Miami Beach studies selling outdoor advertising spaces
Public parks with company names, advertisements outside of parking buildings and flip flops with the Miami Beach logo. These are some of the ideas that the municipal government of Miami Beach studies to raise funds at a time when the city suffers from budget problems caused by the increase in the cost of its personnel and the lack of new construction.
The proposed initiatives could mean for city about 4.7 million dollars a year, which city officials hope to use for the arts and educational programs. "
Income like this is encouraging because we can use it to fund programs," said Tonya Daniels, director of the Miami Beach Marketing and Communications Department.
Daniels has proposed selling the rights to the name of the new Miami Beach Convention Center, which is being built, and some public parks. That's similar to selling name rights to sports facilities like the AmericanAirlines Arena in downtown Miami. If the price of convention center name rights in other cities is a clue, the name of a company at the Miami Beach Convention Center could generate 1 million or more per year for the city, according to preliminary estimates.
Daniels has also suggested selling advertising space outside Miami Beach's free trolleys and at the Fleet Building, a municipal building on Government Cut, in addition to the parking buildings. Passengers on cruise ships leaving the Port of Miami would see any advertisement placed in the Fleet Building; Last year 5.3 million passengers passed through the port.
Official memories of Miami Beach are another option. The city already has its own line of sunscreen, which was created in 2014 with the help of a company called Destination Brands International. Sunscreen, which Daniels said is popular with international tourists, is sold in major retail outlets and has generated more than $ 71,000 in rights for the city. Miami Beach also advances plans to create other types of souvenirs, which could include t-shirts, beach towels, hats and bags.
The Finance Committee of the Miami Beach Commission preliminarily approved the ideas last week, authorizing the Department of Marketing and Communications to begin the process of finding companies that sell the ads and name rights. Any agreement would have to be approved by the Commission.
But some publicity initiatives may find resistance among elected officials and neighbors. Outdoor advertising has generated controversy in downtown Miami, where the city earns several million dollars a year with outdoor advertising. Previous proposals in Miami Beach, such as a 20-year agreement with Carnival Cruise Lines in 2012 to change the name to South Pointe Park in exchange for 198,000 dollars a year, was finally not approved.
Commissioner Micky Steinberg said she was open to studying some of the proposals, but others worried her, such as name rights over parks. "In general, we're a city with a great brand, and I'm not trying to sell every inch of space to the highest bidder," she said. "At some point, it becomes visual pollution."
Commissioner John Elizabeth Alemán said she was concerned about naming rights to parks and advertisements that would cover the trolley window. But he said he loved the idea of using the Miami Beach logo on merchandise. "There are so many beautiful things that we could do that do not affect who we are," she said.
Commissioner Ricky Arriola, chairman of the city's Finance Committee, said that at a time when Miami Beach is struggling to fund arts and education programs, he believes that all options should be studied.
