More than 4.505 years of membership

The jubilarians of the PSI network remember many curious trade fair moments and the great solidarity within the promotional products family.

The oldest promotional products exhibited by the Museum of Promotional Articles at PSI date back 4,500 years to ancient Egypt. The jubilarians of the PSI network can easily keep up. Together they have 4505 years of membership. “Being part of a community means achieving common goals together more easily. We have achieved a lot in PSI to date and we clearly want to achieve even more,” said PSI Director Petra Lassahn at the ceremony on the first day of the trade fair.

30,000 ballpoint pens lost

Many of the long-standing members remember curious trade fair moments and incidents from the beginning of their own careers in the industry.

Manfred Huber from neue Produkte spontaneously lost 30,000 ballpoint pens that he had ordered for a customer. “During transport from Germany to Austria, the haulage company reported them as untraceable.” The writing instruments had barely been produced when the four pallets from the first delivery reappeared out of nowhere. 

Bernd Laarmann founded his company Bela-Werbung in 1972 as a garage business, which soon ran out of space. So a 500 square metre warehouse was built, but even there it soon became cramped. The new commercial hall had 2,000 square metres and was extended by another 500 square metres a little later. “Every day of this long development has given me great pleasure,” emphasises Bernd Laarmann and looks to the future with confidence.

Christoph Ruhrmann from Plan Concept looks back on 30 years of company history and PSI membership. “The year I joined, I was 23 and had no idea about printing or the industry. The only thing I knew back then was that I should definitely become a PSI member. It was the promotional products industry, so to speak.”

PSI premieres

Dirk Winterhoff from Winterhoff Werbung still vividly remembers his first visit to the trade fair more than 40 years ago. Back then, the exhibitors and retailers paid little attention to him as a newcomer. “Many of the ‘top dogs’ from back then have long since disappeared and I am personally very grateful to still be part of the large ‘promotional products family’ and this is anything but a matter of course in this day and age!” emphasises the entrepreneur. Based on his own experiences, he has made it his mission to consciously support the newcomers in the industry.

On his first visit to PSI, Falko Behncke travelled from Rostock in vain. Admission was only for members. So he took the admission requirements with him, made a detour to Düsseldorf’s old town and then travelled home. “But my interest was piqued.” He organised the necessary three letters of guarantee and applied for membership. “After 30 years, I look back and can say that I haven’t missed a single trade fair and that every visit has been worthwhile for me,” emphasises the head of FALCON Werbung & Produktion.

When Tobias Köckert from Mahlwerck Porzellan made his PSI debut, the product range was still manageable. “As a result, we simply had all the products on the stand ten times over. It worked, and it was not least through this channel that Mahlwerck became more and more established. For this reason, PSI is still an important platform for us.”

Prizes and heavy suitcases

Karin Dicke from Dicke & Partner remembers an industry award from eventful times. “We received the 2nd Campaign of the Year award from PSI for the RUHR 2010 – European Capital of Culture project.”

Patrizia Merlino from MERLINO PUBBLICITA’ SRL travelled home with heavy suitcases after one of her first PSI visits. “Back then, I didn’t know anything about the possibility of having catalogues sent to me. I’d rather not reveal the taxi driver’s face or the price of the extra weight at the airport.”

The PSI story of Gabriele Bühring – Werbemittel & Sonderanfertigungen began 50 years ago with welded shoe polish cases. “Today, thanks to PSI, we can look back on many great partnerships and contacts that we wouldn’t want to miss,” says Emre Aras.

Anniversaries 50 years

• August Hörmann e.K.

• Bela-Werbung Bernd Laarmann e.K.

• Bühler Promotion GmbH

• Dicke + Partner GmbH

• dom Polymer-Technik GmbH

• ESKESEN A/S

• Ets(n) Sobelma SPRL

• Karl Meisenbach GmbH & Co. KG

• Loha-Werbemittel AG

• TOGU GmbH

• Toppoint B.V.

Anniversaries 40 years

• Arno Rombach

• ARTOZ-PAPIER AG

• CECOP S.A.

• COURTEC S.A.

• DAN-Reklame A/S

• etc hauck gift packaging

• Geiger-Notes AG

• KM ZÜNDHOLZ INTERNATIONAL

• Lesmar Ltd

• MAGNA sweets GmbH

• MELAGO S.A.

