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Home My WebLink About02. 1.18.18_VLMDAC Minutes_FINALPublic Notice Vail Local Marketing District Advisory Council Thursday, January 18, 2018 PLEASE NOTE LOCATION: Grand View Room in Lionshead Parking Structure 8:30-11:00am Packet Link: http://bit.ly/2m76zmv VLMDAC Members Present: Phil Metz (Vail Resorts) Laurie Mullen (West Vail Liquor) Jenn Bruno (Vail Town Council) Jessie Klehfoth (VRD) Beth Slifer (Slifer Designs) John Dawsey (CME) Scott Gubrud (Four Seasons) Cindy Krieg (Doubletree) Skip Thurnauer Also Present: Mia Vlaar (Town of Vail) Greg Clifton (Town of Vail) Carlie Smith (Town of Vail) Yann Benjamin (Vail Resorts) Hannah Eflin (Vail Resorts) Kristin Yantis (MYPR) Chris Romer (VVP) Anna Robinson (VVP) Laura Waniuk (TOV) Meggen Kirkham (SITE) Sarah Berkheimer (Cactus) Norm Shearer (Cactus) Mike Lee (Cactus) Ainslie Fortune (Cactus) Henry Hougen (Deadline MotionWorks) Jack Affleck (Affleck Photo) Caroline Watson (Emico) Kristen Hickey (Emico) Erica Cannava (Manor Vail) Nicole Martin (Manor Vail) Kim Brussow (VVP) AGENDA • Election of Chair, Vice Chair, Treasurer, (10 minutes), VLMDAC members Skip Thurnauer nominates the current slate of officers for reelection Vote: Unanimous • December 2017 Monthly Financial Report & Colorado Classic Bike Race funding (10 minutes), Carlie Smith Revenues through Nov are approximately $2.8M. Final year end numbers by the February meeting. Cautiously optimistic that the2017 lodging tax collections will be in line with 2016 collections, but could come in below budget. Expenses YTD are approximately $3.6M, savings of approximately $200K from budget, of which the majority is related to the special event funding placeholder. Ending Fund Balance is $807,039 or 29% of revenues. Colorado Classic is a two day event with a three year commitment. The only other stop is Denver. Same funding commitment as the Pro Cycle Challenge - $310k total, with $200k from VLMD budget. Will come from a Q1 incremental increase, which will dip reserve balance below 25% for 2018. Town of Vail will also cover $65k in soft costs. VLMD will need to budget this event moving forward. Financial commitment should be expected to stay the same YOY. • Swearing in New VLMDAC Members, (5 minutes), Tammy Nagel Members sworn in: Laurie Mullen, John Dawsey, Cindy Krieg, Jessie Klehfoth • Approval of November 16, 2017 Meeting Minutes, (5 minutes) Motion/Second/Approval (Laurie Mullen/Scott Gubrud/Unanimous) • NYC PR Update, (15 minutes), MYPR It was cold! Trip was January 8 - 10, in partnership with Vail Mountain, in an effort to tell a year- round message. Able to meet with several new writers. Reviewed examples of publications represented - see slides for details. Trend Observations: reader trends, paid content, industry consolidations, etc. Vertical integrations are becoming common and may result in layoffs. See slides for details. “What’s new?” is still the #1 question. Year-round messaging is still very important and summer is still the big surprise. Animals are a big draw! • 2018 Strategy & Tactics (90 minutes), All Request from VLMDAC is to regain (retain?) position as the best year round mountain destination. Board will realign KPIs, etc. Marketing will be more inspirational/aspirational. See slides for detail. Review of items underway and plan for Jan through September 2018. See Slides for details. Current activities are an “audit” based. February will be a strategy presentation, remainder of 2018 will focus on implementation & asset collection. Discussion re: the decision to use regain vs. retain. There is a basis for the argument that Vail is not currently the leader. Retain sends a message of complacency, whereas the message should be more aggressive, take more risks. Primary Strategies: Brand, Storytelling, Data and Personas. See slides for details. Discussion RE: consumer focus is very important - messages can sometimes be TOO aspirational. Discussion RE: storytelling applies across the board - photos, copy, all partners, etc. Discussion RE: Personas - personas won’t change, but will add the next level of depth that has been discussed in recent meetings. Review of Strategic Approach: Take a step back and assess current position relative to the Consumer, the Brand, and Trends in the Market. The cross section of the three is often the “big idea”. Consumer: took current data and partnered with Facebook to get context on persona behavior. See slides for details on each persona. Brand: “Like Nothing on Earth “is still appropriate now and for future positioning. Discussion Re: will there be more symmetry between seasons? Yes - pushing the idea of “Mountain Destination” not just winter vs. summer. Trends: took another look at the Path to Purchase now that booking is always at the guests’ fingertips. Technology has disrupted the traditional model. Opportunity can be found in the Anticipation phase. See slides for details. Review of Storytelling Approach: Hero (big push, splashy content), Hub (consistent content), Hygiene (content designed to answer all the guest