HomeMy WebLinkAbout01. VLMDAC minutes June 20. 2019_DRAFTVail Local Marketing District Advisory Council
Monthly Meeting Thursday, June 20, 8:00 am (*Note earlier start time) Grand View Room, Lionshead
AGENDA
June Meeting Materials
In Attendance:
Yann Benjamin, Vail
Amy Moser Harrison, Four Seasons
Beth Slifer, VLMDAC
Skip Thurnauer, VLMDAC
Jessie Klehfoth, VRD/VLMDAC
Jana Morgan, Sweet Basil, Mountain Standard, VLMDAC
Jenn Bruno, VLMDAC
Laurie Mullen, WVLM, VLMDAC
Matt Miano, TOV
Mia Vlaar, TOV
Maggie Meek Garner, SITE Marketing
Kristin Yantis, MYPR
Mike Lee, Cactus
Ainslie Fortune, Cactus
Carlie Smith, TOV
Erica Cannava, Manor Vail
Sandra Perrig, VVP
Marrit Zoll, VVP
Jess Sweetin, Vail
Kim Rediker, Antlers, (CSE rep)
Colin Johnson, Destination Resorts Vail
Kathleen Carney, Destination Resorts Vail
Jack Affleck, Affleck Photography
Kari Mohr, Deadline Motionworks
Whitney Brofos, Vail
Satchele Burns, Deadline Motionworks
Hannah Eflin, Vail Mountain
• Monthly Financial Report (5 minutes), Carlie Smith
Reporting 8% ahead of 2018, 6% ahead of 2017. Looking at 2017 and 2018 comparisons for better info,
since lack of inventory (Talisa, Doubletree) skewed occupancy/results.
Expenses YTD are $897,000, which is 26% of total budget.
Reminder to partners please get invoices turned in in a timely manner to facilitate better planning and
information communication.
Total revenue is at 56% of budget.
• Approval of May 16, 2019 Minutes (5 minutes), Board
Motion to approve May 2019 minutes:
Motion: Skip/ Second: Amy/ Approval: unanimous
• Summer Occupancy & Retail Plan Update (10 minutes), All Partners
Please SEE SLIDE. Reporting is as of May 31. Memorial Day ended up down. June is closer to last year
than the last reporting, but portions of the month still down. Updated retail plan just started in the last
week. July 4th is up from last year, and up towards end of the month. August is still underperforming last
year, and September has little activity.
Retail plan includes a targeted paid search. Additional search terms were added to help promote $135
booking offer; this began at the beginning of the month. Team has also updated existing social with retail
message and are testing this. Front Range digital and traditional radio started earlier this week to attempt
to impact the closer-in bookings. These plans are all part of the incremental $44K that was approved.
• Mexico PR Update (15 minutes), MYPR, Kristin
Jenn attended on behalf of VLMD. Kristin gave some insights from this year’s trip, press event and media
dinner. Sylvia has many partners and was able to extend budget successfully from one event to include a
VIP and influencer dinner with 70 business and socialite VIPs. Four Seasons was the only contributor to
the raffle this year. Thank you Amy!
Please see SLIDES for details, pictures of invitations, Vail icons used, and location pictures for rooftop
patio and dinner. Lots of media and press attended; Kristin presented recap of the media outlets
represented, influencers who attended, (with information on their numbers of followers), and some of the
coverage Vail received from these events. Next week, 16 media people and socialites are arriving; the
groups are combined so that media can cover what the influencers are doing while here, as well as
coverage of the destination. Welcome dinner at Sweet Basil.
• Email, Web, Organic Social Performance & SEM Update (15 minutes), Vail
Marketing, Hannah, Ainsley
Presented recap of email performance for June, strategy for July, and upcoming video social projects.
Review of creative email sent in June: two emails went to the Colorado database June from 1st-7th.
On June 22nd, one email will go to the full destination list (a combo of destination and local guests).
The local messaging was focused on “great summer break” and the $135 booking offer; the destination
message is a dual-season approach, keeping some of winter message present for our winter loyalist
guests. June 22nd email is an events focused message highlighting cultural events and summer lineup.
