Kerry visit brings nationwide
promotion
Valley marketers revel
in surge of free press
"I think it’s great advertising
for Ketchum and Sun Valley. I think we’re getting advertising we
couldn’t afford to purchase."
— ED SIMON, Ketchum mayor
By GREGORY FOLEY
Express Staff Writer
Presidential hopeful John Kerry’s
vacation in Ketchum the last week has prompted a gleeful reaction from
those most interested in promoting the Wood River Valley.
From the head of the chamber of
commerce to the chief sales agent for Sun Valley Resort, local marketers
are looking fondly on the Massachusetts senator’s choice of venues for
taking a respite from campaigning.
"I think it’s great advertising
for Ketchum and Sun Valley," said Ketchum Mayor Ed Simon. "I think we’re
getting advertising we couldn’t afford to purchase."
Carol Waller, executive director
of the Sun Valley-Ketchum Chamber & Visitors Bureau, said the barrage of
national press about Kerry’s vacation in Ketchum and Sun Valley is
serving to solidify the resort cities’ position on the vacation-planning
map.
"To have members of the national
press doing stories on Kerry and Kerry being on vacation certainly
raises awareness," she said. "The amount of PR is very, very positive."
With his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry,
the presumptive Democratic nominee for president today concluded a
one-week vacation based from Heinz-Kerry’s home on the northern edge of
Ketchum.
During the visit, throngs of
reporters from the national press corps followed the senator’s every
move, from snowboarding on Bald Mountain to dining in downtown Ketchum.
Lengthy stories on Kerry’s
activities filled up the pages of nationally distributed newspapers,
including The New York Times and USA Today. Photos in the publications
depicted Kerry frolicking in the snow under sunny skies.
Reporters from The Associated
Press, Reuters, ABC, CNN, Time magazine and the Los Angeles Times were
joined throughout the week by Idaho journalists seeking to report the
latest news from Kerry’s Ketchum camp.
"There’s already been positive
results," Waller said, noting that the Boise affiliate of CBS had just
announced it would cover this weekend’s SolFest ski-jumping exhibition
on Bald Mountain. The decision was made, Waller said, after the
television station took notice of the positive press Sun Valley had
received in recent days.
"It just gives the media another
angle to cover Sun Valley," she said.
Jack Sibbach, director of sales
and marketing for Sun Valley Co., said he is also delighted by the
senator’s visit.
"It’s been very unobtrusive for
us. It’s been business as usual," Sibbach said. "We’re just happy he’s
here. It’s good PR."
Sibbach noted that Sun Valley
managers did not provide the senator any special treatment.
"He stood in the lift line like
everybody else."
Like Sibbach, Simon said Kerry’s
visit did not disrupt the normal course of events in the Ketchum area.
"I’ve seen very little
disruption," Simon said. "I think part of that is we’re so used to
seeing celebrities."
Waller said the press corps was
genuinely impressed with Ketchum and Sun Valley. The positive
impressions were likely enhanced, she said, by complimentary gift
baskets from the Chamber and various other freebies from local
businesses and restaurants.
"We’ve heard time and time again
from them how friendly they think everybody is here," Waller said. "It
all certainly put our community in a very positive light."