Published: July 29, 2008 10:55 pm         

TH-based WilliamsRandall nets Indiana tourism marketing contract

TERRE HAUTE — Indiana’s tourism marketing is now in the hands of a Terre Haute-based advertising agency.

The Indiana Office of Tourism Development awarded a two-year, $5 million contract to WilliamsRandall Marketing Communications, whose headquarters are on Ohio Street, to promote tourism in the Hoosier state.

“We see this as a victory for a Terre Haute-based business,” said Charlie Williams, president and founder of the company, which began operations in 1979 as Williams Co. The contract was awarded July 1, company officials said.

State officials chose WilliamsRandall after hearing proposals from interested ad agencies across the state, company officials said. Tourism officials selected WilliamsRandall from a group of nine finalists, according to a media statement issued by the company Tuesday.

The state “really looked to our creative energy and our creative spark. That’s why we won it,” said Jennifer Perry, account supervisor at WilliamsRandall.

In addition to creativity, Indiana tourism officials were looking for a company with Internet savvy and an ability to measure the results of marketing efforts, said Indiana tourism director Amy Vaughan in the media statement.

Finding ways of measuring advertising results is a specialty of WilliamsRandall, Williams said. The company also worked hard to combine traditional advertising media with new media such as the Internet, he said.

“We’ve been a leader in that in the state,” Williams said.

WilliamsRandall, which also has an office in Indianapolis, employs around 30 people, Williams said. While the company’s headquarters is in Terre Haute, “We are an Indiana agency,” he noted.

Apart from some Web site design work already under way, it will probably be next spring before WilliamsRandall really puts its stamp on television, print, radio or other highly visible Hoosier tourism marketing, Perry said. There is a lag time in tourism advertising, so the ad campaigns developed last year are what are being used today, she said.

Indiana’s tourism industry benefits from friends and family connections, Perry said. This means many people visit the state for reunions and to see old acquaintances. Visitors may plan to stay just a few days and “part of our goal is to extend the length of the trip stay,” she said. The company will focus on attracting visitors to the state from a five-state region, she added.

In order to stretch the state’s advertising dollars, WilliamsRandall has no intention of changing advertising strategies in the state that have been successful, Williams said. The state’s tourism slogan, “Restart Your Engines,” which was first used in 2006, will remain, he said. “We see no reason to change that; we’ll just add some interpretation to it,” Perry noted.

WilliamsRandall employs 10 people in its offices at 641 Ohio St. in Terre Haute, Williams said. The company’s Indianapolis office employs around 20.

Work that WilliamsRandall has done for some Terre Haute clients, including Indiana State University, the Terre Haute Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, all helped it win the state contract, Perry said. “There’s no doubt that the work we do in Terre Haute contributed to our winning the account,” she said. “They really gave us a leg up,” Perry said.

WilliamsRandall is not one of the state’s largest advertising agencies so winning the state’s tourism contract “would definitely be considered an upset,” Williams said. “I think that’s a pretty good testimony for our shop.”

Members of WilliamsRandall staff handling the state’s tourism account include Gail Hayes, Lori Warner, Santhana Naidu, Tammy Mantor, George Rahman, Williams and Perry, company officials said.

Arthur Foulkes can be reached at (812) 231-4232 or arthur.foulkes@tribstar.com.