HomeMy WebLinkAbout01. September 19 VLMDAC MeetingVLMD OPERATING PLAN DRAFT
SEPTEMBER 19, 2024
Agenda
1.Minutes Approval (1 minute)
Action Requested of Board: Approve minutes
2.Monthly Financial Report (5 minutes), Jake Shipe, Town of Vail
3.2025 Operating Plan Update (15 minutes) Mia Vlaar, Discover Vail DMO
4.Strategic Planning Preparation (90 minutes) Discover Vail Partner Group and DMO
5.Vail Brand Update (30 minutes) Liz Gladitsch, Discover Vail DMO
6.Special Events Update (5 minutes) Jeremy Gross, Discover Vail DMO
7.Other Business
8.Public Comment
9.Adjournment
MINUTE APPROVAL
2024 CAMPAIGN UPDATEMONTHLY FINANCIAL REPORT
2025 OPERATING PLAN UPDATE
STRATEGIC PLANNING PREPARATION
DISCOVER VAIL STRATEGIC RETREAT
•Steve has worked more than 30 years for
and with non-profits, trade associations,
and professional societies
•Focusing on areas of strategy, leadership
development, communication,
membership and executive
management.
•Brings a practical knowledge of strategy
and executive leadership
LEADERSHIP OUTFITTERS
DR. STEVE SWAFFORD - IOM, CEO
Strategic Retreat Timeline
-TBD in Sept: Steve Swafford will meet with VLMDAC
who can not attend retreat
-9/30: VLMDAC and others to complete advance survey
coming from Steve
-10/8: Attendees to pre-read “strategy and keeping it
high level” coming from Steve
-10/9-11: Travel and Strategic Planning Offsite
-11/21: Initial Strategic Plan Report Out at VLMDAC
monthly meeting
Destination
Marketing
Advertising
Regional
Chamber
Group Sales
Air Service
Communications
& Public Relations
Social Media
/ Content
Public Relations
Research &
Data Analytics
Special Events
Strategic
Development
Sponsorship
Permitting &
Production
The Vail
Experience
Customer
Service
Training
Welcome
Centers
Community /
Engagement
Stewardship
Local
Business
Chamber
Business
Development
Entrepreneurship
VLMD (Town Council)
Tourism & Econ Dev Director
VLMDAC Board
Tourism & Econ Dev Admin
DISCOVER VAIL FUTURE STRUCTURE
-Paid media
strategy, buying
and optimization
-Content strategy
and execution
-Strategic
consulting and
research
-Video & Photo
production
MILES PARTNERSHIP
MILES
DISCOVER VAIL MARKETING ECOSYSTEM
-Domestic +
International Public
Relations
-Paid Storytelling
Program -
influencer +
bloggers
partnerships
MALEN YANTIS PR
MYPR
-Group Sales
-Destimetrics
Research oversight
-Lodging Liaison
VAIL VALLEY
PARTNERSHIP VVP
-Website
management
-2024 Campaign
design and
production
970 DESIGN
970
-Data strategy
-CRM (email)
strategy
BROWN ANALYTICS
BAAG
TOWN OF VAIL TOURISM & ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT TOV
Strategic direction and management of DMO Partner group
Board Liaison
Management of board meetings, budget, planning, social media
Destination
Marketing
Communications
& Public Relations
Research &
Data Analytics
MIA VLAAR
Tourism & Econ. Dev. Director
•Primary VLMD
Representative
•VLMDAC Board Liaison
•Partner oversight
•Strategic Planning
•Special Events
management, oversight
& contracting
•In-resort experience
JEREMY GROSS
Events
LIZ GLADITSCH
Marketing Specialist
•Day to day VLMD contact
•Partner oversight
•Management of
contracts, budget, partner
group
•Website/social oversight
ABBY OLIVEIRA
Admin
•Invoicing, planning
•Event sponsorship
oversite
DIANA RAMIREZ
Content Specialist
•Daily management of
social channels, website
content
AMANDA ZINN
Welcome Center Manager
•Oversees both Welcome
Centers
•Trail Host Program
•Community Host Program
TOWN OF VAIL WHO WE ARE
WHAT WE DO
POWER TEAM BEHIND THE SCENES
CARLIE SMITH
Finance Director
JAKE SHIPE
Finance Manager
TJ JOHNSON
IT Manager
TOWN OF VAIL: MARKETING WHO WE ARE
WHAT WE DO
•Town Manager's Office
•VLMD/Town Council including budget and report
out on plan and results
•Legal support of VLMD and VLMDAC
•Finance Department Support
•Welcome Center / The Vail Experience
•Vail Mountain Relationship
•Work with Town Council and Town Manager to
align and strengthen Vail Experience
•Other Town Departments relating to Special
Events
•VCBA and Business Community
LIAISON WITH OTHER TOWN DEPARTMENTS
Marketing The Vail Experience
Responsible for leading the town’s marketing, research and special events
initiatives with the goal of retaining and attracting visitors and business to
Vail and growing its year-round economy
VLMD Partner Oversight and Management
Facilitate an open and direct relationship between the VLMDAC and
vendors within the confines of publicly funded legislative mandate.
