Selected firm has long handled 'multicultural tourism' accounts for the city and the state
The curtain is about to rise on the latest effort by Mayor Mitch Landrieu's administration to boost New Orleans' image -- and likely also to shed a glossy light on the mayor himself.
View full sizeThe video is intended to capture 'the city's recovery in progress.' The New Orleans Central Business District was photographed from the French Quarter on Sept. 8. After soliciting a contractor to produce a short video "that tells the story of the city's recovery in progress," Landrieu has signed a contract capped at $200,000 with G. Mc & Co. Inc., an advertising firm run by Glenda McKinley English.
The firm, which long has handled "multicultural tourism" accounts for the city and the state, will earn at least $8,400 a month -- for a required 70 hours of work at an average of $120 an hour -- plus an average of $120 an hour for additional time on the clock, the contract indicates.
The deal also specifies costs for various types of service: $1,000 for a 10-hour day of videography, $500 for a day of documentary still photography, $500 a day for an extra cameraman and $100 an hour for video post-production.
The contract, which expires Dec. 31, also sets a $10,000 limit for composition of an "original musical score" and allows for payment of costs such as mileage and printing without the standard agency markup.
In its request for proposals, the city said it wanted a company that could capture "in photo and video the city's recovery in progress, including but not limited to the rebuilding of the city's 100 committed projects, playgrounds, places of worship, health care facilities, new economic development projects, blight remediation and infrastructure improvements."
Despite the detailed request, the target audience for the content remains unclear. The vendor is required only to provide its five- to 10-minute video and any related photos on CDs.
Fourteen firms competed for the work, including companies run by well-known local political consultants Bill Rouselle, Ike Spears and the team of Deno Seder and Karen Carvin Shachat.
G. Mc & Co. narrowly edged out the second-place firm, Trumpet Consulting LLC, in a numerical ranking process, and both firms were called in for interviews, a competing vendor said.
English is the daughter of Larry McKinley, the longtime local music promoter and deejay who probably is best known to many today as the voice of the radio commercials and on-site audio for the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.
No word on whether the elder McKinley may be recruited to also serve as the voice of the city's recovery in his daughter's latest production.
Michelle Krupa can be reached at mkrupa@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3312.