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HomeMy WebLinkAboutVLMD June 2013 FINALVail Local Marketing District Advisory Council Joint Meeting with Commission on Special Events Thursday, June 20th, 2013 Manor Vail Lodge 8:30-11:00 AM VLMDAC Members Present: Susie Tjossem (Vail Town Council); Mia Vlaar (East West Resorts); Skip Thurnauer; Davy Ratchford (Vail Resorts); Laurie Mullen (West Vail Liquor Mart) Absent: Jamie Gunion (Vail Recreation District); John Dawsey, Treasurer (CME); Beth Slifer (Slifer Designs); Michael Holton (VVMC) CSE Members Present: Jenn Bruno; Amy Cassidy, Bobby Bank; - Rayla Kundolf; Barry Davis; Also Present: Margaret Rogers (Vail Town Council); Kelli McDonald (Town of Vail); Clare Hefferen (Town of Vail); Sybill Navas (Town of Vail); Jill Lammers (Vail Valley Partnership); Sandra Perrig-Holst (Vail Valley Partnership); Meggen Kirkham (SITE Marketing); Kristin Yantis (MYPR); Taylor Cook (MYPR); Adam Sutner (MKT Vail); Amy Schwelling; Satchele Burns (Videographer); Crystal Stewart and Charl Oosthuizen (Booyah!); Kirsten Texler (Key Link PR); Mike Brown (Alpine Bank); Kent Myers (Eagle Air Alliance); Nicole Whitaker (Manor Vail); Julie Kappala (Vail Valley Foundation); Katie Elson (Destination Hotels); Jamie Stone (VailDiscoverWell) I. Commission on Special Events- Jenn Bruno a. A brief update from CSE. b. Last week was a good example of CSEʼs new strategic focus taking place. c. Vail Rocks is in its 2nd year. This year they had 440 participants in the hike. About 90 percent of the participants were from out of town. It really was the right demographic for Vail and the Vail Rocks promoters feel they can double the event for next year. d. King of the Mountain is a great June event. This year they tried to create more buzz in the village. It’s a great example of how we are taking existing events to the next level. e. For Feast, we feel we have created a great foundation for an event that has a lot of potential. This is an event that can really expand and benefit a lot of people. f. For GoPro, the estimates over the four-day period were about 42,000 attendees. g. Susie- Is there any hope on weekday events or is it just too risky for an event promoter? i. Jenn- It just depends on the event. The Keen Kids Adventure Race has expanded. It’s a good idea to add on to an existing, successful event. ii. Kelli- We are really looking at kids sporting events. Monday through Thursday would be ideal. iii. Jenn- It’s tough to get an event producer to add another day when we don’t give them more funding. h. Discussion on roundabout signage. i. Susie- Is there a marketing checklist for these? The Vail Rocks signage fell a little off the Vail brand. ii. Sybil- There is a pretty exhaustive marketing checklist that all producers have to go through and signage for the roundabouts is part of that. The Vail Rocks signage was an anomaly. i. Event Liaison Update – Clare Hefferen. i. See Power Point. ii. Overview of Marketing Checklist. See Power Point. iii. Our Star Students are the producers that were given a little bit of money for new activation and really took that money and did something great with it. iv. King of the Mountain Volleyball had a record number of teams this year and increased exposure by bringing in the AVP stars. v. Vail Farmers Market rebranded everything this year and is really pushing out the produce/farmer messaging. vi. Laurie- This is such an advancement over a year ago, and from years ago. I really want to commend you all on a job well done. II. EGE Flight Update- Mike Brown and Kent Myers a. After a fairly slow start with bookings, we have seen an increase in the last week and it’s steady over the summer. b. There will be a launch party next Thursday, with local media and hopefully Houston and Denver media. c. The Houston flight is not daily, it’s just five days. d. We have a lot of different ideas and we need more support. This is just the beginning. e. The first order of business with the Air Alliance is to monitor and maintain the Houston flight. f. Over 2014 and 2015 we will be looking for other flights and we are constantly in fundraising mode. g. We are going to hopefully have researched the long term funding mechanisms that we can possibly put in place by the end of 2014. All of our competitors are doing that. III. May 2013 Monthly Financial Report – Kelli McDonald a. Kathleen is still confident in her projections for the end of the year. We are actually ahead in our fund balance. In our last meeting, John brought up a good point. We should look at some things we want to do on a one- time basis. b. Motion to approve May financial report as presented/Skip Thurnauer. Seconded/Davy Ratchford. IV. Approval of May 16, 2013 Meeting Minutes a. Motion to approve minutes/Mia Vlaar. Seconded Skip Thurnauer. V. PR Update – MYPR. a. From the New York Trip, we