Cape May City Events Guide Outsourced
The Cape May City Events Guide advertising sign up arrived in the mail this week. The city is getting a head start on the 2015 solicitation for advertising. For the second year in a row, the visitor guide, is being produced in Avalon.
This is nothing against Avalon, and nothing against 7 Mile Publishing, the firm the city has an agreement with to produce the Cape May City Events Guide. By calling the agreement a Professional Services Agreement, the city doesn’t have to take bids on the work.
The advertising form instructs me to send the money to the city. The camera-ready artwork though is sent to 7 Mile publishing–in Avalon. Something doesn’t feel right about that. If the artwork is going to Avalon, then ultimately the money from the city is leaving town too. That definitely doesn’t feel right.
People have complained about this before. In council meetings and in local publications like Exit Zero, the question comes up: “Why is the Cape May City Events Guide, not produced in Cape May?” There certainly is no shortage of competent publishers and designers in Cape May.
The city’s chamber of commerce has historically produced a visitor guide for Cape May. The chamber’s books have in the past been a crucial source of revenue for the not-for-profit organization. The county chamber of commerce also produces a fine visitors guide. Private publications like Cool Cape May occupy almost every hotel, motel and B&B room in the city.
Once in a while it is understandable to have an out side set of eyes to view and even consult on tourism and business issues. The point of this blog post is, if we are going to create another visitor guide, it’s time to stop outsourcing work that could capably be accomplished right here at home, by people who know Cape May.
