{"id":2503,"date":"2016-06-06T13:38:16","date_gmt":"2016-06-06T13:38:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/asi2.wpenginepowered.com\/uncategorized\/new-asi-study-shows-what-buyers-and-end-users-really-think\/"},"modified":"2025-06-25T16:26:58","modified_gmt":"2025-06-25T20:26:58","slug":"new-asi-study-shows-what-buyers-and-end-users-really-think","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/asicentral.com\/press-releases\/new-asi-study-shows-what-buyers-and-end-users-really-think\/","title":{"rendered":"New ASI Study Shows What Buyers And End-Users Really Think"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>First study to tell suppliers and distributors if they&#8217;re delivering the right products<\/p>\n<p><strong>TREVOSE, PA \u2013 November 8, 2011 \u2013<\/strong>The Advertising Specialty Institute (ASI) today released a landmark study that documents the discrepancies in attitudes and opinions between buyers, sellers and end-users of promotional products.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDefining the Disconnect: An Analysis of Channel Beliefs vs. Customer Needs in the<br \/>\nAdvertising Specialty Industry\u201d was released at the fifth annual ASI Power Summit, an exclusive gathering in Dana Point, California, of more than 250 business leaders from around the globe.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is the very first industry study to cut through the clutter and tell suppliers and distributors straight out if they\u2019re delivering products end-users really want,\u201d said Timothy M. Andrews, president and chief executive officer of ASI. \u201cASI\u2019s detailed analysis lays out a plain case for paying attention to customers\u2019 wants and needs &#8211; rather than your own, sometimes misguided beliefs. At the same time, it points the way to new selling opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The most significant findings of the study show:<\/p>\n<ul type=\"disc\">\n<li><strong>Quality counts.<\/strong> Overall, distributors understate the importance of high-quality shirts to males. In fact, males have consistently higher expectations than females about the quality of promo products across each of the seven categories studied.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Generic rocks, too.<\/strong> Three-quarters of distributors and suppliers felt consumer-branded items were important for promo products, but just 32.3% of end-users and 41.3% of end-buyers agree, suggesting a major disconnect between their beliefs and those of industry members.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Give me canvas or give me &#8230; canvas.<\/strong> End-users and end-buyers overwhelmingly prefer canvas for bags\/totes (85.1% and 76.0%, respectively), with very little interest in any other type of material.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Color my world. <\/strong>Nearly everyone surveyed likes traditional colors such as black, blue and white. But ASI focus groups show teens and children prefer brighter, non-traditional T-shirt colors.<\/li>\n<li><strong>\u201cLike\u201d me.<\/strong> Contrary to what many suppliers and distributors think, end-users would take a survey (82.5%), go to a trade show booth (70.6%), take action on a social networking site (41.8%) or buy a gift with purchase (33.2%) to get freebies.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Decorate this.<\/strong> Newer forms of decoration, such as applique and garment printing, are much more popular among end-users than distributors think, presenting potential new sales opportunities for distributors and suppliers.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Image is important. <\/strong>While 30% of suppliers think the primary reason calendars are displayed is for advertiser contact info, only 1.3% of end-users agree.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The study compares opinions about ad specialty preferences and usage patterns from suppliers through to end-users. The study also examines overall opinions about ad specialties as well as specific product types: shirts, caps\/headwear, bags\/totes, writing instruments, mugs\/glasses, desk\/office\/business accessories and calendars.<\/p>\n<p>Key study takeaways include:<\/p>\n<ul type=\"disc\">\n<li><strong>Suppliers with consumer brands should emphasize product quality over brand name.<\/strong> For suppliers without consumer brands, messaging to distributors can be more about product parity and lack of end-user and end-buyer interest in many branded items.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Premium brands are expected to advertise on exceptional promotional products.<\/strong> Higher-quality items with potentially higher margins should be pitched by distributors to clients that have premium logos, like Lexus, Grey Goose or Harley-Davidson.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Distributors should showcase themselves as consultants<\/strong>, leading end-buyers to products preferred by end-users, such as students in the lucrative education market who prefer brighter colors.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Mugs and glassware items are used by end-buyers almost as much at home as at work.<\/strong> This means the design needs to withstand long-term use in an environment where decoration and style are key.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>ASI\u2019s research studies are the most influential in the industry\u2019s history, continuously cited throughout the B-to-B industry and across the advertising and marketing spectrum. To complete its research, ASI conducted a series of four focus groups of 60 end-users of promotional products. Then, ASI conducted a series of quantitative online studies among 544 end-users, 834 end-buyers, 582 distributors and 182 suppliers for a total of 2,142 participants.<\/p>\n<article><\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>First study to tell suppliers and distributors if they&#8217;re delivering the right products TREVOSE, PA \u2013 November 8, 2011 \u2013The&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":1482,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-press-releases"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.5 (Yoast SEO v27.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>New ASI Study Shows What Buyers And End-Users Really Think &#8226; ASI<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/asicentral.com\/press-releases\/new-asi-study-shows-what-buyers-and-end-users-really-think\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New ASI Study Shows What Buyers And End-Users Really Think\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"First study to tell suppliers and distributors if they&#8217;re delivering the right products TREVOSE, PA \u2013 November 8, 2011 \u2013The...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/asicentral.com\/press-releases\/new-asi-study-shows-what-buyers-and-end-users-really-think\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"ASI\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/adspecialtyinstitute\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"#\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-06-06T13:38:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-06-25T20:26:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/asicentral.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/asi-logo-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1218\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"663\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"jthies@asicentral.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@#\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@asicentral\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"jthies@asicentral.com\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/asicentral.com\\\/press-releases\\\/new-asi-study-shows-what-buyers-and-end-users-really-think\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/asicentral.com\\\/press-releases\\\/new-asi-study-shows-what-buyers-and-end-users-really-think\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"jthies@asicentral.com\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/asicentral.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8caad98d2bfb178b4abbfd8766c7932a\"},\"headline\":\"New ASI Study Shows What Buyers And End-Users Really Think\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-06-06T13:38:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-06-25T20:26:58+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/asicentral.com\\\/press-releases\\\/new-asi-study-shows-what-buyers-and-end-users-really-think\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":633,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/asicentral.com\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/asicentral.com\\\/press-releases\\\/new-asi-study-shows-what-buyers-and-end-users-really-think\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/asicentral.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/10\\\/asi-logo-1.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Press Releases\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/asicentral.com\\\/press-releases\\\/new-asi-study-shows-what-buyers-and-end-users-really-think\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/asicentral.com\\\/press-releases\\\/new-asi-study-shows-what-buyers-and-end-users-really-think\\\/\",\"name\":\"New ASI Study Shows What Buyers And End-Users Really Think &#8226; 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