The price of honor: Wasilla pays $29,900 for nationally televised recognition

WASILLA -- The city of Wasilla was recently recognized on CNN Headline News as a "Champion of Industry." Pat Summerall Productions, a video production company, issued the award to Wasilla this summer and on Sept. 29, a two-minute spot aired on national television.

The honor, however, came with a price -- Wasilla ended up paying $29,900 to have the city's development practices, tourism opportunities and overall growth patterns highlighted on video and then broadcast on the national cable program.

Pat Summerall Productions is based in a Dallas suburb and owned by sportscaster Pat Summerall. The company offers similar awards, each year, to hundreds of communities, businesses and nonprofit groups for excellence in industry.

This past summer, Wasilla Mayor Dianne Keller received a notice in the mail explaining that Wasilla was selected as one of the top communities in America, a "Champion of Industry." The award included a spot on national television and a five-minute promotional video, which the city could use to promote business investments and tourism.

"We did pay for the production of the video," Keller said. "They gave us a discount, and I see this as a wonderful investment for the city."

Keller said she discussed in a staff meeting whether to accept the award and, afterward, decided it would be beneficial to the city.

According to Wasilla's municipal code, the mayor has a $30,000 discretionary spending limit which does not need prior approval from city council members. Exercising this discretionary authority, Keller purchased the award using money from the economic development budget.

Payments to Summerall's company were made June 7 and July 1.

Despite the price tag, Keller said the award was an honor.

"I'm extremely honored that Wasilla was even considered for the award," Keller said. "Pat Summerall Productions said we were qualified, and I believe they said there were two or three other cities under consideration, but they wouldn't say who because they didn't want winners or losers. They were pretty tight-lipped about that."

Apart from a recognition of being a champion of industry and having quality schools, neither Keller nor Wasilla City Planner Sandra Garley knew the specific criteria for winning the award.

"Pat Summerall Productions was looking for communities where business and populations were growing, where things appeared to be happening," Garley said. "But I couldn't tell you exactly what they used to determine the award."

Over the last eight years, Pat Summerall Productions has offered similar awards to communities across the country, but not everyone has accepted the honor.

City officials from New Port Richey, Fla., turned down the award this summer, citing expenses and the fact that the award was nothing more than paid advertising.

In a phone interview Thursday, New Port Richey Councilman Tom Finn said the city council did not feel the award was a good value for the money.

"We get a lot of awards from other places," Finn said. "We've received about 20 of them and this is the first time we received one we had to pay for."

Finn said that the more city officials found out about the award, they began to realize the main criterion was that it would have to be paid for.

"They give this same award to police stations, libraries and pretty much anyone who has a checkbook," Finn said. "It's mostly just flash. When we turned it down, they offered the same award to the city right beside us, Tarpon Springs, and they accepted it."

The nationally televised spot during CNN Headline News is actually a commercial and not part of the news show. In fact, Headline News has nothing to do with the award other than allowing Pat Summerall Productions to buy advertising time, according to Edna Johnson, a spokeswoman at CNN's Atlanta headquarters.

"If it's a traditional Pat Summerall production, it's advertising and it runs labeled as paid advertising," Johnson said. "We don't charge for news coverage, just as your newspaper does not charge for news."

Pat Summerall Productions' Web site claims that hundreds of organizations have attained Champions status because of their "integrity, ingenuity and proven leadership in their respective industries." The award is only given out, however, if winners are willing to pay.

Keller said the price was justified due to the fact that Summerall's productions are nationally recognized

"Pat Summerall has a very good established reputation," Keller said. "If we just said we wanted to make a commercial about Wasilla then people would not have paid as much attention."

Keller said it was important to get Wasilla's name out to the nation and the world.

"People all over the world watch CNN, and it's completely different than if we had just made a commercial," she said. "There is credibility from Pat Summerall Productions. When people see Pat Summerall as they watch football, maybe they will think of Wasilla."

Morgan Evens works at Alaska Productions, an Anchorage-based video production company. According to Evens, the national industry standard for professionally made and narrated promotional videos is about $1,000 a minute, which translates into $5,000 for a five-minute video. Evens said he only charges $800 per minute and could produce a promotional video like Wasilla's for only $4,000.

In a phone interview Friday, an advertising salesperson for CNN said a nationally broadcast two-minute commercial would cost approximately $5,000 to run during prime time, meaning the entire video and commercial could have cost Wasilla as little as $9,000 -- $20,900 cheaper than what Summerall's company charged.

Keller said she sees the entire award package as a prime-time economic development tool.

"We got our face in front of a national audience," she said.

After Wasilla agreed to the award, a videographer came up in July to shoot various attractions in Wasilla, including the Best Western Lake Lucille Inn, Iditapark, the new sports complex and other attractions.

Keller said the video would be used by Wasilla's economic development director to show prospective businesses and investors what services and opportunities Wasilla offers. The video will also be available to local businesses and organizations, later this year, to use for promoting investments and economic developments in Wasilla.

Keller said she has already received 14 requests from a Taiwanese delegation to take the video back to their country to promote tourism in Wasilla.

"We are very proud that we were considered and we are even more proud that we received the award," she said.

Contact Joel Davidson at joel.davidson@frontiersman.com.