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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Marketing Committee 11/18/2014X�2, PALM DESERT PALM DESERT MARKETING COMMITTEE APPROVED MINUTES Tuesday, November 18, 2014 — 2 p.m. Administrative Conference Room I. CALL TO ORDER Rolf Hoehn called the meeting to order at 2:02 p.m. II. ROLL CALL Members Present: Members Absent: Arlene Amick Kerry Graves Emily Bird-Hrivnak Franchesca Forrer Rolf Hoehn, Chair Theresa Maggio, Vice -Chair Bruce Nation Jeffrey Norman Sara O'Flynn Ray Rodriguez Diane Williams Staff /Others Present: Bob Spiegel, Council Member Rudy Acosta, Assistant City Manager Donna Gomez, Tourism & Marketing Manager Martin Alvarez, Economic Development Director Ruth Ann Moore, Economic Development Manager David Hermann, Management Analyst Jane Stanley, Recording Secretary Michael Mathews, Palm Springs Life Frank Jones, Publisher, Palm Springs Life III. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS None. APPROVED MINUTES PALM DESERT MARKETING COMMITTEE NOVEMBER 18, 2014 IV. CONSENT CALENDAR A. MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF AUGUST 19, 2014. Jeffrey Norman moved, by Minute Motion, to approve the minutes of the August 19, 2014, meeting as presented. Motion was seconded by Theresa Maggio and carried by 9-0-2 vote. (AYES: Bird-Hrivnak, Forrer, Maggio, Nation, Norman, O'Flynn, Rodriguez, Williams, and Hoehn; NOES: None; ABSENT: Amick and Graves.) V. CONSENT ITEMS HELD OVER None. Arlene Amick arrived at this point in the meeting. VI. NEW BUSINESS A. CONSIDERATION OF REQUEST FOR FUNDING OF 2015 FOOD & WINE PALM DESERT Ruth Ann Moore gave a brief history of the event for the new Committee members. Fashion Week started by itself in 2006 with 3 nights and has since grown to 8 nights. The 3-day Food & Wine event was added in 2010. Over the years the City has sponsored the event in varying amounts. The City's current sponsorship is $75,000 per year with a 3-year contract. 2015 is the 3rd year of that contract. Palm Springs Life has the ability to request additional funding, which is the reason they are here today. They would like to expand the Food & Wine event through additional tents and air conditioning system improvements. There has been preliminary discussion of expanding and breaking it out as a separate event. Ms. Moore reminded the Committee that Fashion Week is on the site at Shadow Mountain and Larkspur for the last time. The new property owners plan to break ground on their hotel project next summer. Approval was already given to move 2015 Fashion Week to the top of the parking structure at The Gardens and approval for 2016 Fashion Week will be requested from the property manager. In order to hold the event there, significant preparation needs to be made to the parking structure. Michael Mathews presented a summary report from the past four Food & Wine events. The goal of the requested enhancements is to improve the experience for attendees and to establish it as a major event for the City of Palm Desert and as a premier festival in Southern California. Mr. Mathews reiterated that "Palm Desert" is included in all ads and collateral. Fashion Week is already the largest consumer fashion week on the west coast. He then went on to describe the requested enhancements. Mr. Mathews 2 APPROVED MINUTES PALM DESERT MARKETING COMMITTEE NOVEMBER 18, 2014 clarified that today's request is for an additional $75,000 for 2015 Food & Wine. In response to Franchesca Forrer's questions, the largest sponsor will most likely be Lincoln and a casino. A new offering in 2015 will be a VIP ticket for heightened offerings to food and wine aficionados at a cost of $125. The regular ticket price is $90. As part of the sponsorship, tickets to VIP events will be given to the City for promotion of the events. He doesn't see how much more recognition can be given to Palm Desert, since everything they do has "Palm Desert" in it. Mr. Spiegel asked about Fashion Week. Mr. Mathews said that 2015 will be the 10th anniversary and will be retrospective of the past designers. He went on to say that ticket sales have doubled over last year at this time, even though the designers and chefs have not been named yet. Rolf Hoehn remarked that he would like to have seen a business plan included in the $75,000 request. Expenses have been outlined yet there are still opportunities to collect monies from sponsors, and ticket sales have not been projected. He suggested a plan wherein the request is for the City to cover a shortfall in revenue so that the project can move forward. He expressed concern that they might forgo opportunities to collect from others. Mr. Mathews assured Mr. Hoehn that they would continue to push for more revenue from other sponsorships. In order to grow the festival and improve the experience they need assurance of additional funding for the enhancements. Frank Jones stated that the business plan is not a bad idea. However, plans need to be cemented now in order to continue to grow a quality event. The chefs and PR company have indicated that the improvements need to be made to take the festival to the next level. Mr. Jones offered to come back to the Committee with an alternate plan for consideration. In response to Mr. Spiegel's questions, he stated that the profit last year for both events was somewhere around $80,000. He added that the crossover in the ticket buyer was less than 10%. There are 2 different audiences and the events should be looked at as different events. Mr. Hoehn agreed and said he thought the City would benefit a great deal if the events were operated separately by date. He added that if the festival were moved into the shoulder season, the City would benefit from out -of -market visitation and it could grow more. To a certain extent Fashion Week limits and overshadows the festival and it does deserve its own free-standing position. 