In the past we wrote how the state of Pennsylvania awarded itself 120,000+ tax payer dollars to promote craft beer. You can see that article here. As we shared, we were digging into the numbers to share with our audience. After back and forth with the state we have received the data to show how the state spent this money.
According to the documents that were shared with us by the Pennsylvania Governor’s Office of General Counsel the state utilized the company Red House Communications to perform the marketing of the “Pursue Your Hoppiness” campaign.
Below is a breakdown of the costs charged to the state:
$9,413.00 – Listed as “Expenses For The Month Of October 2018”
Description: Brand Identity/ Development
$33,581.08 – Listed as “Expenses For The Month of March 2019”
Description: Brand Identity/ Development. Find & pair technology & webpage and creation, development and launch of comprehensive, integrated and marketing and promotion campaign.
$84,505.92 – Listed as “Expenses for the Month of May 2019”
Description: Brand Identity/ Development. Find & pair technology & webpage and creation, development and launch of comprehensive, integrated and marketing and promotion campaign.
Total spent by the state: $127,500
The above was written word by word from the invoices that were sent to us. So we do not have much more details to share than that. However, let’s take a look at the results of the campaign.
As of this writing the “Pursue Your Hoppiness” campaign leads to this landing page on the Visit PA website. That page has 27 sub pages connected to it. 25 of which are links to current Pennsylvania breweries, 1 to a creamery and 1 to a Pennsylvania Pour Tour.
Our Opinion:
The above are facts. From here on out we will be sharing our opinion. If you don’t want to hear it you can stop reading. If this is all the state has to show for $127,000+ worth of tax payer dollars, they have some serious explaining to do.
25 breweries are being promoted for this money. If you didn’t know, the state has close to 300 craft breweries. We understand some of this money went to social media marketing, and images, however the numbers do not add up.
As an organization that has been promoting Pennsylvania craft beer for many years, we can speak about this from an educated perspective. With the amount of money the state awarded itself, there should be significantly more content. As always we will keep monitoring the campaign, but as of right now, Pennsylvania should be ashamed of how they have taken advantage of citizens tax payer dollars.
