Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
Firm affiliated with News Channel 10 in Amarillo
The Tucumcari Lodgers Tax Advisory Board recommended approval of a marketing contract with a company affiliated with News Channel 10 in Amarillo to help publicize Tucumcari tourism before Route 66’s centennial in 2026.
The Tucumcari City Commission likely will take action on the recommendation of hiring Gray Digital Media during its regular meeting on Sept. 12.
The cost would be $58,582.50 for a nine-month contract, with a $7,250 media asset production cost waived.
Brent McClure, vice president and general manager of the station, with John Echols, account executive, told the board during its regular meeting Wednesday its digital media firm covers 114 television markets across the nation, from Arizona to Maine.
Echols said its marketing plan aims to prompt more people to stay in Tucumcari overnight. It would use digital advertisements, video and audio, with social media campaigns including Facebook and Instagram.
As an example, Echols said the Dynamite Museum art installation in Amarillo has hired Gray Digital Media to publicize it along the Route 66 and Interstate 40 corridor as far east as St. Louis.
McClure said Gray Digital Media’s five-person team would create content for the campaign, including sending a film crew to Tucumcari. He said the city, however, would own the content.
Echols indicated the company is flexible in its approaches, switching media at no additional cost if it finds an avenue that’s more effective.
City manager Paula Chacon recommended hiring the firm, saying “I think it’s a really good marketing tool.”
Board members also supported hiring the firm.
Michael Carlson said, “I think it’s a very wise idea.”
Lila Doughty added, “I do, too.”
Board Chairman Matt Bednorz said Gray Digital Media “holds a lot of credibility” compared to an earlier Albuquerque marketing firm the city hired a few years ago that rarely came to Tucumcari.
“I don’t see why we wouldn’t move forward” with the contact, he said.
If the city commission approves the pact, Chacon suggested a special work session with the lodgers board to discuss strategies and options with Gray Digital Marketing officials.
Echols indicated he was receptive to that: “We’re ready to hit the ground running.”
In other business:
— Doug Woodward, who the previous month proposed a drag-racing event on Route 66 during the highway’s centennial in 2026, asked the board to suggest a date for a “soft event” in 2025.
The board largely settled on late September, after the Fired Up festival earlier in the month.
Woodward said the 2025 event would be a more local compared to the 2026 one, which will be nationally advertised.
Board member Al Patel noted: “It will be a good advertising campaign for 2026.”
Woodward said he would work with Chacon and the New Mexico Department of Transportation on the logistics and permitting for the event.
The city would assume the costs for the 2025 event, but Woodward said it should recoup that from ticket sales. He noted one drag-racing event in Michigan charges $495 for VIP tickets for spectators.
“These things make money,” Woodward said.
The 2026 event would be patterned largely after the annual Kingman Route 66 Street Drags in Kingman, Arizona, that drew 13,000 spectators earlier this year.
— During board comments, board member Tonya Rigdon asked about whether paid truck parking at the Flying J travel center qualifies for the collection of lodgers taxes.
Chacon said it does, and the city attorney will send a letter to Flying J notifying it of its obligation.