AZ game and fish paying influencers

[Idaho_Potato]

Sorry if this has already been discussed, but just came across this on LinkedIn, of all places. Sounds like AZ game and fish has been paying influencers to boost revenue generated by non-res hunters. Sounds like the battle cry across YouTube and other places to "hunt your public lands for conservation" comes with a nice little paycheck for those with the loudest voice.

FYI, I have no affiliation with this and didn't sign it. Just found it interesting.

Quote:

"Since 2016 the Arizona Game and Fish Department has been paying influencer Randy Newberg to promote hunting in Arizona. According to Amber Munig the department has spent between $5,000 and $60,000 each year to promote a number of activities including small game, elk and antelope hunting and perhaps most consequentially OTC Archery Deer hunting. To help market their services Randy has also been provided with access to department personnel who participate in his hunts and appear on his social media platforms.

Randy Newberg is an established influencer from Montana with multiple platforms including two podcasts, a YouTube channel with 207k subscribers, Instagram with 132k followers, and a Facebook page with a whopping 500k followers; the vast majority of whom are Non-residents to Arizona.

Since this partnership began:

- OTC archery deer opportunity has been reduced by 25%

- The number of units requiring a draw for archery deer hunting has doubled

- Non-resident OTC archery deer tag sales have increased by more than 40%

We are asking the AZGFD and Commission to preserve opportunity for the residents of Arizona by ending payments to any influencers, and specifically Randy Newberg, for promotion of big game OTC and draw hunts which do not have a non-resident quota for tag allocation (including antlerless elk, youth elk, youth antlerless deer and all javelina hunts). "

2,525 people signed and won this petition

AZGFD: Stop Paying Influencers

www.change.org

 

[BBob]

The deeds been done, likely nothing stopping the train of hunters streaming into the west to hunt but the $$$ should stop.

 

[TheTone]

I wonder if Randy then cut a check to all the other “influencers” that were there with him or if they to were paid by AZ?

 

[Pro953]

I like the “specifically Randy Newburg” line. Changes from a ideological argument to a personal tiff I my eyes.


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[tdhanses]

Not sure what I think about this, kinda shocked Randy never discussed it back then or I missed it. Makes one wonder what kind of revenue these influencers really bring in when they claim they barely can pay the bills.

 

[RMM]

I've heard rumors that The Hunting Public received a nice little check from GA to hunt turkeys down there on public land as well

 

[wapitibob]

Nobody gave two shits when they were paying for print and media ads. Cut Newberg a check to film a Deer and Quail hunt and the peanut gallery looses their minds.

 

[TheTone]

Not sure what I think about this, kinda shocked Randy never discussed it back then or I missed it. Makes one wonder what kind of revenue these influencers really bring in when they claim they barely can pay the bills.

My guess is they are making a lot! It’s beginning to “influence” me about what companies I will buy products from, specifically which ones not to do business with

 

[tdhanses]

My guess is they are making a lot! It’s beginning to “influence” me about what companies I will buy products from, specifically which ones not to do business with

Also makes one wonder if they are getting special tags that are pulled out of the draw pool, just seems suspicious if true.

 

[tdhanses]

Nobody gave two shits when they were paying for print and media ads. Cut Newberg a check to film a Deer and Quail hunt and the peanut gallery looses their minds.

I get what your saying but where does it end, how do you feel about giving tags to influencers reducing odds for the rest, you know to increase interests in hunting, why not guarantee these people have decent tags?

 

[SWOHTR]

Who cares. Sorry, there's so much more in this world to get spun up about than this.

 

[wapitibob]

Show me where influencers are being given "draw tags." You can't just pull tags out of the draw and give them away. There are however, a multitude of ways to get tags depending on the state.

 

[RMM]

Show me where influencers are being given "draw tags." You can't just pull tags out of the draw and give them away. There are however, a multitude of ways to get tags depending on the state.

You mean kind of like the Western Hunt Expo?

 

[tdhanses]

Who cares. Sorry, there's so much more in this world to get spun up about than this.

I don’t think anyone is spun up, just makes you wonder.

