Counselor® Second Annual Best Places to Work Survey Indicates Higher Morale at Industry Firms

TREVOSE, PA – July 14, 2009 – Advertising Specialty Institute^®, the largest media and marketing organization serving the advertising specialty industry, announced today that results of Counselor magazine’s second annual Best Places to Work survey indicated higher morale at industry firms.

In fact, employees at industry firms gave such high marks to their companies this year, that Counselor expanded its Best Places to Work list from 50 top companies to 60.

“We were initially surprised to find that employee morale in the industry is so high in these more challenging economic times,” said Melinda Ligos, editor-in-chief for ASI.  “While many firms have had to undergo staff reductions, it’s obvious that the employees who have remained feel valued and are confident in their company’s leadership.”

The companies highlighted are coming up with innovative strategies for motivating their employees and keeping morale high during a difficult economy.  Some are offering more generous 401(k) packages and benefit plans, and others are providing creative and engaging programs.  One company, for instance, has a “fun time committee” that regularly plans unique corporate outings, including golf contests, themed luncheons, local concerts and picnics.  Another company has a big Halloween party, where every employee gets dressed up in costumes for a memorable event that is talked about year-round.
 
“It’s impressive that these companies are taking the time to think about motivation and ways they can keep employee morale up,” Ligos says.  “Also, this is a group of companies that’s coming up with creative ways to consistently communicate with their employees — that’s something that’s vital to ensuring staffers are satisfied with their place of work.”
 
The top 60 companies include:

14 West LLC, asi/197092	Genumark Promotional Merchandise Inc., asi/204588	Metromedia Marketing Ltd., asi/268940
Absorbent, Ink., asi/295819	Gifts By Design, Inc., asi/205947	Mid-Nite Snax, asi/71685
Albrecht & Co., asi/116308	GO USA, Inc., asi/208784	Motivators, Inc., asi/277780
Bag Makers, asi/37940	HALO/Lee Wayne, asi/356000	NewClients, Inc., asi/282470
BamBams LLC, asi/38228	HDS Marketing, Inc., asi/216807	Overture Premiums & Promotions, asi/288437
Bluegrass Promotional Marketing, asi/141964	iClick, asi/62124	Pingline, asi/78137
Bob Lilly Professional Promotions, asi/254138	Identification Services/Halls and Company, asi/59080	Pinnacle Designs, asi/78140
Boundless Network, asi/143717	Identity Marketing, asi/229857	Proforma, asi/300094
BrandVia Alliance, Inc., asi/145037	Image Source, asi/230121	PromoShop, Inc., asi/300446
Bullpen Marketing, asi/150076	Immediate Sales Agency, asi/230189	SanMar Corporation, asi/84863
Cavanaugh Marketing Network, asi/159262	Indoff, asi/231011	SnugZ USA, asi/88060
Chamberlain Marketing Group, asi/160501	iPROMOTEu, asi/232119	Sonoma Promotional Solutions, asi/88188
Creative Concepts, asi/170480	JH Specialty, Inc., asi/232445	Sunrise Identity, LLC, asi/339206
Crystal D, asi/47759	Kaeser & Blair, Inc., asi/238600	The Book Company, asi/41010
CSE (Caliendo-Savio Enterprises, Inc.), asi/155807	LW Barrett Co., Inc., asi/133000	The Icebox, asi/229395
CustomInk, LLC, asi/173408	Leashables by Oralabs, asi/66715	The Vernon Company, asi/351700
Dacasso, asi/48125	LogoVision, LLC, asi/255309	Tic Toc, asi/158990
Devara, asi/49470	MadeToOrder, Inc., asi/259540	Touchstone Merchandise Group, asi/345631
eCompanyStore, asi/185782	Magna-Tel Inc., asi/68480	Tri-Mountain/Mountain Gear Corp., asi/92125
Gemline, asi/56070	MediaTree, asi/70303	Walker-Clay, Inc., asi/354530

The survey is conducted by an independent firm, Quantum Market Research, Inc., which manages a comprehensive qualification program for industry companies nominated for the contest.  Quantum surveyed staffers at each participating company to determine how employees rated their employer in 10 different areas, including “team effectiveness” and “trust in senior leaders.”

Final rankings among the top companies, including the number-one firm, will be announced in the September issue of Counselor, where ASI members can learn what ideas leading industry employers are putting into motion to increase staff retention, satisfaction, productivity, creativity and sales performance.

To advertise in the Best Places to Work issue, contact Ed Koehler, associate publisher, at [email protected].  Each surveyed company that advertises in the issue will receive a detailed report with survey results for that firm.  To subscribe to Counselor, click here.

About ASI 
Advertising Specialty Institute is the largest media and marketing organization serving the advertising specialty industry, with a membership of over 26,000 distributor firms (sellers) and supplier firms (manufacturers) of advertising specialties.  Supplier firms use ASI print and electronic resources to market products to over 22,000 ASI distributor firms.  Distributor firms use ASI print and electronic resources, which contain nearly every product in the industry from more than 3,500 reputable suppliers, to locate supplier firms and to market services to buyers.  ASI provides catalogs, information directories, newsletters, magazines, websites and databases, and offers e-commerce, marketing and selling tools.  Visit asicentral.com