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HomeMy WebLinkAbout05. PR Report.April/ May 11, 2020 TO: Vail Local Marketing District Advisory Council FROM: Kristin Yantis & Corinne Baud, MYPR CC: Mia Vlaar & Liz Gladitsch, Town of Vail RE: April Public Relations Report In April, all of MYPR’s efforts focused on COVID-19 and its impacts on the Vail summer marketing effort. The agency participated in bi-weekly partner calls to monitor the ever-changing landscape of tourism in the time of the pandemic. The agency also spoke weekly to regional and national media to get an idea of what’s happening with the publications they contribute to, along with opportunities that might be avaiable to keep Vail top of mind with media. Lastly, the agency had several conversations with partners and Mia relative to ongoing promotion in Mexico. Following is a brief recap of action items in April. Participated in weekly SKIFT media roundtable dicussions with key editors from publications such as AAA, AFAR and Travel + Leisure. Shifted budget and summer plans by 20 percent to accommodate for Town of Vail budget request. Scheduled weekly calls with media who represent publications such as American Way, Hemispheres, AFAR, New York Times, Denver Post, AAA, Sunset and others to assess how media outlets are shifting coverage. We also spoke to several freelance writers who noted that most of the outlets they historically contribute to are not assigning much freelance work right now – most are handling content internally for the time being. Worked closely with Liz and the team at Cactus to create the media center on DiscoverVail.com. The site is still in development and should launch early May. MYPR revisited copy for the summer media tipsheet and will have that complete in May once additional items related to summer travel to Vail have been finalized. Met with Cactus to revise the influencer program for summer 2020 with an emphasis on local/regional influencers. Continued to develop new, fresh content to help with pitching this summer including a release on wide open spaces and a teen’s guide to visiting Vail. MYPR will use this content for pitching, as needed versus mass distribution. Working with a design partner to create an email newsletter template for use when communicating to partners in the community. The agency is rethinking how it communicates with partners in the community to better keep them informed of what we are doing to support them this summer as well as share out media successes, best practices and opportunities to get involved in the summer PR effort. Set up several meetings with the new Vail Mountain PR team. The agency has a goal of reviving this relationship and returning it to a level where there is more communication – not just a transactional relationship. MYPR also provided ongoing content ideas to Liz for DiscoverVail.com and its “virtual Vail” page. Continued to identify past online stories and contacting authors to see if they are willing to change references of Vail.com to DiscoverVail.com. Contacted past social media influencers to let them know about the new DiscoverVail.com social handles. We requested they repost some of their content and let them know that we’ll be using their images on the new channels. Worked closely with Sylvia to rethink the budget for Mexico summer 2020 and continued to refine timing, message, etc. Zoom Media Happy Hours The agency also developed a series of Zoom happy hours for Front Range journalists. We had three key objectives for this effort: Support Denver and Vail businesses Keep Vail top-of-mind with Front Range media Support our media friends during the pandemic We invited two dozen media to join us for one of two Zoom happy hour calls. We positioned this as an opportunity to connect during a difficult time; not a pitching opportunity. We also made it clear that this was about relationship building – we did not expect media coverage from this effort. MYPR partnered with a Denver café which handled food and alcohol deliveries to each journalist the afternoon before each Zoom call. The deliveries also included two, $50 gift cards to Vail restaurants to invite media to come back to Vail this summer. Brian Nolan kindly donated 12, $50 gift cards from Blue Moose and we purchased the other $50 gift cards to support local Vail restaurants. We had 19 of the 24 invitees join us for the happy hours. Following is a sample of the media outlets represented: Mountain Living American Way Hemispheres KDVR ColoradoBIZ Colorado Parent Westword Elevation Outdoors InGoodTasteDenver.com (food blog) Denver Post 5280 Colorado Meetings & Events AAA Encompass @biteswithbre Travel & Leisure CBS Denver We received tremendous feedback from our media partners in Denver as MYPR and Discover Vail were the only tourism organizations hosting such events with Front Range media. Here is some of the feedback we received. “Thank you so much, what a brillant idea, it was such a treat and wonderful to see you and your team.” – Darla Worden, editor, Mountain Living “I LOVE this idea! Was just telling someone else about it. I’m happy to attend!” – Josh Berman, freelance writer for Denver Post “Count me in, Kristin! Love this idea so much!” – Sarah Kuta, freelance writer for Denver Post, Robb Report, Food & Wine, NBC news, Simplemost, Livability, NBC News and more “I’m so excited for this. Thank you for putting this together and lifting my spirts.” – Bre Patterson @biteswithbre Discover Vail also received some nice social media shout outs from the second happy hour. / / Sample Media Placements Sample media placements will be provided each month with a full media clip report provided on a quarterly basis. Parklandia Podcast on iHeartRadio Headline/Link: Traveling Eats with Matt: Behind the Vail Note: Result of MYPR hosting Brad and Matt Kirouac to a visit to Vail summer 2019. USAToday.com Headline/Link: Good spirits: These distilleries are now making hand sanitizer Note: Result of MYPR pitching “good news” stories during COVID-19 outbreak. Upcoming Placements Forbes.com Business Travel News San Diego Union Tribune Elevation Outdoors Colorado Traveler Mountain Living Upcoming Media/Influencer Visits MYPR is currently holding off on scheduling summer media/influencer visits until there is a clearer understanding of timing for the community to reopen to outside visitors. Focus for May Continue to refocus summer 2020 strategy due to COVID-19. Continue to update summer media materials, per changes to activities, calendar of events, etc. Continue touching base with key media contacts to gauge interest in destination travel stories. Continue to monitor media coverage and how COVID is impacting the travel industry, media outlets and opportunities for coverage. Work closely with Sylvia to tightedn up summer 2020 plans for Mexico PR. Finalize summer media center on DiscoverVail.com. Finalize email newsletter template to better connect with partners in the community this summer. Upon review, please let us know if you have any questions. Thank you!