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Home My WebLink About02. b. CRC 2021_Oktoberfest_Event RecapSurveyed Event Recap: VAIL OKTOBERFEST Cultural, Recreational & Community Category November 3, 2021 VAIL OKTOBERFEST: September 10-12 & 17-19, 2021 Nicole Marsh 303.591.1689 nicole@imprintgroup.com 2 Overall Event Highlights & Successes 3 •Two weekends of celebration… Lionshead: September 10-12, 2021 Vail Village: September 17-19, 2021 •45,000 people in attendance throughout the two weekends •Free Admission •Return of crowd-favorite contests which encouraged crowd participation and viewer entertainment. Contests include the Stein Lift, Keg Bowling, Bratwurst Eating and the Bavarian Costume Contest. •Traditional Bavarian musicians and dancers paired with evening entertainment on Friday and Saturday nights to shift to more mainstream music over the daytime polka. Guests are ready for this change, and we received had high praises for the chosen bands. The excitement was reflected in the crowd numbers. •(6) days of beautiful weather brought record crowds both weekends. Questions from CSE 4 •The CSE will ask questions about your event and recap •Leave this blank –it’s a placeholder Attendance Estimate 5 •Was this the attendance you expected? Attendance was higher than anticipated in Lionshead. After 14 years, we’ve never seen crowds like that, especially on Saturday both weekends. •How would you impact attendance next year? Based on the high demand, with the emphasis on Saturday, we plan to expand the venue on Saturday in both venues to accommodate for the need for additional space, entertainment, programming in addition to F&B on this day. Estimated attendance over (2) weekends: 45,000* *based on crowd density, dollar sales, food and beverage sales and gate flow. Visitor Type 6 Was this the visitor type split you expected? •This year we saw increased attendance, but we also saw the largest number of out-of-town visitors over years past. We are used to seeing many local faces in the crowd. While we did see some repeat locals, we were thrilled to be welcoming back returning and first-time visitors. What steps would you take to optimize visitor mix for future events? •Collaborate with front range and destination markets for promoting event visitors and overnight guests. •Continue to promote the event within the Vail Valley through grassroots, print and digital marketing efforts. *2019 data, no survey conducted in 2021 Overnight Visitor Profile:Overnight Visitors & Seasonal Residents Only 7 What measures did you take to encourage attendees to book lodging in the Town of Vail? •Utilized marketing streams that target destination markets to help drive fall traffic. Denver drive market and destination flights for a fall color getaway. •Promoted lodging options through our event website and discovervail.com •Cross promoted Vails summer activities through our event website and discovervail.com *2019 data, no survey conducted in 2021 Overall Visitor Profile 8 Who was your anticipated target demographic? •Affluent luxury travelers •Cultural enthusiasts •Values: live music, outdoors, and gathering among friends to celebrate the changing of the season. What would you change to attract that audience next year? •Continue to push our existing resources and marketing plans as it hit all our attendance goals and demographic targets. *2019 data, no survey conducted in 2021 Role/Importance of Event in Intent to Visit Vail 9 What actions did you take this year to generate the number of overnight guests? •Collaborate with front range and destination markets for promoting event visitors and overnight guests. Capitalize on the fall foliage and get people up for the full weekend or multiple weekends to see the colors and enjoy the cultural celebration. How would you increase the number of overnight Vail guests coming for the event next year? •Continue our traditional methods but capitalize on data from previous years as well as market the expanded venue as something new for repeat guests to see something new and space to accommodate new guests. Additionally, continue to partner with local lodging entities to create packages and incentives for overnight guests. Estimated Return on Investment (ROI) & Attendee Expenditures 10 What did your event do to encourage spending in Vail? •The event is presented as a 3-day weekend giving guests an incentive to stay overnight. This combines lodging with food, beverage and other local merchants. •The event isn’t ticketed so guests can come and go as they please allowing them to take part in our local merchant community without feeling locked into our one event. •We had one nearby shop owner in Vail Village tell us that the Saturday was her busiest day in the history of her business! •We promoted discovervail.com and Vail summer activities on the event website and marketing materials. Attendance Estimate, ROI $53,160.00 $4,261,400.00 $168,656.00 $3.17 *impact based on historical data and assumes half the attendees are using local lodging and are in town for 2 days $80.16 Event Strengths & Weaknesses 11 How did the event exceed expectations? •Attendance continues to grow and show that there is a need and an excitement for Oktoberfest each year. Enough to fill two successful weekends of Vail Oktoberfest warranting greater venue space for 2022. •Utilizing the existing tenting in Lionshead and opening it up for additional height and open walls created an authentic beer garden feel and something new for repeat visitors to experience. •(6) days of sold-out contests showing an excitement and interest in crowd participation. Guests WANT to be part of the fun! We also had record number of guests participating in the Bavarian costume contest showing visitors coming out in full flair. •Friday and Saturday night mainstream evening entertainment kept the party going after the polka wraps up. It’s a nice way to balance the cultural event with a transition in the evening hours. Event Strengths & Weaknesses 12 What are areas for event improvement? •The attendance numbers on Saturday of each weekend were greater than ever before in the 14 years of Vail Oktoberfest. We were caught behind