Nevada-based advertising agencies are grumbling about the Nevada Commission on Tourism selecting four out-of-state finalists for a two-year, $3 million contract to sell the Silver State as a tourist destination, finds Grumpy Editor.
Eight of the 19 companies that submitted a proposal for the job were Nevada agencies.
Getting an early nod, with interviews expected to start this week --- with a final decision due during summer --- are out-of-staters Aristotle Inc. of Little Rock, Ark.; Daniel J. Edelman Inc.'s Los Angeles office; Fahlgren Mortine of Columbus, Ohio, and Burson-Marsteller, New York.
“All things being relatively equal, there should be a process in place to use some common sense that would lean toward supporting businesses in Nevada,” says Valerie Glenn, CEO of Reno-based Glenn Group, adding “especially given our economic situation and our governor’s stance on promoting economic development and job creation.”
Bill Marion, principal at Purdue Marion & Associates, Las Vegas, another Silver State firm washed out as a contender, says advertising and public relations firms in Nevada are used to marketing to a global audience and thus have the knowledge to sell the state.
With the contract destined to go to a non-Nevada firm, Marion reminds that’s $3 million leaving the state.
He points out a contract to a Nevada agency “would mean the creation of jobs in Nevada, not only for the firms that are selected, but also the firms that they would contract out for printing, for distribution, for other services because you know a Nevada firm would use other Nevada partners that they’ve worked with in the past.”
Nevada’s unemployment rate for March was 12 percent, 3.8 percent above the national level.
Bethany Drysdale, Nevada Commission on Tourism’s public relations director, trumpets: “We are looking for the best and the brightest to represent our agency based on the criteria that we ask for. We’re not necessarily looking to market just to Nevadans, we’re looking to market to the entire United States.”
Adds Drysdale: “It would be wonderful if we could have a Nevada firm.”