• METRICA SPA

• PASCHEN GMBH

• Philipp Holle KG

• Raff Werbemittel GmbH & Co. KG

• Raiffeisen Switzerland Co-operative

• Ritilux S.A.

• RM schreiben + werben GmbH

• Russ Advertising

• Spontex industrial products – MAPA GmbH

• Tengler Match

• Thomas Derhaschnig e.U

• Walter Pauger Werbeartikel GmbH & Co. KG

• Walz GmbH & Co KG

• WER GmbH

• Winterhoff Advertising GmbH & Co. KG

Anniversaries 30 years

• 3PR Profil Project Promotiona AB

• Abakus Riesa Company for advertising material

• Abraham Dürninger & Co. GmbH – Textile printing

• Aleide – Innovations

• B&I ADVERTISING

• B&S Werbeservice GmbH

• BREMEL HANDELSHAUS GmbH

• Club Crawatte Crefeld GmbH

• DaloLindén Motala/Värnamo AB

• Dr Pfützner & Sohn Vertriebs-GmbH

• eitel plastic GmbH

• Equinox Concept SA

• EuroSCHIRM

• Falcon Advertising & Production

• Galaxi Reklam AB

• Heiner Möller Werbegeschenke GmbH

• HOLTSCH Medical Products GmbH

• Ines Amann

• Initial Incentives LTD

• Intraco Trading bv

• ipm Werbemittel GmbH

• KLEEN-TEX INDUSTRIES GMBH

• L.P. Westman & Co AB

• LSI-Reklam AB

• M & AD BVBA

• Magenta advertising material

• MAICA GmbH

• MAINOSLAHJA-TEAM OY

• Brand Creative Merchandise Limited

• MASGUANT, S. L.

• memo AG

• Merkur Werbemittel Sonnentag GmbH

• MOBAG

• new products

• P & S Porcelain

• Permatrend AG

• Petra Hampl

• Plan Concept GmbH

• Profilera I Sverige AB

• PROFO i Malmö AB

• ProMix Gifts KFT

• PROMO SERPENTIGRAFF, S.A.

• R + S Präsente e.K.

• Sachsen-Pen e.K.

• Schneider Schreibgeräte GmbH

• Sve Profilgaver AS

• Ten Kate Textiel B.V.

• Veloflex

• Vieider GmbH

• Werbemittel Rüppner GmbH & Co. KG

• WEWA Promotion GmbH

• Wizard GmbH

• WJ Business Partner AS

Anniversaries 25 years

• Aréka S.A.

• AS Werbemittelservice e.K.

• Aspects GmbH

• Baxevanidis SA

• BAXX PROMOTION A/S

• Bleckmann GmbH

• Bleckmann GmbH

• Brandon AB

• C.I.F.R.A., S.L.

• Company 4 Marketing Services GmbH

• comTeam AG

• The carrier bag AG by zhp

• DreiMeister Specialities GmbH & Co. KG

• ELITE Srl

• Fitzke Werbetechnik GmbH

• Hans Kniebes GmbH

• happyROSS GmbH

• HEF Group OY

• Heine Advertising

• Heinrich Sieber + Co. GmbH

• Holger Hardt GmbH

• House of Excellence P/S, House of Watches

• IDEA Werbewelt – Owner Elke Mühln

• idea-company

• Impliva B.V.

• INGLI SWEDEN

• Intermed Asia Ltd.

• KY Mediatuote-Mediaproduct RS kb

• LB-Advertising

• LKD 1992 d.o.o.

• M & S – the advertising team

• M.I.C.R. S.A.

• Mahlwerck Porzellan GmbH

• Merlino Pubblicità Srl

• M-Konzept GmbH

• Neuner Werbemittel & Versand GmbH & Co. KG

• Norsk Dekor A/S

• PROMOTION PETS GmbH

• Promowolsch GmbH & Co. KG

• Raisch Werbemittel GmbH

• RASTER R. NOWAK i S-KA SP.J.

• Repac Gesellschaft für Dienstleistung, Warenhandel und Logistik mbH

• reprom GmbH

• RHEINWALT GmbH

• RICOLOR MK-Haushaltswaren

• Solution GmbH

• Step Yazim Gerecleri Ve Kalip

• Success Promotion GmbH

• Tuapeka Gold Print Ltd

• Ulrich Ripkens Graph. Companies

• Advertising Material Müller GmbH

• Advertising material and gifts Elmar Schroers

• WOT! Promotions