BENTONVILLE -- Visit Bentonville officials estimate the Bentonville Film Festival had between a $300,000 and $400,000 economic impact, Kalene Griffith, president and CEO said Thursday.
Griffith reported to the Advertising and Promotions Commission the "unofficial in-house estimates" of the five-day, multi-venue festival's economic impact.
Film Festival
The Bentonville Film Festival, which champions women and diversity in the film industry, featured more than 50 films, panels, special events and a sponsor village. Events took place in Bentonville, Rogers, Springdale and Fayetteville. Organizers said during the festival they hope to expand its locations next year.
Source: Staff Report
The festival, presented by the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media and ARC Entertainment, was May 5 to May 9. It was held in venues throughout Northwest Arkansas, but most were in Bentonville.
"Creating an economic impact is one of the most challenging tasks with events of this magnitude because of all the variables involved," she said after the meeting.
Griffith reported to commissioners festival organizers estimated an attendance of 35,000 people. She said she based the economic impact on an attendance of 15,000, which was calculated using a formula that included the number of rooms books and probable meals bought over the five days.
There were 1,500 rooms booked in Bentonville. Calculations included three meals a day for each of those rooms as well as another 5,000 to 6,000 meals with a $10 value to include those who drove in from surrounding cities to attend festival events, Griffith said.
The numbers are estimates as there's no way to know how many people stayed in a room. Other factors, such as those who bought gas while in town for the festival, weren't in the calculations, she added.
The $300,000 to $400,000 number is probably conservative, Griffith said.
"I would rather us be conservative and feel like we can grow from there," she told commissioners. "(It was) a very successful event. We're looking forward to them coming back next year."
Griffith said she's planning for Visit Bentonville to hire a research company to study the economic impact for next year's festival, which would provide more accurate numbers.
A study like that typically costs between $5,000 and $10,000, she said.
The city also gained millions of dollars worth of promotion through social media and publications that wrote about the event. Some included the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The Huffington Post, Variety and Glamour. Even the BBC World News sent a reporter.
Visit Bentonville calculated "earned media" value at $3.8 million. Festival officials calculated its value at $8 million. Griffith said the $8 million is probably more accurate as their software contains a larger database of publications and media outlets.
Visit Bentonville's report for the earned media ran from the end of January to the week after the event, Blair Cromwell, vice president of marketing and communications, said. There was a lot of press about the event since then that wasn't included.
Tavola was just one restaurant that geared up with extra food and more staff prior to the festival in preparation for an increase in business.
Kelli Pinnock, general manager, said she anticipated a 25 percent increase in business but got little business from festival traffic. A private room had been reserved but not used, she said.
Business was still good that weekend as the University of Arkansas had its graduation.
"We had no shortage of business but none of it came from the film festival," Pinnock said.
NW News on 05/29/2015