PORT ANGELES — City officials will negotiate completion of a contract that proposes spending $199,863 to market the tourism virtues of Port Angeles.
City Council members selected Vertigo Marketing of Bend, Ore., to trumpet the city’s attractions by a 5-2 margin Tuesday and directed city staff to negotiate an agreement.
Council members Dan Gase, Patrick Downie, Dan Di Guilio, Brad Collins and Cherie Kidd voted in favor of the pact, which will be paid for with lodging tax proceeds.
Council members Lee Whetham and Sissi Bruch opposed the action, saying lodging tax funds would be better spent elsewhere.
Vertigo’s proposal, which emphasizes digital and social media targeting adults 25 and older, says the group would spend $199,863 in 2016 — an amount that is $137 under the budgeted amount.
The company has registered www.VisitPortAngeles.org and www.VisitPortAngeles.com to spread the word.
Kidd chairs the city lodging tax committee, which recommended Vertigo from among three finalists.
Local participation
At the council meeting, Kidd lauded Vertigo’s proposal for including the participation of six Port Angeles residents as part of the contract.
They are Laurel Black of Laurel Black Design Inc., Eric Neurath of Eric Neurath Photography, film and video producer Christopher Wright, social media specialist Marissa Hamlin and Leslie Kidwell Robertson, founder of Revitalize Port Angeles, who will be an unpaid volunteer.
Kidd said that unlike two other finalists — Atlas Advertising of Denver and DVA Advertising and Public Relations of Bend — who would have begun the marketing campaign in the spring, Vertigo will start Jan. 1.
“They will be off and running, and that’s what we need,” Kidd said.
Nathan West, city community and economic development director, also noted that travel costs would be incorporated into Vertigo’s budget for the project.
Vertigo pledged “to create a new mark that will be used to identify Port Angeles tourism,” according to its proposal.
The company would spend $17,000 on public relations through online influencers in digital and social media, an area to which Vertigo would devote $36,950.
Vertigo also would spend $36,750 on branding, advertising, public relations and graphic design; $25,250 on website development and management, including $15,000 on a mobile-friendly website design; $27,918 on media buys such as the state Visitor Guide; $28,350 on online media buys such as with www.tripadvisor.com; and $4,500 on photography, including digital marketing.
Proposed “add-ons and optional services (a la carte)” that are not part of the contract include an intercept and online survey for $15,000 per survey, a customer satisfaction survey during a key event or high-visitation period for $7,500 per survey, and an interactive map or travel app with a map for “$TBD” (to-be-determined cost).
Objections
In voting against selecting Vertigo, Bruch said free advertising was available by word-of-mouth and such means as Outside magazine’s Best Town Ever contest, which ranked the city No. 2 nationwide earlier this year.
She said she would not support spending more than $100,000 on marketing.
Whetham said he would not support the allocation absent plans for a kiosk or “brick-and-mortar” facility for visitors on U.S. Highway 101.
Whetham said it would offer information on the area that would be more accessible than what is available at the difficult-to-find Visitors Center on East Railroad Avenue downtown.
“I want to see something in a spot that everyone sees coming and going to Port Angeles,” he said.
But Kidd and city staff said building a kiosk or other structure was not part of the request for proposal for marketing.
“We need to honor the integrity of the RFPs,” West said.
A kiosk could be addressed as a capital project, he suggested.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.