Discover Vail partner and vendor contracting.
Data
Oversight and coordination of in-resort data collection
Finance
Budget Management – Management of budget, reporting, revenue and
accounts receivable
TOWN OF VAIL: SPECIAL EVENTS WHO WE ARE
WHAT WE DO
•48 Events Sponsored in 2024
•Approximately 60 event permits reviewed
annually
•Over 330 event days per year
•$650k Event Marketing Spend by sponsored
events
•$716K Event Attendees
EVENT HIGHLIGHTS Special Event Sponsorship
Develop the annual RFP for the special event sponsorship program and
evaluate sponsorship benefits and the overall sponsorship request.
Special Event Production
Produce town owned events including the Vail America Days Parade, early
season activations (Revely and Holidays), Local Appreciation Events (Early
season kickoff and End of Season Bash), etc.
Special Event Development
Work with partners to explore and develop new event opportunities such as
Après at the Amp, which came from an RFP that we published to replace
Snow Days concerts. On an ongoing basis, keep up with event trends and
best practices, and continue to work with event partners to improve or
enhance events.
Permitting
Manage the permitting process for Special Event Permits, Photo and Video
Shoot Permits, Amplified Sound Permits, and Special Business Promotions
Permits. Work with all Town Departments and Vail businesses to minimize
impacts and maximize opportunities with special event operations.
TOWN OF VAIL: THE VAIL EXPERIENCE WHO WE ARE
WHAT WE DO
Community Host Program
•50 hosts in summer and winter – red coats in town
•Volunteer position with eligible benefits
•Community Partnerships with Vail Mountain Guest
Services,
Trail Host Program
•20 hosts in the summer, concentrate on the East
Vail Trails
•Volunteer position with eligible benefits
•Community Partnerships with Care for Colorado,
Leave no Trace, Vail Valley Mountain Trail Alliance,
(VVMTA) and UFS
HOST PROGRAMS
Vail Village and Lionshead Welcome Centers
●Welcome Centers became part of the TOV in 2016
●Two Welcome Centers, Vail Village and Lionshead
●Open 365 days a year, daily
●9 staff, 2 full-time, 7 part-time
●Over 120,000 visitors a year
●Operating budget: $80,000
Vail Village and Lionshead Welcome Centers
●Remodel in 2022
Customer Service Training (Prima Vail)
●Employee Recognition
●Employee Engagement
●Employee “Training”
WHO WE ARE
WHAT WE DO
Laura Libby
President
20+years Experience in
Tourism; 11 yrs at Miles.
●Industry strategy,
relationship and
account-level
optimization.
BEN WALTON
Account Director
BETH
WRIGHT- CHEESEMAN
Project Manager
IVY VAUGHN
Media Supervisor
CAITLIN ROW
Senior Content Manager
EMILIE DELONG
Supervising Producer,
Odyssey Studios
9yrs of Experience in
Account Mgmt; 6 at Miles.
●Oversees account
strategy, execution and
project management.
10yrs Experience Project
Mgmt.; 3yrs at Miles
●Oversees day-to-day
operations & client
communication.
10yrs Experience in Media
Strategy; 3yrs at Miles
●Plans, executes &
optimizes Discover Vail’s
diverse media strategies.
15yrs Experience in Content
Strategy; 5yrs at Miles.
