ASI Chicago – Members Happy Hour
We’re hosting a Happy Hour on July 22nd at 7:00pm at Fatpour Tap Works. Members are invited to join us for networking, drinks, and appetizers. You can sign up here, or email admin@promostandards.org with any questions!
2025 Tech Summit
During this Tech Summit, we had various guest speakers and sessions. Some of them included the following: General Session – State of Technology in the Promotional Products Industry: Infrastructure Options and Best Practices. Mergers & Acquisitions from a Technology Perspective. Unlocking the Power of AI: A Practical Guide for the Promotional Products Supply Chain And much, much more. Members can watch the events from Tech Summit 2025 here!
New Partnership with EcoPromo Expands Our Sustainable Product Line
We’re excited to announce our new partnership with EcoPromo, a leader in environmentally friendly promotional products. This collaboration allows us to offer a wider range of sustainable options to our clients, aligning with our commitment to eco-conscious business practices.
Member Spotlight – HALO Branded Solutions
PromoStandards is committed to improving supply chain and transactional efficiencies in the promotional products industry. The business was created in 2014 when a dedicated group of distributors, suppliers, and service providers created the first set of industry standards. Over the years, the number of standards grew, and PromoStandards became a nonprofit in 2019. In this member spotlight, we’re highlighting HALO Branded Solutions, one of the founding organizations of PromoStandards. HALO Branded Solutions is the largest promotional product distributor in the United States and has purchasing agreements with more than 250 of the world’s largest suppliers. This robust supplier network allows them to provide excellent pricing and value to their clients. Continue reading to learn more about HALO and how adopting PromoStandards integration helped move their transactions forward. HALO Branded Solutions Established in 1952 and headquartered in Sterling, Illinois, HALO Branded Solutions is the global leader in branded merchandise, company uniforms, and employee recognition and incentive solutions. With a team of over 1,800 members spread across 42 offices worldwide, HALO serves businesses of all sizes, from Fortune 500 companies to thousands of mid and small-size organizations. PromoStandards’ Impact Before integrating PromoStandards, HALO team members had frequent and repeated follow-up calls and emails with suppliers about order status and shipping information. With PromoStandards, this was significantly reduced, and the company experienced more timely communication between account executives and customers on order progress and shipment tracking information. “PromoStandards is a foundational element to our data integration strategy,” said Kevin Pollack, COO of HALO Branded Solutions. “We continue to build around and upon PromoStandards to streamline and standardize a wide variety of order-related processes. We see great value in expanding the use of PromoStandards in the future.” Make Your Business Even Better With PromoStandards PromoStandards makes it easy to communicate with others in the industry. Your business can also reduce the number of phone calls and emails received, thereby saving time and labor. With four membership levels, you can choose the one that works best for you. Join PromoStandards and start your journey!
2024 Tech Summit
Hosted at the Don CeSar in St. Pete Beach, Florida. The 2024 PromoStandards Technology Summit is the premier Promotional Products Technology Event. The Technology Summit features three days of education tracks focusing on industry relevant technology, PromoStandards Integrations and provides ample opportunity to network with industry peers. This event anticipates 200 attendees from over 75 companies. Attending Companies: AIA, AIM Smarter, Alphabroder, ALPI.NET, American Solutions for Business, Amla Commerce, Antera Software USA, AnyPromo, Apollo, ASI Central, AWS/Artwork Services USA, BallPro, BamBams, BAMKO, Boost Engagement, Brikl, Broken Arrow Wear, Calibre International, Cap America, Charles River Apparel, commonsku, Consolidus, Custom Logo USA, Distributor Central, Dubow, epromos, eRetailing – FAST Platform, Essent Corporation, Executive Advertising, eXtendTech, Facilis Group, FulFill Engine, G&G Outfitters, Inc., Gallardo Solutions, Geiger, Gemline, Get Moore solutions, GNS World, Goldstar, Halo Branded Solution, Headwear USA, Hit Promotional Products, HPG Brands, iDex International, Integrity Inspired, Innovation Line, iPROMOTEu, Koozie Group/IMAGEN, Kotis Design, Logomark, MadeToOrder Inc, Merch, Midsouth Apparel Solutions, OMG, Overture Promotions Inc, PCNA, Peerless, powerweave, PrintNow Technologies, Proforma, PromoHunt, Robertson Marketing Group, SanMar, Snugz USA, Spector & Co, Staples, Starline, Storm Creek, The Image Group, Summit Group, S&S Activewear, SwagFlo, Thumbprint, TechLiere, Triple Crown Products, Vantage, Web Services Pros, WolfMark, ZOOMcatalog, and more. Event Agenda Sunday, Feb 4, 2024 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm Registration 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm Annual Members Meeting Monday, Feb 5, 2024 7:00 am – 8:30 am Registration 7:30 am – 8:30 am Breakfast 8:30 am – 8:45 am Welcome 8:45 am – 10:00 am Keynote Presentation: AI & Cybersecurity Legal