One email will go to Colorado local audience for July. Decision was made with Cactus and Mia to pivot
some investment dollars away from Vail Resorts database, and use a paid database for the month of
July. Still feel the Vail Resorts database is best for reaching Colorado locals; this email will go out July 22.
An additional destination send will go out in early July that Cactus team will deploy. Focus for Colorado
locals will still keep winter at the top of the message. They will test the new destination email via Cactus
with 100% summer message.
For the Colorado local database email, targeting time frame of mid-July to try to impact summer travel.
35-65 years is the age range targeted for markets in Chicago, Houston, Dallas, with minimum $100,000
household income, and targeting “avid summer travelers” and “mountain vacation enthusiasts.” Need to
lock in timing for destination send; the email will reach over 500,000 individuals. Team will report back
with benchmarks and results for these emails and bring results in July.
July 23rd email send to Colorado audience will lead with “hike, bike, and stay” lodging offer. Secondary
messages include Vail itineraries and links to signature events.
To recap July: two emails, one is a paid destination audience, and the other is using the Vail Resorts local
Colorado database. (Looking at the week of the 9th for destination send.)
Skip: question on timing of email sends?
Answer: Destination send is targeting more active professionals rather than families, so return to school
timing is not considered a factor. With the paid send, the team has more control over selecting the timing;
this helps alleviate the issues that had arisen with securing the Vail Resorts database send at the
preferred later dates.
Laurie – question regarding comparing the results?
Answer: - The comparisons will be presented at upcoming meeting.
Last month, a calendar was presented to illustrate the design of the home page, and how messaging
would shift on the VailSummer landing page. See SLIDES to see messaging and focus and time frames.
Hiking, biking, “rites of passage” videos will be kept in prominent spot, and they will rotating in events as
appropriate.
Summer activities sorting content (guest can select their preferred activities) will remain, and gallery from
influencers has been added. Page will evolve for fall.
Beth – question re: how much of the specifics in the results, especially with new details of the program
this year, will be shared with the Board?
Answer: – working with analytics team to build out reporting platform to share more specifics with the
Board. This is a bit behind schedule dues to corporate team transitions. At a minimum, they hope to do a
full summer debrief to look at the whole summer performance, look at differences in traffic numbers,
review the entire campaign performance, and will be working on catching up to add in some real time
reporting results in order to optimize the page as well.
Organic social media performance snapshot: reported very strong Instagram and Facebook reach and
impressions. Reporting that numbers are up in these areas of overall posting cadence for Instagram and
FB. Numbers slightly down in overall posting cadence (number of postings) for Twitter, accounting for the
70% decline in reach and impressions. Working on bringing this cadence up for Twitter, but overall strong
performance for social channels.
Skip: question regarding whether this decline reflects the tapering off of Twitter in current market?
Answer: – yes, this is a consideration, as they do see these macro-level performance indicators impact
their metrics, and combined with knowledge of the Twitter decline, they have placed less emphasis on
Twitter. Instagram continues to show growth in overall platform and in their channels.
Content category breakouts: Working to track all performance at a category level and provide this
information to the board each month. This will provide transparency for board regarding how specific
elements (mountain scenic vs. village vs. events vs. Epic Discovery) are performing, and also how many
times they are postings published for each of these categories. Trying to equalize number of published
posts across the categories (i.e., the amount of “mountain scenic” content was high for May) in order to
have better informed comparison of performance.
Since seeing results for May, they have added to the “village content” posts. May also included
newsworthy winter posts that will not be included in the remainder of planned summer content for June
and July.
Paid search performance: running this plan through media team in Broomfield. Plan to continue to bring
to Board monthly results as well.
May performance recap: they are running ads in two categories: 1) branded search terms with Vail tied to
them (Vail hiking, concerts in Vail, etc.) and 2) non-branded, larger terms such as “hiking in Colorado,”
“biking in Colorado,” etc.
Click-through rates reported are not as strong. Have seen more competition in this area than expected
and as compared to last year for this buy. Attributed partially to Trip Advisor bidding very heavily on non-
branded search terms. AirBnB and VRBO also playing heavily in this space. Metrics are lower than they
would like to report. One other large shift with this plan is that they were able to get this search engine
buy into the market 2-3 weeks earlier than last year. So, as a whole, investment is a little bit lower as they
will have the buy at a similar price point, but it will be in market for a longer time. Expect to see number of
impressions dip off over time as well.
