Fairfield County businesses and nonprofits can’t buy enough coffee mugs, key chains, T-shirts, refrigerator magnets or other giveaway merchandise where they can put their brands in front of consumers, according to a promotional-product industry report.
The Bridgeport/Stamford market is No. 1 among the top 25 U.S. markets in per capita sales and distribution of promotional products, the Advertising Specialty Institute says.
The per-capita ranking is significant because at $100 million in promotional-item sales in 2009, Bridgeport/Stamford still comes out ahead of No. 2 Minneapolis/St. Paul, which had $316 million in sales; No. 3 Miami/Fort Lauderdale, $484 million; No. 7 Boston, $373 million; and No. 17 New York City, $1.2 billion.
The first-ever ranking is in the latest issue of ASI’s Counselor magazine.
“The list unveiled some surprising hot spots,” said Editor Andy Cohen. “While New York City is the advertising capital of the world, businesses in lots of unexpected places like Little Rock (Ark.) and Jacksonville (Fla.) are spending a lot of time promoting themselves using promotional products.”
Enabling Connecticut’s strong showing, Cohen said, is that U.S. banks and other financial services firms are the largest purchasers of promotional items, followed by health care providers.
Fairfield County is home to such financial-services firms as People’s United Financial and UBS.
Toss in Aetna, Cigna, UnitedHealth Group and Anthem Blue Cross of Connecticut, and the Connecticut market is flush with “swag” opportunities.
Cohen says the industry disdains the term “swag,” but understands that most consumers know their products that way.
Overall, promotional-product sales are showing a resurgence after dropping to $16 billion in 2009 from $19.8 billion in 2008, reflecting the economic slowdown. But sales for the first three months of this year are up 11 percent from a year earlier, Cohen said.
