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HomeMy WebLinkAbout01. VLMDAC August Meeting PresentationVLMDAC BOARD MEETING AUGUST 17, 2023 Agenda I. MONTHLY FINANCIAL REPORT (5 minutes), Alex Jakubiec, Town of Vail II. MINUTES APPROVAL ●Action Requested of Board III. INFORMATION & DISCUSSION UPDATES ●2024 Operating Plan & Budget (90 minutes), Town of Vail and Partner Group ●2024 Campaign Update (15 minutes), 970 Design + Lumenati ●July Lodging Report & Insights (10 minutes), Miles Partnership ●Summer Campaign Report & Insights (10 minutes), Miles Partnership ●Town of Vail Updates (5 minutes), Town of Vail ●Other Business ●Adjournment FINANCE UPDATE MINUTES APPROVAL Minutes Approval Action requested of board to approve the July 20 minutes. 2024 OPERATING PLAN & BUDGET 2024 Goals & Priorities Update Drive responsible year-round revenue growth in Vail by targeting guests who stay longer and spend more, while effectively communicating community and brand values. Areas of focus include increasing mid-week and lower demand time period stays. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) include lodging occupancy and lodging and sales tax revenues. The priorities below all support the overarching business goal. Business Goal Target high net worth guests, maximize longer stays and higher spend, gain greater understanding of customer through research. Optimize Visitation Grow database and use data to understand our guest to enhance engagement & loyalty. Grow Database + Build Relationship Develop and deliver upon a brand position that reflects community values, differentiates Vail in ways that build its competitive edge, and inspires all to care for Vail. Destination Stewardship Position Vail as the Premier International Mountain Resort Community and work with community partners to define, support and deliver on the brand. Brand Positioning V D S B 2024 Preliminary Goals May - Oct Timeframe 2019 Results 2020 Results 2021 Results 2022 Results 2023 Forecast 2024 Preliminary Budget 2024 Preliminary Goals 4% Sales Tax $9,853,122 $8,889,947 $13,674,538 $14,222,156 $13,182,171 $13,609,221 Down 1% from 2023 forecast, flat with 2022 YTD actuals 1.4% Lodging Tax $931,499 $827,522 $1,482,956 $1,457,425 $1,338,457 $1,379,226 Flat to 2023 With Marriott Down 2% from 2023 Without Marriot Occupancy 45.0%30.3%45.1%43.2%43%NA 2023 goal: 45% Group Occupancy 24.7% 4.3%14.7%24.1% 24.1% (estimate) NA 2023 goal: 25% Goals for discussion: -Group occupancy during low demand timeframes -Non-Winter mid-week occupancy 2024 Proposed Budget 2024 Revenue Projection $ 5,430,000 ●2024 Lodging Tax collections projected conservatively. Revenue is forecasted down 2% for next year, but is anticipated flat due to the new Marriott ●$5.4M is flat with 2022 Actuals and flat with the 2023 forecast ●Revenue forecast will continue to be monitored and adjusted through budget process Total VLMD Budget for 2024 Scenario A : $5,418,582 ●Marketing Budget: $5,168,582 ●Contingency: $250,000 ●No use of Reserves ○ Scenario B : $6,289,066 ●Marketing Budget: $5,180,000 ●Contingency: $250,000 ●Use of Reserves: $804,066 Budget and Reserves Comparison NOTE: 2023 Budget utilized reserves transferring to General Fund of $1.4M: - Events: $1.2M - Steward Vail: $200K 46%48% 2024 Proposed fund balance based on budget Scenario A of $5.4 million. Scenario B uses $804,066 of the $1.2 million in reserves available to keep fund balance above 25% Historic Budget Breakout by Category Budget Summary 2019 %2023*%2024 %2024 B % Other 24,034 0%127,000 2%123,200 2%223,200 4% Contingency 44,000 1%250,000 5%250,000 5%250,000 4% Branding 77,200 1%787,050 14%580,500 11%762,000 12% Research 147,578 3%78,050 1%123,805 2%123,805 2% Photo/video 144,100 3%557,475 10%365,200 7%390,200 6% Fees 450,000 8%573,475 11%655,767 12%687,878 11% Data Systems 347,000 6%444,545 8%500,227 9%525,227 8% Drive Overnight & Out-of-state visitation Destination 1,270,500 23%908,920 17%1,041,500 19%1,231,500 20% FR Overnight^271,500 5%415,880 8%461,000 8%461,000 7% International 185,000 