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HomeMy WebLinkAbout6.15.17_Minutes_DRAFTPublic Notice Vail Local Marketing District Advisory Council Thursday, June 15 2017, 8:30 – 11:00am Antlers Lodge Caribou/Pronghorn Room VLMDAC Members Present: Laurie Mullen (West Vail Liquor) Jessie Klehfoth (Vail Rec District Jenn Bruno (Vail Town Council) John Dawsey (CME - Treasurer) Phil Metz (Vail Resorts) Michael Holton (VVMC) Beth Slifer (Slifer Designs) Scott Gubrud (Four Seasons) Also Present: Kelli McDonald (Town of Vail) Kendyl Lee (Vail Resorts) Kristin Yantis (MYPR) Melissa Delekta (MYPR) Anna Robinson (VVP) Chris Romer (VVP) Satchel Burns (Deadline) Laura Waniuk (TOV) Meggen Kirkham (SITE) Mia Vlaar (EW) Ellie Bray (VR Cen Res) Joe Cleary (ResortApp) Sarah Franke (VVF) Chris Cremer (Intrawest) Ainslie Fortune (Cactus) Katie Harker (Cactus) AGENDA:  May 2017 Monthly Financial Report (5 minutes), TOV - Kelli McDonald Review of revised revenue statement, with May included. Expenses are in line and lodging revenue is in line with 2016. Fund balance is currently at $1.6 million but will come down a bit with reallocation of $448k (which was budgeted).  Approval of May 18, 2017 Minutes (5 minutes) Motion/Second/Pass (John Dawsey/Laurie Mullen/Unanimous)  VLMD June 20 Presentation (30 minutes), VLMDAC Members – Phil Metz & Laurie Mullen This is a preview of the presentation to be given at the VLMD meeting on June 20th and an opportunity to give feedback. Review of VLMD goals, objectives & results – see slides for details. Discussion re: reporting of international visitation numbers. Discussion re: what is considered “destination visit” - should we call it “Overnight Visits”? Decision was to return to old format (destination and CO overnight broken out separately). Review of 2017 strategies (see slides for details). Review of 2017 summer marketing budget: $3,750,000 from lodging tax, focused on destination visitor. No major media category shifts. Discussion re: media mix. Need to explain how the visitation driven category money is spent (digital vs. traditional). Chris to provide details on group sales marketing spend. Review of primary shift in strategies for 2017. Review of target audience personas (Dynamic Families, Active Professionals, Super Boomers) along with “National Audience” for media that cannot be segmented (ex - billboards). Review of target audience motivators and buying behavior. Discussion re: what percentage will be spend on national vs target audiences? Discussion re: reaching guests over 65 (Super Boomer group tops out at 65)? No need for an additional segment because they see themselves as, and react to, Super Boomer media. New messaging is meant to evoke emotion from target audiences - no longer just pushing brand. Review of campaigns for each target audience. Discussion re: how digital media is purchased and making sure it’s explained in meeting (i.e. - you do not buy space on specific websites). Discussion re: importance of social media, especially important to discuss since more money was allocated for the VR Content Manager. Discussion re: traditional media outlets. Discussion re: the order of the presentation? Should target persona introductions come earlier? Discussion re: can budget be presented differently? Budget to be presented as media buy vs. production support, then breakdown of where media dollars are spent. Discussion re: do we need to review results to date? Decision was no - be prepared to present data in the fall.  PR Update (30 minutes), MYPR – Kristin Yantis & Melissa Delekta In market travel update. Added San Francisco to the mix - see slides for details. In market dollars have been spent very efficiently this year! Review of Front Range media outreach - shifted from one large event in favor of smaller monthly meetings. Review of media coverage highlights. Missing the “what’s new” message this year and Breckenridge is pushing that message this year with their launch of Epic Discovery. Our “what’s new” is Goat Yoga - yoga with baby goats! Pushing family travel message. Review of upcoming media trips (see slides for details). Review of the “Influencer Program” - 4 tiers (social media, events, media, and product) and action plan. Focusing on engagement vs sheer numbers. Review of influencers for each of the 3 target audiences (see slides for details). Discussion re: roadblocks with Bravo influencer b/c of preapprovals on the orchestras’ side and unions are also a factor, but they are great ambassadors for Vail. Kids Adventure Race is also tough - brands are in conflict with VR and kids/parents are busy with the event. VR will cover if needed. Review of how an influencer agreement is structured (ex - Kuma & Kodi the famous dogs at the Mountain Games) – reviewed their post commitment vs. VR post commitments. Review of measurements. Paid vs. Unpaid influencers. Dynamic Family influencers tend to be unpaid, while Active Professional influencers are paid. Discussion re: are posts genuine when the people are paid? Discussion re: the two paid influencers are coming in July - interested to see results. Discussion re: the future of social media advertising, VR’s potential future interest, what’s the next level, etc. Should we test a more expensive influencer in order to understand what additional benefits come from it? Approach it as a team effort with MYPR, Cactus & VR - will collaborate.  Creative Executions (15 minutes), Cactus – Ainslie Fortune & Katie Harker Review of air marketing OOH – on a digital RSS feed, able to be responsive (i.e. – when the temperature hits a certain target, the board updates).  