●Spearhead Discover Vail’s
Digital-Content SEO
Strategy
●Supports eNews Program
& Website Optimizations
19yrs Experience in
Production; 17yrs at Miles
●Concepts new creative
ideas, like Mountain Lore.
●Oversees production from
start to finish.
MILES PARTNERSHIP
Team Leads
WHO WE ARE
WHAT WE DO
MILES PARTNERSHIP
Account & DMO Marketing Strategy
Media Strategy, Buying & Optimizations
SEO and UX-Informed Content Strategy
Strategic Consulting & Analytics
Videography & Photography Production
Leverage Miles' DMO expertise to drive Discover Vail's marketing and
promotion efforts. The team bridges strategy and execution, using their deep
knowledge of the DMO landscape to deliver results.
Develop and execute paid media tactics in support of key marketing initiatives,
such as visitor awareness, destination affinity and consideration and visitation.
Digital Content & SEO Strategy including the annual content plan, content
strategy and optimization, new content production, UGC, personalization
(Bound), eNews support and reporting for DiscoverVail.com to grow our SEO
presence and ensure seamless on-site UX.
Monthly analytics reporting to distill insights and trends from Google Analytics
to maintain a pulse on site traffic, user behavior, acquisition and top pages. In
addition, share industry insights and research opportunities.
Execution of Mountain Lore video series to expand Discover Vail’s reach to
tourism consumers through the production and amplification of content for
film, television, and digital platforms.
Account Services & Strategy
Debbie Johnson, Sr. Vice President
Mina Robertson, Vice President
C.A. Clark, Vice President of AI
Media Strategy
Danelle Amos, Vice President of Media
Carolyn Silverberg, Sr. Paid Media Analyst
Jesse Lambert, Sr. Paid Media Analyst
Analytics, SEO & Content
Andria Godfrey, Vice President of Data Science
Justin Gibbs, Director of Strategy & Insights, SEO
Tracey Chopek, Content Coordinator
Video & Creative
Claire Wingate, Head of Product & Operations
Marissa Valentine, Head of Promotion
Michael Sifuentes, Creative Director
SERVICES SUPPORT
WHO WE ARE
WHAT WE DO
Miles is a strategic marketing consultancy focused exclusively on travel and
tourism. We are champions and purveyors of positive change, igniting the
belief that travel improves lives and strengthens communities.
●100% Travel & Tourism Focused
●375+ Marketing Experts; 6.5 year avg. tenure
●8-Year Average Client Relationship
●$500,000 in public, industry research
●Strong Industry Relationships: E.g. Destinations International, U.S.
Travel, Brand USA, One West Tourism Alliance, Future Partners,
Civitas, Longwoods, Phocuswright, Tourism Economics
●200+ Tourism & Hospitality Brands
●$200+ Million in Media Trafficked Annually
●$33M+ Million in Industry Participation
●145 Awards Won for Our Clients in the Last 3-Years
Core Services:
●Industry Leadership & Education: E.g. AI Opener, Wayfinder,
Tourism Exchange, Coraggio Group
●Strategic Consulting & Custom Research
●Media Strategy, Planning & Buying
●Branding & Creative Services
●Original Programming, Content & Video Production
●Digital Development Services
○SEM & UX-Informed Content Strategy
○Accessibility Remediation, Content & Technical
○Email & CRM Management & Strategy
●Cooperative Advertising Management
●Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Strategy Consulting
●Print Publishing & Distribution
Travel & Tourism Marketing ExpertsMILES PARTNERSHIP
Miles Partnership Companies
Global hospitality marketing consultancy
Independent trading desk
London-Based integrated comms & PR agency
Leading business consulting firm
B2B digital tourism marketplace
Premiere travel content studio
SLADE COGSWELL
Creative Director
●Lead creative for all web,
brand, campaign, and
experiential marketing
efforts
●Oversees account
resources to ensure
project success
●Sends the bills
TOM BULL
Account Manager
TJ SZEWCZAK
Technical Director
●Oversees security,
strategic direction, and all
improvements on the site
●Manages team of three
full-time WordPress
developers
ORI ANDERSON
Designer
●Web design UI/UX expert
●Brand design
●Misc. graphic design
support
MICHAL BEDNARCZYK
Producer
•Daily management of all
account activities
•On-site production for 24’
+ 25’ Summer Campaigns
•Web and digital expert
970 Design WHO WE ARE
WHAT WE DO
Other Trusted Partners
Lumenati Productions, Tom Cohen Photography
JACK KARGL
DESIGNER
●Campaign asset
production
●Misc. graphic design
support
970 Design WHO WE ARE
WHAT WE DO
●Destination Stewardship Campaign
●Re-imagining the Revely Vail brand
●Graphic design support for VLMD in-town
activations
●Custom interactive map
●Improved website administration
RELATED & ALIGNED EFFORTS
Website Management
Host & manage the DiscoverVail.com website in our custom built,
private server environment ensuring security and performance of
the website.
