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Home My WebLink About02. VLMD Minutes February 27 2020VLMD Meeting Thursday, February 27, 2020 Grand View Room – Lionshead – 8:30 am Packet link In attendance: Erica Cannava Skip Thurnauer Amy Moser Harrison Laurie Mullen Beth Slifer Jana Morgan Jenn Bruno Esmarie Faessler Mike Lee Meggen Kirkham Scott Strother Kristin Yantis Mia Vlaar Yann Bejnamin Liz Gladitsch Ainsley Fortune Katie Carlie Smith Chris Romer Sandra Perrig, VVP Sara , Chris, Vail Daily Marrit Zoll, VVP No one from CSE in attendance today – Financial report - (5 minutes) - Carly Smith Received December lodging tax this month, came in at $655.6 K, which was $75 K or 13% higher than last year. ? How much of this 13% increase is price, versus occupancy? (What portion of this revenue would be attributed to price versus rooms booked?) Still working on this analysis, will report back. Total revenue for the year = $ 3.7 million, which is 6.3% higher than last year. Also 6% higher than budget. Total expenses for the year = $3.6 million, which is a net gain of $74.2 K. A portion of that was budgeted for expenses, and due to timing, this will need to be re-appropriated. This amount is in addition to the $95 K that is slated for discussion today. Fund balance = $1.34 million, at 36%, which is way over 27% goal. Economic impact reporting: they have added and been doing this since January. Now, they are also allowing businesses a one-time upload of back data in order to collect information from prior years. Collecting data from years 2015 - 2019 by week. Sales tax department has sent businesses a worksheet to submit this information, this is due in the first week of March. Then info will be uploaded into sales tax system. Update: VEAC meeting upcoming on the 10th. Alex will give TOV additional time to reach out to businesses; businesses have offered historic information to give more info for comparing YOY specific days. Motion to approve January 2020 minutes Motion to approve Erica / Second: Jana / Pass: unanimous Data and Web Update – Cactus (60 minutes) Ainsley reported the fantastic information that the website is going LIVE next week! Shout out to Liz for all her work! Scott recapped progress on “Discovervail.com” website development and launch - SEE SLIDE for staging site review. Scott demonstrated a preview of the discovervail.com page (on staging.discovervail.co m) Still some work in progress but wrapping up. Scott toured the board through the various pages of the site. Discussion and feedback about content and visual impact. Jana ? re: does this impact on a mobile site, does it slow down, etc. Scott – no, video is optimized an seems to play at same rate; there should not be any buffering delay. Reviewed new design elements and fonts from recent design work and discussion. Booking widget at bottom of the page to find lodging ? re: The “ad box” on the right side blocks a lot of the screen - can you move or close this to view video full screen? Comments and discussion: the size of the image is disruptive to the video playing (it looks like a pop up that you would have an option to close). Scott demonstrated the site navigation and design elements, such as how pictures appear with transition effects. Content right now features imaging from Instagram feeds from 2019. Much of content is from what has been contracted with influencers over last several years. The team can update the site with additional images once social feeds are populated. There is a form at the bottom to submit a request for newsletter, and links for social media at bottom. Beth ? re: It feels that the beginning and home page seem to be entirely scenery? Looking for more variety and activities and keeping in mind the prior discussions about how to differentiate Vail. Right now, some of the content is a placeholder. The team will take this note, move things around. - Additional discussion that it is the same theme recurring that has been previously discussed: how do we differentiate Vail, when a mountain is a mountain is a mountain…. Jana – we had great shots last year of the Gore, many events, etc. Cactus team explained that the video was requested as placeholder in order to show the video capability of the site; this can be further explored with comments in mind. Review of the restaurant listings on site - Amy – comments re: - Imagery is beautiful, but feels “copy heavy” – (i.e., the whole box). Can we make this smaller? The boxes covering the images are very large. Suggest maybe move the icons that are not functional to get more space? Perhaps could see more of the photo this way. Lodging listings: this will be plugged into Book Direct Events have been populated from the Vail App Skip ? RE: The Calendar View – will events be loaded into the website that are outside of VLDM scope of summer? Winter events, etc.? Yes - the site is designed to highlight and focus on summer but will have elements and events