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HomeMy WebLinkAboutJan 2012 VLMD Minutes FINALVail Local Marketing District Advisory Council The Antlers Lodge Thursday, January 19, 2011 8:30-11:00am VLMDAC Members Present: Laurie Mullen (West Vail Liquor Mart); Susie Tjossem (Vail Town Council); Skip Thurnauer; Mia Vlaar (East West Resorts); Beth Slifer, Chair (Slifer Designs) Absent: Adam Sutner (Vail Resorts); Jamie Gunion (Vail Recreation District); Pete Hayda, Vice Chair (Marriott) Also Present: Kelli McDonald (Town of Vail); Kristin Yantis (MYPR); Kristina Johnson (Vail Valley Partnership); Jessica Stevens (Vail Valley Partnership); Jill Lammers (Vail Valley Partnership); Chris Romer (Vail Valley Partnership); Meggen Kirkham (SITE Marketing); Amy Parliament (RTP); Sybill Navas (CSE); Alby Segal (Vail Symposium); Amy Schwelling; Katie Holdsworth (Booyah!) Via Phone: John Dawsey, Treasurer (CME) The meeting was called to order at 8:44am. I. December financials- Kelli McDonald a. Anticipate to finish the year with $2.1 million in revenue, which was what was projected. b. This means we would have a fund balance of $1 million to start the year. c. The recommendation from Kathleen is to allocate $150,000 to new programs or to update current programs. Add that amount to the $100,000 previously allocated for the Pro-Cycling Challenge, we have a quarter of a million dollars. d. Discussion of December financials- i. Susie - Should we wait and hold off spending that money to see how the weather goes this year? ii. Kelli - Kathleen is fairly conservative. iii. Beth - Should that money be allocated to recruiting and marketing of international guests? iv. Request to have partners present options for reallocation of funds at February meeting, then to VLMD in March for approval II. Approval of Minutes from the December 15 VLMDAC meeting: Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was unanimously resolved to approve the meeting minutes of December 15, 2011 as presented. Motioned/Mia Vlaar. Seconded/Skip Thurnauer. Passed unanimously. III. Brand Positioning/Messaging Direction- SITE Marketing- Meggen Kirkham a. SomeAchangesAwereAmadeAtoAVail’sABrand Diagram. See handout. b. The mostAsignificantAchangesAareA‘WELL-BEING’ to the third circle and the addition of the words – ‘connection,’A‘rejuvenate,’ ‘awaken,’ and ‘sanctuary.’ c. This is a document for our group and our key stakeholders. The plan is in the budget to put together a new brand guide to include this new content. d. Discussion- i. Beth- This new diagram definitely reflects more of what we can hand to stakeholders. ii. Susie- Under ACTIVITY,AweAdon’tAhaveA‘biking’AandAunderA CULTURAL weAdon’tAhaveA‘gardens.’ iii. Kelli- We can expand this to gardens and parks. iv. Beth- Under CULTURAL, what is ‘international?’ v. Meggen- There are so many people coming to Vail from around the world. ThisAisAwhatA‘international’ArefersAto.A vi. Kelli- We need to get more involved with multi-lingual signage. vii. Skip- ‘Family’AisAnotAaAsub-point. It should be elevated. viii. John- The signage piece is really important. Once guests are here, we should be providing them with proper information about hiking, etc. ix. Beth- I do think ‘wellness’AisAgoingAtoAbe a key word. I would like to disconnectA‘health’AfromA‘wellness.’ x. Kelli- Thank you to all for taking the time to talk about this in a separate meeting last week. e. SummerA2012,AWhat’sAnew?ASee slide. f. Some of these things have been here for a couple of years, but are definitely still worth promoting. g. Looking at the September calendar, we were talking about packaging Vail in September as the place to be. There is a lot going on in this month and we are trying to make September bigger than it has been before. i. Susie- There is a week in October when there is a school break. This is kind of off our radar. ii. Beth- There is an opportunity for allocating funding for something new during that time. iii. Meggen- It is important to get the message to merchants to stay open during this time. iv. Mia- Could we look into doing something at Dobson? Because of the weather, scheduling becomes hard around that time. v. Chris- If you are targeting family for that time frame, the NRC does a Family Fun Fair. I wonder if, for the right motivation, a Family Fun Fair could be held during that time? The Town of Vail could possibly sponsor it. It would be a relatively inexpensive option to do. vi. Beth- Are you suggesting that we would bring that to Dobson? vii. Chris- Yes, we could do that. It’sAjustAaAquestion if they want to do it? We should talk about funding for them. viii. Mia- And you could tie in a really big giveaway, like a ski pass or a trip. h. Next steps and action items. See slide. i. Are there more Ambassador integration possibilities? j. Specific action items- i. Enhance and expand the hiking messaging. See slide. ii. Enhance and expand the culinary messaging. Possibly holding a community restaurant brainstorm meeting? k. Discussion on action items. i. Beth- Would this be something for the Economic Council? ii. Kelli- Susie and I agreed that we would attend these meetings. Could Brian Nolan spearhead those meetings? iii. Beth- It seems like you could encourage some members of the economic council to take on some of the initiatives. iv. Kelli- We should get some dates when Susie and Brian are available. Those on the Economic Council are welcome to attend. v. Kristin- We started looking at February 13th. vi. Susie- All of these different groups have to talk to each other. Each of these groups need to have some sort of connectivity. l. Brand Strategy Session Action Items. See slide. i. Continue the momentum of ‘What’sANew in Vail.’ ii. Work on the Website with Vail marketing support. 