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Sponsorships, Advertising & Marketing
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Sweet As Sugar? New Orleans CVB Unhappy With Rival's Bowl Ad
New Orleans Metropolitan Convention & Visitors Bureau (NOMCVB) President Steve Perry said that he was "'disappointed' by a recent radio ad that used what he considered to be a 'false and misleading' method of enticing Sugar Bowl fans to book hotel stays on the Mississippi Gulf Coast instead of New Orleans," according to Jaquetta White of the New Orleans TIMES-PICAYUNE. In the ad, an actor "makes a telephone call to a fictitious New Orleans hotel and requests a hotel room in the city only to learn that none are available" for the January 2 game, which pits Alabama against Utah. The spot, commissioned by the Mississippi Gulf Coast Visitors Bureau (MGCVB), ran Saturday during CBS' broadcast of the Florida-Alabama SEC Championship game. Perry said there are a "number of fine quality rooms remaining in New Orleans" for the Sugar Bowl. MGCVB Exec Dir Richard Forester said that Mississippi "receives hundreds of Sugar Bowl guests each year," but the agency this year "wanted to be more aggressive in its attempt to attract those guests." White noted the ad was "intended to attract Alabama fans who would pass through Mississippi on the drive to New Orleans." Forester said that this is the "first time the Mississippi visitors bureau has advertised to Sugar Bowl fans." The MGCVB "intends to run similar ads in Alabama" until the game. But Forester said that he "wasn't sure if those ads would use the same language as the original one" (New Orleans TIMES-PICAYUNE, 12/10). In Mississippi, Mary Perez reported the MGCVB “may also do a little marketing in Utah.” Forester said that he was “sorry if the CVB in New Orleans took exception to the radio commercial.” Forester: “It’s up to us to be more aggressive in these times. That’s what we’re here for.” But NOMCVB Dir of Communications Mary Beth Romig said that people have “called to find out if all the rooms were already sold.” Romig: “We have had people think it was an accurate message.” Romig added that the NOMCVB “wouldn’t say anything in an advertisement that was untrue” (Biloxi SUN HERALD, 12/10).
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