Slicing the pie

New Mexico Business Journal, Oct, 1998 by Susan Craig

The state legislature increased the New Mexico Department of Tourism's budget by $2.9 million, intent on increasing tourism promotion. The Tourism Department is spending a portion of the money itself as well as allocating a chunk of it to various organizations throughout the state.

John Garcia, secretary of tourism, says that a new half-hour cable television infomercial, placed with this year's money, is showing positive returns in several east coast markets. The department also produced a 30-second TV spot to run on the east coast and in California and Texas, and is steering dollars toward print campaigns and a new radio campaign called Come Out and Play.

The department's fulfillment budget has increased by $150,000 for printing, $250,000 for postage and $50,000 for telephone expense. They'll print 1.2 million vacation guides, an increase of 350,000.

The state implemented a regional tourism program that intermittently developed projects during its first two years, then lost its funding for the next two. However, tourism deputy secretary Janet Green says that this year's $300,000 allocation restarted the program, and that the money will be evenly divided between the state's six tourist regions. The regions are expected to develop marketing plans, which includes establishing separate identities.

The Tourism Department has also awarded 108 contracts totaling $1 million to nonprofit organizations throughout the state that promote tourism. The contracts range from $500 to $30,000, with the recipients committed to obtaining matching funds from other sources, such as the lodgers tax. Rather than give the money to these organizations, the Tourism Department reimburses them for half of their promotional expenditures up to the amount of the contract. For example, the City of Rio Rancho, which was awarded $30,000, must spend $60,000 in order to be reimbursed the full amount of its contract.

The Central Region, composed of Bernalillo, Sandoval, Valencia and Torrance Counties, has pooled its funding from various sources, the total of which comes to $130,000, according to Mary Kay Cline, vice president of tourism for the Albuquerque Convention and Visitors Bureau. Various organizations in the region have implemented a campaign called The Heart Of New Mexico. The target market is the general public in selected cities in states like Oklahoma, Texas and Kansas, and part of the implementation is a 60-second TV spot. A fulfillment piece has been developed to respond to the requests expected from the campaign.

The Northwest Region plans to develop an Indian Country piece to be supplemented by individual community information. "We've never had integrated, professional collateral material for the whole region, which includes the Navajo Reservation and Zuni and Acoma Pueblos," says Becky Walling of the Farmington Convention and Visitors Bureau. In addition, regional money will allow greater presence at trade shows, including international trade markets like the World Travel Market in London and ITB in Berlin. "The regional money boost is great," she says.

The Farmington CVB was awarded $25,000 by the Tourism Department. The money will go to ad placement in a number of tried and true magazines as well as to some new ones: National Geographic Traveler, Grand Circle Association Visitors Guide and Durango Magazine. They'll also develop a piece for the new tourism, entertainment and historical complex that the CVB will move into next February.

In the Southeast Region, the Ruidoso Valley Chamber of Commerce and the Village of Ruidoso were awarded $34,000. Part of the money will go to a marketing campaign for Ruidoso. Laura Doth of Grindstone Graphics and Marketing Services in Ruidoso, the company implementing the campaign, says they will expand brochure distribution to include Tucson, the 1-10 corridor and other areas. "Everybody has a limited amount of money, so any time you can get additional dollars it helps everyone in the state," says Doth.

David Vigil, the former chairman of the eight-county Southeast Region commission, says that since their region is so extremely large and diversified it is difficult to develop a logical advertising campaign, so they have sent an RFP to several in-state marketing and public relations firms, asking them to lay out a marketing plan. This region, too, plans to leverage their regional and community matching dollars with lodgers tax money from throughout the area.

Taos, which is part of the North Central Region, was awarded $17,500, much of which will go toward advertising in the New Mexico Vacation Guide. According to Joel Howard of the Taos County Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Center, that publication brings 25 percent of their total responses.

This region contains communities such as Santa Fe, Taos, Los Alamos, Chama, Red River and Angel Fire and marketing organizations like New Mexico North and the Enchanted Circle, with long-standing and distinct marketing campaigns. Consequently, marketing them as a common destination is a new challenge. After vacancies on the regional marketing board are filled, says chair Joe Quintana, decisions will be made that should be in effect by early October. "We're looking at the possibility of an ad agency to represent the entire region and the building of an itinerary for north central New Mexico," he says. "The good news is that this region is making a much more cooperative effort than ever before."