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As leaders prepare for a December visit from Rikuzentakata delegates, the local chamber of commerce is forming strategies to ensure Del Norte County capitalizes on NBC Sports coverage of the relationship during the 2020 Olympics.

The Crescent City-Del Norte County Chamber of Commerce received money from county supervisors and harbor commissioners Tuesday to hire a consultant to spearhead a public relations campaign ahead of the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.

Part of the project’s goal is to “solidify and enhance” the sister city relationship between Del Norte County and Rikuzentakata as well as to grow community pride and enhance disaster preparedness, chamber Executive Director Cindy Vosburg told the Wild Rivers Outpost. The PR project also seeks to increase tourism and stimulate economic growth in Crescent City and Del Norte County, according to Vosburg.

“We have an opportunity that we’ve never had before in a positive light and we may never have again — at least not in my lifetime,” Vosburg told county supervisors before introducing them to Rob Holmlund, owner of Eureka-based Malex Consulting. “We have millions of dollars of positive exposure on NBC Sports. As a small community, how do we capitalize on that? How do we help our community grow with community pride?”

As the consultant on this project, Holmlund will work with a “broad coalition of partners” to create a marketing, branding and public relations project to exploit media attention Del Norte County receives from NBC Sports.

The project will cost an estimated $59,000, according to Vosburg, who requested $15,000 from the county. On Tuesday, four members of the Board of Supervisors agreed to an initial budget transfer of $10,000 to the Chamber of Commerce. According to the staff report, that money was originally intended for the Tri Counties Economic Development Authority for economic development.
County Administrative Officer Jay Sarina said the remaining $5,000 would have to be transferred from a different county fund — a decision supervisors will take up at a future meeting.

Before appearing before county supervisors Tuesday, the Crescent City Harbor agreed to contribute $7,500 toward the project, Vosburg told the Wild Rivers Outpost. The Crescent City Fisherman’s Marketing Association also pledged $2,000 toward the project, she told the Outpost.

At its Nov. 4 meeting, three members of the Crescent City Council agreed to allocate $15,000 toward the project.

“We still need to come up with another roughly $14,000,” Vosburg told the Outpost. “We don’t know who that’s going to come from yet.”

According to Holmlund’s presentation, the coalition will consist of representatives from the chamber, visitors bureau, Soroptimist International, Rotary International, city, county and school district. The coalition will meet some time this month to review the project’s scope, objectives and strategies, he said.

The project includes hiring a PR specialist, developing media press kits that tells the “story of Crescent City” and includes photos, videos and other digital media, and to create a Visit Crescent City website.

Holmlund said the PR project also includes connecting with “strategic media outlets like the New York Times, Fox Sports, and the San Francisco Chronicle to share the sister city story and to host a press tour. He also proposes to create a stock video footage of Crescent City, to produce documentary videos of the area and to upgrade existing social media platforms.

Following Holmlund’s presentation, District 1 Supervisor Roger Gitlin said in the past when the county has hired consultants they do so with certain results that often don’t come through.

“What makes this one different?” Gitlin asked Holmlund. “It’s a unique once in a lifetime experience, I understand that, how do you think this will translate to helping the average person on our street who’s not engaged in the project?”

Holmlund acknowledged that $59,000 is a lot of money for a small community, but by taking advantage of NBC Sports’ coverage of the sister city relationship, Del Norte County has an opportunity to see increases in its transient occupancy taxes and sales taxes.

“You have to spend money to make money,” he said.

Local business leader, Kevin Hartwick, of Cholwell, Benz and Hartwick, spoke of the proposed PR project as an “opportunity to leverage on a multi-million dollar advertising campaign.” He echoed Vosburg’s assertion that coverage of the sister city relationship during the Olympics is a once in a lifetime experience. NBC has already gone to great lengths to spotlight Del Norte County, he said, including its commercial Dungeness fleet.

Hartwick also noted that though he’s impressed with Holmlund’s work, promoting Del Norte County will also be up to the community.

“It’s really still on the shoulders of the community to put media press kits together,” he said. “To build that video library. To build all kinds of stuff and to pay for it. It’ll take a substantial investment from the community to make this happen.”

Saying he thought the PR and marketing project was a great idea, District 5 Supervisor Bob Berkowitz made the motion to approve the budget transfer to the chamber. He said he thinks the project and the media coverage would develop into additional dollars for Del Norte County restaurants and motels.

“National and international exposure, you can’t buy that and you certainly can’t buy it with $59,000,” Berkowitz said. “We’re saying $15,000 is an investment in our future.”

Berkowitz’s colleague, District 3 Supervisor Chris Howard said the $15,000 request for the project is “symbolic” and said he’d like the Board of Supervisors to continue other funding sources to use to invest in the project. He mentioned the Stimson Fund as a possible economic development tool the Board could tap into.

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