In a surprise move, new Maine Office of Tourism director Patricia Eltman, has decided to retain the services of the ad agency out of New York, Warren Kremer Paino. She had initially stated that she would seek new bids for the office’s ad campaign, now stating that she has too much going on and believes the ad campaign in place is working, although has no real information to support that claim.

Former MOT head Dann Lewis was replaced after information that surfaced as the result of one Lance Dutson, a Maine web designer and blogger/writer, who discovered what he thought were ad campaigns working against Maine companies struggling for business. His probes turned up many discrepancies and ethics problems within the MOT. He was then sued by the ad agency Warren Kremer Paino. That suit was ultimately dropped.

Part of what Dutson turned up in his scrutiny of MOT was “cooked books”, in part statistics put together by a Canadian research firm, Longwoods International. One has to question whether the statistics that Eltman is relying on as saying the campaign is working, are reliable.

While one can understand that in a year of transition from one director to another, there would be multiple changes and a lot of work to do, is that really an excuse to not be looking out for the best interest of the $3.2 million advertising budget of the MOT? Is it really that disruptive?

Tux Turkel, staff writer for the Portland Press Herald reports that Eltman says she’s too busy.

In an interview Wednesday, however, Eltman said she has concluded since then that it would be disruptive and counterproductive to rebid the contract in the wake of management changes in her office and given that the ad campaign seems to be working. She stressed that she hasn’t received any input from Warren Kremer, and no one influenced her decision.

“I take full responsibility for it,” she said. “I have a lot on my plate right now, a lot of changes. I decided it was in our best interest for (Warren Kremer) to work out their contract.”

I, along with many others I’m sure, are skeptical as to whether the current ad campaign is actually working. I can respect the idea of limiting disruptions but I question whether using statistics from places that were deemed unreliable in the past is good judgment.

Tom Remington

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