>From the press today. I don't know if Jewell is responsible for the website
>too, but changes should have been made long ago.
City raises concerns over event marketing
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 09/13/07
BY NANCY SHIELDS
COASTAL MONMOUTH BUREAU
ASBURY PARK — The city has a new event coming up Sept. 29 — an Apple Harvest
Festival downtown — that some officials seem genuinely excited about.
But before agreeing to have the event, the City Council last week made public
some members' concerns about how a yearlong marketing venture called "Celebrate
Asbury Park" has turned out so far.
Created by the city's marketing company, Jewell Marketing Associates, the
monthly events, some new and some old, were bundled together under a 110th
anniversary of the city's incorporation date.
The money for the events came from sponsors, with the largest contribution, at
least $100,000, from beachfront developer Metro Homes of Hoboken.
The problem, Deputy Mayor James Bruno said Wednesday, is that organizers, such
as himself, of established events, such as his Fourth of July parade, agreed
not to go after the usual sponsors — developers and lawyers — who had funded
their events in the past.
"We were told not to raise any money this year, that we didn't have to," Bruno
said.
"We were told she (company head Laura Jewell) was going to raise $300,000 to
$400,000, and that would have covered all the events, all the management fees,"
Bruno said. "But they fell short."
The events included the popular festivals already in motion in the city, such
as the Taste of Asbury Park, the longtime Jazz Festival, Bruno's Fourth of July
Parade, and Mayor Kevin Sanders' Mayors Ball coming up Oct. 13.
The new events that have taken place included a 110th anniversary party last
April, a citywide arts festival May 26 that did not draw well, and an open
house for home buyers a few Sundays ago.
Bruno also opposed Jewell Marketing getting up to $10,000 to manage an event
and the company getting a certain percentage fee of the money raised from
donors.
"My job is to promote the city every which way I can," Jewell said. "As the
public relations person for the city, I don't feel I'm in a position to comment
on this at this time."
The council last week addressed some of the issues, and agreed to go forward
with the apple festival but limit Jewell's management fee to $5,000.
Councilman Jim Keady asked that some changes be made in how the events are
marketed and suggested that the city churches be invited to participate in the
upcoming apple festival.
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