Rawle Murdy, the biggest advertising firm in Charleston, was awarded a three-year contract to buy space in magazines, newspapers and other media, as PRT pours an unprecedented amount of resources into marketing the state. The Leslie Agency, a Greenville firm that has held the PRT ad account for more than two decades, will continue to produce state ads aimed at luring tourists.

"We got the best of both worlds," PRT director Chad Prosser said in a news release.

Finalists that were passed over by the state included Chernoff Newman Silver Gregory, a Columbia-based firm that is one of the state's largest, and Siddall Matus & Coughter, a Richmond, Va.-based company that has done advertising work for tourism interests in its home state.

The state Budget and Control Board collected initial proposals and six references from each applicant in May. In late July, finalists presented the meat of their ideas to a panel that included Prosser and several tourism professionals from other states.

For Rawle Murdy, Friday's announcement was a long time in coming. The company made bids for the PRT account unsuccessfully three times in the past. It spent seven months preparing its pitches this time around, as it went after both the media-buying and creative portions of the state campaign.

"Of course we'd like to be doing it all -- who wouldn't -- but we really commend the state for an innovative approach," said David Rawle, founder of Rawle Murdy. "It's not a typical approach, there's no question about that, but that doesn't mean it isn't smart, innovative and potentially rewarding for the state."

Rawle Murdy handles advertising for Evening Post Publishing Co., which owns The Post & Courier. Other accounts include the South Carolina Aquarium, Orient-Express Hotels Ltd. and Wild Dunes Resort.

Rawle Murdy and the Leslie Agency would not say what the contract means for them financially, and officials at the state Budget and Control Board did not return phone calls late Friday afternoon. However, PRT said the state will realize substantial savings by signing two firms instead of just one.

"In both parts of the contract we've negotiated better rates than we've had in the past," said PRT spokesman Marion Edmonds. "I think there is a synergy that will come out of this."

Edmonds said the money saved in contract negotiations will enable the state to buy more ad space.

The Leslie Agency, which handles marketing for Extended Stay America and Daniel Island, had won the PRT contract every five years since 1979. Leslie's most recent contract was signed in 2000 for three years, with an option for two one-year extensions. The state extended the pact for one year before requesting proposals. It has spent $18.1 million with Leslie since signing the latest contract.

"Leslie is going to feel the loss financially -- the ad-buying portion was not an insignificant amount," said Kara Dullea, the agency's director of public relations. "But we've got a lot of new business that has really made up for any losses that we will be taking next year."

Under the direction of Gov. Mark Sanford and PRT Director Chad Prosser, advertising is playing a bigger part in the state's campaign to draw visitors. For the just-completed fiscal year, Prosser directed close to 25 percent of the department's $55.5 million budget to advertising, compared with 19 percent the year before. Although the overall PRT budget was cut 11.7 percent, the department spent an unprecedented $11.8 million on marketing -- $4.7 million of which went directly to buying advertising.

Prosser had to trim a lot of staff to free up that money, but he has argued that layoffs, in this case, are in the best interest of taxpayers. The state realizes a $23 return for every $1 spent on tourism advertising, according to the Leslie Agency. Until last year, South Carolina lagged other states in tourism spending, ranking 22nd in a 2002 survey by the Travel Industry Association of America.

The PRT contract will take effect once a protest period ends later this month. It will last for three years, and the state has the option to extend for three more one-year periods.

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