Milo Public Affairs has worked with a variety of clients on a range of issues from the internet tax moratorium, to copyright protection, to the farm bill, to the death penalty, and more. The issues vary, but the approach does not – keep focused on the goals, help determine the best ways to persuade those with power over those goals, and help the client deliver the right message, to the right person, from the right messenger, in the right medium, at the right time.
Below are several examples of our work.
WickedCoolStuff.com
WickedCoolStuff.com is an online retailer of popular culture that sells everything from Spiderman lunchboxes to Shakespeare bobbleheads. Run by a Brett Dewey and his wife, this small San Fernando-based company provides health care to its employees and tries to be a good corporate citizen. A Congressionally mandated moratorium on internet-related taxes was set to expire in the fall of 2007. Without an extension of the moratorium local jurisdictions would have been allowed to impose an array of taxes that could have had a devastating effect on online retailers. New taxes would have meant that WickedCoolStuff.com would have to raise prices and lose customers, stop providing health care for their employees who counted on it, lay people off, or even close its doors.
“Milo Public Affairs saw that the internet tax moratorium was set to expire and knew what a threat that would be to my company. They were able to arrange for me to testify before Congress on the issue, made sure that my testimony told the right story, got me meetings with decision makers, and helped secure media coverage of my trip. Their work was timely and invaluable.”
- Brett Dewey, CEO, WickedCoolStuff.com
Milo Public Affairs arranged for Brett Dewey to testify at a House Small Business Committee hearing on extending the internet tax moratorium – Brett was the only small owner to testify. We prepared Brett for the hearing, arranged for him to meet privately with Members of Congress and staff, and contacted media in the San Fernando Valley about his testimony which resulted in positive press coverage for the company.
The Caucus for Television Producers, Writers & Directors
The Caucus for Television Producers, Writers & Directors is an invitation-only organization of some the nation's leading creators of television. Milo Public Affairs is the Caucus’s voice in Washington. Among the most important issues facing television producers is vertical integration of media – television networks owning virtually all of the content they broadcast. From 1970 until about 1995 federal rules ensured competition for the creation of television programming by preventing the networks from owning both the means of delivery and the product being delivered. Since those rules were abandoned independently produced programming has nearly disappeared from primetime broadcast television – and virtually every company that produced that programming was bought of went out of business.
“Milo Public Affairs has raised the profile of the Caucus for Producers, Writers & Directors: An Alliance of Television and New Media Creators with key policy makers, and has raised awareness of our issues nationally.”
- Chuck Fries, Executive Secretary the Caucus and President of the Caucus Foundation, Emmy, Peabody, Humanitas, and Christopher award winner, and President and CEO of Chuck Fries Productions
An ongoing challenge is drawing attention to the devastating effect of vertical integration on small businesses and the impact of the lack of real competition on quality and diversity of programming. To help meet this challenge Milo Public Affairs arranged for a town-hall style meeting with FCC Commissioners Michael J. Copps and Jonathan Adelstein, Caucus Chair and Emmy Award winning producer of “America’s Funniest Home Videos” Vin Di Bona, and the former head of Fox Television Lucie Salhany - the first woman to head a network. The event was held at Emerson College in Boston, one of the nation’s leading communications schools. We secured coverage for the event in leading industry publications, arranged a meeting with the FCC Commissioners and the Editorial Board of The Boston Globe, and helped turn-out an overflow crowd.
New Jerseyans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty
In late 2007 New Jersey became the first state in decades to legislatively abolish capital punishment. Milo Public Affairs’ Principal, Peter Loge, spent four years as a member the team that led the effort. Peter’s role included drafting the campaign plan, facilitating or co-facilitating regular strategy sessions, writing and editing materials, and providing ongoing strategic input.
“Milo Public Affairs strategic counsel was an important part of our successful campaign to abolish the death penalty in New Jersey.”
- Celeste Fitzgerald, Executive Director, New Jerseyans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty