HomeMy WebLinkAboutVLMD March FINALVail Local Marketing District Advisory Council
The Antlers Lodge
Thursday, March 15, 2012
8:30-11:45am
VLMDAC Members Present: Laurie Mullen (West Vail Liquor Mart); Skip Thurnauer;
Pete Hayda, Vice Chair (Rock Resorts); John Dawsey, Treasurer (CME); Jamie Gunion (Vail Recreation District); Beth Slifer, Chair (Slifer Designs); Adam Sutner (Vail Resorts); Mia Vlaar
(East West Resorts)
Absent: Susie Tjossem (Vail Town Council)
Also Present: Kelli McDonald (Town of Vail); Brian Rodine (Vail Resorts); Kristin Yantis (MYPR); Kristina Johnson (Vail
Valley Partnership); Chris Romer (Vail Valley Partnership); Meggen Kirkham (SITE Marketing); Amy Schwelling (SITE); Amy Parliament (RTP); Meredith Richards (Bravo!); Sybill Navas (CSE);
Joyce Gettelman (CSE);Cali Adkisson (CSE); Bobby Banks (CSE); Brian Smith (Booyah!); Jill Lammers (Vail Valley Partnership); Michael Holton (VVMC); Kristie Mittoen(? – can you please
check this) (Vail Marketing); Tom Griffin (Vail App); Sarah Franke (Group 970); Todd Oppenheimer (Town of Vail); Don Berger
Meeting called to order at 8:35 am.
January Financials – Kelli
McDonald
Revenues were higher in 2011 than budgeted, which was great news. At the March 6 VLMD and Town Council meetings, approval was given to reallocate money, which was originally
for the USA Pro Cycling Challenge and a supplemental request of $150,00, as well as an allocation of an additional $25,000 earmarked for hiking and biking apps and maps.
Approval of
minutes from February meeting.
Motion to accept minutes/John Dawsey. Seconded/ Pete Hayda.
Town Council agenda – Kelli McDonald
There are two items on the work session. In regards
to the infrastructure memo, we should prioritize what is really important to this group. Approval was given for the memo and priorities presented. ACE will take place in the evening
session.
ACE Update- Mia Vlaar
Background - Six months ago a committee was formed at the direction of the Town Council to consider alternatives for creating an independent funding source
for special events. We felt it was important to have an independent funding source to uphold the economic vitality surrounding our events. The ACE mission statement is the following:
To create, sustain and ensure a permanent funding source for qualified athletic and cultural events and programs which build and enhance the Vail community and create economic growth.
Why now? During this past summer, there was a lot going on. The Renaissance is almost over, so what do we talk about now? There are huge international opportunities on the horizon.
It’s important to stay ahead of the competition. As far as tax rates go, Vail is at the lower end in our competitive set in Colorado. We want to improve on what we already have and be
able to expand and continue to grow. It’s a tax initiative which will not hit the locals as much because there will not be a tax on groceries. It’s modeled after the same tax rate used
for the conference center. There is a sunset clause, which is modeled after the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District in Denver. There will be three tiers of funding. The top level
of funding will be for iconic events. In other words, those events with longevity, which attract a certain critical mass. The second tier is for the growing of certain established events,
like Soul Fest. The third tier is for opportunity with new events. ACE will be going in front of the Town Council and asking for $5000 for the TOV poll. We will also have a community
survey to find out what is important to the people of the town.
Beth- The ballot issue will only be voted on by the Town of Vail voters, correct?
Mia- Yes.
John- How would the CSE still
operate if this succeeded?
Mia- The CSE would evolve into a new group with an advisory role modeled after the VLMDAC. Currently, there is no rollover of funds from year to year. This
initiative would enable funds to be held for new opportunities in the next year. You could also take an existing event and make it better with these funds.
Mia- We came to our conclusions
based on what we think might work. We have polled the lodging community. There are concerns and there are also strong voices who support ACE saying it makes a lot of sense.
Skip- Where
does that 2% tax increase put us?
Mia- We would still be in the middle in relation to other areas in Colorado.
Skip- It sounds as if to build a fund balance is something that we need
right now.
Mia- For the top tier, there will be a variety of criteria we will look at. We have to be able to evaluate events.
Skip- How would the ACE relate with the VLMD?
Mia- It is
kind of modeled after the advisory council here.
Beth- One of the goals is to allow the ACE to be more strategic.
Mia- This is the third group we are presenting to. It is important to
hear what you have to say.
Pete- I think we should get our ducks in a row as to what we are allocating currently. We are spending money on a lot of different things. We have a lot of
work to do, but we have come a long way. The group business world is very competitive. If you add one and half percent on top of the current rate, it’s going to be a challenge. There
is a very small voter base here. Is this the right time to do more taxes? I just don’t agree with it right now.
Beth- At the VEAC meeting, there were quite a few differing opinions.
It’s not a universal go for it.
50th Anniversary update – Adam Sutner
One of the challenges is putting a process in place that works effectively. Lots of people have lots of good ideas,
Susie Tjossem, Kerry Donovan, Kelli McDonald, Suzanne Silverthorne and myself with the Vail marketing team are the day-to-day planning team.
Planning Framework- See Slide.
July-
Vail Marketing and VLMD are funding a new website for the 50th which has a very sophisticated timeline capability.
Licensing launch- The idea is to produce a variety of interesting,
branded goods such as hats, skis, jewelry, etc. to generate revenue and awareness via e-commerce and two or three physical locations in town.
Traditional Pioneer Days in September
is going to be the big kickoff.
On November 15th, the night before opening day, there will be a ceremony for the new gondola which centers around the 50th celebration.
Snow Daze
Week in December – We will repurpose, brand it, and center it around the 50th Anniversary celebration.
Spring Back to Vail 2013- A lesser celebration where we will be thanking people
for celebrating the 50th season with us.
Vail America Days 4th of July event will be the final celebration
Budgeted Activity Flow- See Slide.
Kelli- There is a request for the VLMDAC
to allocate money for web development. Maybe you could talk about that now?
Pete- When we are out and about, this is part of our sales pitch which centers around the 50th.
Adam-
Bud Light is doing a micro beer. Burton is doing a snow board. K2 might do a ski. The idea is to get people drawn into this environment. From top to bottom on the web page is just one
scroll through the fifty years of Vail. There are examples that will be shown in subsequent meetings. The idea is to create a permanent receptacle for our history in the virtual world.
We are asking the VLMD to participate in a partial way. We are requesting $25,000 from the VLMD.
Mia- Will you invite personal stories from people on the website?
Adam- That is
the idea. People can submit things and then we decide what goes on the website.
Motion to approve $25,000 to Vail Marketing for website development/Mia Vlaar. Seconded/Jamie Gunion.
Jamie- For the Pioneer Days, we are looking at doing a golf tournament and bringing out historical pieces from that.
Adam- We have archives of photos and videos. We are going to
make a film and try to get it on Discovery or the History Channel.
Laurie- Our mission is focused on summer marketing. So much of this celebration is centered around the ski season.
We need to make sure we are doing our part as a board by upholding the mission of this organization.
Adam- We would be accountable to the VLMD for content. It would be a year round website.
The planning committee does recognize the summer element. The team is sensitive to representing the year round presence of Vail. We are aware and keenly focused on it. But the bottom
line is the amount of funding we will have for this.
Skip- By raising the volume and noise level throughout the ski season, it will help us in the summer months.
Adam- The 50th Celebration
is another asset to represent Vail.
Other budget activities/assumptions- See Slide.
Adam- We have a big idea to use the Lodge at Vail because it was the first lodge in Vail. We also
want to have concerts that represent each decade.
Skip- For the Town of Vail, is there any money set aside for signage of the 50th anniversary?
Adam- We are going to do a public poster
contest where people can submit nostalgic poster ideas. Then we will produce a poster with the winners image on it.
Sybill- We could use the roundabout program.
Beth- There is a motion
on the table regarding allocating funds out of our contingency. All in favor?
Motion passes unanimously.
Conference Center Funds Project Update – Todd Oppenheimer
Allocation of Funds-
See slide.
Drawing of Golf Course Clubhouse. Undertaking a major renovation of the building with a new club house, cart storage and event space.
Jamie- Moving to 21,000 ft. will improve
operations for Nordic and golf. The 18th hole is being redone. Some new tee boxes, jr. tee options and beginning tee options are being added. There is an addition of a green space for
a big tent or new things, like bocce ball.
Todd- Construction will begin about 11 months from now. The site has high ground water in the springtime. We need to get the foundations dug
before the ground water comes up.
Jamie- Schematics are due in May.
Todd- We have a lot of drawings, but none are ready for public consumption.
Ford Park- See slide.
Todd- We are looking
at redoing bus drop off and entry. Working with CDOT and figuring out what we need to do with special events on this site. We are improving internal circulation with new walkways. We
are re-grading and widening the road to the park for semis and pedestrians. There are ten to twelve semis that come down to Ford Park each year. It’s not a huge problem. We are doing
preliminary work on the concession and restaurant building. For the Vail Sports Complex Portal and Concessions, see slide for details. Near Manor Vail Bridge, we are improving the overall
general appearance. There will be a Betty Ford Alpine Education Center, which will be a multi-purpose space. For the Amphitheater, we are reworking the grass seating and working on the
grade to make it about a 15% grade. We are reworking the existing restrooms and the space out front, so it can act as sort of a lobby to the amphitheater.
Sybill- One comment on the
restrooms. It’s really a complaint from people about using the restroom during larger events. After dark, people are dressed up and it’s a long walk for people to take in the dark.
People are already complaining about the long walk and the poor lighting. This is something to look at.
Todd- There will be some sort of tribute to the Ford family. We are also researching
the installation of a sound barrier, so we are not limited to using the athletic fields and amphitheater at the same time. We do not want to lose any events, so deciding when to do these
renovations is tricky. We are looking to begin sometime in August. We have a lot of logistics we still need to work through.
Beth- The addition of a lawn at the Golf Course is one of
the most exciting renovations. People will have the ability to use this space for multiple purposes. It would be a wonderful opportunity for people to have access to a tented facility.
Todd- The tax rate to fund all of this passed with 87% percent of approval from the voters. Fifteen years ago, when we first talked about renovations to Ford Park, there was a lot of
opposition.
Event Summit Update – SITE and MYPR
Signature event discussion - Meggen Kirkham
Going to walk everyone through summer marketing tactics and strategies. Requested information
from event producers to help leverage events in summer (images, content, FAM tour access, etc.) Discussion around signature events and media plans. The story and message is about big
picture events and the summer platform.
Kristin – It is important to connect with event producers. We can help with suggestions and information.
Kelli- The marketing board has
given money to Mojo Man. Because the forest service permits were given out this week, we will be able to build awareness in plenty of time for that event. There will also be a restaurant
week update in April.
Beth- I’d like to comment on the restaurant meeting. They were excited to highlight certain top restaurants. They were responsive and receptive to that idea.
They will continue to have meetings. They will continue talking about specific culinary events.
Research update- VVP
Chris Romer- We have had a ‘Man on the Street’ survey every other
summer. Last year at the events, this group conducted an event intercept survey. This year there was up to $50,000- approved by the Town Council to do an event intercept study. We will
be working with the RFP’s that Sybil and Kelli collect and we will be merging these results with our intercept study. The RFP’s are due back Monday.
Kelli- We’ve done the job we need
to do to get the word out that there is an RFP. We have our bases covered. -
Laurie- The Town Council seems to want more accurate facts.
Kelli- You are right. is the goal is to provide
a comprehensive spreadsheet so the Council can compare results from all events. Looking at is as a benchmark.
Mia- It is so hard to determine from free events. Bravo! has good information
on their events. It’s the information and impact of free events that are hard to find out.
Sybill- Until you get an accurate attendance number, it is hard to extrapolate the ROI.
Web
site timeline – Vail Mountain Marketing
Brian Rodine - Update on Vail.com. We will start to move everything over after closing day. We are working on new content. We are working with
Meggen and event producers on summer information. See slide.
The snow report will go away. It will switch to weather. There will be new video gallery on the website.
Nothing major
is changing like last year, so the switch should go rather seamlessly.
Kelli- They are being able to apply the research they learned about where people look on the website. They
are able to use the money allocated by this board very wisely.
Brian- A print version of a hiking map is in the works. It is not an advanced GPS map. It is more of a guest service
and informational piece, a really easy to follow version of the digital version.
Kelli- They will be doing this for iPhone and Android. Would this be the Epic Mix app developer?
Mia- There is some existing stuff that you can pull in? Am I in correct with this?
John- There is.
Kelli- The purpose is guest service and Brian is pretty dialed into this.
If there is a way of integrating how to get there, that is important. Are we working on a timeline that is reasonable to get this done for this summer?
