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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Marketing Committee 12/06/2016PALM DESERT PALM DESERT MARKETING COMMITTEE APPROVED MINUTES Tuesday, December 6, 2016 — 3:00 p.m. Administrative Conference Room I. CALL TO ORDER Rolf Hoehn called the meeting to order at 3:03 p.m. II. ROLL CALL Members Present: Arlene Amick Rolf Hoehn, Chair Theresa Maggio, Vice -Chair Jerry Martin Jeffrey Norman Ray Rodriguez Erin Scott Members Absent: Franchesca Forrer Mahasti Islami Bruce Nation Barb Wagner Staff /Others Present: Jan Harnik, Mayor Pro Tem Thomas Soule, Tourism & Marketing Manager Rudy Acosta, Assistant City Manager Martin Alvarez, Economic Development Director David Hermann, Management Analyst Jane Stanley, Recording Secretary Barbara Blythe, Tourism & Marketing Specialist Amy Lawrence, Management Analyst Deborah Glickman, Management Analyst Barry Gorfine III. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS Mayor Pro Tem Harnik distributed Thank You cards to each Committee Member and said, "The City loves to say `thank you' for all you do for us, which is a lot. We don't want you ever to think that we don't recognize that and how great you make our City. Thank you from our City for giving your time and expertise and good ideas. We appreciate it all." On behalf of the Committee members, Chair Rolf Hoehn replied that they all appreciate it very much and love serving the City. APPROVED MINUTES PALM DESERT MARKETING COMMITTEE December 6, 2016 IV. CONSENT CALENDAR A. MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF SEPTEMBER 20, 2016 Jeffrey Norman moved, by Minute Motion, to approve the minutes of the September 20, 2016, meeting as presented. The motion was seconded by Ray Rodriguez and carried by a 6-0-5 vote. (AYES: Amick, Martin, Norman, Rodriguez, Scott and Hoehn; NOES: None; ABSENT: Forrer, Islami, Maggio, Nation and Wagner) V. CONSENT ITEMS HELD OVER None. At this point in the meeting Theresa Maggio arrived. VI. NEW BUSINESS A. DESERT X Deborah Schwartz -Glickman began by saying she is familiar with everyone on the Committee because of her work on the Palm Desert Public Art Program. She said Desert X is an international caliber sculpture exhibition that will be coming to the Coachella Valley from February 25 through April 30, 2017. It was started by Susan Davies from Sunnylands who wanted to see large scale sculptures exhibited in her community. She put together a Board of internationally acclaimed artists, collectors and local members, including Steve Nash from the Palm Springs Art Museum. Their goal is to bring between 12 and 20 sculptures throughout the Valley, from Palm Springs to the Salton Sea. The sculptures will be displayed anywhere from an abandoned building to a hiking trail. There will be a website and a magazine for the exhibition. The City has sponsored at the $25,000 level, split between the Public Art Program and the Marketing Program as the exhibition will be getting international recognition. There will be 1 to 3 pieces in Palm Desert. The cities of Indio, Rancho Mirage and Palm Springs are also sponsors and there will be artwork in those cities as well. Claudia Compte, an artist from Switzerland, will be placing her artwork in Palm Desert's Homme Adams Park. Staff already met with her on site and the installation team is working on the engineering. She is proposing to create a curvilinear wall 70 feet long. She is a mid -career artist and will expand her reputation through this exhibition. As people hike up the trail they can see the wall from above. There is some programming around Desert X specific to Palm Desert. The April First Weekend will be dedicated to Desert X. Most likely there will be a sketching event in March at the piece that will include some teaching artists. In April there will be a talk at the piece, probably by the curator of the Board, and a hike afterwards. 