DULUTH, Minn. (Northern News Now) – The Duluth City Council will vote next week on if Madden Media will be their next tourism marketer.
The city made a Request for Proposal for the role back in August. If approved, Arizona-based Madden Media will be the city’s new tourism firm for the next two years.
26 companies competed for the job and were ranked blindly based on merit on a 100 point scale. Duluth based companies vying for the job automatically got a 10 point advantage for being local.
Despite that, none of the Duluth based companies were chosen. Three out of the five finalist were local companies.
CEO of Madden Media Dan Janes addressed concerns and answered questions from the Duluth City Council Thursday.
Among the concerns was potential conflicts of interest the company may have since it markets tourism for competing cities like Door County, Traverse City and Milwaukee.
Janes said his company would not enter an area where a conflict of interest exists.
“If we thought there was a conflict of interest in this space we wouldn’t pursue the work,” said Janes. “We don’t need to be everywhere.”
CEO of AimClear Marty Weintraub disagrees, he believes a conflict of interest does exist and that a Duluth-based company would do a better job marketing the city.
AimClear was among the five finalists for the role.
“This is where we pick to spend our lives, this is where we eat at restaurants and we go to shows and events,” said Weintraub.
Janes said people who travel tend to make multiple trips every year and that people don’t make their decision on where to travel based on just one advertisement.
“When I think about travel it’s very abundant, it’s not a scarce resource as we think about it in how we market and engage them,” said Janes.
Councilor Mike Mayou inquired about whether the company will bring full-time positions to Duluth.
“Are you planning to have local staffing that’s actually based out of Duluth for the majority or all of the year,” asked Mayou.
Janes said while they typically employ local photographers, they can’t promise any full time positions in the city. He said the next two years will be about building trust in the community.
“Our goal is to remove that friction to align your dollars to be spent efficiently and effectively,” said Janes.
City Council President Roz Randorf asked about what a successful two years would look like for Madden Media.
“At the end of this two year contract with you, what are some things, what are some ways in which we know it was successful, how do we measure success?” asked Randorf.
Janes said they compare their numbers by city against the national average.
“If that national average across all travel industries is a two percent increase we want to exceed whatever that increase is,” said Janes.
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Source: Duluth City Council to vote on new Arizona firm selected to market tourism
