November 04, 2019
Federal Bill Targeting Promo Products Industry Could Be Modified
It’s too soon to say how things will play out, but promo industry leaders are working with U.S. senators to mitigate impacts.
Leaders from the promotional products industry met Friday with staffers for U.S. Senators to hold discussions about a newly proposed bill that would likely, if enacted as written, have significant negative consequences for the ad specialty space. The upshot: It’s possible that the bill’s language could be modified to mitigate the impact to promo, though it’s too soon to say for sure.
Paul Bellantone, President/CEO of Promotional Products Association International (PPAI), and Stephanie Critchfield, vice president and national sales manager at Iowa-based Top 40 distributor The Vernon Company (asi/351700), met with a legislative aide for Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa.
Paul Bellantone, Stephanie Critchfield and Tyler Brown, a legislative aide for Sen. Joni Ernst
This week, Ernst introduced legislation that would prohibit federal government agencies from purchasing and distributing branded merchandise/promotional products, unless explicitly authorized by statute. The clampdown comes as part of her “SWAG Act’s” (Stop Wasteful Advertising by the Government Act) broader mission to reduce what the senator said is the $1.4 billion in taxpayer money that federal government agencies spend annually on public relations and advertising campaigns.
Bellantone indicated that a potential breakthrough came in discussing the bill with Ernst legislative aide Tyler Brown, who handles economics and public finance, education, taxation, and more.
“We learned that the purpose of this legislation was to stop government agencies from promoting themselves, not to prevent them from educating consumers on agency programs,” said Bellantone. “Senator Ernst’s office is reaching out to the agencies right now to try to find the language that would allow them to accomplish their specific objective versus a blanket statement that harms our media. We’ve asked for a place at the table in creating that language and for continued progress on this bill.”
$1.4 billion in taxpayer money is spent annually by government agencies on PR and advertising campaigns—twice the amount dedicated to breast cancer research. It’s time to bag the swag. Today I introduced a bill to end this reckless spending. https://t.co/brOpjY9TZa
— Joni Ernst (@SenJoniErnst) October 29, 2019
Bellantone said that he and a PPAI lobbyist were due to meet later Friday with the committee staff director for Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, who co-sponsored Ernst’s legislation. “This bill is still in the very early stages right now, but we’ve started the process by making (legislators) aware of the unintended consequences of using a chainsaw instead of a scalpel in crafting legislation,” Bellantone said in a statement. “There is still a lot of work to do. It was critically important to have Stephanie Critchfield, a fourth-generation member of The Vernon Company and one of Sen. Ernst’s constituents, at the meeting this morning. Our success will be a combination of our trade association’s efforts, direct contact from constituents and powerful influence from our industry at large.”
Promo professionals can make their voices heard here and take action by emailing Sen. Ernst and Sen. Paul, as well one’s own legislators in Washington, D.C., Bellantone said.
Facebook Live
ASI's CJ Mittica and Chris Ruvo discuss the proposed federal swag ban.
Ernst’s legislation sent shockwaves through the promo industry when it was introduced earlier this week. After Counselor broke the news to the industry late Tuesday, there was an outpouring of reaction from industry leaders and angst expressed on social media. Some, like PromoShop (asi/300446) Owner/President Memo Kahan, called Ernst a hypocrite. “She has used funds for merchandise to elect herself and promote causes she believes in,” Kahan told Counselor. “I take offense to her singling out our industry. Does she not have better things to do? The U.S. spent $4.4 trillion dollars in 2018 and she is concerned about $1.4 billion – or .0318%? There are so many things Iowa needs, and Ernst is focused on this?” Images on Ernst’s Instagram show her sporting branded gear/promotional products:
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“Promotional products are a cost-effective way to communicate, build momentum, guide behaviors and educate people about services and opportunities offered by government agencies at all levels,” said Timothy M. Andrews, President and CEO of the Advertising Specialty Institute (ASI), a U.S.-headquartered organization and technology provider that serves a network of 23,500 suppliers, distributors and decorators of logoed promotional products in 55 countries. “We plan to work with industry leaders to explain forcefully the power of our industry – to educate this legislator and others on the folly of this proposal and the economic power and world-wide reach of our industry and its products using long-proven ASI research. Our efforts will include collaborating with PPAI leadership and ASI members to make every effort to stop this ban in its tracks.”
Here is a link to ASI research that proves the longevity and power of promotional products in marketing campaigns: https://www.asicentral.com/news/web-exclusive/january-2019/2019-ad-impressions-study/.
ASI’s 2019 Ad Impressions Study showed that the cost per impression of promotional products can be as low as 1/10 of 1 cent – lower than nearly any other advertising medium. As importantly, consumers under 55 prefer promo products over all other mediums for advertising, including newspapers, radio, magazines, television, internet and mobile. Consumers are also 2.5 times more likely to have a positive opinion of promotional products compared to online advertising. And, critically, promo products have real staying power, meaning they can help power essential awareness-raising initiatives government agencies and other entities might be advancing:
