NEWBURYPORT, Mass. — Everyone has his or her area of expertise. Ronna Rosenblatt knows pins.

Eleven years ago, living in San Diego, Rosenblatt began working as vice president for marketing for the company that had the license to produce commemorative pins for the Olympics.

“We made all kinds of Olympic pins,” Rosenblatt recalled recently, sorting through a container of some of her old work. “Each one was different.”

For most of her career, Rosenblatt has been designing commemorative products for corporate clients. But now living locally, she recently decided she wanted to find a way to use her skills and experience to benefit her community.

“My goal was to do something positive,” Rosenblatt said.

The result is “Back Talk,” Rosenblatt’s first line of retail pins, which she is selling together with the Beacon Coalition, a partnership of Newburyport organizations dedicated to decreasing substance abuse and improving health among Newburyport youth.

So far the line includes a series of eight sports-related pins featuring messages of positive reinforcement, but Rosenblatt has plans to expand to more designs. The pins are sold at the Eureka toy store and Pink Hearts Blue Soles. Next week they will be available on the Web site of Rosenblatt’s company, Pinnovative Designs.

Every pin sale benefits the Beacon Coalition’s Youth-Asset Building Initiative, a program that helps local youth cultivate the 40 assets identified by the Minnesota-based Search Institute as critical to children’s healthy development.

Rosenblatt lays out the conceptual design of each pin before passing it on to a professional designer who figures out how to execute the concept. The actual manufacturing is done in China.

“The thing I love about pins is they’re so much fun to design,” Rosenblatt said.

Most of Rosenblatt’s pins are made of the usual metal and enamel, but she tries to find ways to make each design stand out. Her line of running-shoe pins are made of rubber, and come with real shoe-laces attached. The wheels on the bicycle pin spin freely on their axles. On the hockey pin, the puck dangles from the stick on a springy metal coil.

“We really try hard to find ways to make each pin unique, different from what you’d expect,” Rosenblatt said.

Early indications suggest that the “Back Talk” pins are taking off.

“We’ve been getting a great response. People are really excited,” Rosenblatt said. “Some of the designs have already sold out.”

Part of the pins’ success probably has to do with their playful design and the fact they benefit a good cause. It also may also have something to do with the waning popularity of some other types of promotional materials, like the rubber bracelets popularized by Lance Armstrong’s “Live Strong” campaign.

“At this point the rubber bracelets are getting kind of old,” Rosenblatt said.

But Rosenblatt said that the basic fact is that people like pins.

“Pins appeal to so many age groups,” Rosenblatt said. “When I was doing the Olympic pins, we had 40-year-olds and 50-year-olds getting really excited over the pins. You can trade them. You can collect them. It builds community.”

For more information, visit www.pinnovative.com



Nick Pinto writes for The Daily News of Newburyport, Mass.