The Starkville Convention and Visitors Bureau is ramping up its advertising ahead of a busy fall season.
During the organization”s monthly meeting Wednesday, Greater Starkville Development Partnership Vice President of Tourism Development Jennifer Gregory outlined an ad budget that more than doubles the total spent during the last fiscal year.
The board unanimously approved the overall FY2011-12 budget, which will increase from $200,000 to $210,000 this year. Of that total, The Partnership will spend $80,500 on local, regional and statewide advertising. The largest chunk of the allocation — $27,811 — will go toward print advertising in statewide publications.
The Partnership also will expand its advertising to local TV stations and establish a greater presence at Mississippi State University through Learfield Communications, which holds the sports marketing rights for MSU athletics. Through Learfield, the CVB will have its ads aired on the high-definition video board during home games at Davis Wade Stadium, on the athletics website and during MSU radio broadcasts. TV and Learfield ad allocations account for more than $15,000 in new advertising spending.
“We”ve completely redone our ad and marketing strategies,” Gregory said. “Our motivation behind increasing the ad budget is to really gain a presence with potential visitors from all over the state. Our hope is that if we can inform the football fans about what is going on during football weekends and other events. It”s our hope they”ll come back for a non-athletic weekend, spend the night and take part in community events.”
Gregory said the advice from the Mississippi Main Street Association charrette team that visited in the spring has helped streamline advertising and make it more effective.
The board spent the past month perusing the charrette”s final report on how the city can revitalize its downtown area. The suggestions made during the meetings are being implemented through the CVB”s strengthened ad push.
One progressive strategy the CVB has used is quick-response scans on all printed advertisements. Shoppers use the “QR” code — similar to a bar code — for special deals at local retailers. The CVB created different URLs for each ad in each medium that linked back to the website, visit.starkville.org. But with print ads that have QR codes, the CVB can track it immediately after it has been scanned.
During the “Christmas in July” marketing program, the CVB got 30 of its 135 QR scans from a one-eighth-page ad in a Wednesday edition of The Dispatch. Gregory said retailers were ecstatic with the turnout.
“Conversations of tracking came about at a perfect time,” Gregory said. “We are currently overhauling all of our branding and marketing elements as well as our website.
“It”s been pretty flawless and well received,” she added. “We test all of the codes and printed pieces multiple times before we release them.”
The CVB had 4,000 “New South Weekends” info bags distributed Wednesday to incoming freshmen at MSU. The bags contained information or coupons from 50 different businesses.
Gregory said 10,000 postcards will be sent to Mississippi State football season ticket holders across the state as part of the growing partnership between MSU athletics and the city.
“They really want to showcase Starkville,” she said.
The CVB also announced its sponsorship and grant recipients, sans the Sturgis South Motorcycle Rally. The CVB had a request of $25,000 from Sturgis Mayor Walter Turner to help the fledgling organization meet a budget shortfall that threatens to cancel this year”s event scheduled for Oct. 7-9. The rally board hasn”t signed a contract with the city and is roughly $40,000 short of honoring its entertainment contracts.
To make a big investment in the rally would be risky because of the dip in attendance over the last few years and the current financial state of the event, according to CVB Chairman Jeremiah Dumas.
“It”s fair to say the CVB understands the impact of the rally to our area,” Dumas said, “but the most important thing at this point is there has to be proven stability in a program that has been so successful.”
The CVB has allotted $42,500 to grants and sponsorships for the next fiscal year. It had $116,552 in requests.
In other business, the board:
- Announced sustaining grants, which are non-membership based three-year commitments, awarded to the MSU Horse Park ($10,000) and Starkville Rotary Club ($1,000).
- Announced operating grants awarded to Starkville Area Arts Council ($10,000), Oktibbeha County Heritage Museum ($5,000), Starkville-MSU Symphony Association ($2,000) and Starkville Central Neighborhood Foundation ($5,000). The GSDP listed the grants in “dues” instead of sponsored programs to help support each organization as a member, which helps each entity better plan over the next three years. The GSDP will be listed as a feature sponsor at each event.
- Announced they will release more information about “New South Weekends,” a series of Friday night events that are community oriented, some time today.
The current “New South Weekends” schedule is as follows:
Sept. 23 — Downtown Block Party
Oct. 14 — Pumpkinpalooza
Nov. 4 — Bulldog Family Frenzy
Nov. 11 — Bulldog Bash
- Approved the one-year consultant contract for Tripp Muldrow, who worked with the charrette in the spring. Muldrow will be paid no more than $27,000 and will work 20 hours in Starkville on a monthly basis. The contract is funded from the $99,846 the GSDP has in savings.
- Approved the transfer of ownership of the city”s retirement certification program to Starkville Parks and Recreation. The Partnership and Oktibbeha County Economic Development Authority will each contribute $10,000 to the program this year and decrease funding to $8,000 in the second year and $6,000 the third.
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