According to the most recent data from the Advertising Specialty Institute, the promotional products industry hit $18.6 billion in sales in 2006, up 4.5% over 2005. This is the fourth consecutive year of gains, and promotional products beat overall advertising industry growth, which was 3.4% in 2006. That’s a lot of free stuff! Once again, promotional product spending was greater than ad spending on cable television, and almost twice as large as Internet display advertising (e.g., banner ads).