NEW IDEA
For a closer look at MCC’s business plan, and to see how it worked, see below:
So I came up with a new business plan: I would persuade the management of Destination Resorts - and soon after, cooperative clusters of resorts, or a region - to put food, lodging and beverage scrip (valued as same as cash trade certificates) in a collective kitty with each property also putting up a negotiable allocation of cash. I would then take their resources to the media owners and managers whom I already knew from my years at Northwest Releasing Corporation and persuade them to enter into reciprocal agreements so that the resorts could use unsold inventory in the form of food, lodging, and beverage scrip, and in some cases golfing and greens fees, to fund their annual advertising campaigns. The media could then use these resources for on air giveaways, prizes for cash clients, employee benefits, promotions, conferences, and quiet special owner’s spiffs. Both parties would substantially expand their advertising programs and marketing clout by trading unsold inventories through MCC while at the same time reducing their cash allocations. MCC would receive cash and trade credits from the clients, and fifteen percent agency commissions from the media. It was a simple pragmatic business plan and a win win for all the parties. It took off quickly.
An important part of my business strategy was to pre-sell the media managers on my concept. I took meetings with and pre-sold most of the media managers before approaching the resorts. This enabled me, during my initial sales calls, to present MCC budget proposals that included the media manager’s buy-in and signatures of approval. My stable of clients, over a span of thirty years included, to mention a few, Salishan Lodge, Sun River Resort, Resort at the Mountain, Lake Quinault Lodge, Green Leaf Golf and Tennis Resort in Florida, Inn of the Seventh Mountain, La Costa in Carlsbad, California, Kalaloch Resort, Resort at the Mountain, The Oregon Coast Advertising Association (ORCAA), Sun Valley Advertising Cooperative (SVAC), and The Olympic Peninsula Advertising Cooperative (OPAC)