1. Kelli- We sent Adam all the information. His commitment to us is that someone from his staff would put it up on the website. 2. Beth- By the end of January is good timing. m. Summer Photo/Video Assets. A Collaborative effort of SITE and Vail Marketing. i. More hiking shots are needed. We also need better shots of dining experiences and new summer events. n. Destination Marketing Efforts. See slide. i. Working with Katie from Booyah! Kelli- Will you talk about the team you put together? ii. Meggen- We use the same team Vail uses in the winter. I have a copywriter as well. They can turn things around quickly. o. Discussion. i. Kelli- From a TV standpoint, this year we are working with Vail Mountain video department. We have a lot more inventory. This will give us the ability to do a different spot for every schedule. ii. Mia- With all these wonderful, visual assets we have, we need to take another look at the website. I think we could do better. It is one of our greatest tools and IAdon’tAknowAifAweAreallyAdoAasAmuchA as we can. iii. Kelli- At this point, dam’sAteamAisAcommittedAtoAdoingAit. iv. Mia- I would rather have some oversight as to when things are posted and updated on the website. v. Beth- Does it make sense to ask for a presentation, a show and tell of sorts? vi. Meggen- In the past, SITE has been supplying the content. This is a fair question to ask. How is it all going to work? vii. Laurie- Let’sAjustAseeAitAall in one plan because there is potentially a gap. viii. Kelli- There are funds to make that happen. What we realized is that we have too many people involved. We need to have one person who is accountable. I think a presentation in February is appropriate. ix. Sybill- Could that be woven into the content of the welcome center? We have a lot of overlap of people doing the same work. Could we have a broader conversation about it? x. Kelli- Having this as an agenda item, with not much else, would be appropriate. xi. Susie- There needs to be one point person. xii. Kelli- We need a liaison, someone who can talk to the different groups. p. Ad for the Winter Teva Games. See handouts. i. These ads are targeted to those people who are already here for the games. This is inviting people back for the summer adventures. ii. We hope to capture them with the Teva signature photography and then tell them about what is occurring in the summer. q. Discussion. i. Laurie- There is too much copy. ii. Susie- Under Mojo Man,AincludeA‘MemorialADay’Aweekend. iii. Mia- Clean it up. Take out Facebook copy. iv. Beth- The entire board needs copies of this. The orange needs to be bolder. v. Susie- There were two headlines. IAlikeAtheA‘BigA dventureAStays.’ vi. Beth- I am not sure if this is grammatically correct. Should it be ‘BigA dventures Stay?’ vii. Kelli- We will make these changes based on everyone’s input and response. viii. Meggen to make changes and updates to chosen ad. IV. Public Relations Update. MYPR. Kristin Yantis a. I want to touch upon some key things from New York last week. b. Matt Lauer agreed to be the voice over for the 50th anniversary documentary. c. We gave a nice gift to all the Today Show anchors. d. We are working with Endless Vacations on a hiking story. e. During October 18-21st there will be 150 “Mommy Bloggers”AfromA Macaroni Kid staying at the Sebastian. We are working closely with them to figure out ways to become more engaged. I will come back with some recommendations for funding of this. f. We plan to go back to New York in May and talk to short lead media. g. We have some promising leads with Travel and Leisure and Vogue is contemplating doing a write up online focusing on the cultural side of Vail h. The welcome ceremony went over really well. i. The one-on-one meetings are much more impactful. We walked away with some really great things. j. Discussion. i. Kelli- Kristin did a great job. I felt like this was definitely our best effort. ii. Kristin- We might not have met with as many people as in the past, but the meetings were more meaningful. It was the right message to the right audience. iii. Beth- I commend you for your effort. This is a much better, more targeted strategy. Thank you and good job. I recommend that we stay with this for a couple of years. iv. Kelli- We focused on culture this year. Maybe next year we focus on the culinary message? v. Kristin- I appreciate your comments about taking a small group. Maybe for the 50th, a big blow out party would be appropriate? vi. Susie- I spent all