3%126,500 2%127,300 2%185,875 3% Groups 680,738 12%300,705 6%306,220 6%314,100 5% Public Relations 85,000 2%140,500 3%116,500 2%156,500 3% Social/influencers 69,500 1%173,850 3%172,153 3%199,931 3% Website 53,000 1%359,950 7%384,850 7%384,850 6% Email 5,850 0%202,840 4%210,360 4%338,000 5% TOTAL 3,855,000 5,446,740 5,418,582 6,234,066 -*2023 excluding one time $1,400,000 transfer to General Fund - ^FR Overnight 2023 & 2024 inclusive of winter lodging campaigns -Other = - 2019: Vail App - 2023+: Michelin, In-Market DMO conferences -Fees - 2023/2024 inclusive of new Lodging Liaison - 2024 inclusive of inflation adjustment - Not inclusive of fees associated with our owned channels (email,web, social) or data GOAL BASED SHIFTS Brand and Campaign Item Status & Priority KPI Scenario A Scenario B 2024 Campaign Experiential Activation New / One Time S B A:Campaign awareness to enhance visitor experience and brand engagement A/B: Grow social media channels with original content $20,000 A: Consultation and design hours for events activations for Discover Vail events such as Mountain Games, America Days, Revelry, etc $55,000 A/B: “Are you ready to go?” Youtube series to create engaging campaign content for social media and website. 2025 Brand Launch and Campaign concept and production New / One Time V D S B Increase Adara impact YOY 24 vs. 25 Increase brand perception YOY 24 vs. 25 $250,000 Slight build off of 2024 campaign and integrate new brand plus launch production $350,000 New campaign concept and brand campaign launch production Board Strategy: Mission/Vision/Values New / One Time S B Create board mission for VLMD to guide strategy $10,000 Board retreat and facilitator Same as A In-Market Brand Launch New / One Time D S B Local business participation Community feedback and participation Awareness question to be added to community survey $99,500 Business awareness kick-off Community awareness campaign Design and production of Round about banners Town signage $131,000 Enhanced and increased based on other efforts relating to in-resort, media, PR, etc V D S B Stewardship Roadmap Implementation *Other stewardship initiatives are woven into existing budgets and projects including new brand, 2024 campaign, etc. Item Status & Priority KPI Scenario A Scenario B In-Market and owned channels awareness campaign Start / One Time D S B A/B: Increase web traffic to sustainability/stewardship pages A/B: Guest and community awareness B: in-resort video and/or installation user engagement metrics $45,000 Produce campaign to highlight destination stewardship priorities and deploy in-market and across owned channels $190,000 Scenario A + larger in-resort installation and small local media buy with video production and experiential activations Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Strategy Start / One Time D S B Build DEI strategies to support the stewardship roadmap, embracing and communicating with diverse audiences $25,000 Building a DEI collective impact model, establishing DEI principles and developing a vision/ commitment statement Same as A Winter Item Status & Priority KPI Scenario A Scenario B Media Campaigns (Early and Late Season Promo) A: Continue B: Enhance V Reach, landing page visits, clicks to book direct Hotel searches, bookings and revenue as measured by Adara $126,000 $136,000 Inflation, additional instate support via CTO digital properties SEM Start V D Site traffic, CTR, CPC $15,000 $15,000 Content capture Continue B Winter photo/video library increase $100,000 Create assets that can be used in winter campaigns Same as A *Pending discussion with Vail Mountain to best complement Website Item Status & Priority KPI Scenario A Scenario B Brand Visual Identity Implementation Start / One-time B User Experience and Engagement Metrics. Growth in brand recognition among all Vail customers. $40,000 Implement the new brand visual identity across the website including reskinning and redesigning various website elements Same as A Website Reporting Enhance V D Website engagement - users, sessions, engagement