McMinnville committee approves $139,000 marketing contract with Design Sensory; picks cooperative partner for winter campaign

The McMinnville Tourism Marketing Committee voted to recommend that the tourism department enter a contract with Design Sensory to provide marketing campaign management, creative content, seasonal branding and interim website work under a $139,000 agreement.

The contract as described at the meeting includes paid media placement and creative services intended to promote visitation year-round, with an emphasis on increasing off-season visits. Committee members were told $60,000 of the $139,000 would go to marketing campaigns (advertising placed in front of target audiences), and the remaining amount covers services and creative work. The staff presenter also described a down payment at contract signing of $4,000 and monthly installments of $8,500 through the end of the fiscal year.

Committee members discussed seasonal branding and the creation of new video and photographic assets to support campaigns that target fall and winter visitation. The presenter said Design Sensory will produce seasonally varied creative — for example, highlighting paddling in summer and Cumberland Caverns in winter — and will consult on the new tourism website to align it with the brand and support campaign landing pages. The presenter said the firm previously produced video and photo assets in February 2018.

The tourism committee also voted to recommend engaging Advanced Travel and Tourism to run a winter media campaign (mid-November through mid-March). Staff said the winter campaign partner is a cooperative member eligible for a state match: the meeting record shows the state will contribute $15,000 toward the winter campaign if the city proceeds with the cooperative partner. Advanced Travel and Tourism would use creative assets produced by Design Sensory and run paid buys on platforms such as Meta, YouTube and Google display.

Speakers emphasized the committee’s desire to use visitor profiling and data to target audiences likely to spend more while visiting. Committee members described the arrangement as a coordinated partnership: Design Sensory will produce creative and manage campaigns part of the year, and the cooperative partner will manage the winter placements to capture the state match.

A voice vote was taken on the recommendation to enter the contract with Design Sensory; the meeting transcript records the motion, a second and “Aye” on the voice vote. A separate voice vote was recorded to recommend the tourism department enter a contract with Advanced Travel and Tourism; the transcript records a motion, a second and “Aye.” The transcript does not record roll-call vote tallies or named yes/no votes.

Clarifying details discussed in the meeting included the campaign calendar (Design Sensory running September–November and March–December; the cooperative partner running mid-November–mid-March), creative production for off-season assets, and staff plans to build visitor profiles for data-driven targeting. The presenter described $139,000 as the total contract amount and said approximately $60,000 of that would be used for paid media placement; the presenter also described the services portion as about $80,000. The presenter acknowledged earlier numeric typos in the meeting packet and corrected them during discussion.

The tourism marketing committee adjourned after the votes and said it would forward the committee’s recommendations to the full board for final approval.