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Home My WebLink AboutVLMDAC March2014 FINALMinutes Vail Local Marketing District Advisory Council Thursday, March 20, 2014 8:30 AM – 11:30 AM Vail Antlers Lodge - Caribou/Pronghorn Room VLMDAC Members Present: Mia Vlaar, Vice Chair (East West Resorts) Skip Thurnauer Davy Ratchford (Vail Resorts) Michael Holton (VVMC) Jamie Gunion (Vail Recreation District) John Dawsey, Treasurer (CME) Beth Slifer, Chair (Slifer Designs) Dale Bugby (Vail Town Council Alternate) VLMDAC Members Absent Laurie Mullen (West Vail Liquor Mart) Jenn Bruno (Vail Town Council) Also Present: Kelli McDonald (Town of Vail) Sybill Navas (Town of Vail) Meggen Kirkham (SITE Marketing) Taylor Cook (MYPR) Alex Rawal (Booyah!) Crystal Stewart (Booyah!) Charl Oosthuizen (Booyah!) Josh Culver (Booyah!) Chris Romer (Vail Valley Partnership) Jill Lammers (Vail Valley Partnership) Haley McNeill (Vail Valley Partnership) Laura Waniuk (Event Marketing Liaison) Ellie Chadwick (goodness mfg) Tom Adams (goodness mfg) D’nae Kingsley-Cronan (goodness mfg) Bobby Bank (CSE) Amy Cassidy (CSE) Jonathan Smith (Vail Resorts) Jeff Morgan (Vail Vitality Center) Melanie Wong (Vail Daily) Duncan Horner (Vail Valley Foundation) Dr. Jack Eck (Vail Valley Medical Center) Katie Johnson (Vail Cascade Resort) Robin Litt (Vail Jazz Foundation) Gaby Milhoan (Peak Wellness) Lauren Arnold (Peak Wellness) I. February 2014 Monthly Financial Report – Kathleen Halloran McDonald presented the February financial reports, there were no questions. II. Approval of February 20, 2014 Meeting Minutes  Motion to accept minutes as presented/Jamie Gunion. Seconded/Michael Holton. Passed unanimously III. Creative Concepts – goodness mfg - see slides for details Branded print, outdoor ads and digital images were presented. Creative feedback discussion ensued. Ratchford made note that the ghosting of the Vail bug is something that was used initially in re-branding of winter ads with goodness mfg. Small tweaks to logo size will take place before these images go to press. Feedback was positive. Next steps include tightening up brand work next week and event promotion materials discussion will take place. Style and brand guide will be presented at the next meeting. Research on consumer motivation and experiences - McDonald pointed out that one of the Vail Town Council goals is staying ahead of the competition and this proposed research study will give Vail the tools needed to stay in the lead. Details about what kind of audience they hope to better understand were presented along with breakdown of demographics that will be studied. All must have visited a North American ski resort in the past 5 years. Ratchford pointed out that this suggested study is twice the size as the Burke study. Ideal study sample sizes were discussed. Responders will be incentivized along with additional incentive for those who predict the most accurately. Vlaar asked when guest profiler will launch and Romer answered it was launched 3.19.14. Study can be leveraged in consumer behavior, booking patterns and stay patterns. Vlaar pointed out it is actual data to apply how people are currently booking. Details on how the results of study will be used in the messaging development. Silfer pointed out that the questions are worded in first person and we should consider using “we” and make the distinction of talking to families or travel companions. Dawsey asked if study will include information about what people actually did when they were in Vail vs what they think they want to do. Research findings will provide insight to inform creative approach moving forward but will not change current branding direction, rather to be a head start for 2015. Discussion ensued about the opportunity to improve Vail’s nightlife.  Motion to allocate $70,000 for research from fund balance Mia Vlaar/Skip Thurnauer. Passed unanimously. IV. Event Marketing Discussion – see slides for details – Davy Ratchford Looked at events that drove destination overnight guests, using statistical data, to receive destination marketing dollars. All events will receive marketing support via vail.com. Discussion ensued about summer closure of Vail sports fields and using marketing dollars to compensate for potential loss of room nights. V. Partner Updates – See slides for details Booyah – see slides for details Budget increase used to optimize increasing destination guests and make a bigger impact with people who are interested in brand - April 1, 2014 launch date, working with goodness on digital assets. Front range dollars spent on top booking areas from 2013. Romer to share guest profiler information for booking window data. Dynamic phone tracking using unique phone numbers for different ads will begin. Top 10 hotel properties have been asked to pixel their website to capture booking data. Attempting to align with summer travel previews in Denver and Front Range publications with corresponding websites. The push is for people to click on Vail.com when they think Colorado. Vlaar asked if we’ve used this approach before and it was answered no, this is a new approach. Sojern is a new partner and it beat Rocketfuel across the board, Sojern is more focused in travel realm. More exposure planned in April when there will be presence in summer travel previews in conjunction with Outside Magazine. Consumer data will be shared to help determine when booking takes place. Shift in strategy and using targeted geographic information. Colorado key words to be used to find Vail. Duplicate pages are not preferred by google and hurts rankings and volume. There will be a bigger push to fix this to better use keywords. Working on updating redirects from Destino Vail website. SITE – see slides for details Houston/United collateral presented. Imagines were updated at EGE. Locations of billboards in Houston area were presented. Duel Vail/BC billboard used. Events are also going to be used in billboard/outdoor advertising. Channel 4 Survivor casting call has asked to return. Funds for Family Adventure Challenge Activation (obstacle course) are not available in CSE or VLMD budget. Discussion ensued about the Casting Call and Family Adventure Challenge.  Motion to allocate $27,000 from fund balance into billboard campaign, allow Survivor Casting Call and not include family activation for Casting Call. Skip Thurnauer /Dale Bugby. Passed unanimously. MYPR – Davy Ratchford – see slides for details America’s best summer job progress was presented. Need to extend dates for submission portion of candidate selection. VBCR and VVP eblast will take place to promote submission. VI. Vail Vitality Center Presentation – Jeff Morgan, Gaby Milhoan, Lauren Arnold - see slides for details Looking to support health and wellness message by being the contact center for Vail and provide packages to offer potential visitors looking for a fitness/wellness retreat. Discussion ensued about this concept. VII. Meeting with Hotel General Managers – All (Slifer was absent) Discussion about rising level of participation and awareness. VLMDAC should have a relationship with the hotel General Managers. Potential to have a dialogue and create brain storm session or have a meeting and invite all of them. Romer pointed out that this has happened in years past to meet about a specific issue/compelling reason. Approach needs to be targeted and specific in order to be successful. Current GMs are mix of new and seasoned. Skip suggested a lunch and not an entire meeting. VR perspective was that this would be beneficial and sees value in this. Vlaar suggested informal survey to understand what they are most interested in learning about the VLMDAC. Goal is to be transparent about shared benefits. VLMD will fund lunch. Moving forward a collective effort to bring them all together will take place. VIII. Other Business IX. Adjournment  Motion to adjourn/ Thurnauer. Seconded/Ratchford. Passed unanimously. Upcoming Meeting: VLMDAC Meeting, April 17, 8:30 – 11:30, Joint meeting with CSE & Event Promoters - TBD