Trends 10:15 am – 11:00 am Scaling PromoStandards Breakout Session Intro to PromoStandards Breakout Session 11:00 am – 11:30 am Networking Break 11:30 am – 12:15 pm Implementing PS Directory APIs Breakout Session PromoStandards Best Practices Breakout Session 12:15 pm – 1:15 pm Lunch 1:15 pm – 2:30 pm General Session: AI in Promo, A Deep Dive with our PromoStandards Hack-A-Thon Participants 2:45 pm – 3:30 pm The Credentials Conundrum: Panel & Discussion about successes and challenges in PromoStandards 3:30pm – 4:00 pm Networking Break 4:00 pm – 4:45 pm Addressing Decorators Integration Needs Breakout Session SOC2 Journey 6:00 pm – 10:00 pm Opening Reception, Dinner and Entertainment Tuesday, Feb 6, 2024 7:30 am – 8:30 am Breakfast 8:30 am – 8:45 am Welcome 8:45 am – 10:00 am Keynote Presentation: Generating Value from Data: Building a Data Science Practice 10:00 am – 10:30 am Networking Break 10:30 am – 11:45 am General Session: An Exclusive Panel Interview with Promo Industry CIOs with Q & A 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm Lunch 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm Industry Technology Round Tables 2:30pm – 3:00 pm Networking Break 3:00 pm – 6:00 pm Committee Meetings & Free Time 6:00 pm – 10:00 pm Dine-around Dinners Wednesday, Feb 7, 2024 7:30 am – 8:30 am Breakfast 8:30 am – 9:00 am PromoStandards Person of the Year Awards 9:00 am – 10:00 am Keynote Presentation: The Key to Successful Projects 10:00 am – 10:30 am Networking Break 10:30 am – 11:15 am Introduction of New PromoStandards Services – Order Management, Order Status 2.0, OSN 2.1 11:15 am – 12:30 pm Introduction of What’s Next with PromoStandards – PPC 2.0, Credentialing, Decorator Services 12:30 pm – 1:00 pm Tech Summit Wrap Up 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm Closing Lunch
Member Spotlight – Hit Promotional Products
Distributors, suppliers, service providers, and decorators drive the success and growth of the promotional product industry. PromoStandards is an organization where those entities can collaborate to create and integrate industry-changing order communication and management standards. In this member spotlight, we highlight Hit Promotional Products, a top industry supplier that provides premier design services with your favorite in-demand brands. Please keep reading for more on Hit and how PromoStandards has helped its business. About Hit Promotional Products Hit Promotional Products (Hit) is a family-owned business—a leader in the promotional products industry for over 50 years and ranks among the top five suppliers in the U.S. As a PromoStandards Advisory Supplier member, the company holds two spots on our 2024 Board of Directors and a spot as a 2024 Executive Committee member-at-large. The supplier is headquartered in Largo, Florida, and operates production facilities across four states: Florida, New Jersey, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Hit’s collective production space, totaling 1.4 million sq. ft., and 3,000 team members allow the company to produce more than 3,500 orders daily, with about $200 million worth of inventory on the ground, water, or on order at any given time. Throughout its years of operation, Hit has continuously evolved to meet the demands of changing times and customer needs. Today, customers can expect a supplier that: PromoStandards’ Impact “PromoStandards has changed the way we do business internally. Serving up data for order status, tracking, invoice, (etc.), nearly in real-time and at scale has allowed Hit to upgrade systems and build robust internal business processes,” said Raj Mukherjee, CIO at Hit Promotional Products. “It [PromoStandards] has become key to our customer sales cycle.” Before adopting PromoStandards’ industry standards, Hit faced the challenge of integrating with distributors on a case-by-case basis to communicate and manage inventory, invoices, orders, and products. As any supplier in the industry will confirm, specializing their communications systems for each distributor is tedious, time-consuming, and increases the risk of clerical errors and miscommunication. Hit Promotional Products sits among the list of fellow distributors, suppliers, and service providers collaborating to create the first industry standards before PromoStandards’ official founding in 2019. Since then, the company has maintained its leading position in PromoStandards development and integration. Benefits that Hit has observed with PromoStandards integration include: Drive the Industry as a PromoStandards Member! At PromoStandards, we aim to develop, improve, drive the adoption of, and facilitate the integration of promotional product industry communication standards. Our members comprise an extensive community of distributors, suppliers, service providers, and decorators who, by integrating our standards, can send and receive order information in real time. Join PromoStandards today by selecting one of our four membership levels so you can streamline your operations and scale your business.
Members Only Open House Luncheon
Las Vegas Join us for an exclusive Open House event hosted by PromoStandards on Tuesday afternoon, January 16th, from 12:00 PM to 3:00 PM. We’re excited to offer a complimentary lunch for our valued members. Be sure to secure your spot by reserving your ticket now – it’s an opportunity you won’t want to miss! This event has concluded.
