The city, which already has marketing deals inked with Snapple and the History Channel, is expected to open bidding for another major partnership this week.

Only global companies will qualify to bid, officials at city’s Marketing Development Corporation said, adding that they hope to tap into an advertising and marketing budget that will carry “a message of tourism and economic development.”

News of the bid comes less than three weeks after the marketing office announced that its touted $126 million Snapple deal is falling far short of sale and revenue expectations and needs to be watered down.

While it’s unclear exactly what kind of company the city is looking to partner with (officials did say it will not be a broadcaster or Internet provider), it is a sign that the city is ramping up efforts to woo visitors.

“Until now we’ve never really had a say over our image,” the city’s top marketing executive, Joseph Perello, said. “Sixty percent of the people who have never come to New York City cite crime as the no. 1 reason, even though crime has never been lower in past X number of decades.”

While the Snapple setback has resurrected complaints from the city’s comptroller, William Thompson Jr., that the arrangement was a “backroom” deal, it has not deterred Mr. Perello.

The former sports marketing executive paints his office as a vehicle for innovative partnerships that promote the city as a safe, navigable place.

He maintains that the Snapple deal was above board and will, even at its new $33 million value – down from $126 million – benefit the city.

He also counters concerns that the marketing corporation is not sending money back into the city coffers. That was one of the rationales Mr. Bloomberg gave for creating the corporation in 2003.

Mr. Perello said it has delivered $5.7 million in cash to various city entities, secured $29 million in marketing space throughout the five boroughs, and negotiated $50 million in promotional value through 2009.

“I can understand why someone might just focus on the operational surplus, but that’s not the entire picture,” Mr. Perello said. “The big picture is that we’ve found a way to generate new revenue. We found a way to build three new disciplines in this city without relying on taxpayer money.”

In a conference room in his 12th-floor office, which overlooks the World Trade Center site, Mr. Perello told The New York Sun that the corporation secured a two-minute “bonus feature” about New York City on the soon-to-be released “King Kong” DVD, which will reach an estimated 14 million people.

The latest remake of the movie premiered in Times Square on December 5 and Mayor Bloomberg declared the day “King Kong Day.”

Mr. Perello said his office is also in conversations with Internet companies, including Yahoo and Google, for other possible partnerships.

However, some are asking: Why does the city need a marketing office when New York is one of the most recognizable images on the planet?

“New York City already has a well-established image,” an associate professor of marketing at St. John’s University on Staten Island, Sylvia Clark, said. “When products are in maturity, like the Hershey Bar, they don’t have to advertise.”

City promotional deals can be smart, Ms. Clark said, but only if the city “guards against marring the city’s image.”

Although millions of people already get to see the city via television shows like “Law & Order,” on which Mr. Bloomberg has appeared, the city’s marketing office wants to shape its own message as the international race for tourists and, in turn, jobs gets more competitive.

In his State of the City speech in January, Mr. Bloomberg said the city is aiming to attract 50 million tourists annually by 2015, up from the current 41 million.

Mr. Perello said officials in Las Vegas, Amsterdam, Singapore, Atlanta, Dusseldorf, and a number of other cities have enquired about what the city is doing to market itself. He said the office has had many productive conversations but has not given away any valued secrets.