author went so far as to call for a removal of promotional products from our culture. As if one can just shut down a $24 billion ⁵ industry from one #fakenews opinion piece ⁶. Doing so would leave nearly 400,000 American's without a job, and shut down over 25,000 companies, most of which are small businesses.

I think the author's intention was to bring attention to environmental issues ⁷, which I admire, but I strongly disagree with her stand against promotional products.

ASI

ASI President & CEO, Tim Andrews, Responds to Fast Company ⁸

Many players in the promotional product industry lashed out against the Fast Company ⁹ op-ed. ASI's Michele Bell called it a stitched-together, bullshit piece of writing and called out the plagiarism ¹⁰ aspect. Andy Cohen, also with ASI referred to it as shoddy reporting.

Tim Andrews, President and CEO of ASI, wrote his own blog post defending the industry and calling out the inaccuracies throughout the Fast Company piece ¹¹.

Promo Marketing

Getting In On the (Still) Growing Promotional Caps and Headwear Category ¹²

“For every business in the world, there is a logo, and everywhere we go, we see logos. In every sporting event ¹³, you see a hat. On every delivery person ¹⁴, on every golfer ¹⁵, every tech person ¹⁶, every service leader in various industries ¹⁷, you see a hat. The hat is universal and says it all.” -Joey Knight, Assistant Division Director for Paramount Apparel International.

So, what's your favorite cheap conference ^{18 2} swag item? Do you agree with any of the points made in the article? Tell us why in the comments below. You can also follow us on Instagram and Facebook using the hashtag #hatswork.

1. https://hatswork.com/blog/2018/12/17/branded-hats- not-national-fakenews/
2. https://hatswork.com/blog/2019/09/23/4-tips-for-di splaying-promotional-products-in-a-showroom/
3. https://www.fastcompany.com/90260185/its-time-to-s top-spending-billions-on-cheap-conference-swag
4. https://hatswork.com/blog/2018/12/17/branded-hats- not-national-fakenews/
5. https://hatswork.com/blog/2018/04/09/promotional-h ats-finance-sector/
6. https://hatswork.com/blog/2018/12/10/branded-caps- not-fakenews/
7. https://hatswork.com/blog/2017/01/17/fundraising-f or-non-profits-part1/
8. https://www.asicentral.com/news/newsletters/promog ram/november-2018/asi-president-ceo-tim-andrews-re sponds-to-fast-company/
9. https://hatswork.com/blog/2018/12/10/branded-caps- not-fakenews/
10. https://printwearmag.com/features/mens-hat-trends- and-styles
11. https://www.asicentral.com/news/blogs/tims-blog/20 18/fast-company-to-the-contrary-people-love-promos /
12. https://magazine.promomarketing.com/article/sellin g-growing-promotional-caps-headwear/#ne=eea8df7b24 c632f478efea987fc6c45f&utm_source=promo-market ing-headlines&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_ca mpaign=2018-11-06
13. https://hatswork.com/blog/2018/10/29/oc-sports-on- field-trends/
14. https://hatswork.com/blog/2018/05/14/custom-hats-r estaurants-food-delivery/
15. https://hatswork.com/blog/2019/06/27/hatswork-roun d-up-june-27-2019/
16. https://hatswork.com/blog/2018/01/08/sell-custom-c aps-tech-startups/
17. https://hatswork.com/blog/2016/05/19/position-prom otional-caps-promo-products/
18. https://hatswork.com/blog/2019/09/23/4-tips-for-di splaying-promotional-products-in-a-showroom/