2 APPROVED MINUTES PALM DESERT MARKETING COMMITTEE December 6, 2016 Arlene Amick added that the Art Museum wanted to participate as much as possible, especially since it is a First Weekend. There will be a Desert X Party to kick off the weekend with an artist talk. It will be a collaboration between the museum, the City and Desert X. Ms. Schwartz -Glickman went on to say that if Palm Desert gets 3 pieces it would make for a perfect tour of the artwork in the City. The other locations in Palm Desert are still under discussion, which would be City properties. Artists respond to the sites they are offered and their piece is assigned accordingly. The expected tourism impact is over 40,000 visitors during the exhibition. There will be a Southern California Public Art Administrators Tour and as those administrators return they will be sharing the information. The exhibition starts at the end of Modernism Week and ends just after the concerts. Most pieces will be removed after the exhibition. Mayor Pro Tem Harnik added that from among 500 cities Ms. Schwartz - Glickman received accolades and an award for the First Weekend Program from the California League of Cities. Ms. Schwartz -Glickman stated that First Weekend is absolutely a joint effort. She is very proud to call it the "award winning" First Weekend, which sounds good for PR. With Committee concurrence, the Desert X report was received and filed. B. TOUR DE PALM SPRINGS IN PALM DESERT Amy Lawrence, who works on the City's special events, distributed an Economic Impact Report from the 2016 Tour de Palm Springs. Coachella Valley Serving People In Need (CV SPIN) is the organization that puts on the tour as well as the Patriot Ride For Our Heroes. They approached Palm Desert a few months ago about relocating the Tour de Palm Springs to Palm Desert, specifically El Paseo. For the last 18 years the event has been held in downtown Palm Springs in February. Because of conflicting events in 2016 and 2017 the City of Palm Springs asked them to move the event to January, which resulted in a substantial decrease in ridership. The organizers began looking at other venues in the Coachella Valley and decided on El Paseo because of its unique atmosphere and retail and dining options for the thousands of attendees. Referring to the report, the 2016 event had 5,774 riders coming from 39 states, 4 Canadian provinces and 4 foreign countries. Each rider represents a group of 3.3 people, which totaled about 20,000 coming to the Coachella Valley for the 2016 event. Bringing the event to Palm Desert could generate meaningful economic benefit to the City. The Tour de Palm Springs is requesting to move the event to Palm Desert the second weekend in February of 2018. It would be a 2 day event; a Friday expo and Saturday bike rides. Staff is working on logistics now. She will be taking the 3 APPROVED MINUTES PALM DESERT MARKETING COMMITTEE December 6, 2016 request for approval of the date and location to the City Council on Thursday. The organizers want to announce at the January 2017 event that they will be relocating to Palm Desert in 2018. If approved, the 20th Annual Tour de Palm Springs will be take place on El Paseo, February 9-10, 2018. Responding to question, the organizers have agreed to change the event name and have proposed The Tour de Palm Springs in Palm Desert the first year, and subsequent years they would be open to other names. Because of the Tour de Palm Springs brand it is beneficial to keep that name until it gets going here. They are willing to give a 5 year agreement to hold the event in Palm Desert. Upon Council approval of the event, staff will work on logistics such as road closures on El Paseo, bike routes out of the City, public safety, and an analysis of hard costs of the event to come up with some sort of sponsorship request, which would then go back to the City Council at a later date. The Friday expo would go from noon to 8:00 p.m. Riders would pick up their registration packets and it would include bands, vendor booths and other activities. On Saturday the actual bike rides are 100, 50, 25, 10 and 5 miles and possibly a 3 mile walk in the area. At one point there were close to 10,000 riders and in 2016 it was almost half of that, possibly from the date change. Chair Hoehn asked if she had a business report showing who the sponsors have been, to which Ms. Lawrence responded that she did not at this time, but the organizers have a long list of sponsors they could provide. Michael Sterns, the Executive Director, said they plan on getting as many sponsors as they can. Ms. Lawrence explained to him that Palm Desert does not like to be the only sponsor. The management of the event would remain and would be responsible for building the event. The City would be working with them on logistics, public safety, trash and recycling, parking. Chair Hoehn stated that a 5 year contract would need to include the timing for the transition to the Tour de Palm Desert name. Arlene Amick noted that the name "Palm Springs Art Museum in Palm Desert" can be confusing to a lot of people. She suggested changing the name to "Tour de Palm Desert (formerly Tour de Palm