questions). Review of content sources - referrals from family/friends, web searches, resort websites are still the top three. See slides for details. Video Strategy: Story-based content, original music (own the “sound of Vail”), native placement, etc. See slides for details. Discussion Re: voice search - can we be out front with voice search results? Discussion RE: Facebook announcement about how content is served on your newsfeed – will that affect the campaign? No - it does not really affect paid search and the current strategy has always looked at FB as a paid outlet. Digital Media: New video formats (360, Vertical Video). Removing all digital banner ads from the buy and focusing on video. Will expand use of social media to support influencer program. New Facebook “canvas ads” will be added to the buy as well as mobile AI social “listening.” New partner for native content (Clever). See slides for details. Discussion RE: This new strategy is very fiscally responsible. Would like to see a strategy RE: retargeting. This is definitely a future priority, but cooperation between all players will be crucial. Discussion RE: marketing before the decision? Has that been blended with post-decision marketing? To an extent yes, see the new decision making cycle, but there is still a robust high funnel strategy. Discussion RE: the need for data in order to make the big strategy changes. VR has it for winter, but we need to gather it for summer. Discussion RE: how to get hotel partners to play ball. Discussions RE: will these campaigns direct people to central reservations? Conversions from CR to non-Vail Resorts properties are declining significantly. Review of sample videos (social/360/vertical/etc). See slides for details. Discussion RE: the future of video as the bulk of online content? Definite need to bolster video assets, but also keep in mind that 360 and Virtual Reality are close on its heels. Traditional Media: Traditional media in this context means targeted television, out of home (billboards), etc. Does not mean print ads! Strategy is to deliver multiple messages to a consistent audience, and to keep an eye out for creative new mediums (i.e. - buying “homes” for television targeting, rather than cities/markets/etc, rapid rotary billboards). See slides for details. Review of air marketing strategy similar to the winter 2018 strategy - see slides for details. Event messaging will be “umbrella” rather than specific to individual events. Can be tagged for specific events, but message will be broad. Considering another look at radio DJ endorsements. Web/Email/Organic: Review of responsive website migration: currently in the process of migrating content to summer website. Priority is summer event-related content (Feb 1). Summer navigation switch (April 23rd). After this year, the new website will house year-round content. See slides for full timeline and details. Discussion RE: any red flags from winter conversion? Nothing alarming at present. Being deliberately patient and watching the winter site for the whole season before reacting. Review of future web tactics to maximize storytelling efforts (i.e. - personalized landing page experiences based on guest persona). See slides for details. Review of email tactics (i.e. - serving summer content to winter database of guests, testing a year-round message). See slides for details. Review of social strategy - this will be primary medium for testing new video/storytelling strategy. Social is the best place to take a risk because it’s an unpaid media. Will also push a lot of event messages. Discussion RE: User generated content? VR currently uses Pixly to aggregate content. Right now it is used during winter and they will ramp it up for this summer. Discussion RE: What is the plan for storytelling TO vs. THROUGH people? Discussion of presenting options in the future: rather than 3 options on the same level of risk, bring 2 that are risky and 1 that is safe. Discussion RE: should luxury be brought back into the vocabulary? Can that be one of the risks that is taken? More to come on this. Discussion RE: other topics to consider bringing back - shopping, dining. 2018 PR Strategy: Review of ideas to break through the clutter - final strategy will be refined at partner meeting. See slides for details. Review of sample strategy – in-market media trips in partnership with other organizations (VR, United, GoPro, etc). Discussion RE: bloggers, influencer role in strategies. Will be a focus, but also a grey area with Cactus. Work in progress. Review of next steps - see slides for details. Discussion RE: sustainable destination story and plan. • Other Business (5 minutes) o Town would like VLMDAC to provide suggestions on who will fill Scott Gubrud’s seat (and any others moving forward). Will discuss ways to recruit and try to have a strategy by February. • Adjournment o Motion/Second (John Dawsey/Laurie Mullen) • Upcoming Meetings: o VLMDAC Meeting, February 15, 2018 – Antlers at Vail (PLEASE NOTE: this is the only meeting at Antlers. All others will be held in the Grand View Room)