Swirl Selected For Bentonville Rebranding Campaign

Friday, March 7, 2014

BENTONVILLE -- Swirl will take charge of the Bentonville Convention and Visitors Bureau rebranding, Advertising and Promotion commissioners decided Thursday.

It took less than an hour for commissioners to make the decision.

At A Glance (w/logo)

What’s Swirl?

Swirl has about 170 employees in its San Francisco office. There are three in its Bentonville office that opened in February. Company officials said there will be six in the local office by the end of the year.

Source: Staff Report

Six companies were vying for the job. Swirl was the lowest bidder with $45,000 for the project and $85 an hour for additional work. Stone Ward of Little Rock was the highest with $79,000 and $5,000 monthly for additional work.

Swirl is based in San Francisco, but opened an office in downtown Bentonville in February. The company was hired as the digital creation agency for Walmart a year ago, said Ryan Lincks, Swirl group account director.

"We're very, very excited to be a part of Bentonville," he said.

The project was a perfect fit for Swirl as it looks to grow its agency and become part of the Northwest Arkansas community, Lincks said.

"We're thrilled to have this opportunity," said John Berg, Swirl president and co-CEO.

Swirl was one of the top two choices for each of the seven commissioners. Its price, local location and previous work were positive focus points in the discussion.

Swirl was one of three companies that spoke about having previous convention and visitors bureau and tourism experience, said John Lamparski, bureau sales manager.

The creative process is more efficient and clients receive more attention when the design company is geographically close, said Amanda Webb, commissioner.

The ability to swing by Swirl's office or call a short-notice meeting is invaluable compared to working with a company that's more distant, she said.

"I just think that Swirl is going to be the best fit all around," Webb said.

Commissioner Mary Baggett said she was pleased with all the companies, but liked Swirl's price. It's good stewardship of taxpayer dollars, she said.

"I just think we're fortunate that we had such good choices," Baggett said.

The bureau could have rebranded after Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art opened in 2011, but wanted to let the community evolve before stepping in to help guide it, said Kalene Griffith, bureau president.

"That's where we are now," she said. "We've seen where we're going with the developments and some things that are happening in the community. Now let us help guide that from a tourism angle and elevate it as a destination."

Griffith hopes the rebranding will be done this summer.

NW News on 03/07/2014