Springs)" to help clarify. Theresa Maggio has worked with Michael Sterns and said he is very good with getting sponsors and doing full scale events. Chair Hoehn noted that the name drives the hotel stays and the report says that over 80% of the people stayed in Palm Springs. The inference is that if it's the Tour de Palm Desert the hotels will definitely benefit and the majority of the people will choose to stay here. Ray Rodriguez said that early on in the branding process Palm Desert and El Paseo need to be connected. We are not taking care of our guests if we are not giving them very clear direction. Part of the confusion is that visitors come here 4 APPROVED MINUTES PALM DESERT MARKETING COMMITTEE December 6, 2016 and they have heard about El Paseo and Palm Springs but they don't know where it is. If there is a way to connect El Paseo with Palm Desert with this tour it would be another step forward in helping to communicate our brand. Upon question, Ms. Lawrence replied that last year Palm Springs gave $25,000 in a cash sponsorship and then gave the organizers a bill for $55,000 for services. That's why the costs to hold the even here are being analyzed. Staff is trying to get a rough estimate from the Police Department to get an idea of their costs. In previous all -valley events held in Palm Springs, an all -cities meeting is held and each city discusses their portion of the event. This is also what staff will be doing. Our Police Department is phenomenal to work with and they will put together a great plan public safety wise. As riders go over the bridge for their 50 and 100 mile rides, the other law enforcement agencies will take over, including the California Highway Patrol. Cal Trans is also involved as well as all the different cities and police agencies. Bike routes have not been determined yet. The 50 and 100 mile routes would start on El Paseo, go across 1-10, and from there either going west or east. There won't be a lot of impact in Palm Desert for these, but the 10 and 25 mile routes might. Our Citizens on Patrol is another great resource we have to offer that helps offset police costs along the route. The logistics are all going to be discussed after the Council's approval. She also asked the organizers to not do any promotion until after the Council's approval. The event was presented to the El Paseo Business Improvement District and they offered their unanimous support to bring the event to El Paseo despite the significant impact that it's going to bring. It could potentially be a 2 day street closure. There will be vendors along the street and thousands of bicyclists as well as thousands of people for retail and dining. They are also looking at incorporating a Tour de Jazz (street music on the corners), Tour de Pasta (partnering with different restaurants in the area), or a Tour de El Paseo (a scavenger hunt in businesses). Ruth Ann Moore said they wanted to do a pasta night in President's Plaza as a fundraiser because they are trying to raise money for charity, but we want people in the restaurants. Mayor Pro Tem Harnik said the name should be changed immediately. Looking at where participants come from, we have an opportunity to introduce a lot of people to Palm Desert and El Paseo. The Councilmembers will comment on this at the Council meeting on Thursday. Thomas Soule said shifting earlier to Tour de Palm Desert makes it possible to add "on El Paseo" instead of Tour de Palm Springs in Palm Desert on El Paseo Chair Hoehn said the promotion of an event is very significant so the brand Palm Springs is not as important. The focus is on the bicycle event and where it is taking place. 5 APPROVED MINUTES PALM DESERT MARKETING COMMITTEE December 6, 2016 Mayor Pro Tem Harnik asked Ms. Amick to write some of her comments about the confusion surrounding the museum's location and provide it to the Council. The event producers could also receive it. Mr. Norman suggested initiating a conversation regarding a jazz performance at The McCallum. Barbara Blythe said if we want them to drop their branding and website and get them to use the Palm Desert name, let's really make it Palm Desert; better, flashier, splashier, get the whole street involved, let's do it up right, let's show them our best, come up with offers and really make it great so that they will forget they were in Palm Springs. Ray Rodriguez said he is a firm advocate for Tour de Palm Desert on El Paseo. Let's be who we are; let's trumpet it and you will change the branding quickly, in one year. Responding to a