supporting all year round. Suggest including feature events from all seasons, Spring back to Vail, etc. Laurie - ? who will manage the events page? Additional discussion of adding in events feed, what that looks like. Do not have control over enough of the feed at this time. Another option is to add a link at bottom to link to all events. How much of the content on site is completed? Exact percentage is difficult as we can continue to add, but the site is 95% “there” in terms of going live, except for the lodging/book direct component. ? re: how nimble is the site? Ans. The site is built on WordPress, so images and copy can be changed, and functions or features can be added. (WordPress allows for a lot of control.) Majority of the site has been built on templates – many of the pages are similar, and these are easy to change and add content. Jana - ? if we get a new influencer, can we add them in? – Yes - Instagram is whatever feed we plug in. It should be easy to add additional feeds as they become available. Esmarie –? are we hiring someone to manage? Right now, Liz is doing this – and currently tracking how much is start up work and initial set up, versus ongoing maintenance. Will continue to assess what needs are going to be, looking at supplemental help (not full time) for help with the additional work this requires for initial set up. Much of work is initial push, they will be exploring what can be automated or what the needs are for set up vs. maintenance. Weddings and events area of the site - Currently reaching out to all properties to ask them to upload what pictures they want featured for wedding vs group. They create the descriptions but depend on the properties for photos. Group, wedding, and book direct photos come from properties. Upcoming meeting with VVP and VR May 28th - this may be too late for some of this discussion, so looking at hosting additional meeting earlier to get everyone up to date and on the same page. Have been reviewing all the site and double checking. Please continue to look through before Monday. What is the plan for capturing data when people come to the site? Ans. (Reviewed the Burton example – see SLIDE) Currently, they have the changing marquis with the newsletter sign up form, and group content, so visitors can make submission through VVP Gave example of Burton summer giveaway page in order to capture individuals who attend events – showed example pages. Discussion re: Continuing to explore how we can use giveaways, etc. or what we have to offer, in order to get data? Burton US open registration going on now and via Vail app. They did not incorporate individual visitor data/email capture. The Board would like them to add this. Discussion re: what will keep people on the site? They would like the giveaway on there. Getting people ON to the site captures their data already (just by landing here), however, this won’t capture contact info. The consensus is the desire for a pop-up box when the visitor lands that captures email data and contact info, with just an option to close it. They can look at refining this, the marketing team thought a pop up was “too intrusive.” Discussion re: give the pption to sign up, or not – additional discussion about why is this too intrusive? Set it up so they don’t need to enter their information to keep going through the website, they can opt to close the request and proceed. Mike – we don’t need their email to engage them with messaging through ads. Email is not primary means of messaging for the team. Email not a big enough part of messaging campaign. Cactus’ primary goal is to understand what ads people saw and engaged with, and in what sequence, and what drove them to take what action. As soon as they engage with site, they can be re-targeted. This allows VLMD to get control of their own data, away from 3rd party site WIFI gating – this is also asking individuals who are here in market to give contact info via WIFI This information can follow individual device IDs. Will also look at making the email collection/ newsletter sign up more prominent. Additional discussion: at what point do we ask for contact info? How long are they on site before they are asked? ? re: what mobile site will look like? – Ans. - Same as the staging example we are viewing – site is optimized for all devices, everyone please test on your mobile devices Erica - ? re: dining – can there be a one-click reservation options? Would like for consumers to have this easily accessible Ans. – unfortunately there is not a good one-click option for restaurant reservations. Some restaurants have gone away from open table to manage their own data There is unfortunately not just a one -click option they are aware of – however the individual merchant can provide whatever option they want to use. For dining and shopping - Jana went through Vail App to update info, business closures, etc. Katie reaching out to community, asking them what link they want as the