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P. Allen Smith urges expanded tourism media engagement; Parks department cites data-driven limits on higher pay
Summary
Garden-media host P. Allen Smith told the Senate committee he seeks a larger state engagement after a long-running subcontract with the state’s agency-of-record; Parks, Heritage and Tourism officials defended current oversight, described how return-on-investment is measured, and said any expanded engagement would require clearer deliverables and negotiated measurables.
P. Allen Smith, a media producer who runs Moss Mountain Farm and long-running television and digital outlets, told the Senate State Agencies & Governmental Affairs Committee that his work draws national attention and that he proposed an expanded engagement worth about $845,000 a year to promote Arkansas tourism.
Smith said his production company has worked in 42 Arkansas communities in the past year, operates two national television shows and several online platforms, and ‘‘we're getting about 32,000,000 impressions in the marketplace.’’ He said his past state relationship began at about $100,000 and grew to $200,000 annually; he proposed the larger engagement because, he said, ‘‘in this past year, we can demonstrate that we've brought the value of about $1,300,000 to the state’’ based on industry valuation benchmarks (the ‘‘blue book’’ used in media valuation).
The committee pressed Smith on three themes: the…
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