question about a potential conflict with Swing 'N Hops, Ms. Lawrence said the tour would never be on a First Weekend. The only time the date may change is when Presidents Day is the second weekend in February. Staff is looking at moving Swing `N Hops because the tour would be such a significant event impacting El Paseo that they don't want the merchants to have to deal with street closures on back to back weekends. Ruth Ann Moore noted that the San Pablo improvements will be completed by then so Swing `N Hops could be held there. Ms. Blythe commented that Tour de Palm Desert .com and .org are both available websites. Let's get it while we can. David Hermann will talk to Clay Von Helf about the website names. Theresa Maggio said everyone who signs up should get a visitor guide via email. It would be smart for hotels to be event sponsors. Chair Hoehn said it's a very exciting event to look forward to and judging from the comments the Committee gives its full support. With Committee concurrence the Tour de Palm Springs in Palm Desert report was received and filed. C. REPORT ON PROGRESS OF NEW AD CAMPAIGN Mr. Soule reported that according to the Media Plan the ad campaign has launched for the fall. Referring to the Media Plan Flow Chart there have been ads in Los Angeles Magazine, San Diego Magazine and Palm Springs Life. Orange Coast Magazine ads started in December. There are 26 digital screens at the Beverly Center in Los Angeles and 4 backlit panels at Fashion Island in 6 APPROVED MINUTES PALM DESERT MARKETING COMMITTEE December 6, 2016 Orange County. The digital campaign has been ongoing. The transitional ads are running and as the new ads are finished and approved they will be swapped out. The Palm Springs Airport baggage claim boards will be redesigned with the new campaign and images. Facebook ads have been running with the older images and City event ads, such as First Weekend, to help drive traffic to those events. Mr. Soule reminded the Committee of the online research for the new So Worth It campaign. People are looking for getting away from it all, using words like relaxing calm, serene, drawn to leisure and activity, images that are exotic, scenic views, and inviting. This is what they were pushing for when they shot the new campaign. Respondents preferred the images that focused on location instead of the talent. They want ads that feel like Palm Desert and give you a sense of this city. The creative brief emphasized conveying a strong sense of place, highlighting the rich, lush colors of Palm Desert, reinforcing the concept of an elevated getaway to help distinguish us from Palm Springs, and to tap into the desire for a relaxed, easy getaway. He showed 3 preliminary ads to give a sense of the direction. The text is small and not readable and it's still in process of being whittled down. The 3 ads are shots of hiking, swimming pool, and golf. Ms. Amick liked the refined message and said it doesn't look like other destinations. Erin Scott said the ads are very stylized, idealistic and realistic. Discussion ensued regarding the color and placement of the copy. Mr. Soule said video was also shot at each location and a shopping ad will be created for the local market. He wanted the Committee to see the ads because it will be presented to the City Council prior to next Marketing Committee meeting. With Committee concurrence and support the Report on Progress of New Ad Campaign was received and filed. VII. CONTINUED BUSINESS None VIII. OLD BUSINESS None IX. REPORTS FROM CITY COUNCIL LIAISONS A. City Council 7 APPROVED MINUTES PALM DESERT MARKETING COMMITTEE December 6, 2016 Mayor Pro Tem Harnik reported that Mayor Bob Spiegel will be retiring on Thursday after 21 years on the City Council. There will be a new Council liaison on the Marketing Committee to replace Mr. Spiegel. It's a time of evolution with 2 new City Council members. The Holiday Celebration on El Paseo was outstanding with tremendous turnout and was a lot of fun. Regarding the push to get more events, we already have some great events and we should leverage those City events and build on them to make them better. X. REPORTS AND REMARKS A. Chair Chair Hoehn reported that the October hotel occupancy rate hit a new high thanks to Desert Trip and other events, as well as a 12% increase in traffic at the airport. Air Canada is a new airline adding service in competition with WestJet and they will be bringing in a 767 plane. The American Airlines flight to Chicago was 95% full in the month. The CVB has been supporting