link to their website Laurie ? re: will lodging component be ready to go when site is ready? Ans. – they are working through integration. They have lodging listings and are working through integrating Book Direct; they are waiting on responses lodges, they have about 10 responses so far. ? re: what did the team have to ask the lodges? Ans. – it was a form to fill out with a request for a photo they need to provide. Amenities, contact info updates, etc. They were sent a form to fill out and update their info and amenities, etc. Liz has populated with the info she has. Timing: going live with the site next week Paid media starts the 16th Toward end of the month, go live with Book Direct Clarification on how Book Direct works -Scott demonstrated, Breck site is a good example site (Demonstrated example functionality on Go BRECK.com) Once set up is completed, there will be $20 - $21 K annual cost with Book Direct; evaluate this at the end of the year. Comments: the mobile version is more appealing visually to some than the current desktop version. The team will look at ways to make the ad box less intrusive. Mobile version is more visually appealing - work on the box that is covering the images to make less intrusive Also working on getting businesses tied to the map (have a pin set up on google maps, etc.) Maps is found under travel tools A substantial component of the maps feature will be each businesses map link Please look at website and send feedback to Liz – she will send an email with login info, plus a collaborative document like google docs, so everyone can edit. Beth ? re; what are expectations as you go live? At March time frame, they expect to be able to look at what people are searching for at that time; understanding what people are looking for, and then continue the ongoing process of building content and messaging based on their discoveries. Cactus team is also coordinating with Vail Mountain team, so they are not competing First priorities after getting ready and launching are driving people to the site, and then main purpose is to understand how they engage and follow their behavior after that. Data Maturity Model – Mike SEE SLIDE - for vision recap: Understanding what people are looking for to refine marketing and targeting Mike recapped their vision, stages, and planning; with this new system they will be following consumers from exploring stages to booking activity to afterwards. Shout out to the group for getting this project done! And in less time than they’d planned! Salesforce DMP Update – Katie See Slide – Katie explained the detail with which they can evaluate user behavior and planning. When they know what time frame a consumer is investigating, they can refine their marketing, such as targeting that consumer with an event message during the time frame they are searching. They will have more detail and info about Vail travelers, therefore, the information directed to them can be customized, personalized; they can create wider variety of audience segments. Ainsley has been sitting in on onboarding meetings for Salesforce and emphasizes the amount and usefulness of the information the website gives VLMD access to – it tells so much more about the traveler. Digital Media March timeline – please SEE SLIDE for dates of launch of each component Launching March 16th with digital, mobile AI, and Social, the 23rd with display With the launch they will start to understand who is booking when; i.e. who is searching in March and April, and which audience segments: destination family, super boomers, etc? And from what market: Dallas, etc.? Meggen has visual graphic spreadsheet showing all digital and traditional media in a very appealing format prepared for everyone. Summer Campaign – Sara Sara shared the campaign they will be launching in a few weeks. Showcasing new media, digital, ads, print and banners Overall design approach recapped: with site launch, they have a new palette, adopting warmer tones for summer, using gold, cream, black influences to compliment photography. Consistent typography maintained with winter, but with summer color palette version. They hope to be able to use Vail branding, but this is still in approval process Showed video ad examples – improved diversity reflected. “Active professional” spot launching currently Sara also described various print ads – categorized by audience segments and Epic Discovery OOH: Front Range & Destination piece – SEE SLIDES for pictures Destination piece in Dallas will target air marketing messages Banners – see SLIDES – static version on slide, but these will be animated Also new this year, they developed 2020 Campaign Guidelines, and this will be available in tool kit. Waiting on approval for resort branding – hope to hear by the end of March or beg of April - they are in the legal process now. The team is appreciative of VR’s support on using this! Jana: comment re: last summer and/or fall, Satchel has a lot of