Canada Promo Market reached $3.5 billion for 2007

www.LenticularPromo.com, LANTOR,LTD. (asi/66260), is the leading 3D Lenticular Printing and products supplier at the promotional products industry. Canadian markets are big share of www.LenticularPromo.com 's sales. Lantor has learned that advertising specialty sales grow rapidly in Canada. But Lantor, Ltd also experienced economic slow down in both US and Canadian markets.

ASI publication Counselor PromoGram reported on June 24 that Promotional products revenue in Canada reached $3.5 billion for 2007, rising by 60% in the last four years, according to a study released last week by the Promotional Product Professionals of Canada. Figures from past studies in 2003 and 2000 indicate that sales have more than tripled in the industry since the turn of the decade. "One of the big things is our medium's being accepted," says Steve Levschuk, president and owner of Talbot Marketing (asi/341500), based in London, Ontario. "It's not just a giveaway. I think it's a line item on some of these large national advertiser's budgets now. It's not just an afterthought."

Suppliers and distributors in Canada say the success behind the numbers is no secret. Increased sophistication and expansion in the industry is fostering across-the-board growth. And the stability of the Canadian economy in the past few years has benefited all sectors, not just promotional products. "It's been doing well the last few years," says Superex Vice President Michael Gisser about Canada's economic prosperity. "That translates into growing sales."
This year, however, does not look as promising. Canada, like the U.S. And the rest of the world, has been plagued by economic troubles. Sales for both Superex and Talbot are down from 2007. "If the U.S. Sneezes, Canada catches a cold, is the popular expression," Gisser says. "There's no denying it. Our sales in Ontario are down, and I believe that's reflective of what's going on in the States."

SAAGNY And PPAI Terminate Promotions East Agreement

Lantor, Ltd. and www.Lenticularpromo.com, as a supplier member of PPAI (PPAI member 234581) and SAGNY, attended this year’s Promotions East Show in Atlantic City NJ. We have launched our New Lenticular Promotional Visor as the newest product addition to our Line of 3D Lenticular Promotional product lines.

Today, www.Lenticularpromo.com has learned PPAI and SAAGNY have ended their cooperation 1 year early than the original contact. According to ASI publication PROMOGram, the Specialty Advertising Association of Greater New York (SAAGNY) and Promotional Products Association International (PPAI) have announced that they have mutually agreed to terminate their collaborative management of SAAGNY's Promotions East trade show. The two sides agreed to end their partnership with one year left on the contract.
"The board just felt that they needed a different focus," said Walter Schatz, executive directory of SAAGNY, in an exclusive interview with Counselor this afternoon. "The board wants to focus on a show and event that they can control more of. The show has become smaller and what has happened is that the involvement of our volunteers was reduced to almost nonexistent and our organization is very much volunteer driven. There wasn't a role for them in that structure and we needed that focus back."
The most recent Promotions East show, held earlier this month in Atlantic City, attracted 3,500 attendees, which was down 17% from last year's 4,200 attendees. While Schatz says that SAAGNY will continue as a PPAI affiliate, the feel of the Promotions East show changed too much for members once PPAI became involved and took control of everything from marketing and advertising to sponsorships, group sales and logistics.
"It was a different experience for our folks and our attendees and our exhibitors, than we had in the past," says Schatz, whose own contract with SAAGNY runs until July 2009. "PPAI is very much staff driven with very little volunteer participation, while SAAGNY is very much volunteer driven with strong participation and a much more even distribution of responsibility," he says. "We just felt that volunteer commitment to the future of the show was critical."
In a statement, Steve Slagle, president and CEO of PPAI, said that he believes the Promotions East show is now in good enough shape for SAAGNY to operate it on its own. "PPAI and SAAGNY have put programs and systems in place that will allow SAAGNY to move forward on its own in delivering a positive show experience," he said. "We look forward to on-going participation in Promotions East and wish SAAGNY and all the co-sponsors of the show continued success."