Under the leadership of Market-ing Support President David Weiner, PHCIB devised a number of clever marketing programs to help promote industry products installed by trade professionals. However, industry participation in these marketing events was never extensive and has been on the wane in recent years. One of the most creative of these programs has been the “Ask the Home Ranger” syndicated radio show featuring Kansas City plumbing contractor Roger Peugeot. Unfortunately, the show has not been picked up by enough stations to justify continuing it, and will be dropped.
The Bureau’s new executive director is Patti Baron-Wilson, a senior staff member of ASACI. PHCIB’s marketing activities will be discontinued in favor of an exclusive focus on the industry publicity function that the Bureau has performed consistently well for its 80 years of existence. PHCIB news releases get picked up by hundreds of consumer publications each year. They tell the public to use only licensed plumbing professionals for household needs.
PHCIB traces its history to 1919, when it was formed as the Trade Extension Bureau. During its heyday of the 1920s, the Bureau employed a staff of 65 people and enjoyed a budget that would measure in millions of today’s dollars. Highlighting its activities was an advertising campaign in the Saturday Evening Post, the most popular consumer magazine of that era. (A history of PHCIB covering its first 75 years was authored by this writer and is available free of charge from the Bureau.)
PHCIB can now be reached at 222 Merchandise Mart Plaza, Suite 1360, Chicago, IL 60654. Phone: 312/464-0090. Web: www.phcib.org.
