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Home My WebLink About02. VLMDAC Meeting Minutes 2017-09-21Public Notice Vail Local Marketing District Advisory Council Thursday, September 21, 2017 The Antlers - Caribou/Pronghorn Room 8:30 – 11:00 AM VLMDAC Members Present: Laurie Mullen (West Vail Liquor) Jenn Bruno (Vail Town Council) John Dawsey (CME - Treasurer) Jessie Klefoth (VRD) Beth Slifer (Slifer Designs) Scott Gubrud (Four Seasons) Skip Thurnauer Also Present: Carlie Smith (Town of Vail) Ernest Saeger (Town of Vail) Yann Benjamin (Vail Resorts) Hannah Eflin (Vail Resorts) David Neff (Vail Resorts) Clare Hefferren (Callosum/Doubletree) Kristin Yantis (MYPR) Emily Tracy (MYPR) Chris Romer (VVP) Anna Robinson (VVP) Laura Waniuk (TOV) Mia Vlaar (East West DH) Meggen Kirkham (SITE) Satchele Burns (Deadline) Hannah Green (Cactus) Katie Harker (Cactus) Scott Robinson (Walking Mountains Science Center) AGENDA: • August 2017 Monthly Financial Report, (5 minutes), Carlie Smith 2.3 m revenue - 69% of budget. Tracking 3% above last year, but slightly below budget. Expenses 2.8% below budget. • Approval of August 17, 2017 Meeting Minutes, (5 minutes) Motion/Second/Passed (Skip Thurnauer/Laurie Mullen/Unanimous) • Photo & Video Shoot Update, (20 minutes), Satchele Burns, Jack Affleck, Cactus, SITE Did not move forward with the family shoot due to availability but golf was shot. Did not spend the full $5k since family shoot was cancelled. Review of Super Boomer golf video shoot, samples of photo. There will need to be retouching for fertilizer/dew/color correction. • Creative and Digital Media Update, (20 Minutes), Cactus YOY - all benchmarks have been surpassed. See slides for details. Dynamic Family: 17.5 impressions to date, mostly video. Display ended in August. Review of deliverable performance - see slides for details. Super Boomer: 13.5 m impressions to date, mostly display on mobile/tablet. Review ofdeliverable performance - see slides for details. Event specific messages performing very strong over all audiences. Active Professional: 4.8 m impressions to date, video & social only. Review of deliverable performance - see slides for details. Across all audiences, Instagram is great for engagement, but not for click rates. Letting platform auto optimize btw inst/face National Audience: 4.1m impressions for national audience campaign. Paid search - 5% up on click through rate. See slides for details. Discussion RE: Epic Discovery messaging. Discussion RE: are we growing the "first time" visitors? 30% seems to be consistent. Chris Romer to look into data from past 10 years. Can we look at Front Range vs. destination? Discussion RE: Cost per Click. Used to be ~$2.5, down to $1.23 with optimization. Review of social media videos. • Report on Aspen Peer Resort Visit, (20 minutes), VLMDAC Members in attendance Review of trip goals & agenda. General consensus that there is not a natural cohesive environment. Disconnect between the different entities, especially regarding events. 3 different marketing departments - seems to be the norm in other mountain town besides Vail/BC. They seemed to be okay with the silos. Discussion RE: organization specific vs. guest focuses. Pete Hayda – Director of Lodging Sales & Marketing, Aspen Ski Co Recently split town vs. mountain lodging. Consistently heard about the "real town" feel in downtown Aspen. High rent is pushing out local shops. See slides for details. "Pop Up Shops" came up a few times. Discussion RE: rents in Vail village approaching Aspen rates - will become a problem. Many village spaces are already $200/sq foot. Lots of empty stores in Aspen. Business is much less reliant on group sales. Town Council seems to be anti-growth. Marijuana shops did a good job of fitting in with the rest of the shops. Bill Tomcich - President, Stay Aspen Snowmass Recent changes are a new call center & airport improvements. Challenged with drive market. See slides for details. Discussion RE: airport improvements – Aspen is working to make it an attractive entry into the community. The aircraft that can get into their