 

[tdhanses]

Show me where influencers are being given "draw tags." You can't just pull tags out of the draw and give them away. There are however, a multitude of ways to get tags depending on the state.

No clue, would we even know? I mean as long as they draw right, we’d never know. Just makes you wonder when influencers, prostaff etc aren’t transparent to begin with. I get many love these influencers and im not pointing out Randy, just in general influencers do seem to get good opportunities over and over.

 

[Idaho_Potato]

Those of you claiming people in this thread are bent out of shape need to work on reading comprehension. This is a pretty reasonable thing to discuss. A state fish and game agency is paying a significant amount for advertisement which directly reduces opportunity for residents. It's fair to discuss if that's an appropriate use of funds for a state agency.

 

[TheTone]

Those of you claiming people in this thread are bent out of shape need to work on reading comprehension. This is a pretty reasonable thing to discuss. A state fish and game agency is paying a significant amount for advertisement which directly reduces opportunity for residents. It's fair to discuss if that's an appropriate use of funds for a state agency.

It reduces opportunities for everyone; that hunt you used to buy over the counter now controlled, the one you used to draw every year now it’s every other year or worse

 

[Randy Newberg]

Randy Newberg here. Happy to answer any questions. I've already answered most of them over on my Hunt Talk forum a couple months ago.

Here's how it works with contracts issued by state agencies. State wildlife and tourism departments hire ad agencies to develop their marketing and public relations plans. Ad agencies send out requests for proposals (RFPs). Ad agency makes recommendation to wildlife and tourism departments based on the criteria established. Once the contracts are awarded, the ad agency oversees the contract to make sure the deliverables are provided/exceeded and all aspects of the contract are fulfilled.

We have been awarded that contract from the ad agency for AZ G&F. We accomplished everything that was listed as deliverables and provided a lot of additional items beyond what was required under the contract.

Tourism and wildlife departments have been hiring writers, TV shows, media platforms, for decades. There have been many media properties that got their start thanks to state tourism and wildlife agencies. There are some states that have been incubators for many media platforms. States have adopted business practices of hiring ad agencies to handle their public relations, marketing, and promotion efforts. I expect it will continue as tourism and wildlife departments realize that this is a far better return on their money than trying to have scientists and biologists be communicators. We have had contracts with two other states over our 14 years of producing content. Many platforms you consume seek film tax credits and grants from state film offices for this kind of work. I've never done that, but many have.

As for special tags, that is humorous, at least as far as it applies to me. I was offered a deer tag in Iowa and invited to a Wyoming antelope hunt. I declined both. If I had some connection, I'd be hunting sheep every year and I'd never again hunt a general or OTC unit. Given I have no insider connections, I'm fine knowing most my future will be tags with low-demand odds, general units, and OTC.

It's easy to see why some may think these state contracts are big money makers. By the time the contract monies are dispersed to others the ad agency and department approves for collaboration, a chunk is spoken for. Add in a ton of costs for filming conservation projects, access projects, non-hunting video content required under the contract, and it's not the way to build a dependable income stream. There is a reason these ad agency/wildlife department contracts will never be more than 5% of our revenue. It is low profit margin due to lowest bid usually being a large criteria for selection and it is an unreliable revenue stream that is subject to state budgeting processes.

The deer season changes provided by the petitioner are disconnected to the work we did. Though our work mostly focused on small game and selling out the unsold archery javelina tags, we hunted archery Coues deer. Not a single unit we hunted has been changed for OTC archery Coues.

We could have hunted OTC mule deer, but we made a conscious decision not to hunt mule deer. We saw some very nice bucks. But, knowing how AZ deer management policy changes archery hunts when archery harvest exceeds 20% of total harvest, and knowing that mule deer are more susceptible to archery harvest, we purposely did not hunt mule deer in the OTC seasons.

The archery javelina tags did sell out. Small game participation did increase. Non-resident apps for big game draws did increase. Non-resident youth license sales increased. We exceeded every deliverable under the contract. I'm very proud of the work we did. Some want to claim our work caused the drought-related tag reductions, complicated by huge increases in archery success rates. I get that. Comes with the territory we operate in. We were asked to do good work. We did that.

