WBENC Conference Recap: Highlights from GAP's First Time Exhibiting!

The GAP Team had a whirlwind week at the 2014 WBENC National Conference & Business Fair in Philadelphia. As a first time exhibitor, GAP shared the floor with companies both large and small, such as Disney, UPS, Dell, Coca-Cola, Walmart, and IBM. Our booth demonstrated some of our most successful items in the field, as well as corporate gifts and incentives from our “Made in America” program. Many attendees of the event will remember our 4th of July sunglasses we handed out to prepare for the Fourth, as they were a huge hit!

GAP kicked the week off at the “WBEs Who Rock” cocktail party, where GAP’s President, Gayle Piraino, was a finalist for the “WBEs Who Rock” award. The GAP Team celebrated this honor and took in the beautiful views from the top floor of the Loews Hotel.

The following day, the Business Fair was in full gear. Eager conference-goers flooded GAP’s booth and the excitement could be felt in the air. Our team chatted with attendees and fellow exhibitors and met many new faces throughout the course of the day. The GAP Team identified many new potential business opportunities, which we are excited to start exploring!

The conference mainly focused on the importance of diversity suppliers, and how being a women-owned business can leverage our company to working with companies who are interested in partnering with minority businesses. The conference also offered many great workshops and well-known speakers, such as the Governor of Pennsylvania, joined by his wife, who lead a great speech about the importance of women-owned businesses.

GAP continued their journey in Philly by attending a party at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, sponsored by none other than long-time GAP client MillerCoors. With live music, dancing, and great company, the event was a huge success. 

Take a look at some highlights from the trip:

For additional pictures from the event, please check out our social media accounts: @gappromo on Instagram, @GAP_Promotions on Twitter, and our Facebook and LinkedIn pages.

Thank You For Making Business After Hours A Huge Success!

GAP held a Business After Hours event this past Wednesday night for the Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce. It was a huge success; over 75 people were in attendance. 

Members of the Cape Ann Big Band played while guests enjoyed food and drinks from local companies, such as: Virgilio’s, Cape Ann Brewing Company, Sticky Fingers, Giuseppe’s, La Trattoria, The Common Crow, Willow Rest, The Cave, Cape Ann Coffees and Seabreeze Liquors.  

GAP worked with Seaside Graphics to provide T-shirts to promote the new Cape Ann license plate, which showcased the winning design as decided by the Cape Ann community.

To purchase a license plate please visit: http://capeannchamber.com/wp-content/uploads/APPLICATION.pdf

Check out some highlights from the night!

Get to Know GAP: What's on Netflix?

At GAP Promotions, we pride ourselves on having a fun and creative work environment and an amazing team. We want to share a little of that with you. Starting today, we have a new feature called "Get to Know GAP" where we will be giving you an inside look at the interests and lives of the members of the GAP team. To kick things off, we started simple and asked a few members of the team what they are currently watching on Netflix. Some of their answers may surprise you!

Erin Murray – Associate Account Executive

Scandal – "It's super addicting and I am obsessed with Olivia Pope and her clothes."

Friday Night Lights – "I didn't watch it when it was on TV, so I binge watched it recently and loved every second of it."

Andrew Buonfiglio – Senior Graphic Designer

Star Trek: The Next Generation – "I want to be Patrick Stewart when I grow up."

Sherlock – "The BBC show, not the movie with Robert Downey, Jr. Not that I have anything against RDJ, but this show is better than the movie."

Allison Muccini – Associate Account Executive

Twin Peaks – "Suggested by a friend and I love murder mysteries. Takes place in the 70s. Corny, but intriguing."

Orange is the New Black – "I heard great things about the writer, Jenji Kohan. It's unique and unlike any other shows I've watched. I'm excited for Season 2!"

Pat Vaughn – Senior Graphic Designer

LOST – "I'm not currently watching it, but I will always recommend this show to anyone and everyone. Be warned: you will be sucked into a black hole of binge watching after you watch just the first four episodes. Best show ever."

Buffy the Vampire Slayer – "My girlfriend loves this show and I never thought I'd like it, but it started getting pretty enjoyable around Season 3. If you're thinking about watching it, just stick with it. It gets a lot better."

GRILLING SEASON IS ON!

by Pat Vaughn

Summer is finally within our reach! After such a tough winter and a rainy spring, most of us in New England are beyond happy to celebrate the unofficial start of the summer this weekend. Although Memorial Day does not actually mark the beginning of summer, the team at GAP considers it to be the start of something tastier: grilling season. To ensure that your grilling season is fired up right, we have some fantastic food and drink ideas that are perfect for your summer barbecue.

