How much do you think a local governmental agency should spend on marketing? How does $2.5 million sound?
The voiceofsandiego.org's Rob Davis has been looking hard at the Airport Authority for some time, investigating, for example, the travel expenses of authority chairman Bob Watkins. This time Davis is taking a look at the authority's marketing budget.
Among the tidbits in his report on Wednesday:
- A multi-million dollar marketing plan includes a "redesign of the airport's six-year-old logo, a project that has cost $86,000 so far and not yielded a new logo"
- An $82,000 2008 annual report -- which the VOSD reports works out to be 33 bucks a copy -- was a step up from its predecessor, which cost $76,000.
- A model hired for a spread in last year's report was paid $792, and the Airport authority spent another $400 for a makeup artist for the shoot
In its defense, "authority spokeswoman Diana Lucero said the agency has hired models before on rare occasions when it wasn't practical to use an authority employee or stock photography," reported the voiceofsandiego.org.
As far as the logo goes, its selection was delayed when the authority rejected the designs presented by Greenhaus, the local marketing firm hired by the authority for $2.5 million, Davis reported. Greenhaus now has a green light from the authority, though, to hire a subcontractor on the work -- there's still $9,000 in the logo budget.
Sound like a lot? Maybe it isn't.
"You get to six figures pretty fast when it comes to the things you put the logo on," said Bennett Peji, who owns a downtown San Diego marketing firms.
Airport Authority board member and (City Councilman) Tony Young, who voted to approve of the Greenhaus contract, told the voiceofsandiego.org that he wanted more information about the logo and the model.
