BRENHAM CITY COUNCIL APPROVES ADVERTISING, MARKETING AGREEMENTS FOR VISIT BRENHAM
The Brenham City Council on Thursday approved advertising and marketing proposals for the Visit Brenham Destination Marketing Organization’s (DMO) 2025 marketing plan.
The council signed off on an advertising agreement with AJR Media Group, representing state travel publications like the Texas State Travel Guide, Texas Highways and TourTexas.com. It also agreed to a proposal with Madden Media for digital marketing, using tools and strategies through online platforms to increase Visit Brenham’s brand awareness and overnight visitation to Brenham and Washington County.
City of Brenham Tourism and Marketing Director Jennifer Eckermann said hotel occupancy tax (HOT) revenue, which is used to fund these purchases, is down through the first part of this year, so the new advertising and marketing proposals are for less than the current year. She did say HOT funding seems to be levelling off this summer and is hopeful it will rebound next year.
The advertising proposal from AJR Media Group comes out to $57,190, while the digital marketing with Madden Media is for $99,960. Eckermann said those costs are reduced from the previous year by approximately $2,500 and $15,000, respectively.
I don’t know the answer to improving tourism, but I don’t think spending big money on advertising is the answer. If you just listen to conversations among tourists, you will hear the disappointment in what downtown Brenham has to offer. So few places to eat and everything is shut down in the evening, other than wine bars, which are not family friendly. Sunday has two places to eat and hardly any stores open. Visitors who come for the week-end find a limited to do list !! Until we provide more restaurants (not fast food but budget friendly) and provide a more inviting adventure , tourism is going to continue to decline. We need to spend our time and money trying to bring in new business and restaurants !!! Remember. the best advertisement is “word of mouth” and so far we are offering nothing for tourist to get excited about.
If Brenham has a tourism and marketing director why hire an advertising agency? I think it is time to hire a mayor too, since this mayor we have is not doing his job. It is obviously very easy to duplicate public servant duties and hire out when the city of Brenham elected officials keep increasing our property taxes. What fo you think?
The City Council hires a City Manager to perform the executive function of actually running a city professionally, in the same way that a School Board hires a Superintendent to run public schools. The City Council are like legislators that pass ordinances, hire key personnel, and confirm executive recommendations and the Mayor is like a speaker or chairman, which mostly ceremonial. They aren’t paid much if anything at all.
Why would they hire an ad agency? Probably the same reason that a company like HEB does the same thing. Some tasks that need doing are not their core competency, the work is seasonal, or it doesn’t justify the cost of onboarding a whole dedicated marketing team full-time to do a less-than-part-time job. Maybe they need access to better advertising talent than they could hire locally. The City probably has many third-party vendors to do quality professional work in small increments. That part of it is normal.
As for whether they’re getting bang for their buck, I have no idea. But they are professionals overseen by elected officials and that’s at least the right idea.