drone footage that we requested for the overview of Village, Farm to Table, etc. Still seeing a lot of mountain footage, what happed to some of that footage. They have this footage; there will be social opportunities where they can use it, trying to consciously balance village and scenery. ? re: are there shots of any dining or shopping additional assets? Jack shot stills of decks last year. Satchel will be creating several short form social pieces. They will be including dining with a chef’s table story, cruiser bikes, happy hour, etc. Still working on incorporating additional print and video - outdoor performs the best but important to balance village content, etc. Have been in discussions with Meggen’s team to evaluate what they have and what they need in order to help them tell stories; this is still in the works Beth ? re: Discover Vail Ainsley -Outdoor components are the drivers, important to balance this with using village to differentiate ourselves. This is being further flushed out, tested Beth ? : does data reflect that outdoor performs better? Yes, outdoor performs better. Activities like shopping come up as an activity they want to do , but is not a driver Skip: ? can we evaluate what performs better of village assets? Yes, the team can evaluate what aspects are drivers of these Village images as well Mia – comment re: this new direction with Cactus and creative approach is a substantial shift, and will be evaluated, carefully considered Skip: ? does election year affect online and digital ads as well as TV Ans – This will not be as significant an issue in digital as in TV PR and Media Update, Kristin Kristin presented PR Update and recap of trips, insights in media world New York Media trip recap: decided to try the International Media Marketplace. 700 journalists, two -days, largest travel media event – best use of $$ Kristin “speed dated” with 24 appointments. The system matched PR people’s preferences with journalists for meetings/appts. SEE SLIDE for various outlets she met with. This was similar to Travel Classic. Also hosted a small dinner for a few writers Similar to travel classic with journalists from all over; overall a smart budget spend and good use of time SEE SLIDES -pictures of table set up Kristin reviewed what was shared – SEE SLIDE for top media questions, what resonated Mostly the questions are around what is new or noteworthy Top messaging: Vail’s history, Bavarian Village message, hiking with llamas, hotel renovations Recommendation that if this event is done again, to go in earlier, meet with people and do one-on-ones, maximize more appointments for individual media visits Assess return based on budget; there was some savings from the January trip available, for some additional media visit opportunities. Last week of March – April – this timing perhaps misses some longer leads, but discussed as possibly still worthwhile? Does the board want them to do this Spring trip? Amanda would go; there is a possible co-op opportunity with a hotel in California to share expenses. Option to do Spring trip (about $7500) or have the $$ available for something else in future – (El Capitan hotel is potential partner.) Opportunity for partnership with Kristin’s friend Jen in NY whom she used to work with at the Ritz Bravo has NY connections? Additional discussion of a partnership/co-op opportunity and/or NY trip Beth called for a vote: Regarding spring trip to NY, vote to reallocate funds for this NY trip purpose – Pass - unanimous NY Media Mission – SEE SLIDES A quick spot ran about Vail, Actively Green efforts, on the weather channel. Vail was featured in an ad on green vacations, there was a fee for this placement, just done 2 weeks ago Chicago media mission – recap SEE SLIDE - Mia was able to go – great last-minute trip! Hemispheres Magazine (United in-flight magazine) will not be running anything on EGE’s new nonstop flight from Chicago to Vail – but, United said they are writing too much about Colorado. Too many Co stories! Liz is working with team on refining tip sheet Media Insight and Trends – See SLIDES A lot of the writers we are targeting also write for publications like REI’s Uncommon Path Some magazines are shifting to quarterly from monthly and more digital Freelance – lots of competition, not as well paid CA Assembly bill 5 – limits number of publications they can write for; chambers in CO trying to get this killed. Competition has led to some unfortunate restrictions and side hustles Laurie: ? re: are you seeing more traditional media again? Direct mail is still terribly inefficient; brands that use this have direct relationships with their community i.e., uncommon path, Costco, etc. Some direct mail companies have moved to entirely digital Discussion re; high end neighborhood magazines? Singletree? An opportunity came up from Kim Brussow from Romer’s team to partner with Outdoor Media Summit event in Estes Park Kristin thinking about attending this