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Home My WebLink About04. VLMD Minutes November 2018Vail Local Marketing District Advisory Council Monthly Meeting Thursday, November 15, 2018, 8:30 am Grand View Room AGENDA VLMDAC November Meeting Link In Attendance: Hannah Green (Cactus) Ainslie Fortune (Cactus) Meggen Kirkham (SITE) Matt Miano (TOV) Ernest Saeger (TOV) Yann Benjamin (Vail Mtn) Jenn Bruno (TOV) Phil Metz (Vail Resorts) Skip Thurnauer (EVMC) Beth Slifer (VLMDAC) Laurie Mullen (WVLM) Jessie Klehfoth (VLMDAC/VRD) Esmani Faessler (Sonnenalp/VLMDAC) Mia Vlaar (TOV) Chris Romer (VVP) Hannah Elfin (Vail Mtn) Marrit Zoll (VVP) •September and October 2018 Monthly Financial Report (5 minutes), Carlie Smith Lodging tax revenue report- tracking above budget. PLEASE SEE SLIDES. Please turn in all final bills ASAP – before February. On Tuesday, the resolution for VLMD Budget goes to council; then final reading December 4th. A member of the Board shall be in attendance. • Approval of September 20, 2018 Minutes (5 minutes), Board Motion/Second/Pass – (Beth/Phil & Skip/Unanimous) •Summer 2018 Performance (90 minutes), Cactus, Partners Presentation to follow is a comprehensive look at summer, based on KPIs and goals, prepared by team of partner groups over several months. Please SEE SLIDES and additional detail in packet and appendix. 2018 saw a strategic shift, initiated with YOY marketing budget decreases, resulting in an effort by the team to streamline and refine tactics, and to emphasize QUALITY over QUANTITY. Summer Ecosystem = EARNED (traditional and online PR, groups, includes international), PAID (Cactus digital, SITE, traditional), & OWNED (Vail Mtn. website and social) EARNED: (Kristen)- slight adjustments in results reporting noted Focus on quality, and evaluating competitors Campaigns recap: broken into online and print potential “reach,” reflecting the potential exposure of all articles and ads (please SEE SLIDES for numbers); attention to quality of messaging, with comparisons to competitors’ potential “reach” 42% increase in outdoor activities messages, 26% increase in events, additional focus on family/teen messaging International PR recap gives number of articles/ads (vs. “reach”) and ROI. Messaging re: safety is crucial; & health and wellness Group Sales (Chris) Positive overall increases in room nights, leads Reporting period focuses on May-Oct priority for LMD, and the reporting reflects Partnership - earned groups only; many groups supported are not included in reporting, (just VVP groups) Does NOT include leads through CVENT, or groups supported through FAM tours, etc Great momentum overall with some individual month fluctuation CVENT (national meeting planner resource) partnership with VVP: when planners looking at competitors site, they get a targeted video ad about Vail, highlighted as meeting destination Vail video 44% view rate was highest on entire platform. Leads go direct to property. Question re: request for consistent reporting from Cactus Question re: Colorado Municipal League Conference – (part of June groups)- this group moves around and has outgrown our facilities. Kim will be at some of the meetings for 2019 to clarify focus (Jan, April, July, Oct) PAID (Megan) Cactus and Site using both traditional and digital media tactics to emphasize quality over quantity strategy Cactus efforts: digital video, social media, streaming radio, mobile AI, influencers SEE SLIDES for examples, I.e., Instagram videos for teen audience targets (received 5x avg number of click-through); Pandora also successful Total 91 million paid impressions: most digital, then traditional, then paid social Digital media: YOY 2016-2018 performance increasing each year vs. benchmark (2017) Tactics and strategy are working, plan to carry efforts forward, evaluate on a weekly basis Also, successfully exceeding general industry benchmarks each year Influencer program- SEE SLIDES Seven influencers to Vail- goals to increase summer awareness and gain family/teen content “Essentialist” Instagram photo (Hotel Talisa) most shared/viewed of summer Question re: going forward with media influencers, is it as part of a media channel, or is is its own channel? Question for 2019 campaign: board needs additional clarification in the future as to how the success of influencers are measured, and why they are important Comment re: significant shift this year with Cactus efforts to push ad program and eliminate banner ads, and question going forward: do banner ads have a place in Vail campaign? Possibly work in some banner ads in a targeted fashion for lower occupancy periods, etc. Paid Vail app effort did target specific geographical areas with mobile banners, advertising the app Industry benchmarks for influencers and report