News
MeringCarson nabs $80M Travel and Tourism contract
Wednesday, April 7, 2010, 11:57am PDT
Sacramento Business Journal - by Melanie Turner Staff writer
Sacramento advertising firm MeringCarson has landed a four-year contract totaling between $80 million and $100 million with the California Travel and Tourism Commission.
The centerpiece of earlier travel campaigns created by MeringCarson have been star-studded 30-second television spots featuring celebrities such as Jack Nicholson, Clint Eastwood, Rob Lowe and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The ads highlighted the state’s culture and mystique.
MeringCarson has had the contract for 10 years, but this is the first time in five or six years the firm had to pitch for the contract. And this time the stakes were much higher.
“It was a much smaller piece of business” in the past, MeringCarson chief executive and founder David Mering said. The earlier contract was worth between $15 million and $20 million or about $2.5 million a year, up to $5 million a year.
In the meantime, legislation was passed that increased the amount of funds the industry could contribute to tourism, Mering said. That upped the contract to between $20 million and $25 million a year, making it a much more important account, he said.
“We took this thing incredibly seriously,” he said. “We in no way saw ourselves as a favorite. We looked at ourselves as an underdog.”
Mering described the competition for the contract as “long and arduous.” He said the company stuck by the idea that it’s not only California that’s being sold, but the people, their lifestyles and “this thing we have coined as ‘California attitude.’”
A request for proposals for a new contract was announced last fall, attracting 14 agencies, including powerhouse firms such as Saatchi & Saatchi, Young & Rubicam, BBDO and Campbell-Ewald. After an extensive competition, the tourism commission opted to stay with MeringCarson.
“MeringCarson delivered a well-researched strategy and communications plan — but most importantly, brought the California brand to life with brilliant creative execution and highly innovative promotional extensions,” Caroline Beteta, president and chief executive officer of the California Travel and Tourism Commission said, in a news release. “MeringCarson’s work will once again convey to millions of experience-seekers throughout the world that vacationing in California is not just an activity, but a much desired transformative experience.”
The commission is a nonprofit marketing organization funded by the travel industry. Its budget comes from industry assessments that generate about $50 million a year to fund the state’s global tourism marketing program.
Mering said his team is anxious to take the campaign in new directions. The company will work to develop a five-year strategic marketing plan for the commission that includes “increased integration with interactive partners and exploration of new international markets.”
“With California we are selling more than a spectacular travel destination — we are selling a wholly unique experience that comes from the people and our unique approach to life,” Mering said. “And that opens up new opportunities to find fresh approaches that make it stand out unmistakably in the crowd.”
As it has in the past, MeringCarson will be joined on the account by Carat, an Aegis Media Group company and global independent media communications network that adds to the Sacramento company’s strategic, creative and media expertise.
Mering said at least 20 people at MeringCarson will work on the contract over time.