Summer seasonal craft beers are always a huge hit at outdoor events, and a prominent trend this year is session IPAs. These are beers with large flavor profiles and ABVs commonly lower than 5%, which pairs well with many warm-weather summer activities. Give Founders All Day IPA or Notch Left of the Dial IPA a try.

Grilling season is also the perfect time to crack open a refreshing shandy, which is traditionally beer mixed with lemonade. Over the last few years, many breweries have developed their own versions of shandy as the style has increased immensely in popularity. Be sure to grab the quintessential Summer Shandy by Leinenkugel’s, or give the new Narragansett Del’s Shandy a taste.

Beers aren’t just for drinking. Draft Magazine has a recipe for beer barbecue sauce (seen below), which is a delicious addition to your cookout, whether you’re grilling chicken, beef, or pork. Use an amber ale (Fat Tire) for chicken, a porter (Stone Smoked Porter) for beef, and a fruity wheat beer (Wachusett Blueberry Ale) for pork. Save the remainder of the beer for enjoying with your delicious concoctions. And don't forget to use the proper tools for the job! Check out GAP's handy Barbecue Tool Set:

While Memorial Day does mark the triumphant return to beautiful weather and spending time outside with friends and family, it’s mainly a day to remember and honor the men and women who have died protecting our country. Enjoy the holiday and be sure to appreciate the soldiers who have made this all possible.

Beer Barbecue Sauce

1 tablespoon olive oil
1/3 cup chopped onion
2 tablespoons garlic
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 cups ketchup
2 tablespoons honey Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon molasses
1 tablespoon brown sugar
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
1/3 teaspoon hot sauce, or to taste
1 cup beer of choice

Instructions:

In a sauce pot over medium-high heat, add the oil, onion, and garlic; cook until the onions begin to soften, about 4 minutes. Add the Worcestershire sauce, ketchup, honey Dijon, molasses, brown sugar, salt, pepper and hot sauce; bring to a boil, then simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove the sauce from heat and add the beer. For a smoother sauce, strain out the onions or pulse in a blender.

[CraftBeer.com]

71st Annual WSWA Convention Wrap-Up: "Honey, I Shrunk the Display Racks"

The WSWA Convention in Vegas never disappoints and this year was no different. The GAP team returned to Gloucester more inspired than ever after three days of conversations with old friends and new, exciting brand innovation, and amazing opening-night cocktails featuring sponsors Heaven Hill, Florida Caribbean Distillers, Sazerac, and Proximo. With guest speakers like real-life Wolf of Wall Street, Jordan Belfort, and Captain Richard Phillips, who survived being hijacked by Somali pirates, this was a WSWA Convention for the record books.

The WSWA Convention is a premier event bringing together key distillers and wineries with exciting beverage brands along with other leading product and service providers within the industry. This was GAP’s fourth year as an exhibitor. And, for the first time, GAP was also a proud sponsor of the Convention. As always, our booth was a showplace for our latest innovative promotional items and custom displays and we were thrilled to connect there with old friends and to share what we do with new acquaintances.

GAP's Booth

In advance of the show, we wrestled with which of our award-winning display racks to bring to the sponsor hall. We ultimately called on the magic of Vegas (actually, one of our amazing partners) to shrink them down so we could bring a whole lot of them. These ‘miniature’ versions of some of our most successful displays were presented in a glass case, providing an amazing opportunity for us to share the creativity and diversity of our work. 

GAP's Display Case

In the spirit of market research, the GAP team experienced some of the emerging products in the wine and spirits industry, including cinnamon flavored whiskey and many new types and brands of vodka. Cinnamon flavored whiskey is huge right now, thanks to the success of Fireball, and many new brands are capitalizing on its popularity. In the vodka world, brands continue to differentiate themselves with interesting, new flavors and innovative packaging.

We also had the opportunity to visit several of our clients’ suites to sample some of their exciting new products and to gather additional insight into their marketing efforts. Some of our clients who participated in the conference were: Heaven Hill Distilleries, Phillips Distilling Company, Tito’s Handmade Vodka, Florida Caribbean, and Imperial Brands.

And, two of our clients’ “hot” brands were amongst the award winners! Heaven Hill brought home a “Gold Medal” for Cinerator whiskey and Phillips Distilling Company won a gold for their latest UV brand launch – Sriracha

As a bonus, GAP team members Erica Nee and Nick Nappi appeared on this year's schedule of events (seen below). We look forward to seeing you all at next year’s show!

Erica and Nick!