rate, engaged sessions/user, average engagement time, events/session, conversions $28,560 Monthly reporting on site traffic, with a deep dive into organic traffic and keyword performance Same as A Blog Content and SEO Enhance V D S B Maintain/increase organic traffic to blog pages, engagement rate, average engagement time, partner referrals, conversion rates, keyword rankings on branded keywords, page 1 and position rankings $98,920 Content strategy, plan development and monthly blog creation and optimization Same as A Content: Owned Channels Item Status & Priority KPI Scenario A Scenario B Organic Social Media (FB & IG) Enhance V D S B Increase channel audiences, engagements/engagement rate, video views; maintain/increase clicks to site; integrate UGC, integrate with overall content plan to distribute new content $43,820: Mgmt $21,700: Strategy $14,900: Boosts/Platforms Same as A YouTube Enhance V D B Increase video distribution, views, video engagement, grow channel audience and engagement, web clicks $8,400 Same as A Influencer Program Enhance V D B Increase engagement and content sharing while driving more followers to @DiscoverVailCO $83,333 TBD Addition of new platform, Trip Scout, to expand content produced $111,111 Increase in program with another influencer CRM and Email Content A: Continue B: Enhance V D S B CTR, engagement, integrate with content plan $31,360 $42,000: increased segmentation CRM Item Status & Priority Goal / KPI Scenario A Scenario B E-newsletter strategy and execution A: Continue B: Enhance V D S B # of campaigns sent Click rate Unsubscribe rate $154,000 Steady-state with slight growth for larger database $231,000 Hyper-personalization and additional campaigns Hyper-Personalized Content Versioning Enhance V D Click rate Unsubscribe rate $40,000 Leverage ChatGPT for content versioning to support hyper-personalization in email and potentially other channels Media Item Status & Priority KPI Scenario A Scenario B Advertising Agent Fees Enhance V On-time, on-budget account management; thought leadership and strategy development; effective negotiations, vendor relationships $194,267 Account management and media $218,156 Account management and media (higher media budget per scenario B) Front Range / Drive non-Winter A: Continue B: Enhance V D S B Reach, CTR, video and audio completion rates, landing page visitation, site and content engagement, goal conversions $310,000 $325,000 Inflation, instate support via CTO digital properties Destination / Fly non-Winter A: Continue B: Enhance V S Reach, CTR, video and audio completion rates, landing page visitation, site and content engagement, goal conversions $960,000 $1,000,000 Inflation, additional social video support and always-on SEM International Media A: Continue B: Enhance V S Reach, CTR, landing page visitation, site engagement, goal conversions $34,300 Consulting with Sylvia $72,875 Inflation, consulting; extended + additional program support In-Market Item Status & Priority Goal / KPI Scenario A Scenario B Drive newsletter signups in-market Start D # of Newsletter signups $10,000 Strategy, signage, staffing, giveaways, etc to drive on-venue activation for newsletter signups Same as A EGE Airport in-kind Marketing Production Start S B Brand Positioning $5,000 Digital graphic for display in the EGE Airport $20,000 Digital graphic plus wall activations, additional video edit w/ emphasis on subtitles Research Item Status & Priority KPI Scenario A Scenario B Brand Perception Start B Brand perception increase $50,000 Brand perception study. This will be an added ongoing cost for a continued, consistent analysis of Vail brand perception Same as A Data Strategy Item Status & Priority Goal / KPI Scenario A Scenario B Analytics Center of Excellence to support partner group Enhance V D S Data & Relationships Partner and VLMD dependence on centralized analytics to provide performance measurement and customer behavior insights $151,800 Fold in analytics support for channels beyond CRM/Database as well as additional