Whilst many business people may not necessarily ‘purloin’ free pens at every given opportunity, a vast majority are capitalising on millions of items of promotional merchandise that are either given to them or freely available, provided by brands and organisations as an integral part of their marketing activities. New survey evidence has shown that almost 9 out of 10 business people had a ‘branded promotional pen’ on their desk.

With one week to go, the team at SC Marketplace are delighted that distributor registrations and pre-booked appointments are running at unprecedented levels. Over 1500 appointments are already booked, and history says that the week before the event sees a massive flurry in appointments being made.

Lance Sergeant Johnson Beharry VC, is the first living recipient of the Victoria Cross in more than 30 years, and he will be talking at SC Marketplace about his inspirational life experiences and how he faced unimaginable enormous challenges.

Both sides of the YES and NO debate for Scottish independence have turned to promotional merchandise to push their message out to voters, which is clearly visible around Scotland and is surrounded with flags, badges and stickers on public display.

Alex Salmond, David Cameron and Alistair Darling were just some of the MPs sent the perfect promotional product to help confirm their support for the YES and NO Scottish referendum campaign. The double-sided highlighter is in red for the UK and NO, and blue for Scotland and YES, and was created by PPW to gauge public interest in the referendum and show which way people plan to cast their vote.

Itself still an innovation at last year’s PSI, the PSI FIRST campaign will now become an exclusive platform for premieres for the second time from 7 to 9 January 2015. Fifty companies will introduce their new promotional products for the very first time at the Leading European Trade Fair of the Promotional Products Industry in Düsseldorf – in front of a diverse trade audience, no less.