State Tourism Commission members Wednesday approved $1.46 million of advertising matching grants for 21 tourism venues or events, with the state's four racetrack casinos splitting $500,000 of that total.
The awards were the first since the commission voted in May to set the maximum Matching Advertising Partnership Program grant amount at $125,000, casinos included.
That eliminated a longstanding funding preference for the racetrack casinos, which technically provide the revenue for the matching grants program through a percentage of racetrack video lottery profits. By comparison, the casinos last fiscal year shared $965,000 of $1.9 million in total grants.
However, the change raised the maximum grants for non-casino venues from $50,000, an amount many tourism operators said was inadequate to stage effective advertising campaigns.
For the racetrack casinos, the $125,000 grants will be used to compete with rival casinos in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland in attracting and retaining players.
For Hollywood Casino at Charles Town, the grant will go toward a $312,500 campaign called the "Competitive Defense Focus Project," which will focus on print and direct mail advertising in the Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia markets.
Besides the casinos, other major grant recipients Wednesday included:
n Stonewall Resort, $124,937, for a 2016 "Summer of Adventure" campaign targeting "active professionals" in the Pittsburgh and Charleston-Huntington markets.
n Winterplace Ski Resort, $123,400, for a print, direct mail and Internet/social media campaign primarily focused on attracting youth groups and promoting after school ski programs.
n New River Travel Council, $125,000, for a Visit Southern West Virginia media campaign in conjunction with the National Parks Service, emphasizing National Parks operations in the region.
n Oglebay Resort, $113,760, for an ad campaign aimed at golfers in the Pittsburgh, Columbus and Cleveland markets.
n Snowshoe Mountain, $125,000, for a "Winter Unabridged" campaign using print and Internet media aimed at markets in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast.
n Tucker County Convention and Visitors' Bureau, $124,000, for a "Tucker True" campaign geared to markets in bordering states and Washington, D.C., within a 3- to 5-hour drive of the county.
The campaign will rely primarily on Internet ads, but will also use print ads, direct mail and electronic billboards.
Meanwhile, the commission approved a number of smaller grants, including a $9,485 grant to the Putnam County Convention and Visitors' Bureau to develop a travel website geared at increasing hotel stays by promoting the county as an ideal central location for business or leisure travelers between Charleston, Huntington and Parkersburg.
One perennial advertising grant recipient that was conspicuously absent among Wednesday's awards was The Greenbrier resort.
Overall, the MAPP grants awarded Wednesday are projected to result in more than $3.6 million of tourism advertising.
Also Wednesday, Tourism Commissioner Amy Shuler Goodwin briefed the commission on the division's efforts to develop uniform logos and branding for state tourism, centered on the new "Real" campaign.
"What we've tried to do with our 'Real' campaign - real adventure, real fun, real memories, real food - we're focusing on what we know to be true and what we know is our base," she said.
Goodwin said the goal is to make branding and logos consistent across all media platforms, including the logos that must appear on advertising funded through MAPP grants.
"We're trying to be cohesive in our branding," she said.
Reach Phil Kabler at philk@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-1220, or follow @PhilKabler on Twitter.