Brian- Yes. The app piece might
lag behind, but the print version will come out for the summer.
Kelli- If it could get out by Memorial Day that would be great.
Adam- It’s bandwidth and multitasking. I think Memorial
Day is not unreasonable.
Beth- Let’s be sure the Council knows what they are getting. The leader on that is Margaret.
Laurie- There has been a focus on road biking. We should have that
component. On the restaurant side, there is very little information about this.
John- Are there existing apps for restaurants that already exist out there?
Chris- There are lots of
apps out there. The question is how specific do you want to get?
Adam- And what is the purpose? To make a dinner reservation? To showcase the culinary message? That is where our efforts
should be.
Laurie- I agree with you. On our website, we are not walking the talk if the content is not there.
Bobby- We have a new app.
Kelli- You and Brian should talk.
Creative
concepts and media plan- SITE
See handout.
Meggen- It’s telling more people more often that Vail is an affordable option for summer.
The research shows the drivers of destination
choice- why do people choose Vail? The #1 reason Out of Region and Colorado guests chose Vail is for outdoor recreation activities. See slide.
The second piece of the Burke research
shows what they do once they get here. Number 1 is hiking, followed by shopping and then the culinary experience. See slide.
Our focus with television and print is primarily the
Front Range.
Pete- When it comes to festival and events, Aspen has these key events that people know about.
Kelli- Aspen is more celebrity focused.
Beth- That is part of
our mission, to catch up and surpass them.
Brand framework diagram. See slide.
Front Range market tactics. See slide.
The creative overview is to build awareness of Vail in the summer
and highlight specific product offerings to drive overnight visitation.
Each category has two different ads. I will preface the summer campaign by showing some ads for the winter. We
are working with the same company to be as consistent as possible with the winter campaign.
Handout ads to everyone.
There are adventure, culture, well-being, family-focused, and
culinary ads.
Culinary ads.
Kelli- There is a group that wants to list restaurants, then there is another group that does not like this.
Laurie- The chef picture is also great.
Meggen-
That picture is so fall oriented. We will definitely use that closer to fall.
Music ads.
Bravo! is not listed and it should be.
Laurie- Is the 50th logo being used?
Kelli- We are
looking more to use that in summer of 2013.
Adam- There are already a lot of things going on in this ad. How often do we want use the 50th logo?
Comments on creative.
Adam- I think
it is great. My only quibble is with the events listed. Would it be better to direct someone to the entire list of events? Would that add a little bit of context, so people don’t think
this is the complete list of events?
Sybill- With the dance couple, you can’t tell its outdoors. It does not look like its outdoors.
Pete- The guy in the skirt is my issue.
Beth- Lets
get rid of the guy in the skirt.
Adam- For the music ads, Soul Fest photos would be a good substitute.
Beth- Review these things with these ideas in mind. Any thoughts on the media
plan?
Meggen- The global overview and Front Range print media overview. See slide/handout.
We will be using Elevation Outdoors. It is a magazine in specialty outdoor stores. Our
competition uses it. Vail Resorts uses it for pass advertising.
It is relatively inexpensive for a lot of exposure.
From a print standpoint, the Denver Post has really worked with
us on the rates.
From a TV standpoint- see slide. This year we have increased the budget and have added value.
Front Range TV media overview- See slide
Subjects we recommend focusing
on are Bravo!, the International Dance Festival, hiking and well-being. We will come to you in April with the shots we will use for videos.
Budget summary- See slide.
Kelli- Thank
you to Vail Mountain Marketing for working with us on cost.
Beth- I do think we need to have a motion to accept this proposal. This is a vote of trust.
Meggen- There are certain signature
events we will highlight.
Beth- Please improve on the messages from photos.
Motion to accept this media proposal/Skip Thurnauer. Seconded/Pete Hayda. Passed unanimously.
Other business-
Kristin- Please take a look at the American Way (AA) ten page article. From a summer perspective, we did host the journalist for this.
Adam- There is an event for Lindsay Vonn here
on April. 1st.
Kristin- With such a big article, we are hoping they will consider something for summer.
Next Meeting:
April 26, 2012. The Antlers, Caribou/Pronghorn Room. 8:30 –
11:30.
Move to adjourn meeting/Laurie Mullen. Seconded/John Dawsey.
Meeting adjourned at 11:30