Regional News: Rocky Mountain Member Spearheads Legislative Action Campaign


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Regional News: Rocky Mountain Member Spearheads Legislative Action Campaign

Issue: 2009sep

Chris Morrissey, president of Fort Collins, Colorado-based distributor Proforma Big Dog Branding, did more than just put pen to paper when he crafted a clever legislative campaign against S. 301, the Physician Payments Sunshine Act.

Morrissey and several members of Rocky Mountain Regional Promotional Products Association (RMRPPA), as well as other industry members working in Colorado, combined the pen and paper to illustrate just how far off-base the bill may be when it comes to defining “gifts.”

“On June 2, we put 408 of those letters in the mail,” says Morrissey, each one containing a pen from the company of the person who signed it. The letters hit the desks of U.S. Sens. Michael Bennet and Mark Udall, and several U.S. representatives. Afterward, Morrissey and others met with Sen. Bennet’s aide, who showed them the drawerful of pens that had accumulated as a result of the campaign. “The pens were a big hit,” he says. “They told us to keep sending them!”

During the Association’s show in Denver, the group decided to re-launch the campaign and asked attendees to come by the booth and sign updated letters. BIC also provided 1,500 pens for the campaign, says Morrissey.

He says of the people who were made aware of the campaign, 98 percent supported it. The other two percent explained “they didn’t get involved in politics either way,” he says.

In addition, RMRPPA members created gift baskets with pens and business cards among other items to be delivered to congressional district offices—some were sent Monday and others will be delivered on Wednesday.

“We also had banners made up, and two banners with more than 200 signatures will go to our senators,” he adds.

Morrissey says the addition of a promotional product to the letters asking for S. 301’s language to be changed is a natural one for him. “When I became (legislative action) committee chair, I felt anything we did needed to involve a promotional product,” he says.

Morrissey and the legislative action committee are offering the campaign to anyone in the industry who wishes to follow suit. The details have been posted on the group’s blog, www.rmrlc.wordpress.com. He says letters have been customized for each state.

“If PPAI is going to keep after this, then we’re going to follow along,” he says.

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