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Maine Office of Tourism E-News - October 2005 PLEASE SAVE THE DATE! The 2006 Governor's Conference on Tourism Tuesday - January 24, 2006 _______________________________________________ Office of Tourism Announces Regional Grants The Maine Office of Tourism has announced the awarding of nearly $680,000 in grants to several regional tourism organizations as part of the Maine Tourism Marketing Partnership Program. The main objective of the marketing partnership program is to create and implement programs designed to stimulate and expand the travel industry within Maine's eight tourism regions. The program's aim is to strengthen the state's image by coordinating the promotional efforts of the private sector with those of the Office of Tourism. A secondary objective is to support the development of major special events which will attract visitors to Maine and which provide an impact on two or more regions. The funds available for the regional tourism program are based on a percentage of tax revenue generated by tourism spending from the previous fiscal year and are only a small portion of the tax money raised through tourism spending. For this year, regional and special event applications approved include Aroostook County Tourism Region, $75,000; Downeast & Acadia Tourism Region, $75,000; the Greater Portland and Casco Bay Tourism Region, $75,000; the Kennebec & Moose River Valley Tourism Region, $41,587; Maine Lakes and Mountains Tourism Region, $72,277; the Mid Coast Tourism Region, $80,112; The Maine Highlands Tourism Region, $74,500; the Southern Maine Coast Tourism Region, $75,000; the 2006 World Junior Biathlon Championships, $52,000; and the Maine Fiberarts Tour Map, $59,100. The money is used to help the regions promote themselves by way of targeted marketing for specific seasons, activities or events. As each region continues to promote itself, the state is benefiting from the increase in awareness of what Maine offers its visitors year-round. _______________________________________________ New Faces at the Office of Tourism Phil Savignano Hired As Senior Tourism Specialist
Savignano spent 20 years working at the Freeport-based L.L. Bean, beginning his career there in the retail camping department and then from 1984 to 1997, serving as the coordinator for the Outdoor Discovery Schools program. Designed for those who want to explore a new outdoor pastime like fly fishing or paddling, refine existing interests, or just get outdoors and get active, the Outdoor Discovery Schools foster a love for the outdoors and for Maine. Savignano helped develop the program in its early years and grow it into a nationally recognized endeavor that attracts thousands of visitors to Maine each year. While at L.L. Bean, Savignano also served as a project coordinator for the company's 90th Anniversary celebration and, from 1997 to 2001, was a copywriter for the famous Bean's catalog. Before joining the Office of Tourism, Savignano coordinated outdoor programs at Pineland Farms in New Gloucester, working to increase affordable outdoor recreation opportunities for the public, with a focus on Maine's youngsters. As a Senior Tourism Specialist, Savignano will help develop, institutionalize and brand outdoor recreation and ecotourism opportunities and infrastructure within the state that will attract people from around the world to Maine. Savignano lives in North Auburn with his wife of 26 years, Christine, and his son, Sean, 18. The couple also has a daughter, 19-year-old Margaret, who lives in Portland. He is a longtime member of the Auburn Recreation Department's advisory board and will continue to lead L.L. Bean's Outdoor Discovery School outdoor photography workshops. Karen Pendoley Hired As Marketing Director
Pendoley has worked for more than two decades in marketing, most recently as Director of Sales and Marketing for the Eastland Park Hotel in Portland. Prior to her tenure in Portland, she headed up sales and marketing at the Sheraton Four Points in Bangor and North Conway, and before that at the Mountain Club at Loon Mountain and Loon Mountain Recreation Corp. in New Hampshire. Throughout her career in hospitality marketing, she has been heavily involved in regional tourism groups, serving on the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors of the Bangor Convention and Visitors Bureau and was part of the group responsible for suggesting and writing the winning proposal that brought the National Folk Festival to Bangor. Pendoley holds a degree in English from New Hampshire's Plymouth State College. Through her position as Marketing Director for the state's tourism office, Pendoley plans to make it a priority to enhance the awareness Mainers have about just how essential tourism is to the state's economy. After selling destinations for decades, Pendoley says tourism is critical to Maine's economic vitality. Pendoley lives in Hallowell with her husband, jazz musician David Briggs, and her youngest daughter, Hibby Regan, a junior at Hall-Dale. Her eldest daughter, Katie Regan, is a first-year student at her mother's alma mater, Plymouth State. An active outdoorswoman, Pendoley enjoys