data sources like Rove, KeyData, Adara, etc. Same as A Strategic Data Partnership A: Continue B: Enhance V D S Data & Relationships Efficiency and effectiveness of marketing spend Growth in breadth and depth of customer database $143,000 Growth of data-driven marketing capabilities per roadmap (Roadmap still to be developed) $168,000 Additional efforts on in-town activation across channels Public Relations Item Status & Priority Goal / KPI Scenario A Scenario B Domestic PR A: Continue B: Enhance B -Drive awareness/inspiration for booking a visit to Vail. -Percentage of coverage/engagement w/target media list. -More than 2 dozen inclusions of DiscoverVail.com in stories $116,500: Expenses $156,500: Expenses International PR A: Continue B: Enhance B -Drive awareness/inspiration for booking a visit to Vail. -Attendance and coverage of in-market activation and press trip $93,000: Expenses $113,000: Expenses 2024 Operating Plan August 17: Request for Board Feedback -Request additional detail on areas of question -Provide direction on Scenario A vs. Scenario B or combination September 7: Request for Board Approval -Final operating plan to be voted on at September 7 special meeting of the VLMDAC 2024 CAMPAIGN UPDATE 2024 Campaign Update Update presented at time of meeting. JULY LODGING REPORT & INSIGHTS July 2023 Lodging Campaign: Drive Market Specials ●Starting July 1, we began to run ads in key drive markets (Colorado, New Mexico and Utah) promoting the up to 20% off lodging message ●Supported in Digital Display, Paid Search and Paid Social ○Complemented by 50% non-lodging messaging in same markets and 100% in fly markets July 2023 Lodging Campaign Destimetrics Key takeaways: ●July gained +10.2% as an absolute measure of occupancy in July ○Bookings made in July for July were up +5.9% in absolute variance vs those made last year in July for July ●August gained +10.2% as an absolute measure of occupancy in July ○Bookings made in July for August are up +2.0% in absolute variance vs those made last year in July for August Since the last report (07/15), bookings activity for July 1 through January 31 has yielded a net of +14,598 or +14,598 new bookings. This level of net booking activity has increased +11.9% (-0.9% last report) from the last report (+13,051) July 2023 Lodging Results July 2023 Lodging Campaign During the campaign timeframe, digital tactics drove: 6,714 Hotel Searches 194 Hotel Bookings $129k Hotel Revenue Season Investment Hotel Searches Hotel Bookings Cost/ Booking Hotel Revenue Early Winter 2022* (11/8-12/4)$94k 11k 301 $312 $370k Late Winter 2023 (3/19-4/22)$39k 9.3k 221 $176 $172k July 2023^$16k 6.7k 194 $82 $129k *Halo of Vail Resorts early season activity ^Campaign complemented by general awareness activity as well Source: Adara Average length of stay = 4 nights ●47% of travelers are parties of 3, staying an average of 3.3 nights ○33% are solo travelers staying an average of 4.2 nights July 2023 Lodging Campaign Source: Adara July 2023 Campaign: Drive Market Lodging Specials ●Through July 31, we have spent $16.2k for over 2.2 million impressions generating 21k clicks to the site and 444 clicks to Book Direct Tactic Investment Impressions Clicks CTR CPC Book Direct Clicks Digital Display Ads $4.3k 667k 763 0.11%$5.89 4 Paid Search (SEM)$7.8k 78k 13,602 17.47%$0.57 406 Paid Social $4.1 1,509k 7,316 0.48%$0.55 34 TOTAL $16.2k 2,254k 20,997 0.93%$0.77 444 ^Campaign complemented by general awareness activity; numbers are all-inclusive Lodging Campaigns: Fall and Early Winter ●Fall Lodging campaign ○8/28-10/14 in Drive markets ○Dedicated campaign via shifted budget from Winter ●Early Winter Lodging campaign ○Discuss ■Timing: 10/30 -12/11 to impact 11/10-12/18? ■Imagery? Lodging Campaigns: Future Insights ●Planning for the future - ○Dedicate budgets to lodging campaign windows ○Continue digital display tactics for awareness value ○Reprise Colorado.com activity and add CTO in-state newsletters to capture predisposed visitors ○Configure a P-Max (SEM) into a lodging specific campaign to