Tustin Firm to Market Canadian Expo in U.S. : ORANGE COUNTY

A tiny Orange County consulting firm has been named the U.S. marketing arm for the $800-million Expo ’86 world fair in Vancouver, B.C.

Management Resources Inc. of Tustin--which consulted for the 1984 Summer Olympics and the world fairs in New Orleans and Knoxville--has been awarded a $1.2-million contract by organizers of the coming world fair in Canada, Expo ’86 officials said Tuesday.

Management Resources, which recently boosted its workforce from 10 to 17 employees, has formed a wholly owned subsidiary, Management Resources Canadian Services Inc., specifically to market the fair in the United States.

“This show will be a world-class product,” said Steve Clark, Management Resources president. “But it has already inherited some of the residue from the Knoxville and New Orleans fairs, and that is a shame.” Both of those fairs lost money.

Management Resources’ pact to promote the fair is among the largest contracts the five-year-old leisure industry-consulting firm has received, Clark said.

“We’d like to be able to promote this in the same way that Disneyland has promoted its 30th anniversary,” said Clark, a former Disney executive. “It’s a classic opportunity and a real challenge.”

Unlike the two most recent world fairs, the Vancouver exposition--which follows one to be held in Japan later this year--has substantial financial backing and an impressive contingent of representative countries.

Management Resources’ chief job will be to promote the fair in the states of California, Washington and Oregon, from which the fair expects to draw more than 2.5 million of its anticipated 15 million patrons, said Brad Philley, the exposition’s publicity coordinator. “We expect nearly 30% of our visitors will be U.S. citizens,” said Philley. Limited promotions will be conducted in other states, he said.