If folks don't want game departments to hire ad agencies or to spend money on communications and marketing, they should start petitions likes this petition. Or, have discussions with their game commissions. If that is what hunters in a state want, I fully support them in that effort.

 

[Idaho_Potato]

Randy Newberg here. Happy to answer any questions. I've already answered most of them over on my Hunt Talk forum a couple months ago.

Here's how it works with contracts issued by state agencies. State wildlife and tourism departments hire ad agencies to develop their marketing and public relations plans. Ad agencies send out requests for proposals (RFPs). Ad agency makes recommendation to wildlife and tourism departments based on the criteria established. Once the contracts are awarded, the ad agency oversees the contract to make sure the deliverables are provided/exceeded and all aspects of the contract are fulfilled.

We have been awarded that contract from the ad agency for AZ G&F. We accomplished everything that was listed as deliverables and provided a lot of additional items beyond what was required under the contract.

Tourism and wildlife departments have been hiring writers, TV shows, media platforms, for decades. There have been many media properties that got their start thanks to state tourism and wildlife agencies. There are some states that have been incubators for many media platforms. States have adopted business practices of hiring ad agencies to handle their public relations, marketing, and promotion efforts. I expect it will continue as tourism and wildlife departments realize that this is a far better return on their money than trying to have scientists and biologists be communicators. We have had contracts with two other states over our 14 years of producing content. Many platforms you consume seek film tax credits and grants from state film offices for this kind of work. I've never done that, but many have.

As for special tags, that is humorous, at least as far as it applies to me. I was offered a deer tag in Iowa and invited to a Wyoming antelope hunt. I declined both. If I had some connection, I'd be hunting sheep every year and I'd never again hunt a general or OTC unit. Given I have no insider connections, I'm fine knowing most my future will be tags with low-demand odds, general units, and OTC.

It's easy to see why some may think these state contracts are big money makers. By the time the contract monies are dispersed to others the ad agency and department approves for collaboration, a chunk is spoken for. Add in a ton of costs for filming conservation projects, access projects, non-hunting video content required under the contract, and it's not the way to build a dependable income stream. There is a reason these ad agency/wildlife department contracts will never be more than 5% of our revenue. It is low profit margin due to lowest bid usually being a large criteria for selection and it is an unreliable revenue stream that is subject to state budgeting processes.

The deer season changes provided by the petitioner are disconnected to the work we did. Though our work mostly focused on small game and selling out the unsold archery javelina tags, we hunted archery Coues deer. Not a single unit we hunted has been changed for OTC archery Coues.

We could have hunted OTC mule deer, but we made a conscious decision not to hunt mule deer. We saw some very nice bucks. But, knowing how AZ deer management policy changes archery hunts when archery harvest exceeds 20% of total harvest, and knowing that mule deer are more susceptible to archery harvest, we purposely did not hunt mule deer in the OTC seasons.

The archery javelina tags did sell out. Small game participation did increase. Non-resident apps for big game draws did increase. Non-resident youth license sales increased. We exceeded every deliverable under the contract. I'm very proud of the work we did. Some want to claim our work caused the drought-related tag reductions, complicated by huge increases in archery success rates. I get that. Comes with the territory we operate in. We were asked to do good work. We did that.

If folks don't want game departments to hire ad agencies or to spend money on communications and marketing, they should start petitions likes this petition. Or, have discussions with their game commissions. If that is what hunters in a state want, I fully support them in that effort.

Randy, thanks for the clear and concise response to how all of this works. It's an interesting look into how state agencies spend their money that I and many others were definitely not aware of.

Also, what are you doing tied up to an electronic device responding to idiots on a forum in the middle of September

 

[Rick M.]

@Randy Newberg I think you're an incredible asset to the hunting community, and likely the most genuine guy out there. When I first starting hunting out west, you saved me an incredible amount of time and money due to the knowledge you openly shared. I remember you stating that your wife told you that you better figure out a way to make money doing what you love (hunting), and you did just that.

You didn't need to come on here and explain yourself for carving out a living that works for you, but yet you did. You're one of the good ones, and I enjoy everything you put out. Please keep up the public lands fight, and thank you for everything that you do. Stay healthy.