Top 5 Food Trends of 2014

by Caitlyn Berns

In the promotions business, it is obviously important to have a solid understanding of trends in the promotions industry. At GAP, we believe that deep knowledge of the industries in which our clients compete is equally important. We continuously look for opportunities to learn about the key trends facing our clients at trade shows, during client meetings, and through an array of trade publications. We focus much of our research in food and beverage promotions, and thought we’d share some insights into the Top 5 Food Industry Trends for 2014.

1. Promoting Product Quality

Consumers are showing greater interest in knowing where the food they eat is coming from. Food producers are starting to highlight the origins of their products and ingredients in order to regain customer confidence. Consumers are interested in socially responsible food products and are looking for terms such as “free-range poultry,” “natural,” “organic,” and “locally grown,” among others. These labels instill trust in many food products and often allow companies to command premium prices for their products.

2. Sustainability

Many consumers are also looking for products from eco-friendly companies. Men and women are equally likely to consider sustainability as a factor when making food-purchasing decisions. They are also equally likely to pay more for local food options. Millennials, ages 18 to 24, are more interested in purchasing food from companies that support a social issue and/or charity. The number of restaurants offering sustainable menu items has grown more than 34% since 2011, and sustainable menu items are up more than 75% for that same time period. Food manufacturers which produce items in eco-friendly packaging have also gained market share over competitors.

3. Social Media Marketing

Through the use of social media, trendy, high-quality and unique products that would historically have reached only small niche segments have been able to gain much braoder audiences. Using social media to create a customer experience that supports the sharing of opinions on products really helps food companies appeal to consumers.

4. Nutrition Initiatives

Enhanced attention to nutrition is key to improving public health. Some have found that Americans are willing to sacrifice variety and even pay more to eat healthy. Many food and beverage companies are are capitalizing on this trend by offering more nutritious food and beverage choices.

5. Healthier Food Options for Kids

The National Restaurant Association has launched the Kids LiveWell program, which helps parents and children select healthy menu options through a mobile app.

The food industry continues to target children while also attempting to appeal to parents. Using characters that kids love in packaging encourage children to ask for a product. Incorporating keywords such as “natural” and “organic” increases product appeal to parents. Parents are also interested in whatever might help them better organize meal planning and shopping. Food companies can utilize promotional giveaways designed to assist parents in these areas while growing brand awareness and brand loyalty.

Sources:

[National Restaurant Association]

[QSRWeb] [QSRWeb]

[SpecialtyFood.com] [SpecialtyFood.com] [SpecialtyFood.com]

[PR Newswire]

10 Interesting Facts About the 2014 Winter Olympics

The 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics have finally arrived after months of hype and preparation in Sochi, Russia. These are the 22nd Winter Olympic games since the games started in 1924. Competition officially starts today, February 6, with alpine skiing and snowboarding events. The Opening Ceremony will be held on Friday; the first time in 30 years that events are starting before the Opening Ceremony.

To celebrate the winter tradition that comes once every four years, here are some interesting facts about the Sochi Winter Olympics:

1. There are 2,871 athletes competing from 87 National Olympic Committees.
2. This is the first year that Dominica, Zimbabwe, Malta, Paraguay, Togo, Tonga, and East Timor are competing in the Winter Olympics.
3. There will be 98 gold medals presented throughout 16 days of competition.
4. There are 15 sports featured at the Winter Olympics, including: alpine skiing, biathlon, bobsleigh, cross-country skiing, curling, figure skating, freestyle skiing, ice hockey, luge, Nordic combined, short track speed skating, skeleton, ski jumping, snowboarding, and speed skating.
5. There are 12 new events debuting at the Sochi Winter Olympics, including: ski halfpipe (men and women), ski slopestyle (men and women), snowboard slopestyle (men and women), snowboard parallel slalom, women’s ski jumping, biathlon mixed relay, figure skating team event, and luge team relay.
6. After a 12-year absence, Jamaica will return to the two-man bobsledding event.
7. This was the first torch relay to occur partially in space. Two cosmonauts took it for a space walk on the International Space Station.
8. The United States won 37 medals in the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics (9 Gold, 15 Silver, and 13 Bronze).
9. Norway has won the most medals since the Winter Olympics started; 303 to be exact.
10. The United States is the only country to earn a Gold Medal at each of the winter games.

And if that wasn’t enough, click here to see all the brand new arenas that were built for the 2014 Winter Olympics. If you're feeling nostalgic, here are all the official logos from each of the past winter games.

Go Team USA!

[BBC] [NBC] [Wiki] [NBC Bay Area] [BuzzFeed]