By Charlie Laughtland
BDA blog editor

Make room, Internet. BDA, the world's leading merchandise agency, is blogging.

So what exactly is a merchandise agency? And why would anyone care what we have to say? Brand merchandise is one of the largest segbments of the advertising industry. Chances are you're already plenty familiar with it—whether it's the Starbucks coffee mug you're drinking out of or the Nike-branded apparel you're wearing. Look around—we live in a branded world!

The sluggish economy of the past few years has been especially felt in the advertising industry, but despite hardships, the promotional products industry is still humming. Even in 2009, the darkest year of the recession, companies spent more than $16 billion to imprint their logos in the minds of consumers through promotional merchandise.

As a promotional merchandise pioneer, the BDA team considers it our responsibility to voice our opinions, share our secrets, and weigh in on the hot topics shaping the industry.

We'll explore a variety of topics relating to the promotional merchandise industry, giving you a better idea of what goes on at BDA on a daily basis. Look for content that's informative, intriguing, and whenever possible, fun.

Expect contributions from every department. Specifically, you'll find:

• Commentary from our in-house experts
• Our take on industry news and notes
• Recaps of tradeshows and other events we attend
• Vendor Q&A
• Insight into current campaigns and new products
• Perhaps a sampling of staff antics
• This blog is your chance to peek behind the BDA curtain and see what makes us the industry leader in quality, creativity, supply chain management and customer service. And we'll show you ways to intelligently introduce merchandise into your campaigns.

As long as companies seek promotional products as tools to actively engage, reward and influence their customer base, you'll find the BDA team here providing our commentary and opinions. We're excited to engage and interact with other companies, clients and consumers in a brand new setting.