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County and arena make ad tradeoff deal
YOUNGSTOWN
The Mahoning County commissioners have approved an advertising tradeoff agreement with the Covelli Centre management that won’t cost either entity a dime.
Under the single-page memorandum of understanding the commissioners approved, the county Convention & Visitors Bureau will get an LED digital- scroll advertisement promoting local tourism that will be displayed inside the city-owned arena every four to six minutes during every event for a year.
In return, the arena will get a full-page color print ad worth $1,750 in the CVB’s annual Youngstown and Mahoning County Visitors Guide, which has a 100,000-copy free distribution.
The bureau also will continue to promote Covelli Centre events through its youngstownlive.com website, social media and calendar postings.
The terse, three-paragraph agreement will renew annually Oct. 1, unless one party notifies the other in writing of its desire to terminate the agreement.
Linda Macala, county CVB executive director, said Kelsey Rupert, the arena’s marketing and sales director, proposed the deal to her as a mutually beneficial effort at a time when the arena’s ad budget is limited.
The CVB’s electronic messages to arena audiences will encourage them to go to the bureau’s website and to learn about and visit other local events and attractions, Macala said.
The scroll also may encourage Covelli Centre event attendees to tweet about the event they’re attending, she said.
The ad deal is desirable because it will allow CVB “to capture not only those from out of town, but local people as well” who attend arena events.
The arena’s ad in the visitors’ guide will reinforce the publicity the bureau already gives the arena in that guide, Macala added.
“They are a valuable partner of ours. I think it’s a win-win for both of us,” she said.
“I think both of us have limited resources, so I wanted to tap into whatever we could to make a deal mutually beneficial,” Rupert said of the arena and the county.
“It’s ongoing,” rather than a one-time ad placement, Rupert said of the benefit of having the automatically renewable agreement.
“I was more interested in establishing a relationship and reaching a demographic we might not otherwise reach,” Rupert said of the arena’s ad in the county visitors guide.
Rupert declined to disclose the cash value of the arena scroll advertising the county is receiving in the deal.