of Vail’s performance results, SEE SLIDES OWNED media report (Vail.com, Facebook, Instagram, email blasts) Goals are targeting known winter guests, data, and followers to inspire summer vacations Recap of top performers, and impact on whole campaign – SEE SLIDES Tactics: 4 email blasts, and daily coverage with posts Question re: Vail mountain photos: ongoing issue that inclusion of town photos is missing vs. on- mountain photos – need to do better job f or 2019 Vail mountain needs to show stats of images provided to Board to show the balance they are trying to showcase with imagery; Email performance recap: strategy employed was the use of four different microtests of key audiences: winter loyalists, destination super boomers, teens, and families with teens. Talked to more guests than ever before; engaged them with messaging re: summer Strong clicks and engagement reported on these summer messages Question re: VR database-are summer-interest guests vs winter-interest guests vs both able to be separated? The database does have a subset of summer only guests who are spoken to on behalf of VLMD. Data set does not have capacity to separate guests who have “transacted within the seasonal product for summer.” Question re: Data capture: summer vs. winter data capture, data analysis abilities? An ongoing effort will continue fine tuning winter capabilities, and will push for funding to improve sophistication of summer capture; they can provide an update on this in the Spring looking at next year Organic social channels performance- SEE SLIDES- Do not have YOY, but highlights provided: 3.7% increase in impressions who liked or “reshared” Measuring active engagement – (“following” vs “engaging”) 50% of followers were apparently engaging in some way ? Re: how many posts were created this year? WEB PERFORMANCE- SEE SLIDES Strong indicator of performance in this quantity over quality strategy, as web traffic was slightly down, but visitors were more likely to book an order (orders per visit) Time frame: 5/1 – 9/18- assumption is that most are summer orders, but some winter orders included (I.e., Epic pass purchases, etc. as they cannot be separated) RESULTS/ Tax overview- SEE SLIDES - (+10%] Sales/lodging up YOY Occupancy up in May, June Early season $$ up front strategy seemed successful July down as well as across industry- in part due to 4th holiday on Wednesday; Aug/Sept also had a shared Labor Day holiday-weekend days, which are normally all in September Occupancy info – through October, which was slightly down July tax collectIon up Sales tax numbers are through September Good results as overall occupancy is flat, but more tax dollars collected, with only slight rate increase **note to please include clearer time periods on reporting ** 2019 MARKETING TIMELINE-SEE SLIDES- setting strategy for January Additional info: review appendix Quality over quantity approach deemed successful, continue to refine month by month 2017 numbers through October – occupancy and ADR Sales tax and lodging time frames– need to comfirm • RRC Research (30 minutes), Chris Cares, Cactus RRC reports more coordination with Cactus in questions for summer research Events research for town- has been performed for last several years, and continues. Tying this research back into database, and events extending into winter = very large data set that is now available Data presentation focus: intercept, post visit interview, and some engagement with Vail App. Now possible to compare Vail App and post visit data SEE SLIDES Deeper dives into data available on request; not everything is on slides by design, to protect some confidentiality of data Intercept Program Methodology: 1-2 interviewers, 4 days a week, gathered approx. 1400 surveys. Emails are requested and an additional follow up survey is sent @6 days later asking about entire stay. Destimetrics Summary, total visitation, graphic view of 2017 vs. 2018- SEE SLIDES Comments for July: in addition to 4th of July weekday, wildfires, late start for school calendars, industry soft overall, and Doubletree and Talisa rooms (out of inventory in winter) made occupancy look much stronger by comparison Stronger August Additional parking structure data looks at frequency of Frontage Rd. use, shows growth each month of summer (note that data showing patterns of parking use also available) Summer day visits down, while overall overnights were up, which is somewhat inconsistent with parking data- however, numbers distorted with loss of 400 spaces due to Vail Health parking closed Review of highlights of intercept data ** Vail Resorts also similarly interviewing; attempts made to coordinate somewhat. Would be interesting to review any substantially different data results. ** Air BNB category, approx. 