New Chairman and Board Directors were appointed at the BPMA’s recent AGM

The 15th British Promotional Merchandise Association’s Annual General Meeting was held at The London Mathematical Society, Russell Square on Wednesday 7th November 2018.

Graeme Smith opened his Chairman’s review by summarising industry challenges and opportunities, the successful Merchandise World shows, research, member benefits, education, events for 2018 and 2019 and more, including the BPMA’s Product Media Magazine which is now the principle magazine for the industry and continuing to grow.

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USB2U raise £330 for Movember!

This November, 5 members of USB2U’s trade sales team decided to “grow a mo” to raise money to fund research into some of the biggest health issues faced by men.

The Movember campaign is committed to fighting some of the most common health issues faced by men. The funds raised help finance research into prostate cancer, testicular cancer and mental health and suicide prevention. These issues could affect any one of us, be that directly or through friends, family members or colleagues, so it did not take much convincing for the boys to get on board.

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Promo Trade Take On the Santa Dash!

The Promo Trade family are taking part in Windsor’s Santa Dash, 25th November 2018, for their chosen charity Alexander Devine. Promo Trade work closely with Alexander Devine, assisting them in many ways with their fundraising or promotional merchandise. Alexander Devine is a Children’s Hospice Service and was founded in 2007 with the aim of providing a dedicated Children’s Hospice service, for all children with life limiting and life-threatening illnesses in Berkshire and beyond.

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Bagco | Helping to save the planet…one bag at a time!

Bagco’s Black Friday event is here and this year, they are doing things a little differently.

They have teamed up with Plastic Oceans, a charity whose vision is to stop plastic pollution within the space of one generation. Launching today, Bagco are giving you the choice to DONATE or DISCOUNT on every order you place with them throughout the week…the choice is yours.!

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Galpeg welcomes three new associates

The Galpeg Associate Programme continues to go from strength to strength, with the addition of three new promotional product distributors.

LKG Merchandise, Insignia Promotions and GB Merchandise, and all recently signed up to the programme, which provides time-saving outsourcing tools and resources for independent distributors, allowing them to concentrate on growing their businesses.

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Enter the Merchandise World Promotional Product Awards

The industry’s best promotional products will be recognised with the Promotional Product Awards at the next Merchandise World at Stoneleigh (Wednesday 30th Jan & Thursday 31st Jan 2019).

New for 2019, BPMA members can enter their 1st product entry into an award category FREE OF CHARGE.

 

Please click here for more information and the Entry Form

Please click here to download the Product Template Form

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ARC Apparel becomes ARC Textiles

ARC Textiles, formerly ARC Apparel are excited to announce the rebrand of the company. ARC textiles now offer a wider range of branded textiles, under the new company name.

Our versatile collection of products includes new additions to our range of digitally printed towels, fleece blankets, printed tea towels and picnic blankets.

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Wrap up Christmas with 39% discount off senator® gift sets.

With Christmas fast approaching, now is the time for your customers to be thinking about the perfect promotional gift.
At senator®, we’ve selected our bestselling executive pen sets, and paired them with our luxurious leather pen pouch, to create 3 easy gifting options. Made from Genuine Leather, this pen pouch will last as long as our senator® metal pen refills, which you already know last up to 16x longer than most Far East pens!

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New for 2019 from Matt Pluckrose

Hot-footing it back from the Far East, Matt Pluckrose brings news of the latest in tech.

So, the annual technology fairs have now hit Hong Kong and after around 60k steps on my activity tracker we have finally finished and are ready to start work on launching the latest gadgets for 2019, but what is trending? Totally new concepts were thin on the ground, but it did highlight some popular trends in technology. Probably the single most popular technology concept is ‘true wireless stereo’ (TWS) or the ability to pair two Bluetooth audio devices to each other to create wireless stereo.

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Avoid a Cheerless Christmas

It’s November. The nights are drawing in, the mornings are becoming frosty and it becomes a time for reflecting on our summer hols and those days in the sun that now begin to feel like a very long time ago. Then suddenly the ‘cash flow itch’ reminds us that it’s only one more month until the dreaded ‘C’ word “What’s Christmas really got to do with cash flow?” we hear you ask.

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Nurturing Diversity

Diversity training can be viewed with suspicion, but there is a business case for it.

The term ‘reverse discrimination’ essentially means a majority group is discriminated against in favour of a minority group. If a programme assigns blame or makes any group feel guilty, then the training is bad. The purpose of diversity training is to encourage inclusivity and equality among all groups. Encouraging communication, learning to listen and speak with one another, regardless of difference, is more helpful that dividing employees and highlighting their differences.

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Sounding good for Business

Putting a customer on hold needn’t mean putting them off. Mark Williamson explains the importance of call handling for the promotional products sector.

The promotional products industry knows the value of a good first impression. After all, the sector helps businesses capture attention through branded items. However, savvy businesses owners in the sector also recognise that it’s not just about how your company looks but also how your company sounds. The telephone is often the first point of contact for inbound sales leads, with research finding that almost half of consumers still prefer to get information over the phone rather than online. Yet businesses still aren’t recognising the link between caller satisfaction and its impact on the bottom line. A study by PHMG has found 73% of Brits won’t do repeat business with a company if their initial call wasn’t handled to satisfaction.

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Sustainably British

Briman Group companies are taking the responsibility for responsible production seriously, says Mark Alderson.

With more than £243 million of goods being imported into the UK by sea and air, the large carbon footprint caused by international sourcing is clear to see. The UK manufactured products not only have a reduced carbon footprint but with many Briman members investing in environmentally friendly schemes, their benefits to the environment are far-reaching.

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BPMA Award Infomation

Arena. “These really are the industry awards that mean something because your fellow industry peers have voted for you or external judges in the marketing community rate you and your work. Winning an award this way is one you and your staff can be proud of.” There are two types of award categories, awards that members are automatically entered into by the BPMA with members voting, and entry-based awards with an external panel of judges voting. “Repeat winners see the value in winning an industry award and enter each year, they put a lot of thought and planning into their entries and the standard of entries grows each year. We would love more members to enter the awards this year,” comments Daniela.

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Education- Getting Started

The BPMA held its Member Orientation seminar on 27 September, where 19 individuals from member companies attended. It was the first seminar to be presented by BPMA’s membership manager, George Turnbull (pictured right) who delivered an engaging afternoon that informed and educated members. He said: “The seminar gives our members an insight of what to expect from the industry while gaining tips on how to make the most out of their business and what pitfalls to watch out for.

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In the hot seat with David Long

Q. What have been the milestones in your career?

A. My early management career was in the blue-chip corporate arena latterly with Thorn EMI. In 1987 I joined the now defunct, but legendary, Bourne Publicity. At the time it was the largest distributor in the UK and an exciting innovator that everyone looked up to. In 1990 I joined Dowlis Group as managing director and with a great team, we grew the company from£1.9 million to £13m turnover in 12 years, firmly establishing it as the largest independent promotional merchandise distributor in the UK. In 2002 I decided I wanted my own business and Dynamic Image was founded.

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