State transportation officials are appraising whether the corporate zeal to buy naming rights might extend to ferry boats and terminals.
From Safeco Field to Kitsap Sun Pavilion, sports venues are known for the company names they take on. Washington State Ferries, facing a $3.5 billion shortfall over the next 22 years, wants to get in on the act.
A long-term ferry financing study completed in February for the state Transportation Commission concluded that “ancillary” revenues, including vessel and terminal naming rights, wouldn’t put much of a dent in operating costs, but should be explored anyway “given the magnitude of WSF’s financial crisis and the need to identify new sources of revenue.”
The study recommended that a detailed analysis be performed. The Legislature put a proviso in the budget in April directing the Transportation Commission to conduct one, and in August it chose TB-Rogstad Consulting for the job.
Traci Brewer-Rogstad, principal and executive director of the company, said a report is due to the Legislature in January and she wants to present it to the Transportation Commission at its Oct. 21-22 meeting.
Time is short, Brewer-Rogstad said, because there’s a 64-car ferry being built at Todd Shipyards in Seattle and it doesn’t have a name. It will be delivered to the Port Townsend-Keystone route next summer.
Naming rights would mean more than just getting a company’s name painted on the hull, said Brewer-Rogstad, a former Washington State Ferries executive. One idea is to continue with the traditional Native American names and attach a sponsorship to them. For a certain number of years, for example, a ferry could be named the MV Illahee sponsored by Puget Sound Energy, or the Illahee sponsored by Detroit, which is building the new boat’s engines. Blocks of space on the boat could be guaranteed to the company for advertising, its name could go on the WSF Web site and schedules.
“You’re no longer just selling a name but marketing a package,” said Brewer-Rogstad, whose firm is earning about $5,000 for the study. “They get their name out there on multiple venues. It’s just not on a boat going to Port Townsend, which is very low-profile.” Selling ferry sponsorships is uncharted territory. The only thing close is a trio of Oklahoma City boats. The city, in exchange for locally based Devon Energy paying $2 million to build the 50-passenger boats, allowed the company’s name on them for 15 years. They weren’t meant to be marketing tools.
“The primary motivation was to provide the funds necessary to build the boats so the boats would be able to play a role in enhancing continued development of this river,” Devon spokesman Chip Minty said. “They move up and down the Oklahoma River, which is an emerging focal point in Oklahoma City for development.”
The Devon Discover, Devon Explorer and Devon Pioneer aren’t ferries but tour boats aimed at tourists, Minty said.
Ferries wouldn’t land a company’s name on TV, radio and in the newspapers as regularly as stadiums do, which is main appeal, said Chris Foy, president of General Sports Alliances, a Denver sports marketing firm that specializes in naming rights.
“When you look at an entity such as a ferry boat, you have a significant void in the editorial media coverage traditionally tied to naming rights platforms,” he said. “Unless the boat sinks, there would not be any kind of media coverage.”
Still, ferries could be attractive because of the high traffic volume, Foy said, and they provide an interesting platform for promotional opportunities, like a VIP club.
The tradition of giving ferries Indian names goes back to at least the 1930s. The state, which took over the ferry system from Puget Sound Navigation Company in 1951, agreed to continue the practice in 1958 after catching flak from Native Americans and history buffs for naming its first new boat the Evergreen State.
Sen. Tim Sheldon, D-Potlatch, sponsored a bill last legislative session that included tribes among those that should be consulted about new ferry names. It also added that “when naming or renaming state ferry vessels, the commission shall consider selling the naming rights and make recommendations to the legislature.”
The House didn’t like that part, and the bill never got passed.
“In Olympia they had trouble with the bill,” Sheldon said. “Some legislators thought this cheapens a state icon. I don’t think so. It’s just a business decision and riders will appreciate it if we can lower their cost and get them a newer and better terminal or better service.”
By Ed Friedrich
Saturday, September 19, 200
Count Rep. Sherry Appleton, D-Poulsbo, among those against selling ferry naming rights. Putting advertising inside the boats was one thing, but this would be too much.
“This is Puget Sound, this is where people come to get on our ferries,” she said. “It’s huge for tourism, it’s huge for commuters. To name ferries or have them sponsored by a corporation is just not what people really want.”
Sheldon said the Muckleshoot Tribe in Auburn is interested in having a ferry named after it. Tribe Chief Executive Officer Jerry Henke couldn’t be reached last week for comment.
Russell Steele, CEO of the Suquamish Tribe, said naming rights is an interesting concept, but not something the tribe would pursue at this point.
“Most people on the ferries are the same people every day, and I think the people of Kitsap County know who we are,” Steele said. “We do other things to reach out to new markets already. At this point I don’t think it’s something we’d consider.”
Read more: http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2009/sep/19/state-exploring-the-idea-of-selling-ferry-naming/#ixzz0RgRyJhYX
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