Next step toward Town tourism boost is told
Farragut Board of Mayor and Aldermen approved a $40,000 contract with Madden Media Thursday, Feb. 25, during its regular bi-monthly meeting, to begin that process.
A subcommittee made up of Town staff and a representative of the Town Tourism Advisory Committee has been working on selecting a company with which to work since last summer, when a Request for Qualifications was issued for upcoming tourism and public relations projects over a three-year period.
“Contracting with outside firms is essential due to the limited amount of staff (two part-time workers, including Town Tourism coordinator Karen Tindal) and the types of experience and knowledge needed for a diverse and expanding tourism program,” sTown Parks & Recreation director Sue Stuhl stated in a BOMA report.
Based on various input, “staff considered the redevelopment of the Visit Farragut website as an essential first step moving forward,” the report continued.
Though initially valuable, the current site was created “using a Wix platform,” Stuhl added, which is “considered a ‘micro-site’ of limited capabilities.”
“It was a good platform to get the tourism program started because it was relatively inexpensive. But now that the Visit Farragut program has gained traction, it has a funding mechanism and has outgrown the capabilities of the Wix platform,” the report stated. “Website redevelopment is essential (and the primary need) for further expansion of the program.”
From the RFQ, proposals were received from 11 qualified firms, then evaluated and reduced to five. The subcomittee reviewed additional submittals from those companies, and Zoom interviews further whittled down the number.
Stuhl’s report stated the recommendation of Madden Media was unanimous among a representative from the subcommittee and Staff, and noted the company’s “impressive record in multimedia tourism management and their growth driven strategy” along with the company’s extensive tourism focus.
Another important factor in the recommendation was that Madden Media’s primary account manger, TJ Fletcher, “is a graduate of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and has family living in East Tennessee, which gives him a familiarity with Farragut and its region on the front end,” the report stated.
Another key is the company is willing to work with information and metrics already gathered by Town staff.
“One of the big things that set Madden apart was that we had a lot of good research already, but most companies wanted to start over from scratch,” Stuhl said, noting in her report this step would have “eaten up” valuable time and funds.
Madden Media will be using the WordPress platform in the website design, which Stuhl noted is used by the majority of tourism programs in other markets.
She confirmed in a follow-up interview funds for the contract would come from the Tourism Department’s budget line items for Professional Services and Advertising.
The timeline provided by Madden Media indicated work would begin this month and likely conclude by July.
In addition to the website design, Madden also would work with and train staff on the platform and usage.