that flight and didn't have to exercise their guarantee. B. Committee Members Theresa Maggio thanked everyone for their support of The Miracle on El Paseo. Almost 3,000 people attended the event that encompassed 2 blocks. It was an amazing event, just 1 of 24 she put on in November. The Living Desert had a wonderful lounge at the event. A video has been produced regarding the new Bighorn clubhouse and is on the Bighorn website. Members are coming back, enjoying all the events and are having fun. Erin Scott reported that The Living Desert is in the middle of Wild Lights. It had a very successful Black Friday with 4,100 visitors during the day and 3,700 at night. Attendance is trending to beat last year's numbers. At the Art Museum, Arlene Amick said they had many events in November, including their First Friday combined with the Day of the Dead Celebration. 650 people came between 4-9 p.m. A new glass exhibition is from a private collection, for which Barbara Blythe did a wonderful video. It's one of the best exhibitions in the space because the space was meant to celebrate the elements. This is the first time they have been able to raise the shades. The exhibition will be at the museum through March 7. She noted a few staff changes. She will be the Marketing Director in Palm Springs and Thomas Wooten will be the new acting General Manager in Palm Desert. 8 APPROVED MINUTES PALM DESERT MARKETING COMMITTEE December 6, 2016 Jerry Martin reported that Cruise Night had a great kickoff to the season. Its website has gone from 5,700 to 7,000 hits per month thanks to interaction and linking. More cars are turning out and they are looking to expand through the year. He is broadcasting Palm Desert events to his over 11,000 member database. He was on Eye on the Desert' recently with good feedback. Jeffrey Norman stated that the McCallum Theatre had a wonderfully successful Choreography Festival. Next year will be the 20t" year for this event and the educational McCallum Theatre Institute, and the 30" year for the Theatre. The annual Gala was the most successful ever, raising $1.6M. He has been delving more into the social media world and is working with a firm out of New York called Capacity Interactive that only works with arts organizations. C. Staff Rudy Acosta provided a status of golf operations at Desert Willow. Thursday the City Council will consider authorization to negotiate a contract with Kemper Sports for the maintenance of Desert Willow. Kemper has been on site since 1997. Chair Hoehn commented that it's healthy to go through this process and it makes what the Council decides defensible. Mayor Pro Tem Harnik added that the process gave rise to new ideas and how things could be done a little differently. Responding to question, Mr. Acosta stated that the 20 mile rule will be maintained, meaning that Kemper cannot operate another municipally owned golf course within 20 miles of Desert Willow unless they have permission from the City. Ruth Ann Moore reported that Street kicked off the November First Weekend. Attendance surpassed last year and she will provide a follow up report to the City Council. Measure T passed by 74%. This means $2M - $2.5M per year for the General Fund and to help with police and fire costs. Hotel Paseo is on schedule and on budget to open fall of 2017. The 150th room is a completely restored Airstream from the 1950's and is placed at the pool. Bill's Pizza is set to open this month. Rubio's opened recently; J Jill is coming back to The Gardens and others. Mr. Soule reported that there will be a FAM tour for journalists next week. They will be seeing The Nutcracker at The McCallum among other attractions. He thanked Mr. Norman for providing that opportunity. XI. INFORMATIONAL ITEMS A. Visitor Services Reports 9 APPROVED MINUTES PALM DESERT MARKETING COMMITTEE December 6, 2016 Barbara Blythe noted that the report is in a new format to capture the number of people that were served at external events, such as concerts in the park and Y Be Fit. Regarding the video she made of the exhibition at the Art Museum, video is a good way to break through and make progress on social media. It was a good example of this, reaching about 9,300 people with 4,100 people viewing it. She also did a video on Wild Lights that went up last week. With Committee concurrence, the Visitor Services Reports were received and filed. XII. NEXT MEETING DATE — MARCH 7, 2017 XII. ADJOURNMENT With Committee concurrence, the meeting was adjourned at 4:20 p.m. Jane Stanley, Record' t� Secretary 10