airport is being phased out – could be a huge issue. Average fair was similar to Eagle. Megan Bentzin – Aspen Institute Gave a walking tour of Aspen Institute venues. Ideas Festival. Bike share program. Very well funded - donors, endowments, etc. Very high level of corporate philanthropy (national corporations - Koch Brothers etc). Operate independently of the town. Vail's comp set is Bravo, Dance Festival, etc. AI has more solid 12 month reach. City of Aspen Review of city budget - see slides for details. Events - confusing as to who runs each event (City vs. Chamber). Review of sales tax breakdown - see slides for details. Parking is a big problem - only 650 spots downtown. City increased prices to get employees to park elsewhere. Avg parking time is 101 minutes. "Downtowners" - electric vehicles that pick up/drop off at parking spots out of the core. Saw STRs as an entry-level rate for people who can't afford hotel rates. “Free Market” was a theme that came up in all meetings. More concerned that STRs were affecting employee housing. Chamber & Resort Association 800 members & 4 welcome centers. Groups tend to be a citywide buyout, but don't return for a second year. Have a good plug & play model for those city buyouts. Snowmass focuses on groups/events. Aspen is more year-round programming. Aspen Event Manager is coming to see Vail’s CSE in person in October. Looking to start marketing earlier. Discussion RE: relationships & cooperation. Branding coordination - there isn't much. Discussion RE: they are performing a lot of traditional chamber functions. Action Steps: see slides for details. Discussion RE: what is Vail's biggest shortfall? Aspen has a better vibe/energy year round. Discussion RE: growth vs. no growth. More of a year-round residency factor. Discussion RE: regional transportation and its impacts on local vitality. RAFTA is much better integrated than ECO/local lines. Review of event calendar & questions - see slides for details. Would like to do more of these trips - at least once a year. 4 major concerns: Nightlife, Airport, Year-Round Activities & Integrated Transportation. Discussion RE: bike share program part of green/sustainable effort. Vail's possible Sustainable Destination designation should be communicated. Discussion RE: who is the susainable tourist? Can it be one of the personas? Or a subset? There is a finite time for Vail to be the ONLY one vs. the FIRST one. Walking Mountains is currently studying the psychology of sustainable behaviors. Discussion RE: is this the better message than Vail as a health & wellness destination? • Review of 2018 VLMD September 19, 2017 Budget and Operating Plan Presentation, (60 minutes), All Overall very well-received. Council is on board with the goals and strategy. Questions were standard historical questions - is VR taking advantage of our dollars? Need to come up with a better answer so this question is no longer being asked. Can Phil give a dollars & cents presentation? Need to educate about the difference between VR vs. VLMD marketing efforts. Need to steer the discussion towards the benefits of this partnership...efficiencies, content creation. Discussion RE: event social program could be more robust. Discussion RE: Epic Discovery as an asset, not competition. Boils down to education, not necessarily changing the campaigns. • Other Business o Kristin Yantis, MYPR - intro new employee (Emily Tracy) & strategic changes. Emily - based in Denver and will own the Front Range media events. Also bringing on a part- time person to arrange travel (Kristen Morgan). o Kelli's job was posted this week and closes in 3 weeks. o CSE RFPs are due Monday at 4pm. 50 applications so far - expecting 60 - 65. October 9th @ 7:30am for producer interviews. Funding allocation meeting the following week. o Greg Clifton, new Town Manager starts full time on Monday. • Adjournment Motion/Second/Passed (Jenn Bruno/John Dawsey/Unanimous) • Upcoming Meetings: o 2017 Budget Resolution, October 17, 2017, Time TBD, Town Council Chambers o VLMDAC Meeting, October 19, 2017, 8:30 – 11:00 AM, The Antlers Lodge VLMD