gained lots of short and long leads. b. Immediate Opportunities- See slide. c. Looking at LA in the future, we think it’s best to do the one-on-ones. In terms of driving around and meeting people, it’s a tough market. d. We held a Denver event at the Studio Loft at DCPA to highlight the International Dance Festival which is in its 25th year. e. Houston is also a tough media market. We were very excited to have 6 journalists come to our luncheon. f. For sample coverage, go to issuu.com for all placements. See slide. g. Upcoming Events/Press Trips- See slide. h. For the full statement concerning Amendment 64 and marijuana tourism contact MYPR. i. We are taking the CTOʼs lead with their wildfire messaging. They sent out a very general message saying ʻColorado is open for business.ʼ VI. Mexico Update – SITE a. We held an event at a place very similar to bol. b. This was a very well attended event. c. Social Media results from party- see slide. d. Media luncheon- See slide. e. Mexico Remaining/Budgeted 2013 initiative. See slide. i. At the end of the day we have $22,000 unallocated in the Mexico budget. ii. In looking at the DestiMetrics chart, we are about two percent down in pace from the same time last year. iii. Lodging outlook analysis- June 1st. See slide. iv. Vail recovered faster than their competitors and we are still ahead in terms of gross revenue. v. We canʼt keep growing at a double digit rate. We have sort of plateaued. vi. Our concern is the peak periods in July and August, which are both lagging. vii. Analysis and Recommendation. 1. We want to target our best source of close in business, front range and drive markets. The more low-end, mid- week inventory we have, the better for those weekdays. 2. The goal is to provide a larger volume of mid week affordable prices. 3. Mia- $99 might be the sticking point with a lot of lodges. If that number can be flexible, that might be better. 4. Adam- The objective is to increase the media spend and awareness. 5. Davy- I would love to hear a recommendation from Booyah. Is this the right message, a $99 rate? Should we be cautious in how we are messaging this in display? 6. Crystal - We donʼt really need to have that message in the display. 7. Adam- The $99 is just a gentle bug, to get people thinking that they might be able to afford Vail. 8. Crystal- CTR are about average. The $99 banners have the best CTR. VII. Digital Update- Booyah!. a. Display Performance Update. Booyah! See Slide. b. Davy- The recommendation is to spend more money on display with the $99 rate. c. Laurie- When you get to the website, it doesnʼt seem like it is easy to convert. d. Adam- A little bit of customization from the front end to the back end would go a long way. e. Crystal- The conversion rates are low. f. Davy- We spend a lot of money on display, and if there is an issue with conversion, then we should address that. g. Mia- It has always been an issue in the summer. h. Davy- Is this some sort of barrier that Vail Resorts has put up? i. Mia- No, I think in general people do not book on this site j. Kelli- If there an issue on the web site that needs to be looked at to make it easier for the summer customer, then I say, let’s look at it. k. Davy - I am hesitant to recommend another spend on advertising and marketing if there is a conversion issue that needs to be solved. l. Kelli- Customers are clearly going to the website to plan. m. Crystal- The approach needs to be two-fold. n. Davy- We are open to having you go in, take a look at it and come back to us with a recommendation. o. Skip- Time is of the essence. We canʼt go away and have you come back to us in a month with a recommendation. p. Davy- We have to do an analysis of the flow once you get to vail.com. q. Kelli- I would recommend we that we need to do both. We need to make a decision now and also make a decision based on Booyahʼs recommendation after looking at the site. r. Move to allocate the budget recommendation/ Skip Thurnauer. Seconded/Susie Tjossem. VIII. Video and TV Spots – SITE. a. Davy - For the long version, it would be great to have the girl, say “Vail like nothing on earth.” b. Adam- No one has ever read the tag line, but we have it and can definitely look it. c. Susie- A lot of the images could be anywhere in Colorado. The shots specifically of Vail village need to be longer. d. Shorter version- two versions of the 30 second. e. Adam- This really ties well with the CTO campaign f. Summer video shot list- See slide. g. Meggen- When we think about the brand video for next summer, one shot we need is the helicopter shot over Vail. We can do that this summer. All the new Adventure Ridge activities and 10th shots will be coordinated through Vail Mountain. IX. Adjournment. a. Motion to adjourn/Mia Vlaar/ Seconded/Laurie Mullen. X. Upcoming meetings a) VLMDAC, July 18, 8:30-11am, The Antlers