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© St. Petersburg Times, published June 20, 2002
ST. PETE BEACH -- Visit Florida Inc. rehired its advertising agency for another year Wednesday, rebuffing a rival company's bid for the $10-million account.
The 8-8 vote by the board of the state's main tourist marketing agency handed Fahlgren of Tampa the account for a 10th year. And the losing agency is pondering its next move.
"This was bizarre," said Peter Yesawich, president and CEO of Yesawich Perrine & Brown, an Orlando agency that poured several hundred-thousand dollars into the pitch.
Several board members who backed his bid for the prestigious account pledged to revisit the issue. The majority of board members saw no reason to ditch Fahlgren only two weeks before its contract is to expire.
Some members said the selection process that ranked YPB ahead of Fahlgren was flawed. Others questioned why a recommendation to hire YPB was steered around the agency's marketing committee. "The whole process was weird," said Nicki Grossman, president and chief executive of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Fahlgren's work was cited as helping the Florida vacation industry recover faster than expected from a recession and the war on terrorism.
While the number of Florida vacationers is getting closer to normal, industry leaders expect to keep discounting prices deeply.
"As an industry we're still swimming upstream," said Larry White, board member and director of the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau. "Why change boats before we get back to shore?"
Visit Florida decided to put its advertising account up for a review last summer. The process was delayed for six months because Sept. 11 decimated the travel industry.
Several board members raised questions about YPB's potential conflicts of interest. The agency's client list includes Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia, a Bahamian hotel association, several Caribbean hotel companies and a proposed convention center in Puerto Rico.
Yesawich said those are not conflicts because they are private companies while Visit Florida is a taxpayer-financed marketing company.