Digital Report (15 minutes), Cactus – Ainslie Fortune & Katie Harker Digital is performing extremely well (see slides for details) - beating industry standard and Vail benchmarks. Review of CTR for each campaign. Dynamic Families: Bike creative is highest performing. Review of video and social results. Super Boomers: Display & Sojourn (only audience with this kind of target) are highest performers. They love their mobile devices! Discussion re: should we look at younger models in creative? People see themselves as younger – perhaps we should be more “aspirational”. About 6% above industry average for mobile devices. CTR and VCR went up significantly with the start of static event message campaign. Active Professionals: This audience is reached through social and digital only. Also the only audience running on Hulu. This group is not tied to a specific device, rather they are attached to cross platform media (I.e. Hulu) CTR has doubled from 2016. Now has the highest video completion rate, whereas they were lowest in 2016. National Audience: Ran a 3 week carousel ad and DC, NY, Miami were the strongest markets. Equal across male vs female. Paid Search: CTR is double. Summer events are highest CRT/impressions.  Content and Email Update (10 minutes), VR – Kendyl Lee Content to Date: Content focused on spring to summer transition, Epic Discovery, GoPro Mountain Games. Upcoming Content: Vail Craft Beer Classic, Farmer’s Market, Fly Fishing, Camping (to young & independents) Email marketing: Open rate is slightly below benchmark. Probably due to seasonality. Next email is June 27 - segments will be families vs. non families instead of using the 3 target demographics. Viewed Go Pro Mountain Games and Vail Craft Beer Classic videos. Discussion RE upcoming events: Vail Craft Beer Classic - event producer is fantastic. King of the Mountain volleyball tournament should attract ~3000 people.  Group Update (15 minutes), VVP – Chris Romer Incentive market is rebounding – shifting away from meetings to a more experiential model. VVP is the only CO market represented in Vegas CVENT show. PBR Youth Baseball is growing - 13 teams this year. Arthrex group is leaving - corporate decision, not performance based. CO Municipal League has outgrown Vail - leaving after 2018. Tina worked very hard to keep the FBLA group! She also was awarded the Up & Coming Supplier of the Year. Update: Hotel Talisa opening Sept. 1. Doubletree is back up and running - will start taking reservations in August but not sure of open date. Will work on ways to report apples to apples occupancy through DestiMetrics, when so much inventory is out of the system. Review of YTD outreach stats and key metrics - leads, bookings, etc. (see slides for details). Review of Group vs. Leisure DestiMetrics (historic data). Group overtakes leisure in May, June & September. All summer months index higher than winter. This will be a good benchmark moving forward (only 2 years of data currently) to see if we’re moving the index needle. Groups are important for filling the town mid-week. Discussion RE data: can we also see seasonal stats, as well as all hotels (not just those with conference space)? CVENT stats - Increase of 18.6% in RFPs - 509 RFPs, 62 booked. Conversion down, but room nights & value of RFPs is higher. See slides for details. Increasingly important channel - many planners don't even call anymore, just use CVENT. Review of digital ad creative. IPW (International Pow Wow) - huge program that rotates locations, aimed at international travel planners. May 19 - 23, 2018 in Denver. Working with them on pre & post visits. A big deal for Denver! See slides for metrics from previous host destinations. Will be a Colorado-wide message, not just Denver. Will not require additional funding. Discussion re: Fancy Figure Skating Tournament. VVP was able to help offset some costs, b/c it was outside of CSE cycle. Dorothy Hamill might judge! Won’t be factored in group sales reports, but working with producer on the back end to understand the impact.  Summer Intercept & Web Surveys (30 minutes), VVP – Chris Roemer Intercept (short in person survey) with web follow up. VR will be doing GX survey at Epic Discovery, as well as Intercept at base areas and possibly Welcome Centers. See packet for survey. Goal is to survey destination/front range not locals with follow up web survey. Short survey will collect all demographics. Discussion RE why international guests are not surveyed - believe it’s due to the language barrier. Could use lodging data to provide a more concrete estimate. We keep anecdotally saying we underreport international data, but it’s time to get concrete data. Could DestiMetrics do this as an add-on? Web follow up survey. See packet for link. Survey looks long, but is a lot of trigger “if-then” questions. Survey was also reviewed by Cactus data team – looking for other data that could be collected, as well as actionable data. Parking questions have been included. Discussion re: should we add an option for “learning/education” events/conferences as opposed to corporate groups. Add a “Continuing Education” answer option. Often times we don’t get data from these groups because surveys are on the weekends (conferences are mid-week) and during the day (while in session). Goal is 1500 responses. Need to find out how many times we follow up on the web survey. Survey is scheduled for 1 week after the guest’s stay, but not sure about follow up.  Other Business Update on peer visit to Aspen – special rates for coming early/staying late. Congratulations to Kendyl for her promotion to Director of Marketing at Stowe!  Adjournment Motion/Second/Pass (Jessie Klehfoth/Laurie Mullen/Unanimous)  Upcoming Meetings:  VLMD Meeting, June 20, 2017, 1:00PM, Council Chambers  Followed by joint VEAC meeting at approximately 1:30pm  VLMDAC Meeting, July 20, 2017, 8:30AM, Antlers Lodge  June 20 & July 11 - Short Term Rental Discussion Public Input Sessions – Will focus on issues such as: Should we capture the data and should we regulate? How is it impacting neighborhoods? Discussion of monitoring services - is DestiMetrics working on this? Need to present this as a benefit to the local economy, not a complaint session. Discuss as a 3 pronged issue: Operations vs. Economic vs. Community. This is the way things are going - we need to stay with the times. This is part of how we continue to grow our customer base - not everyone will stay in a Luxury property.