and seeing if this should be brought to Vail? This event is for more hardcore outdoor lifestyle writers – They are asking for a lot of PR engagement Has been on Amanda’s radar; Kim brought it to the group from VVP – Discussion of expanding messaging for this Kristin – suggests we want to go, to better understand this opportunity and what is involved with money, time, and effort to help them organize –she prefers to do travel classics, and we have MTS next year; but this would be an exploratory opportunity for two years from now, and get more media contacts as well Mia – Good tie in with Go Pro Mountain Games - this is an outdoor recreation association group Kristin can get more details and send to VLMD to decide Beth – How many groups do we spend money on each year? Romer- industry associations etc., commonly there is a large spend on this type of event Kristin’s priority is Travel Classics, but they are not coming to table to solicit a bid; attending in Estes Park would be good opportunity to assess? The Outdoor Summit has already approached them. Additional comments: this seems worthwhile to explore first, Board would benefit from hearing more about it and the spend to attend Kristin will work with Kim and bring more details, then decide on attending Estes Park Laurie – how about both events, not either or- could we do Outdoor Summit as early June program, Travel Classic will be Fall? Supplemental Request -Liz SEE SLIDE for detail Several supplemental requests haves come up with the necessary website developments and changes; Liz reviewed each Evaluating how to interact with FB and Instagram; Kinsey with Native Creative Social piece consulting - $1700-month deep dive, calendar Event Activation $4 K Trip Giveaway for two, summer and fall - $6 K ? re: How many entries so far in Burton giveaway? Ans. -60 in one day! Wi-Fi__ gating – $20,400 in place now; this used to be Vail Wi-Fi, now it is Vail free wife, and to use you must enter email and zip or link to Facebook Once identified, they can track people, how they move throughout village! ? about fake emails? Cannot regulate if someone gives a fake one; however, they can look at who is using it and when, identify peak times Discussion re: concerns about using FB, asking for zip code twice – The team has already identified some issues, please continue to give feedback. Liz has already identified and is on top of tweaks that are needed ? - Is it integrated into Salesforce? Ans. Will be eventually Mail Chimp Email Subscription - $3K Best experience for building guest journey. They currently have a limited subscription, and need full subscription to optimize, move up to premium rate is needed Mountain Travel Symposium $3841 In Vail in 2021! Air Marketing Videos Brand videos $7398 These need updating, need a new voiceover for a year of use, event videos Boomers $3288 – updates and edits Active Prof $2563 – new videos Campaign Layout edits - $7875 Beth? Who is new hire? Satchel for video, Voice over is Cactus Putting together B roll package: Meggen – comments re: this had been previously removed from the budget, and with the supplemental Satchel was very adamant about adding this back in to update assets, if there is now opportunity to re-include Lodging booking platform – Book Direct set up fee $24,010 So lodging partners will not pay fees – VLMD will cover this fee One time set up fee, and then yearly subscription Outreach to lodging includes highlighting that VLMD is covering these costs and detailing how much this expense is; please emphasize this when in person with lodges in May Vail.com/Discover Vail Content Audit - $5010 Fees for contract with Katie Kukar – she is helping put some of the lodging information pieces together Subtotal $110, 000 Cactus reallocating $15 K, to bring the total request to $95 K Discussion re: How will the success of this launch be defined in the next 6 mos?- How is the whole effort evaluated? What will be deemed a successful return in the first year? Keeping in mind that simply building the website and having the ability to evaluate guests as never before is successful! Ainsley –Comments re: with the impressions that are out in the market, they will now understand who is interacting with them, and how they are behaving. Of the large pool of potential candidates, knowing who is interacting = more conversions and more targeted media buys Then they can continue to refine this. Team can report progress on a monthly basis – they will evaluate media metrics, trends, and insights Adara is 90 days to look at information Amy ? re: can some milestones be evaluated? Beth – do you anticipate making quick adjustments based on findings? Ainsley – yes, and then they can serve up consumer with exactly what they are interacting with. Further discussion re: line items Jana ? re: two-line items appear to have same thing listed twice? Campaign and Air, both have new end cards in both – can these be done in one session? Yes – creating two new pieces for Chicago Up front VO and ending VO to be re created But yes, everything can be done at one time. Have audited materials needed for launch on 16th and then for 30th. This may expand and shift. Deliverables have gone from 23 to 31 Jana – are we trying to hire locally first vs searching Denver? On this piece, they found a company with experience setting spots to music; everything else will be using Satchel - all social, air marketing, events, etc. Meggen – the company was also chosen because they shot stills side by side, and this was for efficiency Laurie – big picture ? Spend last year suppl Have dollars built in for development Additional supplemental request due to needs that have arisen – I.e., book direct engine was new add, etc. Not all $95 K is for web components Discussion re: overage for fund balance %; this ask is a small amount compared to overage in fund balance Jana – this additional is required Meggen – add point Laurie just raised – we are still well within numbers This info $$$ will be included for council Please ADD clear goals for council to understand Suggest instead of going line item by line item; ask for $95 total Recap goals and success for the first year; reiterate goals and that first-year effort is hard to quantify Yann – some metrics would be useful CRM database count for emails Peak visits on Vailsummer.com Jenn – communicate focus on goals, not the timeline; suggest developing a more strategic description of milestones even without a timeline Mia – council will understand larger picture of goals and milestones and items that have come up that were not anticipated Beth – emphasis that initially the focus is not looking for transactions, we are looking for engagement Recommend making this clear, so expectations are in line Yann – in supporting current supplemental request – should we consider waiting to see what else comes up? Caution against setting precedence of ongoing additional supplemental asks - if there is a possibility of needing more funding- should we wait and request this with anything additional that comes up? Mia – comments re: right now, the challenge is that without this request, progress would stop. These items have come up and need to be addressed now in order to move forward Discussion and suggestion to build in some contingency now Beth – build in permission for % more contingency Jenn - work with Carly on appropriate contingency % - this approach, with including a straightforward contingency for unknowns, is appreciated from organizations like public works, etc. Discussion re: benefit of adding contingency, this is a new project and we have “unknown unknowns” Beth? Re: what is a reasonable contingency amount, or percentage, $ 20 K? Discussion and comments that $20 K is a reasonable contingency, for total of $115 K Motion to approve supplemental budget with additional $20 K in contingency to present to council Motion: Lauri / Second: Skip / Pass – Unanimous Other Business Presenting request at next town council Tues. March 3 Mia –VLMDAC: TAX initiatives There have been meetings on several ballot initiatives, the county met with municipalities on Monday, and brought forth initiatives for housing, child development TOV looking at initiatives around housing and VLMD, which would reallocate funding from general to special events. Waiting on County survey info, will next be polling voters for stance on issues Also, express desire to work with lodging and business community as well Housing initiative has many options in terms of what it could be funded from; Lodging tax currently set up for marketing, special events Also discussed separate not-limited tax, but that was not gaining much traction. Jenn – revisiting community survey on Tuesday; check out specific question-and-answers on ballot initiatives posted later today or Friday Survey every 2 years – polls focused on TOV voters, the survey is more broad CSE meeting update - Jana Jana would like to continue to rep VLMD at this meeting, but cannot attend March 5th Recapped their meeting and RCC results – one shocking takeaway was that of the overall visitor types – Lacrosse shoot out consistently were at the top of largest overnight visitors Daily visitor at 95% Shoot out and Vail Off-road festival way above Kids Adv Games, net promoter score was number 1 Outdoor events and summer family focused activities are the top draw = Beth – also note tenure of Lacrosse over 30+ years, and it draws people from all over vs. all over Colorado Continuing to develop this relationship with CSE is very worthwhile Jana was impressed that they did follow through with and asked event promoters about NPS and future accountability for funding No one from CSE here today – note in attendance - Laurie ? re: have we determined which events we are marketing? Yes, at last meeting Next meeting March 19th (Mia will not be here) Adjournment Motion to adjourn Jenn / Second: Esmarie / Pass: unanimous