The stated intention of "Live Riga" is shine a spotlight on the city for foreign tourists. However, critics of the project say it could be a misuse of taxpayer funds as a campaign tool for current members of the city council. Photo used courtesy of Starorīg.

RIGA — Riga’s newly-announced municipal promotion project “Live Riga” is being criticized by the country’s advertisers’ association and probed for misuse as a reelection tool by the city politicians.

Riga City Mayor Nils Ušakovs stated Wednesday that he approves the new logo for Riga promotion “Live Riga,” developed by German company Embassy, because it was “already completed” and  “already paid for” without direct involvement of the city council. “This advertisement is done with financing from airBaltic, not by using money of Riga’s inhabitants,” Ušakovs said.

But the new Riga promotion project raises many questions. The project is coordinated by the newly created Riga Tourism Development Bureau which is still not formally registered and even doesn’t have a website yet. The biggest shareholder in the bureau with 70 percent is the Riga City Council. The Association of Latvian Hotels and Restaurants, Association of Latvian Travel Agents and airBaltic airline each have 10 percent of the shares. However, the international tender was solely organized by airBaltic.

“It is not correct to say that this tender was initiated by Riga City Council. Cooperation with the German company [Embassy] is managed by airBaltic,” Santa Graikste, executive director of the Hotel and Restaurant Association, told Baltic Reports. At the same time, Riga City Council has earmarked 5 million lats (€7 million) for the project next year, and 1 million lats (€1.4 million) already this year. The bureau will have five employees and will be coordinated by the airBaltic CEO Bertolt Flick.

Why not Latvians?

Only 10 advertising agencies were invited to competition for the Riga promotion project this summer. The Latvian Advertising Association is very critical about the project and have published an open letter claiming that the tender was unfair and biased in favor to foreign advertisement agencies.

“Why didn’t they allow the local agencies to take part? Latvian companies in this field have received international recognition. And who can know Riga better than the locals?” Ingrīda Krīgere-Lāce, an association representative, told Baltic Reports. According to Krīgere-Lāce, 5 million lats is projected to be 10 percent of the whole advertising market in Latvia for the year 2010. She said it would be strange to give so much financing to foreigners during the economic downturn in Latvia.

Election tool allegations

Some have also raised suspicions that Riga promotion project could be used to finance next year’s election campaign. The tender for the project specifies communication objective for the next year as follows: “To establish image of Riga City Council as entrepreneurial, dynamic, business minded, effective, experienced and highly professional team seeing tourism development as priority.” Analysts from the anti-corruption agency Delna said they do not understand how promoting Riga for tourists can be done by promoting politicians from the city council.

Various Latvian newspapers have quoted unnamed sources within the advertising sector that claim at least part of the project will be commissioned to Latvia’s Mooz! advertising agency, run by Eriks Stendzenieks. Stendzenieks is well known by his campaigns for Riga’s Deputy Mayor Ainars Šlesers. While Stendzenieks has ties with Germany, studying and running an office there, he denies the allegations.

“There is also a theory that Americans blew up the Twin Towers as well,” Stendzenieks told Baltic Reports. “In any case, the money that creative agencies like we can get from the election campaigns is just peanuts. The biggest share is always taken by media.”

An airBaltic operation

Embassy is well-known and has developed such successful projects as the Berlin city government’s “Be Berlin” campaign. Astrida Trupovniece, executive director of the Association of Latvian Travel Agents, said that she welcomes Embassy and thinks it will be a success. “But we have not been directly involved with the project. It was simply put in front of us, and we accepted it,” Trupovniece told Baltic Reports.

airBaltic would not comment as to how the arrangement with Embassy was set up nor how much money the airline spent.

“We do not comment on conditions for our partners,” Flick told Baltic Reports.

Flick dismissed allegations that “Live Riga” would be used as a campaign promotion tool.

“These are only speculations, and we deny them completely. We are surprised about where these fantasies come from. They do not have any grounds,” Flick told Baltic Reports.