OKLAHOMA CITY (KOKH) — There’s a massive shakeup in spending at one Oklahoma state agency after FOX 25 started asking questions.
We found tens of millions of your tax dollars each year were flowing through one local ad agency.
FOX 25 uncovered invoices to see just how much you’re paying to promote tourism and what happens next.
Tourism is big business in Oklahoma. It’s the state’s third-largest industry, contributing over $10 billion a year to our economy.
Helping to draw in those visitors are slick promotions and pricey ad campaigns, paid for by you, all handled through third-party vendors.
Our investigation revealed that $30,011,761.47 of your money flowed directly through VI Marketing over just the last 4 years, with a monthly retainer of $125,000 a month.
Our Open Records Request found 2,959 invoices from January 2020 to October 2024.
We have asked for and, so far, have not been provided documentation of exactly where the money went.
VI Marketing, founded by CEO Tim Berney, has been doing work with the Oklahoma Tourism & Recreation Department (OTRD) for nearly a decade.
This current contract, we found, is a 5-year agreement, with ‘indefinite delivery’ and ‘indefinite quantity.’
Each invoice was signed off by former Tourism Executive Director Jerry Winchester until he resigned in 2022 amid a scandal involving restaurants in state parks.
Then they were signed by the next executive director, Shelley Zumwalt, until she stepped down in October, months after a critical report by the state auditor.
We reached out multiple times to find out if the OTRD is still paying VI Marketing.
An email response asks where we got our $30 million figure.
We also called the Interim Executive Director Sterling Zearley, who told us it wasn’t a good time and they were working on a statement.
State tourism officials were even in our FOX 25 studios last Thursday appearing on Living Oklahoma and declined an on-camera interview.
“If we are spending this much money, don’t taxpayers deserve to know where it’s going and why?” FOX 25 asked spokesman Kaitlyn Rivas as she exited the building.
“We’ll be sending a statement,” she responded.
The statement from OTRD came hours later, announcing they are ending their contract with VI Marketing:
The Oklahoma Tourism and Recreation Department is committed to meeting its statutory duty of promoting the State of Oklahoma through both new and traditional media. In fulfilling that mission, OTRD awarded a competitively bid contract to VI Marketing and Branding in January 2021. Although the contract is in its final year, after conducting a thorough review of marketing expenditures authorized by OTRD’s previous leadership, the Department determined the best interest of the agency and Oklahoma taxpayers would be served by ending the contract as the agency evaluates its marketing needs moving forward.
VI Marketing wasn’t just getting millions from the Department of Tourism.
The agency gets an additional $20 million-plus each year from Oklahoma’s TSET program and the Highway Safety Office.
We’ve filed Open Records Requests to get more details on just how much VI is pocketing from Oklahoma.
For more local news delivered straight to your inbox, sign up for our daily newsletter by clicking here.
