Spokane promotion uses high-tech pitch – CD-ROM production uses multimedia to showcase region

If any of Lon Gibby’s Southern California relatives are reading this, stop! Unless, that is, you want to know what you’re getting for Christmas.

Michael Guilfoil
Spokesman Review Staff writer

Gibby’s production company, Gibby Media Group, recently released an interactive CD-ROM promoting Spokane and the surrounding region.

The high-tech sales pitch pops into a computer and self-loads on Windows 95 or newer. The disk features 53 videos ranging from 30 seconds to several minutes, plus more than 100 Internet links.

Viewers explore the region’s amenities by clicking on topics of interest, such as golf, parks, colleges or restaurants.

The CD-ROM’s centerpiece is a seven-minute travelogue that starts in Spokane, "a place like no other, where the streets are safe, the environment is clean, the weather fantastic." From there it moves through the region’s geography and seasons, from Palouse farming to North Idaho snowboarding.

"About three years ago, we started developing the technology for marrying video and computer together," says Gibby, "and that’s when I started working on this project."

The CD-ROM cost close to $200,000 to produce. Besides Gibby’s company, underwriters include Tomlinson Black, the Coeur d’Alene Casino, KXLY-TV, Spokane Airways and The Spokesman-Review. Other sponsors paid to have their 30-second commercials included.

Gibby produced 30,000 copies of the CD-ROM. Many will be distributed by Realtors, corporations, the Chamber of Commerce and the city of Spokane.

"But the people who market Spokane best are the regular folks who live here and love the area," says Gibby. "So the idea behind the disk is to empower them — to give them something more than just brochures that they can show people."

Those customers can buy a copy of the disk for $12.99 at Barnes & Noble, Hastings, Auntie’s Bookstore, Mel’s Nursery and Rosauers.

Gibby plans to update the disk in two years.

Meanwhile, he’s hoping other cities will see its merit and commission their own promotional CD-ROM.

"There’s no other city in the country that has anything like this, as far as we know," says Gibby. "So far, we’ve had interest from Las Vegas, Orange County and the Chicago area."

Besides marketing tools, the disks make great Christmas gifts, says Gibby.

"I have eight brothers and sisters who all live in California," he says. "I’m sending them a bunch of these, because I want them to start coming up here more."

Business writer Michael Guilfoil can be reached at (509) 459-5491 or by e-mail at [email protected]

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