Letter: The rest of the Picasso story

Nancy Shaver
St Augustine, FL

Dear Editor:

My purpose is quite simple. I think transparency in how the city spends its time and our money makes for better government — and following the money (or the numbers) usually aids in achieving that.

I believe that news outlets insure that government officials keep that bargain with taxpayers, which is particularly important in this fiscal climate.

That said, here is what I believe to be a more accurate picture of the “soft” value of the Picasso exhibit.

As you know, St Augustine City Manager John Regan claimed the Picasso exhibit generated 425 million media impressions for a valuation of $5.4 million.

According to Richard Goldman, Executive Director of the St Augustine, Ponte Vedra and the Beaches Visitors and Convention Bureau, that number, which he had provided to the City Manager verbally, represented ALL media mentions for the entirety of Florida’s historic coast for the period — not solely for Picasso and Saint Augustine.

I spoke with Goldman again today and he confirmed that the number of print, TV, and radio impressions for Picasso and Saint Augustine alone were only 81 million with a valuation of $700K (using a lower value per impression).

He did not have access to on-line impressions, nor did he have a breakdown for Florida, national and international markets. A Google search which I did turned up 258,000 hits which made no significant difference.

So the numbers and the value reported by The St Augustine Record regarding the Picasso exhibit represent a five-fold and seven-fold overstatement, respectively.

Marketing strategy and analysis is my field of expertise, so, I made John Regan aware of my concern that the value was likely very much overstated as soon as I read the Rene Unsworth article in last week’s Record and the retraction article by Peter Guinta that followed.

In an e-mail from Richard Goldman that I forwarded to the City Manager, he let me know that the numbers he had provided to John Regan represented much more than Picasso media.

I had hoped that the City Manager would have offered a further correction, however, if he has, it has yet to be reported by the St Augustine Record.