December marked the first time since the COVID-19 outbreak hit the United States that traditional promotional products – not personal protective equipment (PPE) – were the most searched terms in ESP, ASI’s database of products from around the promo industry.

An encouraging sign for promo’s recovery, mugs and pens occupied the top two search terms in ESP. Other industry staples like tumbler, blanket and water bottle also filled out the top 10. Meanwhile, face masks dropped to third place after eight months as the most searched term in ESP.

“It’s nice to have finished out the craziest year in my lifetime with a return to normalcy, at least a little bit,” said Nathaniel Kucsma, ASI’s executive director of research and corporate marketing. “Pens and mugs supplanted PPE and hand sanitizer at the top of the ESP keyword searches for the first time since the beginning of the year, signaling what will hopefully be a return to business as usual in 2021.”

Still, there’s no denying that PPE dominated the industry in 2020. Face mask and hand sanitizer were the top two most-searched terms in ESP for the year. In fact, six of the year’s top 20 search terms relate to face coverings – face mask, mask, neck gaiter, bandana, N95 mask and face shields.

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