Norwalk moves contract extension for Visit Norwalk marketing; Miranda Creative outlines event-driven gains

Norwalk staff asked the Economic and Community Development Committee on June 4 to authorize the mayor to execute a one-year extension of a marketing services contract with Miranda Creative in an amount not to exceed $163,600 and presented recent campaign results for Visit Norwalk and related programs.

Sabrina Gaddi, who led the city-side presentation, said, “We’ve been working with Miranda Creative for the last year,” and introduced Miranda Creative’s owner Maria and account lead Juliet. Miranda Creative outlined multiple campaign efforts — Dine Norwalk, Melt, holiday and Halloween events, Sono Market and Sunset Bazaar — and said the work included earned media placements, targeted paid ads and partnerships with local content creators.

Miranda Creative highlighted event-driven metrics: reels and creator partnerships produced more than 100,000 views for some promotions and the team reported “43,000 clicks, 1.1 million impressions, and 4.4,000 spent so far” on Google and related digital buys, which staff said supported year-over-year gains in website traffic and engagement. The presenters also described a new events submission tool to reduce manual posting and said several campaigns will remain active through June 30.

Why it matters: The marketing contract supports tourism and small-business promotion across several city accounts (Visit Norwalk, Norwalk for Business, Park Norwalk and the Arts & Culture Commission). The city framed the work as raising visibility for local restaurants, events and businesses and as a means to attract visitors from nearby urban markets.

What’s next: The committee discussed the presentation and a motion was made to move the contract extension forward. Because the ECD committee lacked a quorum, staff will forward the recommendation and packet to the full City Council for formal consideration.