8-10%, difficult category to nail down Questions re: “other” lodging category (some camping, some confusion, etc.) and separating out homeowners from data set Locals not interviewed; second homeowners are interviewed Review of intercept data, explanations of follow up survey data Funnel metrics, plans for 2019- SEE SLIDES- New funnel metrics to share and explain changing strategy and methodology Changing methodology to answer some questions regarding summer visits and awareness; still developing this • Burke Brand Research (10 minutes), Cactus Waiting on Burke proposal • Brand Asset Shoot (15 minutes), Satchele Burns, Jack Affleck Asset capture and photography sessions with Jack More intense coordination with partnerships and closely knit examples of these projects coming together – very beneficial • Colorado Classic Recap (10 minutes), Sarah Franke, VVF SEE SLIDESwith results Broadcast coverage was extremely positive for event Upcoming budget vote will include Colorado Classic again hosted in Vail; commitment to having race again in Colorado is evident Questions re: VLMD investment in Classic event, and how can the Board use marketing dollars to ensure the event brings people to Vail; this event is a large chunk of the budget, but participation and attendance were disappointing Question re: what was community impact- sales for merchants? Use of police, infrastructure, resources? Need to evaluate whether marketing dollars were spent in the right place/ how to take control of marketing if VLMD is funding this Overall, event was well run, and agreement was expressed in wishing to look at taking better control of marketing Disconnect noted in promoting the mountain bike imagery use for Classic promos- this can be worked on for improvement Discussion: should Cactus take this budget from VLMD and produce marketing efforts, creating better message around this event, building marketing vs. the racers who are a draw in this sport (many more well known pro racers were in Europe) • Vail Restaurant Week (10 minutes), Denise Cheng, Alison Wadey, VCBA Very successful overall; Discussion re: hosting 2 restaurant weeks in 2019 Fall Adding a Memorial Day weekend event See SLIDES for participation, etc. Limited funding in 2018 caused reliance on partners for marketing In 2019, the desire is to partner with VLMD for more press coverage, video, cable, marketing in Denver, and creating a plan to spread budget over two separate Restaurant weeks Proposed dates: Sept. 28- Oct 7, or Sept 27- Oct 6 Adding May 24- June 2: 7 or 10 days? Possible partnership with BeaverCreek Restaurants (but they have Mem Day events), working around restaurant closures, promoting a Memorial Day Restaurant week leading into Go Pro Games Question re: locals vs. Front Rangers, and data on who is participating? Question about appropriate focus: driving Front Range business vs. locals (and locals are our “ambassadors” in promoting these restaurants, and there is value in local participation) Weekends were equally successful and busy; popular restaurants also gave feedback that Tues/Wed nights were big as well, and overall all 10 days were strong Add a “hotel and restaurant week?” Deeply discounted rooms? Fall foliage vs. other draws for Memorial Day, as it could be snowing! Suggestion to host the event right up to GO PRO to get more overnight hotel stays Restaurant week and VCBA would like marketing dollars and collaboration from the VLMD Some metrics may be available from Cactus to assist in measuring the impact of this event on Front Range vs. locals See SLIDES for comments • CSE Funding Allocations (10 minutes), CSE 2018 success recap- SEE SLIDES (more data coming; only a portion of events surveyed) Focus on new and increased funding efforts for events Vail Bluegrass moving from Lionshead to new venue (Ford Park, Checkpoint Charlie, etc?)- additional revenue opportunities More teen ideas? Still a big opportunity here- possibilities: movie night, Jenga in parks, possible teen version of Adventure Games event • Other Business Four Seasons- Amy gone, planning for April multi-million dollar renovation Meeting packets difficult to view on iPad, working on this! • Adjournment Motion/Second/Pass – (Beth/Skip/Jesse/Unanimous) Important Upcoming Deadlines and Meetings: 2019 VLMD Budget Resolution, Town Council Meeting, November 20, 2018, Council Chambers Application Deadlines and Interview Dates for VLMDAC applicants: o Deadline for letters of interest due to the Assistant Town Manager, Patty McKenny, by Wednesday, December 5. o Interviews at Town Council Work Session on Tuesday, December 18, 2018. o VLMDAC members whose terms expire on December 31, 2018 are Beth Slifer, Phil Metz, Skip Thurnauer and Esmarie Faessler. VLMDAC Monthly Meeting, Thursday, December 20, 2018, Grand View Room