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HE BEST COLD-CALLERS CAN knock on
doors from sunup to sundown, ending the
day with a handful of prospects if they’re
lucky. On the flipside, organizations can make dozens of
calls to promotional consultants before finding the per-
fect partner. At this year’s North American Leadership
Conference (NALC) in Nashville, Tennessee, one local
nonprofit was given a golden opportunity to be courted
by dozens of industry leaders in one sitting.
The idea was suggested during a PPAI NALC Work
Group conference call, says Jessica Hutwelker, MAS, of
Sunrise Identity and a member of the group. “Devin
Piscitelli, [CEO of AAkron] suggested asking attendees
to do ’something positive’ for a Nashville-based non-
profit,” she recalls.
“That sparked a conversation among the three of
us [Hutwelker, Piscitelli and Danny Rosin, co-owner of
Brand Fuel, Inc.] about what kind of initiative we could
put together that would be a collaboration among
attendees, generate good will for a nonprofit and also
help show the value of promotional products by ele-
vating the nonprofit’s brand and campaign,” says
Hutwelker.
On a broader level, Hutwelker says, the work group
sought a way to help attendees leave their host commu-
nity “better than we found it” and to create a template
for giving back at future conferences. The initiative was
launched with Oasis Center as the inaugural nonprofit
group and, says Hutwelker, “the response was phenom-
enal. There was collective mindshare to address the
Oasis Center’s challenges.”
Oasis Center is a Nashville-based agency serving at-
risk youth with services such as the city’s only teen shel-
ter and college counseling for first-generation college
PROMOTIONS
An Oasis Of Ideas
T
INDUSTRY LEADERS COLLABORATE TO HELP A NASHVILLE NONPROFIT ADDRESS
ITS MARKETING CHALLENGES
BY JEN ALEXANDER
OCTOBER 2015 •
PPB
• 83
THINK
Mark Dunkerley, vice president of development for Oasis Center,
speaks to NALC attendees in Nashville about Oasis Center in August.
Dunkerley was welcomed to the stage by Jessica Hutwelker, MAS,
Danny Rosin and Devin Piscitelli, members of the NALC work group.