Some of these numbers are reflective of the retail investment spend – the 17K incremental amount-
allocated to drive the June need period, so they hope to see strong uptick in results for June. (Buy went
into market May 21st.)
Beth – This is most negative reporting thus far; will you be able to report in June given these numbers?
Answer: - trying to maximize spend by pulling a lot of inventory out of mobile clicks and reinvesting into
desktop, and working on refining bidding strategy to be more competitive given the new makeup of field of
competition. With investment in June, they expect to see higher impression share, better click through,
and stronger performance in June.
Amy: question re: why costs are up? Is this due to competition in market with AirBnB, VRBO, Trip
Advisor, in both the branded and non-branded space?
Answer: yes -
Laurie: can you share what you are bidding on?
Answer: – Top keywords:
• Vail,
• Vail, Colorado,
• Vail River Rafting,
• Vail Ski Resort,
• Vail Resorts
• Vail Summer Concerts
• Vail Restaurants
These are the top revenue-driving key search words for May, and they are working with Cactus team
to optimize other media buys based on those insights.
• Social Video Update (10 minutes), Vail Mountain Marketing & Deadline Motion
Works, Hannah, Satchel
Provided recap of plans for short video projects. Please see SLIDE for details.
Last month, they brought a time table of video projects they captured last year, to use in market this year.
They are actively shooting content this summer for next year as well, including some of those that were
requested at last meeting: music (capturing a wider variety, including Bravo, but also Whistlepig,
Bluegrass), pickelball, village activities (following a group on cruiser bikes through the Village and
stopping for brunch), deck scenes/dining, and a “day in the life” segment (following people through the
village), broader activities in addition to hiking and biking like pickelball, skateboarding for teens and
footage on the river. Also working on repurposing some footage in library with re-branding and re-
scripting ideas.
Key takeaway from last meeting was making sure to capture music scene fully. Satchel reviewed the
current projects list and plans for editing and re-focusing based on some of the feedback from prior
meetings; showed video examples.
Over the last couple years, “Summer Bliss” has been a piece showcasing the best shots married with
music. Their current plans include reviewing data more in depth to evaluate who is looking at our content,
what our audience segments and demographics are, and who is on the social media channels, in order to
make better decisions with video.
Introduction and welcome for Carrie, a new copywriter, formerly with Vail Marketing department. Carrie is
writing new content, working with music person out of L.A. to find interesting music, and working with
Hannah’s team to coordinate new pieces for target audiences.
Gave an example of repurposing their current library of video footage to maximize assets. Carrie
reviewed the script and details for new content, showed example piece themed from child’s point of view,
“doing nothing,” yet being present and enjoying Vail.
They welcome and are open to feedback and ideas regarding planned footage.
Skip: comment that some of smaller music events can get missed, i.e., string quartets, and groups at
smaller venues like the chapel, but these may be an opportunity.
Jenn: Comments re: other opportunity such as Bravo After Dark; concurs that we do have a lot of
classical.
Beth: Comment re: free concerts are a possible opportunity? Also suggest featuring food, decks, dining,
for all our “foodies,” and how to showcase the more unique aspects of Vail Village? How to capture the
parts of Vail that differentiate us from other resorts, as opposed to mountain or biking shots that could be
anywhere in Colorado, and capture more distinguishing and recognizable aspects of our Village?
Jenn: what are options to include more of the village, our unique bars and bar scene, shopping, dining?
Answer: – decks and dining pieces are scheduled, and the team can look at additional opportunities for
food and “foodie” events. I.E., cruiser bikes piece includes ending at a brunch.
Skip: suggest that consistent message is trying to capture shots that are uniquely Vail.
Satchel: Team will work on this, more dining, explore collaborating with chefs, etc.
Food tent and crowd shots are harder to shoot, can work on how to successfully execute these.
Beth: Vail Farmers Market suggestion - people come for food as much as vendors.
Laurie: comment re: white food tents are similar anywhere; suggest focusing on quality of food, decks,
and things that differentiate us.
