Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout07. Malen Yantis PR Report, Q2 2021 August 7, 2021 TO: Vail Local Marketing District Advisory Council FROM: Kristin Yantis & Amanda McNally MYPR CC: Mia Vlaar & Liz Gladitsch, Town of Vail RE: Q2 Public Relations Report Agency Support In Q2 MYPR spent much of its time developing content for summer 2021 pitches, connecting with community partners and seeding story lines with media. Following are sample tactics in support of the VLMD. • Followed up on opportunities identified during the 2021 International Media Marketplace including two visits that were secured to Vail. • Updated and pitched the summer 2021 media tipsheets. • Launched the media survey to garner feedback and insights from journalists about Vail, the news value of the destination right now, etc. Interpreted feedback and shared content in a report to the VLMDAC. • Ongoing updates of content on the DiscoverVail.com media center. • Outreach to influencers to secure visits for summer 2021. MYPR also developed contracts, itineraires and secured travel for early summer influencers. • Ongoing outreach as part of the visiting journalists program to secure summer FAMs. Development of itineraries and hosting writers, as appropriate, during June/early July visits. • MYPR continued to participated in virtual media events including monthly deskside visits and industry media conferences to gauge current media sentiment for travel and covering travels. • Distributed monthly PR Partners Tipsheet to community members to help educate and engage them more in the VLMD’s PR program. • Drafted and distributed summer “what’s new” press release both individually to media and via PR Newswire. • Ongoing media outreach/pitching for summer 2021 opportunities. • Secured a meeting with the CTO public relations team to discuss ongoing summer opportunities. • Drafted one, three, five and seven-day itineraries for the three target focus groups – active professionals, families with older children and active boomers – as part of the website content program. • Participated in select branding meetings to support the new 2022 marketing campaign. • Started developing brand activation ideas to support the 2022 marketing campaign. • Worked with Mexican PR rep to launch summer PR and paid media efforts including a press trip scheduled for early September (we were unable to secure lodging earlier in the summer). Q2 Media Coverage As a reminder, we monitor against our comp set to gauge Vail’s performance versus Aspen and Breckenridge. Links to comprehensive media coverage reports for all three destinations are noted below. Vail Coverage Report Breckenridge Coverage Report Aspen Coverage Report As you will see, the Vail report goes into greater detail with reach, key message coverage and top markets for coverage – all items we’ve previously tracked. We do not track for this level of detail in the other comp set reports. Vail continues to track strongly compared to its comp set when it comes to the volume of media coverage. In part, we believe this is because several Vail events use PR Newswire distribution for content which has a large reach – we do not see this level of community PR activity from Aspen or Breckenrige. The Aspen numbers are lower than usual for Q2 and we believe this is because Food & Wine did not happen in June (rescheduled for September) – Aspen historically tracks strong in the second quarter of the year with coverage. Following are some of trends in coverage from the three destinations. • Aspen o Stories on where celebrities are traveling post-COVID. o Several articles about Aspen Music Fest and Jazz Aspen’s 30th anniversary and the musical line-up. o New air service into the Aspen airport. o US News & World Reports story which ran in syndication about top Coloardo mountain towns. • Breckenridge o Several stories on the increase in traffic on Colorado 14ers including Quandry outside of Breckenridge. Stories started to surface about possible paid parking in Breckenridge with shuttle service to the Quandry trailhead. o General summer travel stories including dog-friendly things to do in Breckenridge. o Several stories on a new crepe restaurant in Breckenridge. o US News & World Reports story which ran in syndication about top Coloardo mountain towns. • Vail o Vail continued to get play off of the international look/feel of the destination for people who might not be traveling abroad this summer. o Several stories on Colorado’s wildflowers this summer with mentioned of the Betty Ford Alpine Garden. o Several Vail events distributed content on the wire such as GoPro Mountain Games and Bravo! o Bravo! also had several articles based on their new PR agency’s outreach efforts. o Coverage of GoPro Mountain Games. o Several stories about Colorado’s electric byways that were secured by the CTO pr team with destination support by MYPR. Vail Sample Media Placements • US News & World Report – June 24, 2021 Headline/Link: 24 Things to do in Colorado This Summer Note: Result of ongoing pitching and constantly feeding content to the CTO PR team. • Los Angeles Times – June 23, 2021 Headline/Link: Summer Ideas: bike, stargaze, hike a Western Ski Resorts Note: Result of MYPR’s ongoing relationship with writer Brian Clark. • Family Travel Magazine – March 2021 Headline/Link: Awesome Summer Vacation Ideas in the US Note: Result of hosting the writer a few years ago. • Afar – May 28, 2021 Headline/Link: Colorado’s Scenic Byways Could be Your First Electric Roadtrip Note: Result of CTO pitching efforts and destination support via MYPR. • New York Times – June 2021 Headline/Link: Driving an Electric Car on Colorado’s Scenic Byways Note: Result of CTO pitching efforts and destination support via MYPR. • Afar – June 9, 2021 Headline/Link: Walk This Way: A complete guide to hiking etiquette Note: Result of MYPR hosting Chadner Novarro during the pandemic and ongoing exploration of story ideas. Upcoming Media Placements • Mountain Living • Celebrated Vacations • PureWow.com • Salt Lake Magazine • Colorado Peak • Hemispheres • Fort Collins Lifestyle Magazine • The Epoch Times • Matador Network Q3 Tactics Following are priority tactics for Q3. • Distribute monthly PR partners tipsheet. • Finalize details for the September Mexican media press trip. • Continue to draft itineraries and support the web content program led by Cactus. • Development of fall content for ongoing pitching. • Continue to secure media visits for summer/fall and handle all arrangements e.g. travel, itinerary development, etc. • Submit content for the Sunset annual travel awards. • Continue to secure influencer partnerships for summer. • Support 2022 campaign planning including budget development, new ideas to support the “Life is But a Dream” campaign, etc. Upon review, please let us know if you have any questions. Thank you!