A look back at 2008

Happy 2009!

Nobody could have predicted the amazing 12 months that have just transpired. And it's not easy to recap such a tumultuous year in just a few paragraphs, but your intrepid reporter will try:

• The year got off to an auspicious start in January when PPAI announced its agreement to buy ASI and delegate all trade show and publishing activities to it. This freed Steve Slagle, President of PPAI, to pursue his lifelong goal of building manufacturing capability in China and establishing PPAI as the preeminent supplier to the channel.
  
• Resellers were shocked in March when they got a letter from the CEO of Coach. The gist of the unprecedented communique was "we were just kidding--will you take us back?" Coach stock rises 13 points on the news that the B-to-B division was being reinstated. Paul Spitzberg, participating in the Multi-Million Dollar Aruba Poker Challenge, was unavailable for comment.
• The New New York Premium Show, Bar-B-Que and Smoker was moved to Madison Square Garden due to overwhelming demand. Longtime season ticket holders said the show was more entertaining than the Knicks, but they missed the opportunity to boo Isiah Thomas. Unfortunately, only 15 end-users showed up.
• Hinda bought Carlson in July. New Hinda VP Dave Peer said "I just missed the place--a part of me will always live in Minneapolis."
• In August, The Incentive Federation announced that the size of the Incentive Market exceeded $1 trillion for the first time. However, some skepticism was expressed at the methodology, which included the total sales of all companies that used incentives as well as the sales of companies selling them.
• The Chicago Motivation Show got a Title Sponsor--there was mixed reaction from attendees of the first Amazon.com Motivation Show. However, Amazon's decision to offer free inbound freight to all exhibitors was well received.
  
• In an upset of gargantuan proportions, Rick Blabolil was elected President--of the United States. In his endorsement speech, Democratic Nominee Barack Obama said "If I can't be President, I can think of no one more qualified than my fellow Illinoisian, the current President of IMA".
  
• Analysts credited support from the the $1.5 trillion Incentive Market to Blabolil's come-from-behind victory. "It's the Incentive Industry, stupid" was the rallying cry of the Blabolil campaign.
  
• The year ended with one final shocker--PPAI decided to buy IMA. Rumors persisted that IMA w0uld be shut down--yet another example of an acquiring company eliminating competition. As 2009 begins all IMA manufacturers are prohibited from selling end-users.

All in all, an amazing year. Back in January, who'd have thunk it?


Pete