State drops $750K to rehab image after RFRA, with more expected

The state has signed an initial $750,000 contract with global public relations firm Porter Novelli to help restore Indiana's tarnished image in the wake of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act fiasco.

The agreement signed Wednesday calls on Porter Novelli to assess perceptions of Indiana and develop a campaign to reach a "broad and diverse audience" to "strengthen and enhance Indiana's reputation."

The contract between the company and the Indiana Economic Development Corp. includes a $300,000 retainer fee and up to $450,000 for media buys, production costs, travel and other expenses. It runs through Sept. 30.

The deal anticipates a second contract to be negotiated before the launch of the campaign. The cost of "phase two" will depend on the scale and duration of the campaign, the contract says.

IEDC officials previously said they expect to spend at least $2 million with Porter Novelli.

Although the agreement doesn't mention the controversial "religious freedom" law, it does reference the state's "new reputation enhancement initiative to strengthen Indiana's global brand reputation as a welcoming place to live, visit and do business."

Indiana took a major public relations hit with the swirl of negative attention surrounding Gov. Mike Pence's March 26 signing of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

Opponents feared the act could allow businesses to discriminate against gays and lesbians — a claim supporters of the law denied.

After a national backlash, the law was clarified by the legislature at Pence's urging, explicitly forbidding the erosion of local ordinances that prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation.

There is little doubt that Indiana's national image took a hit, but nobody has been able to quantify exactly how much damage was done. Repercussions continued to surface this week with news that the International Association of Fairs and Expositions passed up Indianapolis for its 2018 and 2019 conventions, in part because of RFRA, according to an email from State Fair Commission Executive Director Cindy Hoye.

Pence, who is on an economic development trip to China this week, said he was "really not familiar with the basis of that decision and would not want to comment on it."

The decision last month to hire Porter Novelli, which has 100 offices in 60 countries, speaks directly to concerns raised by Indianapolis business leaders that the state was set to lose hundreds of millions of dollars if the law had been allowed to stand unchanged.

State leaders have said they specifically sought a company with global reach that could approach the state's branding with an outsider's eyes.

Call Star reporter Tony Cook at (317) 444-6081. Follow him on Twitter: @indystartony.