optimize only towards booking conversions. ○Consider integrating lodging imagery into executions ■Combine with other imagery in social carousels, HTML5 SUMMER CAMPAIGN REPORT & INSIGHTS Summer Ad Campaign thru July ●Campaign launched in social media and search in April, with all channels fully launched in May ○Goal to increase awareness and consideration, integrate more into the tourism landscape via native and partnership placements 4/1-7/31/23 Paid Traffic to Site 207.8k new users 60% of traffic Summer Ad Campaign thru July Digital ●All Digital channels have generated over 36 million impressions across all in-market channels including: ○Programmatic Display, Native Display, Pre-Roll Video, CTV/OTT, Rich Media, Streaming Radio and Digital OOH Impressions 36,028,452 CTR* 0.32% Clicks 116,542 *Industry average: .08% 5/1 - 7/31/23 Summer Ad Campaign thru July Display/Native ●Digital Display/Native placements have garnered >40k clicks ○Within native placements, Nativo was top performing vendor with a CTR of .56% ■CTA rate on articles 4.42% vs benchmark: 2.30% - 2.70% Clicks CTR Display Banners 6,058 0.14%* Native 34,390 0.41%^ *Banner industry average: .08% ^Native industry average: .12% 5/1 - 7/31/23 Summer Campaign thru July Display Creative^ Travel Intender 0.17% CTR Best performer: 300x250 at 0.24% HNW Family 0.07% CTR Best performer: 320x50 at 0.12% HNW Empty Nester 0.07% CTR Best performer: 320x50 at 0.09% *CTR industry average 0.07% ^New creative launched on June 5th ●Travel intender target is seeing strongest performance with the new couple creative; Gondola family image continues to perform well ●Pre-Roll video placements delivered almost 2.9M+ video completions for a video completion rate (VCR) of 71% - in line with the industry benchmark ○4,134 clicks to the site for a CTR of 0.10% ●CTV/OTT placements delivered 1.5M+ video completions for an average VCR of 98% ●New video spot launched 8/1 Summer Campaign thru July Video Summer Campaign thru July Other Digital ●Rich Media performance via Undertone is still strong with a CTR of 2% ○Interaction rate was above benchmark with Page Grabber* performing at 2.50% and Enhanced Standard^ at 0.79% ○Drove 12% of site traffic May-July ●Streaming Radio via Spotify has delivered 2.2M+ impressions ○Awareness-driven tactic drove 1.2k clicks to the site for a CTR of 0.05% ■Above benchmark of 0.01% - 0.03% Summer Campaign thru July Paid Social ●Paid Social ads ranked #3 for traffic to the DiscoverVail website April-July, accounting for 21% of traffic - split between traffic and video campaigns Landing Page Views (LPV)67,442 Cost per LPV $0.55 CTR 1.19% Engagement rate 3.27% *Industry averages: CTR 0.9% and Engagement rate 2% 4/1 - 7/31/23 Thru Plays 572,565 Cost per thru play $0.03 Engagement rate 123.72% Summer SEM ads have performed very well for May - July with a low CPC, High CTR as well as lots of clicks & conversions ●Site engagement from SEM ads is very strong with a low 43% bounce rate which is 25% lower than the average for the site ●SEM drove 24% of site traffic which is the most of any channel Summer Campaign thru July Paid Search (SEM) * Current SEM industry standards source: https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2016/02/29/google-adwords-industry-benchmarks 67k Clicks $0.41 CPC 19% CTR *benchmark 4.3% 39% Events 24% TTD ●Audiences ○The Travel Intender audience continues to be the top audience - performing above benchmark across all tactics ○HNW Family + Empty Nester have performed moderately well, but have struggled to gain traction since the campaign as launch ●Markets ○Top Destination markets by tactic include: ■Display/Native: New York, LA, Chicago, Seattle ■Online Video: New York, LA, Chicago, Seattle ■CTV: New York, LA, Chicago, Dallas Summer Ad Campaign Key Takeaways Source: Adara Impact Summer Ad Campaign Key Takeaways - Adara Impact ●Bookings reported in Adara shows a 50% growth YoY from users with HHI $250K - $300K. ●While the HHI $75K-$100K segment saw YoY growth, it was minimal at around 15%. 