Looking Back and Looking Forward – Letter From the Chair
PromoStandards started back in 2014 when a group of highly committed industry technology leaders rolled up their sleeves to create the first set of industry standards from the ground up. “Working in a cramped conference room with fellow executives from the industry’s most prominent companies was an exhilarating and incredibly productive experience,” said PromoStandards Chair Eric Alessi. “These are some of my fondest memories of collaborating in the industry.” The industry, what we expect from technology, and PromoStandards have changed over the course of a decade. As 2023 comes to a close, Alessi reflects on how PromoStandards has evolved. Our Volunteers While many board members maintain a hands-on approach, there has been a notable increase in dedicated volunteers who generously contribute their time and expertise for the betterment of the industry. This influx lightens the load for board members and fosters a more united and cooperative approach toward achieving progress. Our Focus The board is still laser-focused on our mission to facilitate the development and adoption of open interoperability standards. We continue to create new standards, and now we’re at a place where we can update these standards. Order Status 2.0.0 and Order Shipment Notification 2.0.0 are new versions of standards that were released in 2023. Our Future PromoStandards has firmly established itself as the industry standard for digital integration. We’re looking to the future to prepare for what’s next and continue to care for the standards and community we’ve built. We are ready to journey into the next decade and hope you join us. Here’s to a great year in 2024 and the years that lie ahead!
Member Spotlight – Antera Software USA, Inc.
PromoStandards is a community, and those who become members have access to important information and proven service providers. In this member spotlight, we’ll cover Antera Software USA, Inc., a service provider that runs promotional product software for distributors, suppliers, and printers. Here’s an in-depth look into who Antera Software is and how adopting PromoStandards integration helped move their transactions forward. Antera Software Antera Software, founded in 2010 and headquartered in Plano, Texas, specializes in creating and implementing custom software solutions that target challenges faced by promotional products and print industries. Its flagship cloud-based software, Advance, is used by industry professionals worldwide to automate their workflows and manage businesses effectively. Advance offers a comprehensive suite of operational and financial management capabilities, incorporating cutting-edge CRM technology and integrated modules. One of its key features is its Open API technology, which allows for seamless integration with third-party products and common accounting systems, such as QuickBooks. PromoStandards’ Impact Before integrating PromoStandards, Antera Software faced the industry-specific challenge of inconsistent information. Many of their customers were unhappy with the out-of-date data. To come up with a common way to integrate, employees of Antera Software talked with promotional product suppliers and distributors to come up with a common way to integrate. It was these people who mentioned PromoStandards. Antera Software utilizes all PromoStandards endpoints in Advance. This allows customers to collaborate effectively on orders and exchange data, documents, and information in real-time, resulting in tremendous time savings. What’s more, distributors have the ability to see live inventory levels and place orders electronically. Changes made automatically update on the platform. “PromoStandards has allowed our customers to grow exponentially. The accuracy and speed of information from PromoStandards have allowed them to increase their volume of business with fewer employees,” said Rick Peters, CEO of Antera Software USA, Inc. Become a PromoStandards Member! At PromoStandards, we make it easy to communicate with others in your industry. Find suppliers, distributors, and decorators and send and receive information to them in real-time. With four membership levels, you can choose the one that works best for you. Join PromoStandards and start your journey!
Looking Forward – Letter From the Chair
PromoStandards is inherently forward-thinking. With a commitment to leveraging established open standards and developing new technologies, the organization actively strives to enhance the efficiency of the promotional products industry. Our proven success serves as a testament to our mission and approach. This month, PromoStandards Chair Eric Alessi reflects on how PromoStandards understands and meets industry needs. PromoStandards’ Survey To better understand the top needs of the industry, PromoStandards surveyed its members in the summer of 2023. Amongst its members are the most progressive and successful companies in the industry. Survey results did not disappoint. The data, full of valuable insights, is indispensable in confirming our success and determining what we need to do to move forward. Our Progress In November 2023, the analysis of the survey served as a foundation for discussions at the Board’s Annual Planning Meeting in Tampa, Florida. It provided clarity for our path moving forward. The meeting kicked off with a timeline illustrating our progress. PromoStandards started in 2015 as a group of progressive companies committed to the industry, became a nonprofit in 2019, and held its first official in-person board meeting and membership meeting in 2020. Like the standards developed, PromoStandards has iterated and grown. The organization went from a version 1.0 organization at its inception to version 2.0 with official meetings. Now, PromoStandards is at the cusp of 3.0 as it continues to refine and expand its standards based on industry feedback. Know Your Starting Point Anyone who’s traveled knows that to understand where you are going, you need to understand where you’ve been. Otherwise, it’s difficult to determine if you’re on the right track. The starting point serves as a reference throughout your journey, allowing you to gauge the distance covered so far and forecast the time it will take to reach the next milestone. Looking back, it’s amazing what PromoStandards has accomplished. It’s been a remarkable journey. Our future looks equally amazing. There are more great things to come. Travel to the Tech Summit Make it a point to travel to the 2024 Tech Summit. It features three days of education tracts. Attendees will learn about PromoStandards integrations and industry-relevant technology, and have ample opportunity to network with industry peers. We look forward to seeing you there!
