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Home My WebLink AboutVLMDAC Sept Minutes Draft FINAL Minutes Vail Local Marketing District Advisory Council Thursday, September 18, 2014 8:30 AM – 11:30 AM The Antlers – Caribou/Pronghorn Room VLMDAC Members Present: Beth Slifer, Chair (Slifer Designs) Michael Holton (VVMC) Jenn Bruno (Vail Town Council) Jamie Gunion (Vail Recreation District) Davy Ratchford (Vail Resorts) Laurie Mullen (West Vail Liquor Mart) Skip Thurnauer John Dawsey, Treasurer (CME) Also Present: Kelli McDonald (Town of Vail) Sybill Navas (Town of Vail) Chris Romer (Vail Valley Partnership) Jill Lammers (Vail Valley Partnership) Haley McNeill (Vail Valley Partnership) Laura Waniuk (Event Marketing Liaison) Kari Mohr (Vail Resorts) Satchele Burns Kristin Yantis (MYPR) Kendyl Sevenno (Vail Resorts) Crystal Stewart (Booyah) Ben Waymire (Booyah) Taylor Cook (MYPR) Meggen Kirkham (Site Marketing) Clare Hefferren (Callosum) Duncan Horner (Vail Valley Foundation) Jonathan Smith (Vail Resorts) I. August 2014 Monthly Financial Report – Kelli McDonald – See slides for details Judy camp is retiring and Kathleen is being promoted. Currently the Town of Vail has job openings for assistant town manager and Vail Town Fire Chief. Sales tax collections in packet, another record month in July, very good year for both summer and winter, collections pacing ahead. Large fund balance of $1.4 million and additional potential 2014 lodging revenues need to be considered in 2015 efforts. Many shifts in the budget this summer for America’s best summer job. II. VLMD 2015 Operating Plan and Budget Update – Kelli McDonald – see slides for details Overall budget and plan were well received by Vail Town Council. Strategies performing well and noticeable in overall tax collection. Vail Town Council was pleased, some group occupancy was down and that was questioned but overall the Council is supportive of group efforts. Town Council also asked to provide more consistency in data format. Net Promoter score survey content to be presented to council in November. There is a need to generate data for the summer destination guest and how they spend while in Vail. Romer pointed out that data should be available next month because a specific question was added to the survey to gather that information. Group sales expenditures were questioned and information is being presented at the October 21 Council meeting. Bruno pointed out that there is a misunderstanding about what group sales is and how it can be tracked. Discussion ensued about the type of information Town Council members are looking for. Intercept Study does not capture groups as they are in meetings or activities during survey times. Approval of August 21, 2014 meeting minutes Motion to accept minutes as presented/ Thurnauer. Seconded/ Mullen. Passed unanimously III. America’s Best Summer Job wrap up – Kristin Yantis MYPR – see slides for details It was pointed out that the success of this project is a result of a partner effort. Program was recapped from start to finish. All lodging and many meals were comp’d for Ben. Social media content generated was presented. Top posts were shared. VR said this was the most engaged social media summer on record. Wrap up video from Vail Resorts was presented. Discussion ensued about success of the program. Future use of content discussion ensued. IV. Digital Update – Booyah – Crystal Steward and Ben Waymire - see slides for details Summer campaign performance update was given. Numbers were above last year. Still another month remaining to include in tracking. New technology and Front Range efforts helped to shift the campaign to be more efficient. Email newsletter results were presented. Performance and engagement is consistent. Next year, efforts will increase to grow email database list. Ratchford asked if revenue was generated from email sends. Discussion ensued about email list and what areas could improve. Organic search, month over month from July to August saw a really good increase attributed to the Vail Ben Campaign, in terms of actual blog posts, 20+ thousands posts specific to Vail Ben blog. People are spending longer on the site. Keywords were presented. Mullen asked event promoters engagement with email database efforts and asked if CSE had success. Waniuk responded that some engaged but not all. V. 2015 Official State Vacation Guide – Meggan Kirkham – SITE Marketing Media spend opportunity with the CO Official Vacation Guide info was presented. Vail/BC is represented though a co-op with lodging properties. Presence in book is determined by region. Lodges buy space in co-op directly. Summer Alive is unlike anything any other state is doing according to Romer who serves on committee for Colorado Tourism Office. Vail is represented by lodging properties, but not the destination itself. BC has not historically been included in it. Aspen is. Serves as both a planning tool and inspirational piece. Discussion ensued about media spend pros & cons.  