Summer Campaigns
Develop and execute creative concept for 2024 and 2025 Summer
Campaigns in conjunction with Lumenati.
Website Design
In the two years of managing the DiscoverVail website, there
has been an overhaul of the website user experience,
custom built unique features, and support of partner efforts.
Brand & Graphic Design
Brand and design to support Discover Vail as needed.
Photo & Video
Deliver photo and video content for Discover Vail as needed.
●Primary point
person/day-to-
day contact
●Oversees all
aspects of the
account
Kristin Yantis
Principal
Amanda McNally
Account Director
●Strategic planning
●Media relations and
paid storytelling
●Media relations
●Media buying
●Influencer/socialit
e relations
●In-market event
planning
Sylvia Rivera
Mexico PR Consultant
WHO WE ARE
WHAT WE DOMALEN YANTIS PR WHO WE ARE
WHAT WE DO
CAPABILITIESMalen Yantis PR
•Brand positioning, story development
•Media relations – story placement in local,
regional, national and international outlets
•One-on-one meetings with editors, freelance writers
and producers
•Writing and development of media materials
•Content development for websites, blogs and
integrated campaigns
•Individual and group
FAM trips
•Executive media training
•Awards and accolades programs
•Crisis communications preparedness and counsel
•Business and entrepreneurial profiles
•Product launches and grand opening celebrations
•Community involvement and public awareness
campaigns
•Corporate responsibility programs
•Strategic influencer and blogger programs
•Internal communications
Domestic Media Relations
Drive media coverage through story development/key messages,
press releases, FAM trips, in-market media visits, identifying
new/emerging media trends and talent as well as ongoing media
pitching
Paid Storytelling Program
Executing strategic influencer and blogger program
Mexico Media Relations
Manage Mexico PR partner Sylvia Rivera
Community/Partner Relations
Build relationships with partners in the community to
promote/support through public relations efforts including
CTO, hotels, restaurants, etc.
VAIL VALLEY PARTNERSHIP WHO WE ARE
WHAT WE DO
●Primary contact for
VLMD & TOV
●Strategic leadership &
industry relations
●Community liaison
with state officials
●Lodging & air service
support
CHRIS ROMER
President/CEO
KIM BRUSSOW
Director of Sales
●Lead group & meeting
sales
●Strategic leadership with
lodging & travel partners
●Host monthly DOS
meetings
●Represent Vail at trade
shows
●Liaison for VLMD and
lodging
●Host seasonal updates
●Coordinate BookRipe
listings & specials
● Assist with lodging
outreach & data
collection
KAY SCHNEIDER
Lodging Liaison
VAIL VALLEY PARTNERSHIP WHO WE ARE
WHAT WE DO
●One of Vail’s longest established organizations;
60+ years in the community
●25 year partner with the VLMDAC
●Community relationships – lodging, retail,
restaurant, activity, transportation
providers, destination management
organizations
●Industry relationships - Mountain travel
industry, mountain airports, mountain
chambers & DMO’s, Colorado Tourism,
Inntopia, and others
●Group FAM trips and site tour management
●Business community engagement
●Government affairs and statewide advocacy for
tourism interests & relationships with local,
state, and federal officials
●Manage EGE Air Alliance, bringing new flights
to the Eagle County Regional Airport
RELATED & ALIGNED EFFORTS Group Sales
Drive group sales leads to lodging partners via a variety of
travel/trade and marketing channels through a strategic
partnership model with the lodging properties in Vail.
Lodging Liaison
Execute strategic lodging outreach, communications, and
engagement with VLMD & DiscoverVail.com.
