The Arkansas Economic Development Commission will ask the Arkansas Legislative Council to approve three separate marketing and public relations contracts totaling $1.6 million Tuesday.
Contracts are for branding and multichannel marketing, digital marketing and public relations. Agreements will take the place of a $1.1 million contract between the state's top economic development organization and Stone Ward of Little Rock.
Stone Ward has handled marketing and public relations for the commission for the past 21 years but does not expect to win one of the three contracts, the company's president said.
A pair of Little Rock firms, digital marketing specialist Team SI and CJRW, the state's largest public relations and marketing firm, are considered front-runners for portions of the business, four sources said. Executives at Team SI and CJRW referred a reporter to Arkansas Economic Development Commission spokesman Scott Hardin.
Hardin, in a text message, said the commission could not share names of winning agencies until next week's vote, but he confirmed that the nearly monthlong process of finding marketing and public relations partners was drawing to a close.
"Overall, we were very impressed with the quality of the submissions and really appreciate the hard work of each individual agency that participated," Hardin wrote. "Arkansas has a great story to tell, and we look forward to continuing to share this story through our marketing and PR efforts."
The commission contracts are not currently on the committee's agenda for Tuesday and had not been submitted by the required deadline. But Legislative Council staff member Kathy Schmidt and Hardin confirmed that the agency was seeking to have the contracts added to the agenda.
Companies were alerted of the commission's selection of marketing partners late last week. The commission began seeking proposals April 27, and the deadline for submissions was May 27. The contract for digital marketing attracted nine bids, public relations received seven bids, and marketing and branding received five submissions.
"Stone Ward has been so privileged to serve AEDC for 21 years," said Millie Ward, president of Stone Ward. "We've served four governors -- two Democrats and two Republicans -- and seven directors [of economic development]. In that time Arkansas' economic future has grown brighter. Thousands and thousands of jobs have been added. There is much to be proud of. We'll continue to support all the work that is being done to move the state forward."
CJRW is a longtime holder of the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism account.
Business on 06/10/2016