November 2002
MARKETING ANGEL ™
New Yorkers promoting Maine tourism? Can it be?
Copyright © 2002 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.
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Recent columns by Kimberly McCall: For one high-tech company, Maine is part of the message(October 2002) Making sense of e-mail marketing (September, 2002) The secrets of selling Maine (July, 2002)
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The one-year, renewable contract with the state is worth about $3 million, so the RFP-scramble was understandable. The chatter I heard indicated that the incumbent agency, Portland-based Swardlick Marketing Group, was a sure-thing. Well, my intelligence turned out to be about as reliable as the CIA's, and the contract was awarded to a firm based in New York City, Warren Kremer Paino.
News that an agency not of Maine lineage had won the account didn't sit well with many in the ad biz. While I certainly agree that the Maine ad community should seek to understand how and why the account defection happened, I don't concur with the entitlement sentiment I've been hearing.
Sure, from a point of pride it would've been nice to keep the prestigious account in-state (along with associated payroll taxes and other revenue). But the state has a responsibility to its taxpayers to select the most qualified and cost-effective agency. And, according to Karen Linscott, marketing manager for the Maine Office of Tourism, that's precisely what was done. Plus, if the new agency succeeds in bringing more tourism dollars to the state, then we all have our tax burden lessened. Woo hoo and pass my property tax bill.
Linscott told me about marketing Maine to tourists, as well as the RFP process:
McCall: The Maine Office of Tourism recently awarded its contract for advertising services to Warren Kremer Paino, a firm based in New York. The award has been cause for some grumbling in the ad community. How would you respond to Maine agencies that believe the account should have stayed in state? Could you explain a bit about how the RFP process works, and how an out-of-state firm won the contract?
Linscott: The statewide system of contracting requires us to put our contracts out to competitive bid every three years. Maine firms were invited to participate in the advertising RFP. The Office of Tourism received a total of ten proposals. Six were from Maine companies. Four finalists were chosen by the scoring committee, although one finalist withdrew its candidacy prior to the final phase presentations. One of the four out-of-state firms also made the first cut and had the highest score going into the presentations.
Six Maine taxpayers — five private citizens and one state employee, all involved in the Maine tourism industry, some with extensive marketing or advertising agency experience — formed the scoring committee. The members of the committee were unanimous in their selection decision. Based on the presentations, the scoring committee ranked Warren Kremer Paino (WKP), the New York agency, highest in all categories. In addition, WKP was also the lowest-cost bidder among the finalists, assuring the best value for taxpayer dollars.
The system the Legislature put in place to manage the awarding of contracts ensures impartiality and fairness, and is open to all. Under Maine state law, a contract must be awarded to the highest-ranked bidder. Maine does not and cannot legally discriminate between in-state and out-of-state bidders.
Maine's reciprocity law allows our businesses to compete for other U.S. state contracts because we're not limiting the bids to only Maine firms. Should Maine exercise a bias against out-of-state firms, Maine firms would be faced with a similar bias from the state of the aggrieved bidder. This could potentially cut off sources of lucrative contracts for Maine businesses, which could have a devastating effect on Maine business and the state itself.
Kimberly McCall: How does the Maine Office of Tourism (MOT) promote the State to visitors?
Karen Linscott: The MOT promotes Maine through many activities. Our multifaceted advertising campaigns include TV, print, radio, direct mail, and interactive online marketing.
We also have an active public relations program that promotes Maine through local, regional, national and international print and broadcast opportunities. Maine participates with other New England states in "Discover New England," which promotes the region internationally.
We have a very consumer-oriented web site at www.visitmaine.com, and we work to promote Maine as a destination with group tour operators, motor coach operators and through our new Regional Maine Tourism Marketing Partnership Program, designed to assist the eight tourism regions with marketing.
McCall: What are the characteristics of a typical visitor to Maine? A family from Albany? A couple from Massachusetts?
Linscott: Both, and more. Most visitors to Maine come from the Northeastern U.S. — New England, NY, NJ, PA, DC, DE, and MD. Massachusetts was the most important source of non-resident overnight trips to Maine in 2001, accounting for 40%.
As far as the demographic make up, the profile of the average overnight traveler to Maine was similar to the average U.S. traveler, but somewhat more likely to be male, older, married and with a higher household income. Travelers to Maine include families, empty nesters andyounger married and singles interested in outdoor activities.
McCall: Why is tourism so important to Maine businesses and the overall health of the Maine economy?
Linscott: In travel year 2001, U.S. travelers spent an estimated $5.6 billion in Maine. Based on spending by out-of-state U.S. visitors, travel and tourism in Maine directly and indirectly generated 115,000 jobs in Maine, $2.5 billion in wages and over $344 million in tax revenues.
McCall: What is the Office of Tourism's #1 goal for the new ad campaign?
Linscott: To bring more out-of-state visitors to all regions of to the Maine, increasing the economic benefits tourism brings to our state.
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Want to learn more about Maine Tourism? Check out the Longwoods International Travel and Tourism in Maine 2001 Visitor Study. The complete results are available on the Department of Economic and Community Development's website at: www.econdevmaine.com/tourism.
Kimberly L. McCall (a.k.a. Marketing Angel™), is president of McCall Media & Marketing, Inc., a business communications company in Freeport, Maine. McCall writes monthly columns for Entrepreneur magazine and contributes to inc.com and The Wall Street Journal's StartupJournal.com. Sign up for her free weekly bulletin at www.MarketingAngel.com or contact McCall at 207-865-0055.