Shelby Woods with his marketing agency, Cranford Johnson Robinson & Woods, became the state’s top tourism marketer, publishing the Arkansas Tour Guide for 50 years and helping rebrand Arkansas as a “Natural State” for visitors. read more >

It’s emblazoned on everything from pencils to pillows, jigsaw puzzles to hot-air balloons. It’s stamped into Arkansas license plates and enshrined as the state’s official nickname. read more >

There’s a chance that school spirit will be lifted, student enrollment will increase and alumni and community members will be more engaged should the university start a football program, but it will almost certainly come at an increased cost to students. read more >

What was born in Florida, speaks 12 languages and has traveled nearly 2 million miles on business? That would be Miles Partnership, the digital firm promoting Arkansas tourism as a subcontractor to CJRW. read more >

CJRW has worked for Parks & Tourism for well over 40 years, and its pitch emphasized the home-field advantage. read more >

Incumbent ad agency CJRW has held onto the state's richest marketing contract, a highly sought-after $15.2 million-a-year job promoting Arkansas Parks & Tourism. CJRW overcame competition from two other finalists, D&G Collaborative of Little Rock and New Orleans and Birdsall Voss & Associates of Milwaukee. read more >

Presentations to be made by the three final advertising firms vying for the state's parks and tourism account, which used to be open to the public, will be closed this time. read more >

Did you see that announcement about the three finalists chosen for the state’s richest advertising contract — the $14 million-a-year pact for marketing the Arkansas Department of Parks & Tourism? read more >

An Arkansas panel defeated an effort to revise the state procurement proces, siding with engineers, architects and attorneys who testified that a bill to emphasize price in awarding state contracts was flawed and unnecessary read more >

Will the state of Arkansas award its biggest advertising contract to an out-of-state agency? Little Rock marketing pros think probably not, but the idea isn’t inconceivable. read more >

Disputes over recent state contracts have put Republican lawmakers at odds with the Republican governor, angered potential vendors and muddied understanding on what businesses can expect from the process of awarding state work. read more >

Longtime state tourism marketer CJRW is one of 13 advertising firms from several states competing for the state's largest ad contract, the $14 million-a-year pact for promoting the Arkansas Department of Parks & Tourism. read more >

The controversy over the grocery wine bill illustrates the importance of convenience to the alcohol consumer, convenience is a quality-of-life issue, and quality-of-life issues are closely linked to tourism. read more >

The Arkansas Department of Parks & Tourism has partnered with two Little Rock diversity marketing consulting firms — Culturally Connected Communications and Cinco Media Group — to focus on increasing diversity tourism in the state. read more >

The day after CJRW signed a hotly contested $34.5 million advertising contract on Feb. 16, a team led by Gary Heathcott at CJRW was busy putting a new face to the Arkansas Scholarship Lottery. read more >

The state reopened the bidding process on its largest advertising contract Wednesday afternoon, seeking pricing information from ad agencies hoping to land a $14 million-a-year pact for marketing Arkansas tourism and the state parks system. read more >

The State Office of Procurement canceled its bid solicitation for the state’s biggest advertising contract — the $14 million-a-year deal for marketing state tourism — just days before written responses from agencies were due. read more >

The Department of Parks & Tourism is seeking a “fully integrated marketing communication vendor” to get the word out: See our state, visit our parks, patronize our businesses. read more >

After fatal wildfires in the Great Smoky Mountains devastated Gatlinburg, Tennessee, in November, Aristotle Inc. of Little Rock found a way to help out. read more >

Scoring tabulations have left some puzzled Little Rock advertising professionals trying to get the Office of State Procurement’s math to add up. read more >