Havas PR in negotiations to be part of statewide tourism campaign management next year

PROVIDENCE – A Havas PR agency representative said the company is in the midst of negotiating with the R.I. Commerce Corp. about work next fiscal year on the statewide tourism campaign.
Linda Descano, executive vice president Havas PR, said the company is continuing its work on the first year of the campaign, which will end June 30.
“We are in negotiations about the scope for year two,” Descano said Monday.
The company, one of three hired to work on the approximately $5 million new statewide tourism campaign, recently agreed to reduce its project fees by $90,000 – that represents $30,000 monthly project fees for April, May and June.
According to Commerce RI spokeswoman Kayla Rosen, the company’s fees were reduced by $340,000 in total, which includes reductions from both before and after the brand launch.
In addition, IndieWhip, a Providence firm that was a subcontractor to Havas, agreed to pay back $20,000 after its promotional tourism video was found to have footage from Iceland in it.
Descano said the reductions represent former chief marketing officer Betsy Wall’s move to put more money into paid media ($150,000), something she said Havas supported, as well as changes in the scope of work Havas was to do, including with social media.
Havas was set to receive $3.5 million of the tourism budget allocation, with Milton Glaser Inc., the New York City firm responsible for the since abandoned and widely disliked “Rhode Island: Cooler & Warmer” slogan receiving $400,00 and Epic Decade, of Jamestown, receiving $600,000.
Meanwhile, Epic Decade, of Jamestown, has taken the lead on management of the tourism campaign, which has been revamped to include residents’ input.

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