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On
the Media, Economic Impact and Multipliers
The
16 August 2006 edition of the Zeitgeist Z-news
As we witness
the competition for the 2008
Republican National Convention unfold, there are a number
of themes that have compelling resonance for DMOs around the world.
One is a situation
that went down in Florida, as the Tampa Tribune sued my friends
at the Tampa
Bay CVB to get a peek at their bid to host the GOP lovefest
in two years. In a nutshell, the Trib claims that the Bureau is working
on behalf of the city and that means the bid should be public record.
The CVB, of course, counter-challenges that this is an extremely competitive
document that, should other Bureaus learn of its details, could mean
a loss of the convention to competitors that might reposition their
bids during upcoming site inspections.
Not unlike the Reno Gazette-Journal that chose to post the
names of candidates for the CVB’s top spot a few months ago (causing
a few qualified candidates to back away from the process), these newspapers
do this because they can...not because it serves the good of the community.
And, yet, what’s the Tampa Bay CVB to do? By withholding the bid,
they appear guilty of something, because Joe and Jill Tampa don’t
understand how competitive this high-stakes game is. They just think
that the Bureau must be doing something nefarious.
Another issue was raised recently by another of the “Final Four’s”
newspapers, The
Cleveland Plain Dealer. Without doing so overtly,
the paper challenged the economic impact statistics being touted by
the four CVBs in the running. The Cleveland
Bureau was suggesting that the convention would bring $130
million to the area’s economy while Minneapolis
was boasting an impact figure of $150 million. Meanwhile Tampa was claiming
$180 million while New
York City was expecting $255 million.
Now, while the cost of meeting may actually be lower in Cleveland, the
real question is, “where did these numbers come from?” Wasn’t
DMAI’s ExPact supposed to clear all this up?
Of course, part of the problem is that all four of these destinations
are probably counting different cost and profit centers. Where Tampa
Bay may have included security costs, Cleveland may not have. And, while
I know that Tampa Bay doesn't, some of these destinations may be using
multipliers while others aren’t. And, in the end, multipliers
do nothing but position the destination marketing industry as willing
to say almost anything to sell its own importance. And, like the Tampa
Tribune example, so much of this all revolves around public perception
and, despite Performance Measures, the Destination Marketing industry
still struggles with this issue.
But, one thing we shouldn’t struggle with is multipliers. Of course
they exist. Of course the impact of visitors is ultimately greater than
the direct spending impacts we’ll see when the Republicans (and
the Democrats, Greens, Libertarians and all the rest) come to town.
And, of course, Joe and Jill don’t understand them. So, that means
you can’t use them.
In most cases, the direct impact is pretty compelling by itself. The
number is pretty big. The tax impact is fairly sizable.
You don’t need the multiplier. It just makes you look
unbelievable to the media and the masses.
Just...step...away. And then, say to the reporter (breathlessly), “And
these are direct impacts! We’re not even considering the multiplier
effect (which, of course you understand, would make this number much
larger)!”
The reporter nods appreciatively, acknowledging that you’re not
trying to fluff the numbers. But, you’ve just planted the seed
that your number is conservatively accurate.
And that’s what we need if anybody is going to believe us on this
impact thing.
Bill
Wanna
comment on this or other topics. E-mail
Me!
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