The phone may not ring as much now at the Emporia Chamber Convention and Visitors Bureau in the Trusler Building. And — in this instance — that’s a good thing.
CVB representatives and Clint Bowyer representatives have worked for more than a year to complete arrangements to feature the NASCAR driver on billboards to promote Emporia along Kansas highways.
The project was too long in the works for many area residents, who are proud of the local boy’s rapid rise to the top ranks of the sport as part of the Richard Childress Racing team.
“I’ll bet we got calls every week the whole time I’ve been working here,” said Betty Senn, who started as CVB director in November 2007.
In his full three years of Sprint Cup racing, Bowyer, 29, has qualified twice for “The Chase,” which determines the top driver in the Cup series. He was fifth in The Chase when the 2008 season ended, after recording a third-place finish the previous year.
In 2008, Bowyer finished in first place at the end of the Nationwide series season.
This year, Bowyer has passed his No. 07 Jack Daniel’s Chevy Impala to Casey Mears, who last year drove for Kellogg cereals.
Bowyer has stepped into the No. 33 Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevy Impala for General Mills. In last week’s opening weekend, Bowyer finished third in the Nationwide race and fourth in the Sprint Cup race. His new ride has stepped up his recognition with photos of the local driver on product packages across the country.
“It’s been difficult with Clint’s schedule and with ours, trying to get the timing down for ads and things like that to make this possible,” Senn said.
CVB staff members Susan Rathke, sales and service coordinator, and Chassidy Bryan, administrative marketing assistant, helped work out the arrangements with Bowyer’s liaison. Rathke said that questions about featuring Bowyer in CVB advertising also have been raised as the local group attended tourism conventions around the state.
“Everybody hears about Clint. He has helped put Emporia more on the map than it was,” Rathke said. “He is also making statements about how proud he is to call Emporia home. ... The locals like to see the city mentioned and their hometown hero mentioned and getting some recognition.”
The endorsement from Bowyer will appear on the billboards, Senn said as the CVB waited for an updated photograph of him in his Cheerios uniform.
“We wanted to have a quote from him to say Emporia’s a great place to be from, or a great place to grow up,” Senn said.
The design for the billboard, which incorporates Bowyer, his quote and the “Front Porch to the Flint Hills” theme, was done by IM Design Group of Emporia. Soon, it will be sent off to be translated into billboard-sized vinyl and hung on the signs outside Towanda and Topeka along the Kansas Turnpike.
Vinyl for the billboards costs about $1,000 each, plus the additional costs of leasing billboard space. The CVB generally waits until contracts for the billboard spaces are renewed every three or four years to change the billboard designs, Senn said.
Bowyer already is included in the Chamber’s Quick Guide directory and will be included with PGA golfer J.L. Lewis and Professional Rodeo Cowboy steer wrestler Jason Lahr — both former Emporians — in larger guides that promote Emporia and the successful people who were born or reared here.
“As opportunities that are affordable come through, we’ll be taking a look at those,” Senn said. “We’ll be taking a look at a lot of things.”
justthinkin (anonymous) says...
Thank you Susan Rathke, for your hard work on this.
February 19, 2009 at 5:28 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
justthinkin (anonymous) says...
And, Thank You Clint. I appreciate your efforts.
February 20, 2009 at 8:19 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )