NEW MARKETS FOR MCC
Working with Brent Christi. I had never done anything in the state of Florida and I realized that in order to take on Christi’s projects - La Costa and Grenelefe Resort and Spas - in these distant markets that were new for me; I had to open the door in my initial telephone conversations to get the managers to meet with me. I ended up meeting with most of the media managers in Orlando, St. Petersburg, Ft. Meyers, and Miami. These projects were interesting and a major challenge. Although I had good relationships with the media owners and managers in the Pacific Northwest, these new contracts took me to distant territories where I had no connections whatsoever.
In addition to the larger cities in Florida I was asked to deliver advertising credits in Cleveland, Detroit, Kansas City, St. Louis and Des Moines. I hadn’t been active in those markets since the early seventies when I was touring shows in the Midwest. Very few of the managers remembered me or were still at their posts.
La Costa Resort and Spa was an easier project for me since they were interested in my home markets of Seattle, Portland, Spokane and San Francisco. In years past I had been in and out of San Francisco and still had some connections there. I was pleased to open up all of this new territory for La Costa. But as was sometimes the case in my line of work, the key decision makers at the resort left the property when new management took over and my client, Brent Christie, who had the management contract, lost the business. When he lost the business, I did too. These distant projects expanded my credentials and I was well compensated for the work.