ASI® Announces 2008 Counselor Distributor Choice Awards Winners

Over 30 Suppliers Named Best-in-Class by Distributors

TREVOSE, PA – January 4, 2008 – Advertising Specialty Institute®, the largest media and marketing organization serving the advertising specialty industry, announced today the winners of the 2008 Counselor Distributor Choice Awards.

The popular awards recognized the most-valued ASI suppliers in 42 product categories, as determined by ASI supplier performance ratings and votes cast by ASI distributor peers.  Over 230 finalists were recognized and 33 suppliers named winners at a ceremony at the ASI Show!® in Orlando. 

“These awards are highly-anticipated, because winners are selected by distributors,” said Timothy M. Andrews, president and chief executive officer of ASI.  “There were 40% more finalists this year versus last – an increase that indicates a solid turnout of distributor voters, the addition of new product categories and a healthy industry.”

To qualify for an award, finalists had to achieve an overall supplier performance rating of four stars or higher, have a minimum of 100 transactions reported, have been nominated in an award category that represents 5% or more of their product line, and have been rated by at least 40 distributors.

The Supplier of the Year award, the honor that recognizes the best overall results from all votes received, was presented to Journalbooks/Timeplanner Calendars.   

“Congratulations to JournalBooks/Timeplanner Calendars,” continued Andrews.  “JournalBooks has consistently outperformed its peers in the ASI Supplier Performance Ratings and has received the best overall rankings out of the winning companies.  I wish them continued success with ASI distributors.”

Eight new product categories were added for 2008, including:  environmentally-friendly, non-mechanical fans, greeting cards, journals and diaries, mousepads, picture frames, toys and decorated wearables.

For the complete list of winners and finalists, and to view photos from the awards ceremony, visit www.asicentral.com/dcawards.  For more information, contact Rich Fairfield, senior vice president and publisher for ASI, at [email protected].

About ASI
Advertising Specialty Institute is the largest media and marketing organization serving the advertising specialty industry, with a membership of 24,000 distributor firms (sellers) and supplier firms (manufacturers) of advertising specialties.  Supplier firms use ASI print and electronic resources to market products to more than 20,000 ASI distributor firms.  Distributor firms use ASI print and electronic resources, which contain nearly every product in the industry from over 3,500 reputable suppliers, to locate supplier firms and to market services to buyers.  ASI provides catalogs, informational directories, newsletters, magazines, websites and databases, and offers interactive e-commerce, marketing and selling tools.