day yesterday trying to figure out the signature gift for dignitaries. vii. Kristin- Possibly taking a picture while they are here? Then giving it to them in a nice frame before they leave. viii. Kelli- It is definitely something we need to have in our arsenal. ix. Kristin- A 50th anniversary pillow or glass would be a nice high- enditem. x. Beth- Give me a little bit of content and I will talk to the designer of the pillows. V. Town of Vail Infrastructure Discussion. a. Beth- We need to discuss our ability to market Vail better and for retail to get together on their hours. We need better signage that helps the visitors. We have to get more realistic about conveying how to get around in Vail. We also need to figure out the most impactful way to present all this to the council. b. Susie- A town wide sound system is necessary. Beaver Creek has a great system c. Kelli- We are going to have a meeting with event promoters to ask them what they need. There are some logistical things that need to be discussed. d. Kelli- We heard from our group last week about hiking, signage, etc. e. Sybil- I think our bike path system is really challenging. f. Susie-There is no connectivity of the bike path. g. Beth- The parking booths are terrible. h. Susie- All the different signs are outdated. Image is everything. i. Kelli- The welcome center was the first piece towards changing that. j. Suzanne- There is a presentation coming to the Council to begin the discussion about signage. k. Beth- Would you invite someone from this board to that meeting? Are there any other big infrastructure issues? l. Sybil- Restrooms in the village needAtoAbeAaddressed.AWeAdon’tAhave a large outdoor venue that is properly equipped. Ford Park needs renovation. m. Beth- We should talk about electrical issues and the pros and cons of astro turf. I think we should put in a strong recommendation for that. n. Laurie- The Vail Golf Course Pavilion will hopefully be an enhanced independent space. o. Beth- We need to have alternatives for people other than going to a restaurant or hotel. We need facilities that are revenue neutral. p. Kelli- I think the Council should direct it. It has been the policy for all the facilities. q. Beth- The pricing for Donovan Pavilion needs to be re-examined too. We don’tAhaveAfreeAthingsAthatAareAquality. r. Kelli- We should find out how much it is to have a wedding at the Ford Gardens. s. Beth- Issues that need addressing are the bike path, the parking booths, signage, marketing, imaging and branding, a town wide sound system and the costs at Donovan pavilion. t. Kelli- Maybe Susie, Beth and I should have a separate meeting to discuss this in more detail. We can meet with Stan Zemler for his input. Then we would present it to the board in February. Then present to the council. u. Sybil- There are other big subjects we need to address, such as zero- waste at events. VI. Event Marketing. Chris Romer. See handout. a. This group has already allocated $25,000 to the marketing of Mojo Man and $25,000 to Vail Restaurant Month. There is still quite a bit of money that needs to be allocated. b. Beth- We discussed last week about consolidating or changing the dates of restaurant month. c. Kelli- The sponsors are all lined up for a thirty-day event in 2012. So, for 2012, - the event promoter is still looking at the thirty day time period. d. Beth- WeAdidn’tAreallyAunderstandArestaurantAmonth.AThe messaging needs to be looked at. I think we need to put some strings on funding so the messaging will be improved. e. Kelli- Ilene needs to come in and give a report. f. Beth- I want a report showing what she is going to do, not what she has already done. g. Laurie- I like the idea of putting parameters or strings on the money. So funding is much more tied into marketing to overnight guests. h. Sybill- She needs to have a stand-alone event and work with all the restaurants. i. John- We definitely need to look at holding the organization accountable. Why are we going back to this after we voted on it a couple of months ago? j. Laurie- Some restaurateurs were questioning the value of it. k. John- I was under the impression that it did bring people up from the front-range and Denver. We seem to be revisiting a decision we already made. l. Susie- Any additional money needs to be geared towards the whole culinary message. m. Beth- We are going to require more evidence from her. n. Chris- We now have three of the four programs that will drive significant traffic in September and October. There is some money that is unallocated. We are still working through final logistics. The first three events are definitely coming to Vail. See handout. i. The NAMM Group is an educational program. They are coming out for a site tour next month. The budget will come out of the group sales event/recruiting budget. ii. Chris- John and Pete also helped greatly to put this together. iii. The Tour of Vail is a significant bike event. iv. Kelli- The exposure we would get would be year-long. v. Beth-If we commit to this, we have to recognize that this would be an annual request for funding vi. Skip- Do they have commercial