Traditional promotional products’ return to prominence in December 2020 wasn’t a fluke.

In January 2021, “pens” and “mugs” remained the most searched terms in ESP, ASI’s database of products from around the promo industry.

An encouraging sign for promo’s recovery, industry staples like “coffee mug” and “tumbler” remained in the top 10 search terms. “Water bottle” jumped from 10th place to fourth place, experiencing a 103% increase in searches from December to January. “Tote bags” returned to the top 10 for the first time since October, while “lanyards” made their return for the first time since August.

“The more things change, the more they return to what we all knew prior to March of 2020,” said Nathaniel Kucsma, ASI’s executive director of research and corporate marketing. “Traditional promo is making strong inroads, signaling the continuing strengthening of our industry.”

Even so, there’s still strong demand for personal protective equipment (PPE), which accounted for 29% of all industry sales in 2020. “Face masks,” “mask” and “hand sanitizer” remained in the top 10 ESP searches for January. Furthermore, each saw an increase in searches: 20% for “face masks,” 12% for “mask” and 41% for “hand sanitizer.”

As distributors look for ways to drum up business in Q1, Valentine’s Day searches jumped 375% from December to January. Products for summer also received a boost, as “beach towel” and “sunglasses” increased 206% and 125%, respectively. And with the current industry-wide issue of skyrocketing shipping container costs and rising raw material prices, it makes sense that searches for “Made in USA” were up 178%.

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