Strawbery Banke Keeps on Reaping Benefits of Obama Visit

Strawbery Banke Museum President Lawrence Yerdon had a feeling they would benefit from President Obama's visit on Sept. 7, but they couldn't imagine it would translate into more than $2.8 million worth of earned media value.

This is the estimate the Strawbery Banke spokeswoman Stephanie Seacord shared with the City Council on Monday night, which impressed City Councilor Chris Dwyer and her fellow councilors.

In an e-mail on Friday, Seacord wrote "the computation is based on the column inches of a story of photograph, multiplied by the open advertising rate."

The dollar figure is based on what Seacord describes as the combined ad rate to buy the major daily newspapers including USA Today. "The figures are for photographs, mostly, that include a caption referencing Strawbery Banke. All very conservative estimates," she wrote.

Seacord wrote that she used an aggregate figure of $631 per inch for Associated Press, Reuters and GettyImages that she used when she previously worked for the New Hampshire Travel and Tourism office.

Seacord said Strawbery Banke continues to receive links to news stories and media coverage from the Sept. 7 campaign event which featured President Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and Dr. Jill Biden one day after the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C.