A U.S. international tourism campaign — smaller in scale than originally expected — is finally in the works.
The U.S. Department of Commerce last month awarded Edelman of Chicago the $6 million contract to market the United States to British travelers.
The contract is much different from the one for which agencies began competing in December. Since then, the budget has been slashed by nearly 90 percent and the targeted markets have been reduced from five to one.
“We know we have a monumental task ahead of us,” said Cathleen Johnson, executive vice president and general manager at Edelman of Chicago. “This is an opportunity of a lifetime.”
Edelman has teamed with M&C Saatchi, with headquarters in London, and BVK, based in Milwaukee. All three agencies specialize in tourism.
“We’re all tourism fanatics,” said Ms. Johnson, who also is the director of Edelman’s global tourism practice. “We want to make sure we get the best results we can.”
In 2003, President Bush approved a $50 million appropriation to create an international tourism campaign. The program was going to target Canada, Mexico, Britain, Japan and Germany.
Officials have said a campaign of that magnitude would be a much-needed boost for the industry, which was hit hard after the September 11 terrorist attacks.
But the Commerce Department slashed $44 million of the budget, and four markets were eliminated earlier this year.
The good news for the agencies is that they now can focus on one market instead of five.
“It’s easier to deploy our resources in one market,” Ms. Johnson said. “We have only one country to penetrate.”
It’s still too early for details, but the agencies already have started working on the campaign.
Ms. Johnson says the majority of the funds will be spent on media placement. When not advertising, the program will use public relations.
“This is personally gratifying,” Ms. Johnson said. “There is no product an American would like to promote than the United States of America.”
New wins …
• White & Baldacci, based in Herndon, has won the Westfields Marriott advertising account. W&B PR Inc., White & Baldacci’s sister company, has been responsible for Westfields’ public relations for more than a year.
W&B PR also will handle the opening of the Civil Rights in Education Heritage Trail, a self-guided driving tour through 14 counties in Southside Virginia opening May 14. In addition, the public relations division secured an account with XpertUniverse, a New York software-solutions company, to introduce a new Lotus software product.
• InfoPOEMs, a medical-information resource company, has hired Reingold Inc., a D.C. communications firm, to coordinate an advertising campaign that will target health care professionals. InfoPOEMs, based in Charlottesville, gives health care professionals access to current medical information in real time through e-mail updates and an electronic database.
• The Bomstein Agency, based in the District, has been hired by Dr. Samit’s My Eye Dr. to create an advertising campaign to increase customer awareness.
• Donna De Marco can be reached at 202/636-4884. Advertising & Marketing runs every other Monday.
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