sponsors? vii. Chris- They have a pretty significant marketing budget. viii. Beth- We just need to know if anyone else is contributing. ix. Kelli- This event will keep us at the forefront of cycling every year if they choose to headquarter the championships in Vail. x. Chris- The Dorothy Hamill Fantasy Camp is a smaller event, but it is essentially the brand message. It draws in the perfect customers to Vail. xi. Susie- At such a small scale, is it beneficial to put our money towards this? We could use these people as ambassadors. xii. Chris- That is the question for this group to discuss. We are not asking for more money. We are just outlining what is on the radar screen. xiii. Kristin- MaybeAanotherAwayAtoAlookAatAitAwouldAbe,A“highAaltitudeA training?” xiv. Skip- This is consistent with the Vail ‘PassionAforALife.’ In my mind that is where they fit. xv. Beth- Do they do a public exhibit? xvi. Kelli- I will look into that. xvii. Susie- We advertise skating at Dobson, forAexample,AbutAweAdon’tA make it readily available. xviii. Beth- That - was supposed to be fixed. We need to bring it to the VRD to see about expanding free skating times. xix. Laurie- Are we just looking at the unallocated funds? xx. Chris- The only one that needs voting on is the $35,000 that was previously allocated for the USA Pro-Cycling challenge. xxi. Beth – One request is to accept the recommendation for allocation for 1, 2 and 3 on the handout. The other request is to allocate $35,000 to Tour of Vail. Motion to approve allocation of $35,000 to Tour of Vail, from the USA Pro Cycling fund. Motioned/Laurie Mullen. Seconded/Skip Thurnauer. Passed unanimously. xxii. Beth- The second request is that we give them our stamp of approval that they go through with these events, including the Dorothy Hamill Fantasy Camp. Motion to approve/Skip Thurnauer. Seconded/Laurie Mullen. Opposed/Susie Tjossem. VII. Lionshead Welcome Center. Suzanne Silverthorne. See slide. a. Posters and signage can be changed weekly with event calendar info. Any advertising or seasonal photography can be promoted there. b. A different mock up of the templates can be created in the system. We have the ability to divide the panels. c. For the photography and videos, I would like input from this group regarding. d. We are working on sizing right now. From a test standpoint, we can build a platform that pulls from all the Vail Mountain photography. Anything that has a data point, we can send into the system. The list we are creating right now is what we can pull from vail.com, traffic, weather reports, etc. The question is what else would you want? e. Kristin-In the summer, a river report and the water flow would be appropriate. f. Suzanne- As you think of things, let us know. g. Beth- We want to congratulate you on the building. h. Suzanne- We are not contemplating advertising at this moment, but down the road, it might be an opportunity. i. Kelli- Can we get additional money from Volvo, for example, to cover expenses? j. Last slide. With the big touch screen, our budget allows us to have four quadrants of information- an interactive map, transportation info, mountain info, and TOV info. I wanted to ask you a question in regards to branding. I am looking for your help in terms of seasonal photography. Who are we and how is it branded? k. Kelli- We have made a concerted effort to keep the branding in line with “V IL,AlikeAnothingAonAEarth.”AWithAtheAwelcomeAcenter,AitAisAtheAfirstA structure in the TOV for branding. What is appropriate for the branding in this center? What are the expectations from the TOV? l. Susie- MaybeA“BroughtAtoAyouAbyAtheATOV?”AKeep the ‘VAIL like nothing on earth’Aseparate. m. Beth- The logo for the TOV is not relevant to the visitor. n. Susie- The logos should not be placed on top of each other, but both should be there. o. Beth- Current activity information, how accessible is that? p. Kelli- When talking about activities, will someone be able to come into the center and book a raft trip? q. Suzanne- That is not available right now, due to cost. r. Beth- I think it is important. We want it to be a one stop shopping experience. s. Suzanne- Installation is planned for the middle of February. t. Kelli- In regards to multi-lingual messaging, what are our priorities? Spanish and Portuguese? Maybe we need talk to Vail Mountain about this? This is a conversation we need to have with Adam. u. Susie- It is amazing the amount of coordination that Suzanne has done to work with a lot of different entities. We will have a history wall, which will speak to Vail’sArichAhistory.AWe are working on the content for those panels. v. Kelli- Is there an estimated open date? w. Suzanne- We are looking at a March date for scheduling a grand opening. VIII. Other business. a. Susie- Congratulations to the TOV. They have not normally gotten into these types of things. b. Kelli- The whole concept of guest services has really risen. IX. Adjournment. Motion to accept adjournment. Motioned/Skip Thurnauer. Seconded/John Dawsey. Meeting adjourned at 11:36am. X. Next Meeting: a. February 16, 8:30-11:00am, The Antlers Lodge.