Pageant cost $1.23M

Press, 28 January 1984, Page 6

Pageant cost $1.23M

NZPA staff correspondent Washington Hosting the “Miss Universe” pageant is “not all milk and honey,” says the man who organised last year’s contest in St Louis, Missouri. “But I am glad we did it,” the executive director of the St Louis Convention and Visitors’ Bureau, Mr Jack Walsh, told NZPA. It cost St Louis SUSBOO,OOO (SNZI.23 million) to stage the pageant, he said, but it was worth it — “we went into it with our eyes open, realising it could cost us a lot of money.” Mr Walsh said his normal advertising budget was

above SUSI.S million (SNZ2.3 million) a year. “This we viewed as an advertising opportunity to reach a big audience and let people around the world know where St Louis is and what it represents. “We feel very pleased with the results — there was good coverage all over the world. “In the two hours of the pageant we got a total of between 15 and 20 minutes of good, solid exposure of the community — and that is what we were looking for.” By comparison, Mr Walsh said, one minute of advertising qn last Sunday’s Superbowlf football championship

cost SUS9OO.OOO (SNZI.39 million). “When you consider that, I figure it was a pretty good buy,” he said. Mr Walsh said he had no statistics on any increase in visitors to St Louis as a result of the pageant, but said it had resulted in some convention business. But he said, “It is a big job to put it on. “We had a total of 60 days to raise $1 million and produce the show, and while it is a worth-while enterprise it is fraught with deadlines and problems that all the experienced people in show business car deal with.” ’. w,