ASI® Launches ESP Online Upgrade

New Confirmed Supplier Data, Improved Product Images and Ability for Suppliers to Update Information Directly

TREVOSE, PA – July 23, 2008 – Advertising Specialty Institute®, the largest media and marketing organization serving the advertising specialty industry, today launched an ESP Online™ upgrade to provide new confirmed supplier data, sharply improved product images and the ability for suppliers to update information directly.   

The announcement was made during the first exhibition day of ASI Chicago.  The show is the largest and only summer industry trade show in the Midwest and happens at McCormick Place from July 22–24.

The new confirmed product data feature provides an additional measure to ensure data accuracy in ESP Online.  With the latest upgrade, products that are confirmed by suppliers will be clearly marked in ESP Online with a distinguishing logo, providing distributors and their end-buyers with an additional level of confidence.  To-date, over 2,000 suppliers have confirmed their entire product lines with ASI.

The release also features new capabilities that allow distributors to find products faster by selecting searches based upon confirmed data status, supplier ratings and new products.  The new products search answers one of the most common end-buyer requests, by returning only products that are new to the industry or new to a supplier within the last six months.

This upgrade also provides enhanced product images in ESP Online.  A new graphics process takes ESP Online’s best-in-class image quality even further, producing higher resolution and providing 95% of all product images with solid white backgrounds.  The images allow distributors to create professional presentations, impressing clients and prospects and enhancing their own branding.  ESP Online’s premium virtual sample tool, powered by Technologo™, has also been improved to include new screen designs and a cleaner look and feel.

“With the industry experiencing big pricing changes, no one else has the resources to stay on top of the changes like ASI does,” said Timothy M. Andrews, president and chief executive officer of ASI.  “We have 70 data experts confirming pricing and product data, which helps distributors build confidence with their customers.  ESP Online’s image quality is second-to-none, our improved searching will save time and virtual samples will continue to impress clients.  The bottom line is that your sales will increase when you use ESP Online.”

In addition, ASI has also upgraded ESP Online for suppliers to enable suppliers to upload product images, copy products to easily create new entries, and track the status of updates as they are being completed.  Suppliers can confirm, modify and input their product data directly into ESP Online.  

For suppliers who are subscribers to ASI CreditConnect, ESP Online now has an automatic log-in option that allows them to log-in to both programs at the same time.  Also, a new media statistics report is available, showing how many exposures a company receives through ESP Online and other ASI media.  

ASI invests over $2.5 million in data collection, quality assurance and self-administered supplier data confirmation tools.  The extensive investment in data collection has ensured that over 3,400 supplier catalogs are current for 2008 and that no catalogs older than 2007 are in ESP Online or any other ASI product or service. 

ESP Online has more than 32,000 users, including 100% of the Counselor® Top 40 Distributors™.  It allows distributors to search for nearly every product in the industry from over 3,500 reputable ASI suppliers.  More than 100,000 product and supplier searches are returned in ESP Online each day. 

To learn more about the ESP Online upgrade and for a free demo, visit www.uat-asicentral.com/esp or contact Dave Russo, executive director for distributor services, at [email protected].

About ASI
Advertising Specialty Institute is the largest media and marketing organization serving the advertising specialty industry, with a membership of over 25,000 distributor firms (sellers) and supplier firms (manufacturers) of advertising specialties.  Supplier firms use ASI print and electronic resources to market products to over 21,000 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 www.uat-asicentral.com.