68: Are DMOs Treating Long-Term Assets Like Short-Term Expenses? (Eddie Kirsch)

Stuart Butler and Adam Stoker kick off the episode shaking off post-holiday rust with their signature mix of self-awareness, banter, and big-picture thinking. A deliberately terrible German intro, a mistranslated last name, and a few early laughs set the tone before welcoming Eddie Kirsch from Visit St. Pete Clearwater—a guest who sits at the intersection of storytelling, data, and performance.The conversation opens with Stu’s News, sparked by Amazon’s move to introduce a chat-based version of Alexa. Stuart frames it as another signal that the AI landscape is fragmenting fast, while Adam argues that being first to market rarely means being the long-term winner. With Google, Amazon, and others embedding AI directly into tools people already use every day, the group questions whether ChatGPT can realistically hold dominant market share over time. Eddie brings the discussion down to earth for DMOs, noting that destinations redesigning websites today must plan for how people will interact with information in 2027 and beyond—not just how they search right now.That naturally leads into a spirited detour on the upcoming World Cup. Eddie shares both excitement and frustration as a lifelong soccer fan, particularly around pricing and access. Stuart doesn’t hold back, calling the ticketing process broken and warning destinations against overhyping long-term economic impact—something the industry has done repeatedly with mega-events. Adam pushes back slightly, citing record demand and arguing the World Cup won’t be a flop, even if projections should be treated cautiously. The segment ends with a surprisingly important question: what will be America’s cultural “export” to global soccer—our version of the vuvuzela?The heart of the episode centers on Eddie’s core idea: if a DMO were built from scratch with no legacy constraints, it would likely look far more like a media production company than an advertising buyer. He challenges the industry’s obsession with short-term attribution and KPIs, arguing that content’s real value often compounds over time in ways traditional models fail to capture. Social platforms, YouTube, and long-form content increasingly shape traveler decisions, yet DMOs still struggle to measure—and therefore justify—serious investment in them.Adam connects that tension to funding structures and annual budget cycles, which reward immediate proof over long-term “cathedral thinking.” He outlines his evolving framework—attention plus trust plus circumstances equals action—and argues that destinations should focus less on proving direct bookings and more on earning attention and trust over time. Stuart builds on that by reframing content as the tool for attention, experience as the driver of trust, and data as the context that makes both effective.The episode closes with one of its spiciest takes: Stuart and Eddie largely agree that generic travel influencers are often a poor investment for DMOs. Instead, they argue destinations should partner with creators outside the travel space—people with loyal, niche audiences—and invite them to bring their existing content style to the destination. The result, they suggest, is more differentiated storytelling, less competition for attention, and content that continues to drive impact long after the campaign ends.As always, the conversation doesn’t land on a neat conclusion—and that’s the point. This episode is about surfacing real tensions DMOs face right now: short-term accountability versus long-term relevance, measurement versus meaning, and advertising versus storytelling.