October 19, 2004, Trevose, PA – The Advertising Specialty Institute (ASI), the largest member organization serving the promotional products industry, announced today it has expanded its member services group to provide support in Spanish – the latest move in its comprehensive plan to better serve Hispanic constituencies nationwide.
In an effort to boost communication and business operations targeted toward customers who speak Spanish, ASI hired a Spanish-speaking professional to help members resolve concerns, to address both general and technical questions surrounding ASI’s computer-based services and to further explain and highlight the powerful features of ASI’s products.
“Creating this position is one more example of how ASI is responding to the dynamic U.S. marketplace and how it consistently creates value-added services for its members,” said Deb Crine, vice president of member services. “In addition, we now employ a Spanish-bilingual distributor sales associate, have translated several pages of the ASI website into Spanish and have included a Spanish-language option from our main phone line menu.”
Beginning in 2005, ASI will also be offering a class, entitled “Beyond Espanol: Effectively Reaching the Fastest-Growing Group in America,” at both its Dallas and Las Vegas
In addition, ASI will offer a new Spanish version of its popular end-buyer catalog, Logo Shop. Suppliers who currently advertise in Logo Shop will be featured in this new 2005 version at no charge.
Nearly 7,000 of 17,000 total ASI distributors currently operate in those areas of the country identified as having the greatest Hispanic population. ASI studies show that there are 150 Hispanic businesses for each ASI distributor within each of these designated areas nationwide and a total of over 14,000 Hispanic-owned firms in the U.S. that could become prospects for ASI members.
ASI continues to adapt to industry changes to serve its members more efficiently. For more information about its Hispanic outreach initiatives, contact Deb Crine at [email protected], or at 800-546-1350.
About ASI
Advertising Specialty Institute is the largest media organization serving the promotional products industry, with a membership of 20,000 distributors (sellers) and suppliers (manufacturers) of promotional products. Suppliers use ASI print and electronic resources to promote their products to more than 17,000 ASI distributors. Distributors use ASI print and electronic resources, which contain more than 700,000 promotional products, to locate supplier products and to promote their services to buyers of promotional products. ASI was founded in 1950 and employs a staff of 400. The company offers catalogs, informational directories, newsletters, magazines, websites and databases, and provides a variety of interactive e-commerce, marketing and selling tools. Visit www.asicentral.com.