The Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism expects to award the state’s richest advertising contract to longtime Little Rock agency CJRW.
The three-year contract (with the possibility of one-year renewal) is expected to be worth more than $20 million annually to CJRW, which has held part of the park and tourism contract for decades. The agency came up with “State of Nature” as Arkansas’ motto.
CJRW will be awarded the contract for four areas of work, even though it underperformed Florida’s Miles Partnership in three areas: advertising, media planning and purchasing, and website development and hosting. CJRW received the highest score in public relations, ahead of Ghidotti and his 4Media Group Inc.
Competitors have long complained that CJRW and its predecessor companies have internal relationships with the state over tourism marketing, which they have done for 50 years. One advertising executive in Arkansas complained that contracts were not awarded to legitimate winners based on the state Department of Public Procurement’s scoring criteria.
In an email to state procurement officials, the advertising director wrote that for the record, he did not participate in the RFP process. But, he questioned, “could a state in good conscience be willing to enter into a contract with a company that finished second in three out of four categories?”
status response
The Secretary of Parks, Heritage and Tourism, Shea Lewis, said that after careful consideration, a three-person committee, including herself, “has decided to renew our partnership with CJRW in all four contract categories.” Stated.
The committee also decided to start a new partnership with MMGY, a global tourism marketing agency.
“This partnership will combine the strengths of both agencies to enhance advertising and marketing efforts across a variety of platforms and channels, propelling the state’s tourism industry to new heights of success nationally and internationally,” Lewis said in a statement. I am confident.”
According to the state’s scoresheet, CJRW recorded $6,310,750 in expenses for creative content development, advertising and marketing, and social media.We have published a public information
Costs are $3,305,000 and website development and hosting costs are $1,645,300. Media planning and purchasing costs were $14.6 million, but agencies typically spend most of that money on paid advertising and keep only a portion of their spending.
This will continue in the future.
