The cities of Ketchum and Sun Valley need to get serious about marketing before they unwittingly smash up existing programs with a rush to replace them.
Mayors Randy Hall and Wayne Willich jointly announced last week that both cities intend to overhaul the Sun Valley-Ketchum Chamber & Visitors Bureau, double spending on marketing and create an entirely new organization to launch an international marketing effort to increase business.
Yet, it's became abundantly clear that the mayors' ham-handed efforts could jeopardize marketing for the next 18 months if they don't buckle down and create a sensible transition plan.
They want to strip responsibility for marketing from the Sun Valley-Ketchum Chamber & Visitors Bureau beginning in 90 days, yet they have no new organization in place to assume that responsibility.
They have selected just one of five new board members to guide this unformed organization. They have not begun to look for a chief executive officer to lead it.
Their plan for funding and splitting off events and visitor services is still in flux, with a big hunk of the budget—$240,000 from the Idaho Travel Council—in limbo.
They have put forth no timelines for transitioning to a new organization to ensure that marketing for the 2010-11 winter season and the following summer would either go on uninterrupted or be seamlessly replaced.
They have set out no specific goals for marketing, e.g., increases in sales taxes, skier days or hotel occupancies. To date, they have asked for nothing except to remove marketing from the chamber.
They have no marketing program to offer, preferring to wait for the advice of an organization that does not yet exist.
If the mayors don't quit shooting from the hip, they could kill what marketing is in place for the coming winter and damage the ability of the area to prepare for Sun Valley's 75th anniversary season in 2011-12.
After all, marketing requires lead time.
There's a remarkable double standard at play here.
On one hand, the mayors demand detailed programs and budgets from groups like the chamber that seek city funding. But for their own project, they demanded nothing before calling on their city councils to fund it with around $1 million.
The mayors deserve credit for finally recognizing that the cities need better marketing to help restore their damaged economies. But they need more than a new organization chart.
They need realistic timelines and detailed plans to ensure that they don't do more harm than good in their rush to fix the ailing economy.