sailing, camping, skiing and attending her family's musical events. _____________________________________________ Series of Planning Meetings Held The Office of Tourism held a series of planning meetings recently to discuss upcoming marketing strategies. The first meeting was the Strategic Marketing Committee, which began with a discussion of using "blogs" or Web logs to help market Maine to travelers. A presentation by Warren Kremer Paino followed, introducing several concepts for the upcoming 2006 advertising campaign. Day two brought together all of the Office of Tourism contractors for a strategic planning meeting. Each contractor outlined the projects they have been working on and then the group held discussions about how to best leverage one another's resources to shape the most effective marketing strategy. On the third day, the Office of Tourism invited representatives from each tourism region to meet with staff and contractors to discuss the projects they will be working on using the grant funds they received through the Maine Tourism Marketing Partnership Program. This meeting generated excellent discussion about how the contractors can work more closely with the regions so that they can maximize the effectiveness of their marketing dollars and complement the Office of Tourism's marketing campaign. _______________________________________________
Two public relations initiatives created for the Office of Tourism have been recognized by one of the most prestigious professional national travel writing organizations. Nancy Marshall Communications (NMC), the PR agency-of-record for the Office of Tourism, was awarded the Gold statuette for the Most Creative Writing of a Single Media Release and a Bronze award for Best Overall Marketing Campaign as part of the Aaron D. Cushman Society of American Travel Writers (SATW) Public Relations Awards. The awards were presented during a ceremony in the grand ballroom at the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas on September 19 before an audience of 600 newspaper, magazine and broadcast travel writers and an assembly of PR practitioners specializing in travel. The gala awards ceremony was part of the SATW 50th national convention. The Gold award was for an advertorial NMC wrote for the November/December 2004 issue of Bridal Guide entitled "Find Extreme Romance in Maine." The goal of the piece was to position Maine as a premier honeymoon destination for those who enjoy natural scenery and outdoor activities and also to increase engaged couples' awareness of Maine's unique honeymoon offerings. Meanwhile, the Bronze award was for a campaign NMC has led for the Office of Tourism since 2002 to promote Maine as a top fall foliage destination among potential visitors in the drive-to market and also educate potential visitors about the state's fall foliage season. The campaign included a press release distributed to national media a month before the season with fresh ideas for fall touring, distribution of weekly press releases during the season reporting Maine's foliage conditions thanks to information provided by the Maine Department of Conservation and distribution of video news releases capturing Maine's spectacular changing leaf colors throughout the season. "These award-winning campaigns are just two examples of the many successful efforts the NMC team has led to increase the awareness of Maine's tourism offerings through public relations," said Dann H. Lewis, director of the Maine Office of Tourism. "These two awards simply back up the results we and the industry have already seen, and that is more exposure for Maine leading to increased revenue for Maine's tourism industry and all who benefit from it." ___________________________________________
Warren Kremer Paino (WKP) has been honored as a finalist in one of the television advertising industry's most esteemed award competitions. WKP, the firm that has represented the tourism office since 2002, recently received two Bronze Telly awards at the 26th Annual Telly Awards. The Bronze Telly is awarded to entries that earn a score of 7.0 to 8.9 on a 10-point scale, as judged by some of the nation's leading advertising and production creative professionals who are also past Telly winners. Entries do not compete against each other, rather they compete against a high standard of excellence. About 20 percent of the more than 10,000 entries are honored as finalists receiving the Bronze Telly. Less than 10 percent are chosen as Silver Telly winners. The awards, honoring the year's most outstanding local, regional and cable television commercials and programs, as well as the finest video and film productions, were given for the Maine Office of Tourism "Surprise Campaign" and for the public service announcement (PSA) produced on behalf of the Maine Tourism Commission which ran on Maine television stations earlier this year. The announcements were part of a campaign that included two PSAs and a paid commercial. The first part of the campaign, which ran from January to March, included the airing of two PSAs, one of which was a Bronze Telly awardee, that sought to educate Mainers about the importance of the tourism industry. The spot mentioned