Question re: what footage do we have of Game Creek dining, decks?
Answer: Food shots in footage library are mostly Village and Lionshead
Group suggests and is in agreement on more strategic brainstorming/refining on this topic.
• Tactical Photo/Video Shot List (15 minutes), Jack Affleck/Deadline Motion
Tactical photo and video shoot discussion with Jack and Satchel:
In addition to the social component, team has been working on “rounding out” content. Team will be
looking to capture the diversity of music and locations here, unique and recognizable spots such as some
of those suggested, and events that are new, or have a changed time frame.
Jack and Satchel reviewed their approach, and their ongoing efforts to reinvent assets for use in social
content as well as in TV ads, etc. Making efforts to focus on our variety of music this year. First asset
capture for this summer was Citizen Cope. Discussion of the challenges of filming live concert crowds.
Still photos are hard at a dark, public concert venue when trying to get audience shots without any control
of the group you are filming. Discussion with Jack of efforts and challenges in getting crowd shots, how to
work these more effectively going forward. This type of footage captured is great for social media; they
are working on how to use this successfully for other formats, shooting locations in addition to the
amphitheater. Discussion re: seeding the audience as they have done successfully in the past. Jack is
very skilled at directing, so recommendation to leverage his skill set in capturing these events.
Laurie: do we need to reevaluate use of “models,” and how these events are captured?
Answer. Jack does suggest going this route – (using these audience seeds) - which can be done
affordably.
Mia: Question re: are there any assets we missed capturing last year due to lack of green?
Answer: Smoke hurt last year – great for sunsets, but impeded other filming. Wildflowers will be great this
year.
• Paid Email Recommendations (10 minutes), Cactus
Fall email: review of drops planned for July, and review of planned August emails for focus on Front
Range. Pushing “why now?” messaging for fall – emphasizing weather, price, etc. Two deployments
planned for “super boomers” and “active professionals” are part of the incremental spend. Mid-August
and mid-Sept are planned time frames for email sends.
• Google DMO Partnership (15 minutes), Cactus
Two years ago, Google launched their DMO partnership, designed to help destinations maximize their
reach and impact across all google platforms. Plan to review recommendations for Vail and maximize
efforts in order to help all businesses. Actively evaluating this currently for review in August.
Laurie: question re: any budget for this?
Answer: – Google has free offerings, and plan is to review how to leverage the free options first, before
moving to fee-based additions. Google is the “first layer.” Then, Trip Advisor is also something to look at
as next piece to maximize.
Google maps, travel functions, and how photography is used are examples of pieces that can be looked
at for opportunity among their free listings to maximize these functions. A lot can be done with the free
items to optimize.
• Digital Report (10 minutes) and Creative Updates (5 minutes), Cactus
The decision to pivot to premium video has continued to show results. Digital video, mobile AI, and paid
social media are showing increases. Reporting 3% increase YOY for digital video by focusing on premium
content. They are delivering commercial-like streaming content that people are more likely to engage with
and watch through.
Mobile AI looks for people in our target markets who are sharing content, and they are served content
that is designed to respond to what they are talking about. (I.e. “it’s so hot in Houston!”)
Reports 1.55% overall click through rates, which are higher than the benchmarks. Air marketing
messages in Dallas and Chicago are driving strongest click through rates, as are event messages in the
Front Range.
Paid social: “Rites of Passage” video piece is the strongest performer. Team presented a review of
statistics from early season brand spots for our target markets. Houston is top- performing and most
engaged market for destination families, super boomers, teens. Facebook Canvas ad is one where you
don’t leave FB, but are delivered a branded experience within, like a micro-site within FB. Dallas highest
performer.
• Other Business
Mia announced staff addition, Jeremy Gross, joining Development, starting Monday; team is now fully
staffed.
• Adjournment to Executive Session, Beth:
VLMDAC Executive Session pursuant to: 1) C.R.S. §24-6-402(4) (e) - to determine
positions, develop a strategy and instruct negotiators, Re: 2018 VLMD Budget (60
minutes)
Next VLMDAC Monthly Meeting, Thursday, July 18, 2019, Location TBD