Honk if you see promotional industry’s first moving billboard as it travels from CA to NJ
TREVOSE, PA – March 30, 2015 – Covered inside and out in a colorful array of promotional products, the ASI Promocar left California today, bound for a 2,700-mile journey across 12 states to drive attention to the $21.5 billion ad specialty industry.
The Advertising Specialty Institute® (ASI) created the moving billboard as part of a year-long ASI public relations campaign called “Driving Serious Fun,” designed to spread the word about the industry’s creativity and ingenuity.
The ASI Promocar (hashtag #ASIpromocar) is a 2002 Mazda Protégé that ASI employees covered inside and out with hundreds of promotional products donated by ASI suppliers, including logoed slinkys, zombie stress balls, cellphone holders, keychains, pens, car magnets, pinwheels, celebrity face cut-outs, USBs, badges, lanyards, can coolers, light-up ice cubes, T-shirts and flip-flops.
Anyone who sees the car and posts a pic during its eight-day trip with the hashtag can score a “Driving Serious Fun” T-shirt. Follow the car along the way through pics and blog posts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and on ASI’s website, www.asicentral.com.
“It’s been wonderful to see people have a little fun with the Promocar and to meet face-to-face to talk about the affordable, high-ROI products that fuel our industry,” said Timothy M. Andrews, president and chief executive officer of ASI. “At a time when we conduct so much business electronically, it’s great to get out of the office and hit the road – especially in a car that’s the epitome of ‘mobile’ advertising.”
Promotional products, aka ad specialties or giveaways, are logoed items like T-shirts, caps and pens that companies typically give away to promote their business, brand or event or to thank employees or clients. The industry has posted increasing sales the last 20 quarters and is growing at twice the rate of the U.S. economy.
The ASI Promocar departs Los Angles March 30 and will stop in Flagstaff, Arizona; Santa Fe, New Mexico; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Memphis, Tennessee; Asheville, North Carolina; and Floyd, Virginia before ending its trip in Stockton, New Jersey on or around April 8. The car will then return to ASI headquarters in Trevose, Pennsylvania.
To date, the Promocar has been on display at ASI trade shows in Chicago, Orlando and Long Beach, California, a three-day event that ended Thursday. May 5-6 it will be on display at the Javits Center at the ASI Show® New York. Everywhere it goes, people are invited inside to leave their impression by signing the interior.
The lightweight plastic and foam promotional items covering the car were securely adhered to the car with GE Silicone II glue. To date, the car has been driven nearly 2,000 miles, and is street legal.
Below are suppliers who donated items to the ASI Promocar:
About ASI
The Advertising Specialty Institute (ASI) is the largest media, marketing and education organization serving the promotional products industry, with a network of over 25,000 distributors and suppliers throughout North America. ASI leads the industry in technology solutions, providing cloud-based e-commerce, enterprise resource planning software (ERP) and customer relationship management software (CRM). ESP Web® is the industry’s leading tool for sourcing hundreds of thousands of products. A family-owned business since 1962, ASI also provides online research, marketing,advertising opportunities, trade shows, education, award-winning magazines, newsletters, custom websites and catalogs to help members sell, market and promote their brands. Visit ASI at www.asicentral.com and on Google+, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and the CEO’s blog.