Is the term “distributor” outdated in the promotional products space? A recent article from the president and CEO of the Promotional Products Association, Dale Denham, suggests it is. The post in PPAI Media, and duplicated on LinkedIn, asserts that “the term distributor in our market vastly understates the work and the value added.”
Denham, in his PPAI role since last August, is working to re-shape the direction of the trade organization, announcing both a new mission and vision. “Be the voice and force to advance the Promotional Marketplace for the benefit of our community” is the new mission, and the vision is “Promotional Products are universally valued and essential to every brand.”
Denham provides some history of the term “distributor” in the article, explaining that it improved from “jobber” in 1963 when the Advertising Specialty National Association recognized the term. “Other changes in nomenclature have been key to the success and growth of our industry over the years. In 1992, we adopted the term promotional products instead of specialty advertising” Denham suggests, continuing, “PPAI itself has undergone three name changes since 1963 reflecting the changing markets, yet our industry distributors are still called distributors. ‘Supplier’ hasn’t changed during this time to reflect current value, either.”
As a former enterprise level client, my view was that the value PPAI represented to distributors wasn’t always clear. My perspective was that PPAI was really a supplier organization hosting events that distributors could pay to attend. Those events were a great place to go with our distributors of record as a guest — a chance to visit many suppliers at their booths under one roof while talking to them directly about opportunities in product development for our enterprise. End-user attendance at that point had to be strictly under the radar.
Fast forward to today and PPAI is introducing something that seems quite familiar. PPAI is using PromotionalProductsWork.com to host an online EXPO event exclusively for end-buyers invited by PPAI distributors where they can “explore the vast world of promotional products together, discovering top products, exciting trends, creative ideas and why promotional products are essential to every brand.” End-user events hosted by regionals and individual distributors have seen great success for some time.
When I first saw the “distributor is outdated” article, I thought PPAI might finally be recognizing that it’s not the term that’s outdated, but rather the whole traditional supplier/distributor/end-user model that has grown long in the tooth. The lines in the supply chain have been blurred for some time. Distributors have long been acting as suppliers in the enterprise customer relationship, having their own representatives lining up factory relationships and then acting as importers of record. It’s not been much of a secret for years, but then distributors competing with their suppliers with some customers makes for a dicey relationship while wanting them to act like partners with others. For my two cents, that recognition, and dealing with the reality that the best product safety responsibility is always driven by the end-user, would be more valuable than simply changing the terms of what we call companies in the promo space.
Speaking of the reality of dealing with distributors, you may remember that we talked previously here about the importance of Amazon’s third-party marketplace being labeled in a court case as a “distributor.” If the ruling sticks, Amazon would both be liable for defective products sold on its platform, and under closer scrutiny from the Consumer Product Safety Commission. In other words, the same standards that a distributor in the promo space are held to.
The CPSC and Amazon continue a battle started when the CPSC forced a recall of 24,000 faulty carbon monoxide detectors that fail to alarm, numerous children’s sleepwear garments that are in violation of the flammable fabric safety standard risking burn injuries to children, and nearly 400,000 hair dryers sold without the required immersion protection devices that protect consumers against shock and electrocution. The skirmish continued this month with Amazon seeking documents about the CPSC from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to help build its defense in the forced recall case. To bolster the credibility of the discovery request, Amazon pointed to GAO findings that previously the CPSC imposed timelines that did not account for differences among cases, failed to follow procedures to prioritize cases based on risk, did not follow through on giving compliance officers instructions on effectiveness checks, had faulty tracking of progress reports, and relied on a possibly incomplete effectiveness measure of correction rates.
The bottom line on all of this is that it’s much more than simply the nomenclature of what different businesses within the promotional space are called. It’s about what company is responsible for what, not the least of which is product safety. Consumers that form opinions about brands from the promotional products they receive should have a favorable reaction, and that comes best from products they know are safe. Suppliers, distributors, and end-buyers- however they line up in the supply chain- all share that responsibility.
Jeff Jacobs has been an expert in building brands and brand stewardship for 40 years, working in commercial television, Hollywood film and home video, publishing, and promotional brand merchandise. He’s a staunch advocate of consumer product safety and has a deep passion and belief regarding the issues surrounding compliance and corporate social responsibility. He retired as executive director of Quality Certification Alliance, the only non-profit dedicated to helping suppliers provide safe and compliant promotional products. Before that, he was director of brand merchandise for Michelin. Connect with Jeff on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, or read his latest musings on food, travel and social media on his personal blog jeffreypjacobs.com. Email jacobs.jeffreyp@gmail.com.