David Campochiaro

According to Jackie Barker, vice president of sales for ERB Safety, a division of Woodstock, Georgia-based ERB Industries, “We sell to a couple of school-supplies catalogers, so maybe … some of our safety glasses might be used in the science lab for protection.” Just this past November, the Federal Highway Administration (FHA) issued a revision to its Worker Visibility Law that makes wearing high-visibility apparel mandatory for workers on federal-aid highways. Equipped with the proper technology (fire-retardancy, reflective stripes, etc.), vests, jackets, gloves and the like are effective promotions for those who work outdoors or are exposed to elemental hazards on the job. [...] though it might seem self-evident, she gets asked “Is it a real hard hat?” quite often. Since there are price differences as well as occupational risks associated with each, asking the right questions can be the difference between getting the sale and not (not to mention keeping end-users well protected).

ON JULY 10, 2008, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), a large trade organization of pharmaceutical companies, substantially revised its governing code. Among other changes, PhRMA banned the use of promotional products intended for health-care professionals, with the exception of items purely educational in purpose. Slated to take effect January 1, 2009, the new code will cut the once-vast array of promotional products available to the pharmaceutical industry down to a few select items. Given these major changes, many distributors are surely wondering what their next move should be. To help explain which promotional items pharmaceutical companies are still interested in purchasing,