Van Buren A&P approves 2010 media budget

story by Marla Cantrell
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The Van Buren Advertising and Promotion Commission approved a $179,050 media plan for 2010 media at Wednesday’s monthly meeting.

The media budget, up $12,855 over the 2009 plan, will primarily support billboards in strategic areas in Mountainburg, Mulberry, Lowell, Sallisaw, Van Buren, Fort Smith, Tulsa and Oklahoma City.

A breakdown of the 2010 media budget is as follows:
Outdoor Advertising – $88,720
Print and TV – $56,930
Brochures – $17,600
Production – $15,800

The commission runs ads on cable networks like A&E, the Travel Channel, ESPN, the Food Network, HGTV, and even Fox News and CNN. There are also brochures for restaurants, walking tours, and a new handout featuring the Drennen-Scott historic site, which is slated to open mid-year.

Ads promoting Van Buren tourism will show up in newspapers and magazines in Arkansas and 21 other out-of-state papers in 2010. These are issued each spring and fall.

The Van Buren A&P uses part of the 1 percent food and lodging tax it collects to pay for advertising.

Maryl Koeth, director of the Van Buren Advertising and Promotion Commission, said the promotions are working. The evidence is as close as the license plates on the cars parked outside her office at the depot in downtown Van Buren. On Wednesday alone she saw tags from Minnesota, Texas and Mississippi while walking to her car just outside the historic building.

But there is still work to be done. Koeth said the economic downturn continues to affect the travel industry in the city. The problem is not unique to Van Buren.

“We will not see a radical increase in business travel,” Koeth said. “It will be slow. We just had our annual meeting of A&P directors from across the state and we are pretty much agreed that our numbers looked very similar in the decrease. For September and August we were well below what I had projected for income for revenue and that’s pretty much the same across the state.”

October numbers released at the monthly meeting showed year-to-date revenue at 4.65% above the same period in 2007, and 4.06% below 2008. Koeth said the numbers in 2008 are an anomaly because the city was seeing higher revenue from contractors coming to the area to repair damage from the April 2008 hail storm.

Koeth is hearing from local business owners who have seen an increase in traffic in recent weeks, a trend she hopes will continue. And while Van Buren is not in any kind of crisis, Koeth is being cautious while preparing the draft of the 2010 budget.

“I’m going to go ahead and budget flat because currently I’m still slightly above budget,” Koeth said. “Right now I’m using the budgeted number from this year and that may change by next month’s meeting.”

The commission will vote on the 2010 budget in December.