Motion to move forward with proposed media buy in the Colorado Official State Vacation Guide as presented, without complete listing and with support of lodging community/Ratchford Seconded/Thurnauer. Passed unanimously VI. VLMD 2015 Partner Budgets – all – see 2015 budget for details Overarching budget on front page is what was already approved by VLMD. Resolution is schedule to be approved by Town Council at 10/21 evening session. More detail to come from VVP for group sales information. No presentation will be prepared but materials will be put into Council packets for 10/21 work session. Booyah – funds increase is under $8k and able to do more with that money due to shifts in current year plan. Additional email spend for database and video campaigns. Dawsey asked if there are any new industry tools or trends for video. Answer – many different options exist. Cost per impression is up to five times more with those tools. Worked with goodness mfg to identify personas to target and it’s been effective. Asked for money for Mexico market paid efforts, money was shifted last year for America’s best summer job and research. Dawsey asked if mobile is in the purposed strategy. Answer – minimal exposure and results, a lot needs to be improved to become more successful on mobile. MYPR – budget currently doesn’t have expense side of international. Additional fee for professional fees for in market media visits. America’s best summer job expenses $60K for entire program in 2014. Reallocation of PR expenses for International will come later and current bottom line for PR expenses may change. Current line item is in VR budget. SITE – destination is a change, more than double for paid media. Image retouching fees expected and not covered in goodness mfg budget, covered by SITE budget. Shift in international, looking for ways to be more efficient and effective. VR should own that part of budget to better manage it, no involvement from SITE. Refocusing Denver Post dollars into television. Agency fees have gone down. Photography and video has increased, bulk of increase is going to Jack Affleck photography to continue to enhance “enchanted” photography library. Branding process Site is very involved with. Research is for oversight of Burke Brand Research Study. Decreasing Front Range efforts, as strategy evolves. Fees have gone down $12k year- over-year. Goodness – contract approved by VLMD, reductions in price but scope of work will stay the same and includes TOV presentation. Contract will go through 2015 to prepare for 2016. TOV – flat fee for meeting expenses, for Finance Department services and for Economic Development Office services. Vail Mountain marketing – staying flat is budget for hiking travel maps, distribution, web site and social media. International partnership with MYPR and VR. VR has international experts to focus on effort and budget should stay with VR. VR will manage it and report results and tactics, which will be presented in November. Money would go to expenses and not to pay a salary. Partnership is critical for transparency in managing international efforts on behalf of VR. MYPR will oversee all PR efforts to be sure everything represented equally. Mexican PR agency is looking to start PR plan earlier. VVP – groups and meeting budget, not a significant change. Direct expenses covers travel expenses. All invoices are sent to Kathleen and she reviews all dollars spent on group sales. Sales staff salary is shared with Beaver Creek and only one is Vail dedicated, 2/3’s of salary for sales people is covered by Vail, that is based on bed base and it ends up being 70% Vail business over 30% for Beaver Creek. Huge benefit is a valley wide efforts to give meeting planners what they are looking for. More leads are sent to Vail over Beaver Creek from a brand and logistical stand point. Research is flat. Last year the guest profiler, mid-week occupancy and Destimetrics were added. No change to that this year. Database has been built to be a strong tool. Marketing coordination fee remains a flat fee to cover VVP admin and lodging community outreach, outside efforts from groups sales on behalf of the VLMD. Event marketing – split with CSE for funding. Charged with making sure branding for all events is aligned. Slifer pointed out that the coordination has become better thanks fto Waniuk’s efforts. VII. Other Business VIII. Adjournment Motion to adjourn/Ratchford. Seconded/Gunion. Passed unanimously. Upcoming Meetings: VLMDAC Meeting, October 16, 8:30 – 11:30, Antlers VLMD Budget Resolution, October 21, Time TBD, Council Chambers VLMDAC Luncheon with GMs, November TBD VLMDAC Meeting, November 20, 8:30 – 12:00, Antlers VLMDAC Meeting, December 18, 8:30 – 11:00, Antlers