Community & Industry Support
Build relationships with partners in the community
to promote/support VLMD initiatives and represent
Vail’s interests at a regional and state level.
Destimetrics
Manage lodging occupancy reports and solicit property
engagement and participation.
Bob Brown
Marketing Strategy & Analytics
Account Lead
●Leads the data-driven
marketing roadmap,
driving our strategy and
execution on gathering
and using data insights
to evolve marketing
●Responsible for
bringing together all
our disparate data
sources to provide the
team with tools and
insights to improve our
campaigns
Naveen Chandra
Analytics Lead
Jeremy Coleman
Technology & AI Lead
●Runs technology strategy,
works with partners on
establishing common
technology approaches,
and spends too much
time talking about AI
Cailin Ellis
CRM and AI Operations
●Accountable for
executing our CRM
program and strategy and
creating gen AI
capabilities to personalize
at scale to our rich first
party database
Jenna Luberto
CRM Lead
•Email guru charged with
growing, improving,
personalizing and scaling
our CRM program
WHO WE ARE
WHAT WE DO
Mike Fitzpatrick
Analysis and Segmentation
●Creates segmentation
models using our
augmented first party
data to look for
group(s) to effectively
target with
personalized content
Brown Analytic Advisory Group
Brown Analytic Advisory Group WHO WE ARE
WHAT WE DO
●Analytics serves as a center of excellence for all of
our partner groups to provide them with analysis
and effectiveness data - allowing them to create
hypothesis based campaigns and effectively use our
first-party data for top and bottom of the funnel
marketing efforts
●CRM overlaps deeply with content marketing,
website development, and the overall execution of
our marketing program and goals
●Work closely with all of our partners to continue to
evolve into a future where we have more data, on
more customers that we can use to continue to
increase our segmentation towards 1-to-1
marketing campaigns and strategies
RELATED & ALIGNED EFFORTS
Data-Driven Roadmap
Create, evolve, manage, and maintain the
ongoing program to guide all of our marketing
efforts to use data to find the right visitors and
turn them into frequent loyal guests for years
Analytics and Insights
Bring together all available sources of data from
throughout our partner and service providers
ecosystems to understand and apply insights to
our marketing channels, and to then analyze and
understand our effectiveness and contribution to
our DMO goals
CRM Strategy and Operations
Continuously grow the size of, and increase the
detail of our first-party customer database - and
then with effective segmentation, scale our
communications using Generative AI to provide
relevant, timely, and personalized outbound
messaging to our visitors and potential visitors to
drive engagement and repeat visitation
VAIL BRAND UPDATE
Vail Brand Next Steps
In June - May Town Manager approached Vail Resorts on the possibility of using the historic Vail logo. After the
discussion and waiting for decision, Vail Resorts decided at the end of August that this would not be a possibility.
Moving forward:
○September 2024: Using Logo 1 and Logo 2, do some careful and very directed survey of past guests
and community members
○October 2024: Present findings at October board meeting
○November 2024: Decide on logo direction
○December 2024: Finalize brand platform including logo, additional brand elements and launch
recommendations
○January-March 2025: new brand launch strategic planning, production and re-skin
○April 2025: Begin launch
As a reminder, LOOKING BACK TO MAY 2024 on following slides:
WHERE WE ARE TODAY
Vail Brand Poll Results
REFRESHER FROM MAY BOARD MEETING
Vail Brand Poll Results
REFRESHER FROM MAY BOARD MEETING
Vail Brand Next Steps
LOGO:
●Option 1:
○Move forward with the majority poll: Logo 2
●Option 2: This was the decision in May
○Using Logo 1 and Logo 2, do some careful and very directed testing. Super important to ask
the right questions. This will not be a deciding factor but add in the decision making
○Decide on which logo at June meeting
●Option 3:
○Revisit the logo design as a combination between 1 and 2
○Using Logo 1, 2 and hybrid (3) do some careful and very directed testing. Super important to
ask the right questions. This will not be a deciding factor but add in the decision making
○Decide on logo at a TBD date
REFRESHER FROM MAY BOARD MEETING
TOWN OF VAIL AND SPECIAL EVENTS UPDATE
PUBLIC COMMENT
Thank you!
Upcoming Meetings:
VLMDAC Board Meeting
Thursday, October 17, 2024, Grand View Room