the nearly 180,000 direct and indirect jobs the tourism industry provides in Maine as well as tourism's impact on the state's economy, which is estimated to be more than $6 billion a year. The second Bronze Telly winning commercial spot ran from April through June and worked to encourage Mainers to travel in their own backyard and experience the state's myriad of tourism offerings firsthand. "This is a tremendous credit to the talent and creative insight of the Warren Kremer Paino team," said Dann Lewis, director of the Maine Office of Tourism. "These awards also confirm that Maine has the tools it needs to stay competitive in the global tourism market. I was proud of the work accomplished by WKP and am pleased with these awards." _________________________________________ Tourism Briefs The Office of Tourism has announced March 28, 2006 as the date for the New York City Media Marketplace held at the Four Seasons Hotel. This event is designed to secure significant, compelling visibility for Maine as a welcoming tourist destination among 40-60 New York-based print, broadcast, online and freelance writers in the areas of travel, family, golf, outdoor/adventure, culture, food and other special interests. Regional tourism organizations, chambers of commerce, individual businesses and associations are encouraged to participate. Additional information will be distributed in the coming weeks. For more information, please contact Charlene Williams at cwilliams@marshallpr.com. Office of Tourism staff recently participated in an eight-day sales mission to Ireland and the UK, sponsored by Discover New England. The eighteen-member delegation, consisting of state, regional, and private tourism business representatives from the six New England states, took part in a weekend consumer travel show in Dublin, followed by sales calls with tour operators and travel agents. The remaining time was spent in the UK with sales calls and tour operator and agent staff trainings in the London area, as well as in Bristol and Southampton. In addition, special events with press and VIPs were held in Dublin and London. Staff attended a Tri-State Rural Intelligent Transportation System meeting where there was a discussion on how the tourism offices in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont can partner to develop a travel planning system as part of the 511 information project. Once established, travelers will dial 511 on their cell phones to access information about accommodations, restaurants and attractions throughout the three states. Staff recently attended the Honeymoon & Romantic Getaways Travel Show & Conference held in Baltimore. More than 1,300 travel agents from 44 states and Canada were present. This travel show provided Maine with an opportunity to promote and draw attention to the state's many offerings as a honeymoon and romantic getaway destination. The Office of Tourism also participated in the Philadelphia Inquirer/Daily News Travel Show this past week, and in early November will attend the National Tour Association Convention in Detroit, Michigan. For more information on upcoming travel shows, contact Mark Turek at mark.turek@maine.gov. ____________________________________ Film Office News The restaurant chain, Red Lobster, had a photo crew working in Maine recently on a project that has kept the Film Office very busy. The company is touring Maine shooting photographs for national restaurant displays and menus. Because the contract was awarded so quickly, producers had little time to find and secure locations throughout the state. The Film Office helped producers find and hire local location scouts and has been helping them find appropriate locations throughout the state. A new cable television network, aimed at the gay and lesbian market, hosted three days of live programming from the Portland waterfront earlier this summer. The network, QTN, selected a site on the Maine State Pier. The network then hosted a series of talk shows and other programming at the site. Producers knew only a few days in advance that they would be shooting in Maine and the Film Office scrambled to help the producers find everything from personnel to permits for this last-minute shoot. Mainers made up the vast majority of the crew hired for this program. Producers were impressed with the location, the quality of Maine workers, and the response of the Film Office. Maine production professionals did everything from build the sets to beam the program from a mobile production truck up to the satellite. Even though QTN was in Portland only briefly, the production brought Maine an estimated economic impact of at least several million dollars according to Film Office officials. |
Phil Savignano, a lifelong Mainer who has worked for more than three decades to develop Maine's outdoor recreation opportunities, has been hired as a Senior Tourism Specialist for the Office of Tourism.
Karen Pendoley, a longtime hospitality marketer, has been hired to help promote the state's tourism industry and opportunities as Marketing Director for the Office of Tourism.
Office of Tourism Public Relations 
Office of Tourism's Advertising Agency Honored As Finalist For Telly Awards