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OUR HISTORY
We take great pride in continuing our commitment to you and your community
Irving Taxel, Founder
Nelson Taxel, CEO
In 1947, Irving Taxel founded Positive Promotions in New York City. Originally named National Dealers Service, this cutting-edge printing company specialized in creating custom slide guides for large businesses, a product that took difficult information and transformed it into a unique and simple format. But Irving, nicknamed "Observing Irving", soon realized that custom slide guides were just the tip of the iceberg for this new endeavor. The design could be useful for a wealth of stock subjects related to many industries big and small. Armed with this new direction, National Dealers Service became a publishing company.
As Americans started focusing on the metric system in the 1970s, Irving saw a golden opportunity for his slide guides. They were positively perfect for showing how to convert the present measuring system to metrics. Far ahead of his time, Irving then developed a whole line of metric-themed promotional products. Many companies shared his enthusiasm and National Dealers Service was on its way, supplying metric conversion slide guides as promotional products to a wide array of industries. Not long after, the company crafted a variety of other promotional products, including first aid charts, car mileage finders, drug information guides, and wedding planners.
In 1976, Irving's son Nelson joined the firm and was assigned to find new slide guides to produce in the Brooklyn, NY plant. With his strong belief in the growing potential of slide guides, Nelson sought out Madison Avenue's best designers and writers, teaming them up with experts in multiple educational fields. This assured customers that the now-monthly slide guides were both spectacularly designed and highly accurate. As Nelson expected, the stylish graphic appeal and educational value made these slide guides "keepers". The new initiatives were greatly supported by both old and new customers, and the company changed its name to Promotional Slideguide. Two historical examples of these slide guides, dating back to 1969 and 1977, can be viewed on the Smithsonian Institution's website.
But expanding the slideguide line wasn't enough for the Taxels. In 1985, Irving, inspired by British historian Arnold J. Toynbee, said the company needed to take a long overland voyage. It had to build on its strength, which was helping people lead better lives. Working with a consulting group, the company took a new name to fit this direction: "Positive Promotions." It also started focusing on areas where the combination of educational and promotional components could have the greatest impact. And once it started down that road, Positive Promotions had found its niche.
Since then, with more than 75 years under our belts, Positive has grown with the times to become more and more market-driven and diversified:
• We listened to our customers needs by creating "Recognition" products, a direct result of their requests for products to honor individuals and teams who help them do their work.
• We design products for a specific cause. By combining products with educational or promotional programs, Positive gives customers everything they need to promote their message in the community.
• We create products specifically for kids, including hundreds of children's activities books, bookmarks, stickers, and other educational tools that kids of all ages and grade levels think are "cool."
Today, the goal of Positive Promotions continues to be helping customers put together great campaigns and promotional events. We're constantly improving old programs and creating new ones, with a team of dedicated experts and support staff. As our history continues to unfold, Positive continues to develop more distinctive products that create awareness, educate, promote, and inspire.