the eight ball with these greatly increased numbers when it came to number of serving stations for food and beverage. We plan to increase the event area with the emphasis on Saturday to accommodate for larger numbers and a need for more food and beverage. •Similar to other events, food vendors were stretched very thin this summer. We didn’t have the numbers of local vendors participating we would have liked. We are changing our food vendor strategies to better allow for the quantity of vendors needed as well as variety of authentic Bavarian offerings. •With an expanded footprint in Lionshead, we would open areas to add restrooms. In our current venue, there aren’t areas that wouldn’t affect local merchants which we are very sensitive to. Expansion would open areas that would have more real estate for this additional infrastructure. How did this year’s event compare to previous years? •Every year Vail Oktoberfest brings authentic Bavarian fun. This year we saw the change in the Lionshead venue to include the large beer garden tent. We added hours for our traditional Bavarian dancers this year to add more interactive elements with visitors. We were lucky to enjoy (6) days of beautiful fall weather as well. Vail Brand Compatibility 13 How did the event support the Vail Brand? •Vail Oktoberfest brings guests with an interest in culture, outdoors and luxury travel to town and encourages repeat visitors by creating an enjoyable experience for all. •The event urges attendees to stay for the full weekend or into the following week to explore Vail between the two weekend events. •Vail Oktoberfest supports and promotes the local lodging community, Vail Summer activities and discovervail.com. •Offering a non-ticketed options allows visitors to take part in the event without barriers. Brand Positioning: •Town of Vail: The Premier International Mountain Resort Community •Vail Mountain: Like nothing on earth Community Contribution 14 How did the event impact Vail’s sense of community? •Vail Oktoberfest provides the perfect landscape for visitors and locals alike to join together in the center of town, as was the historical tradition, to celebrate the change of season in this beautiful mountain setting. •Local businesses and restaurants have access to large crowds in town for the event •Vail Oktoberfest is proud to once again support local non-profit, Vail Veterans Program. Topline Marketing Efforts 15 Include overview of top 3 successful marketing tactics or executions •Vail Oktoberfest was promoted through grassroots, print, digital, social, radio and PR marketing efforts. •Print: 675,000 impressions •Digital: 178,500 impressions •PR: 3.6M impressions •Please see additional marketing details in attached report **Marketing Plan –Attachment A | Recap Attachment B Potential for Growth & Sponsorships/Media Exposure 16 •How do you see the event evolving or growing next year? We plan to expand the event footprint of Saturday of both weekends. Additionally, bringing in more entertainment, programming, food and beverage as well as seating in this expanded section. •What sponsors do you plan to target next year? (Including existing and potential sponsors) In 2022, we plan to target similar partners to 2021 (Spaten, Jägermeister, Wildsyde, Tahoe Kitchen, Renewal by Andersen, etc.) but with an extended lead time we plan to target additional categories and partners in: food (bratwurst, pretzels), consumer goods, financial institution, time piece, airline and more. •How will you leverage media exposure and extend the marketing reach next year? •Work with existing and new partnerships to promote the event to a wider network. •Use marketing tactics that have been successful in the past to reach likely to return guests (the event has seen a high repeat guest rate). •Continue to use digital platforms to grow and drive interest in the overall event and Vail setting. Sustainability Efforts 17 What measures were taken at your event/program to support the environmentally-friendly goals of the Town of Vail? •Continued to make composting, recycling and trash sorting a priority at the event. •(3) Refresh and Refill water station positioned throughout the venue. •Proactively worked with restaurant vendors on composting/recycle/waste efforts through one-on-one communication and individualized plans for their needs. •All vendors required to use compostable service ware. •The use of manned zero hero stations for waste throughout the venue. •Staff carpooling from Denver and within the valley during the event. •Strict no idling policy for all vendors and staff during load in/load out. •Used reusable table linen at all tents and cleaned them as needed. Sustainability Efforts 18 What waste reduction methods were used during your event/program? •Highline promoted and encouraged the sales of Oktoberfest beer steins as an eco-friendly glassware for beer purchased throughout the event. This offsets the use of compostable cups needed for other beverages. •Bartenders encouraged reusing service cups and wine glasses for beverages rather than giving out another. •The ‘Green Team’ was employed as an integral part of the consumer education relating to disposal of event materials. •Vail Oktoberfest promoted the use of the complimentary Refresh and Refill stations and to bring your own water bottle. How could you improve on sustainability efforts for next year’s event? •Continue to work with Walking Mountains with a longer lead time to come up with new methods for clear communications surround waste and infrastructure that doesn’t only require staff since that is always a challenge for event execution. Event Budget 19 Item $ Total Event Budget:$356,710.85 CSE Funds:$53,160.00 Cash Sponsorship (not CSE):$108,500.00 In-kind Sponsorship:N/A Marketing Budget:$30,327.35 Profit & Loss:$2,891.03 How did you use the CSE funds? (marketing, operations, staff, venue, etc.) Operations, Logistics, Marketing * Includes branding items, marketing and dedicated marketing/PR personnel ** Complete Event Budget –Attachment C Additional Information/Appendix 20 •Marketing Plan: Attachment A •Marketing Recap: Attachment B •Event Budget: Attachment C •Full Survey: N/A