ASI’s Counselor Names Best Places to Work in Promo Products Industry

Employees vote Alabama’s Concepts & Associates, Inc. number one in ad specialty industry

CHICAGO, IL – July 18, 2014 – The Advertising Specialty Institute^® (ASI) celebrated the most innovative and unique companies in the $20.5 billion ad specialty industry at the Counselor^® Best Places to Work conference in Chicago, naming Alabama-based Concepts & Associates, Inc. number one in the ad specialty industry.

Concepts & Associates, Inc., of Birmingham, was lauded by its employees for its helpful and tight-knit work force, thoughtful leadership, family environment and stellar hiring practices. The company was celebrated at a reception Thursday. To learn more about the company, click here.

Counselor magazine, the voice of the promotional products industry, is published by ASI. At Counselor’s one-day conference, a slate of speakers shared best practices and offered insightful advice on empowering employees while boosting productivity. Topics ranged from hot-button issues like health care to motivators like happy hours.

At the conference, ASI celebrated all 90 companies on Counselor magazine’s annual Best Places to Work list. The list is a mix of large and small, geographically diverse companies identified by an in-depth survey process. Counselor partnered with third-party research firm Quantum Workplace, which conducts Best Places to Work contests in numerous major cities.

“At ASI, a family-owned company that’s been in business over 50 years, we’re always trying to think outside the box – and this conference is a great way for all of us to share things we’ve done at our companies in a similar attempt to impact the culture,” said Timothy M. Andrews, president and CEO of ASI.

The top 10 Best Places to Work are:

• Concepts & Associates, Inc. of Birmingham, Alabama
• The Book Company of Delray Beach, Florida
• Bullpen Marketing of Houston Texas
• Proforma Albrecht & Co. of Milford, Ohio
• Custom Logos of San Diego, California
• Successories of Boca Raton, Florida
• Proforma of Independence, Ohio
• Talbot Marketing of London, Ontario
• Commotion Promotions of Phoenix, Arizona
• Corporate Imaging Concepts of Northbrook, Illinois

For the complete list of winning companies, click here. In September, Counselor will publish its annual Best Places to Work issue. Counselor magazine editors embarked on a cross-country tour in search of the industry’s best places to work, logging about 5,400 miles by car and plane in the span of five days. To read about the Counselor Best Places to Work Road Tour visit Counselormag.com/Roadtour.

ASI’s Best Places to Work conference took place after ASI Chicago, which ended Thursday at McCormick Place. The show attracted over 4,000 distributors and featured numerous Counselor Top 40 suppliers, along with over 100 exhibitors new to Chicago. The show is a big draw to entrepreneurs, CEOs and small-business owners located throughout the Midwest and beyond.