Ulster County OKs $580,000 tourism advertising contract with Idea Ranch; lawmakers press for ROI and brand clarity

The Economic Development Committee voted to authorize a $580,000 contract with Idea Ranch LLC to provide advertising and destination-marketing services for Ulster County.

Lisa Berger, director of Ulster County Tourism and the Office for Film, told the committee that 14 proposals were received through the county purchasing process and that four finalists made in-person presentations. She said Idea Ranch rose to the top in the selection committee’s scoring and proposed that it would not take commission on ad buys — a change Berger said would save roughly 15% on placements. "They are not taking commission on any of their ad placements," Berger said.

Berger described the IDA/CRC and tourism context for the decision: the county’s visitor economy is roughly $1.1 billion and the tourism contract is part of a broader professional-services budget of about $1.2 million for advertising and marketing this year. Committee members asked how Idea Ranch would measure return on investment and attribution; Berger said the county uses MRB/third-party tools and that larger commercial-finding analyses use outside vendors. She said that some ROI tools and case studies were presented during the selection process and that larger vendor studies typically run about $9,000.

Some legislators pressed for clarity on the county’s brand and past campaigns. One member raised concerns about the long-running "Seek for Yourself" brand, saying public perception sometimes associated it with spiritual or self-help references; Berger and others said the county has seen strong visitor spending under that campaign and that the new vendor’s concept is a departure from the prior brand. Berger said she could not publicly reveal certain proprietary creative concepts shown in the finalists’ pitches but that the presentation included an app idea the county plans to evaluate.

Committee members also questioned the contract structure and fees: Legislator Grossman referenced a $172,500 retainer figure and asked about social and video strategy; Berger confirmed video and social content were priorities and said the county plans to manage content in partnership with the vendor. The motion to approve the contract passed by voice vote.

What’s next: The tourism team will finalize the contract with Idea Ranch and return materials to the county where required; the department said it will continue to report analytics and publish the vendor’s annual performance and the county’s annual tourism report in March.