2022 HHI Distribution*2023 HHI Distribution *Data is from April - July 2022 Summer Ad Campaign Key Takeaways - Adara Impact ●Age distribution was similar YoY with bookings reporting in Adara primarily coming from users ages 40-49. ●Users A30-39 had a significant increase YoY from roughly 20% of bookings to 30% in 2023. 2023 Age Distribution2022 Age Distribution* *Data is from April - July 2022 ●Fall creative is launching this week in Destination EGE markets (NYC, Dallas, Miami, Chicago), followed by Drive markets at the end of month ○50% of activity in fly markets toward EGE message ○Lodging deals will be supported in Drive markets as well with dedicated effort 8/28-10/15 Fall, Air and Lodging Campaign TOV UPDATES Thank you! Thank you! Upcoming Meetings: VLMDAC Special Board Meeting, Thursday, September 7, 2023, Virtual VLMDAC Board Meeting, Thursday, September 21, 2023, Grand View Room VLMD Meeting, Tuesday, September 19, 2023, Vail Town Council Chambers APPENDIX VLMD Operating Plan / Milestones 2024 Planning Timeline ●7/11 Second Partner 2024 Planning Session ●7/18 Town Council meeting, first look at 2024 TOV budget – flat to 2023 ●7/20 VLMDAC Meeting: 2024 Budget discussion – secure board direction on priorities ●8/17 VLMDAC Meeting: Present Draft Operating Plan for Town Council on 9/19 ●9/7 VLMDAC Special Meeting Operating Plan FINAL: Virtual ●9/19 Town Council Meeting: Present and adopt 2024 Operating Plan ●9/21 VLMDAC Meeting ●10/19 VLMDAC Meeting ●11/7 Town Council Election ●11/16 VLMDAC Meeting ●12/5 Town Council Meeting: Present final budget ●12/5 or 12/19 VLMDAC board seat interviews at Town Council ●Jan. 2024: New Town Council sworn in July 2023 Lodging Campaign: Digital Display ●Digital display has produced 763 clicks and 4 conversions so far ○Performing 38% above CTR benchmark and has a good conversion rate at 0.52% ○Top performing ads were the Village 300x600 and 300x250 at 0.64% and 0.18% respectively. Both were from the Travel Intender audience. ●Note: General campaign is performing better with an average CTR of .15% Impressions Clicks CTR Book Direct Clicks Conversion Rate 667,020 763 0.11%4 0.52% *.08 CTR benchmark July 2023 Lodging Campaign: Paid Search (SEM) ●Paid Search has produced 13.6k clicks and 406 book direct clicks ○Started with static and Google Performance Max (P-Max) tactics ■Very strong CTR and conversion rate ■Performing well with CPC of $0.58 (industry average $1.53) ■Static promo campaign is generating the majority of lodging clicks ■Shifted P-Max effort to general on 7/14, generating a higher velocity of conversions for the promo campaign in the second half of the month. ■Dynamic Search ad surged in the 2nd half of July to drive the most clicks (4,392) and lodging click conversions (218) Impressions Clicks CTR Book Direct Clicks Conversion Rate 77,863 13,602 17.47%406 2.98% *4.32% CTR benchmark July 2023 Lodging Campaign: Paid Social ●Paid Social has produced almost 6k landing page views and 34 conversions ○Low CTR, but quality clicks, as conversion rate is good Impressions Landing Page Views CTR Book Direct Clicks Conversion Rate Engagement Rate 2,241,900 5,834 0.48%34 .58%1.25% *.9% CTR benchmark *2% Engagement Rate Benchmark ●Streaming Radio via Spotify delivered 2.2M+ impressions so far ○Awareness-driven tactic still drove 1,181 clicks to the site for a CTR of 0.05% ■Above benchmark of 0.01% - 0.03% ○All Destination markets are performing roughly the same with CTRs between 0.04 - 0.06% ■Chicago, Denver, San Francisco and Seattle are the top markets with CTRs of 0.06% Summer Campaign thru July Audio Summer Campaign thru July Nativo 4.42% CTR* 0.38% CTR* *Average of all 3 articles/traffic drivers ●Rich Media performance was strong with a CTR of 2% ○Interaction rate was above benchmark with Page Grabber* performing at 2.50% and Enhanced Standard^ at 0.79% ○New tactic for VLMD, drove 11.5% of site traffic May-July Summer Campaign thru July Rich Media Page Grabber demo Enhanced Standard demo *PG Interaction Rate benchmark: 1.15 - 2% ^ES Interaction Rate benchmark: 0.40% - 0.60%