3 APPROVED MINUTES PALM DESERT MARKETING COMMITTEE NOVEMBER 18, 2014 Mr. Mathews added that he has recently discussed with Ruth Ann Moore and Donna Gomez the possibility of separating the events. They would have to start the planning from scratch because of the different requirements based upon where it will be held. He thought October or early November would be a good time to have it. Ray Rodriguez congratulated all involved for the success of Fashion Week. It's clear the community embraces it. Concerning a food and wine event, local restaurateurs are eliminated from having a high profile and it has a limited benefit during March, which is the busiest month of the year. From his perspective, $75,000 compared to what the City has sponsored in the past is worth a try, but the bar would have to be very high next year with a lot of timely discussion. He would also expect an equal impact to the community for an equal amount from the City. Mr. Jones responded by saying that the media exposure numbers that Food & Wine have generated for the City are equal to if not greater than what Fashion Week has generated. The City's name and its image are leveraged to a greater audience outside of the area as an attractive place to come, but the experience needs to improve as the event grows. Ms. Forrer commented that in Southern California there are a lot of extraordinarily successful food and wine events during the shoulder season, so we would not want to compete with them. It is very difficult to be in a hot tent and to not hear the chef. She does like the idea of leveraging the "foodie" brand because the Valley is not looked upon as a culinary landmark. Responding to Bruce Nation's question, Mr. Jones said the air conditioning would be a recurring expense. Mr. Rodriguez appreciated Mr. Hoehn's discussion of a more businesslike approach to the scrutiny for the funding request. Measuring sticks should be vigorously considered for having the money refunded all or in part to the City. Mr. Hoehn added that this is supposed to be a partnership, and as such we should be able to work out a formula that allows for the sharing of the risk and sharing of the potential revenue. It's at the point now where they cannot commit to some things because they don't know if they're going to get sponsor revenue. His recommendation would be to work out a formula with staff that makes sure that the City does participate yet isn't exposed to the maximum risk, and accomplishes the objective of elevating the experience of the event. Theresa Maggio pointed out that she completely understands needing the $75,000 to produce a top level quality of product. She reminded the 4 APPROVED MINUTES PALM DESERT MARKETING COMMITTEE NOVEMBER 18, 2014 Committee about its commitment to the Envision Program in making sure that the City of Palm Desert is constantly thinking 20 years ahead. If the City doesn't support what's happening now with Food & Wine, and possibly moving to another month, then the time spent working on the Envision Program would be a waste. It's really important that the Marketing Committee look at ways that the City can partner with them. She suggested adding signage in the reception area, displaying a City video on the screen or having the interactive kiosks that were talked about where anyone can book dinners, restaurants or events in the City of Palm Desert at that time. She said that's what a true sponsorship partnership is all about, but we need to be smarter about what we're thinking and how we can work together and help promote the City together. Ray Rodriguez moved, by Minute Motion, to recommend a sponsorship in the amount of $75,000 for enhancements as noted for 2015 Food & Wine Palm Desert and have staff work with Palm Springs Life to look at a measurable process to recoup the investment as well as additional opportunities for the City within the event. Motion was seconded by Emily Bird-Hrivnak and carried by 10-0-1 vote. (AYES: Amick, Bird-Hrivnak, Forrer, Maggio, Nation, Norman, O'Flynn, Rodriguez, Williams, and Hoehn; NOES: None; ABSENT: Graves.) Mr. Jones concluded by requesting that discussion for the 2016 event be started right away because it requires a lot of planning. Ms. Gomez noted that the sponsorship request will go before the City Council for their consideration on December 11 th. B. REVIEW OF DIGITAL MARKETING PROGRAM 1 ST QUARTER RESULTS Ms. Gomez stated that the Marketing Plan and Media Program are not strong until October. The report covers the slower months of the program. She then pointed out a few highlights. There is a continual increase in mobile users accessing the website. Upgrading the website to responsive/adaptive a few years back was a good investment. The "click to call" feature has been showing great results, up 30% over last year. The iPhone and iPad are the top used mobile devices. 83% of the traffic source is organic search, which we do not pay for. Top key words remain consistent: "things to do" and "restaurants." There are over 14,000 subscribers to the e-newsletter with an open rate of 24%. The Facebook page titled "Visit Palm Desert" is very active with over 20,000 followers. With Committee concurrence, the Digital Marketing 1st Quarter Report was received and filed. 5 APPROVED MINUTES PALM DESERT MARKETING COMMITTEE NOVEMBER 18, 2014 C. CONSIDERATION OF SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING PRIORITY Ms. Gomez explained that during the last budget session there was discussion about the possibility of increasing the marketing budget. The Marketing Committee and staff could look at concepts throughout the year and if there is a special project, they can come back to City Council and ask for funding. Some of those things have come up at this meeting, things like PR, a city app and video; things that are still very high priority in the Marketing Program. Social media is one of the things that can be addressed expediently and is more affordable that the other programs that should be considered for the future. She asked for discussion and support that social media is a priority and a final recommendation with one or two options about contracting out for social media and extend it into some of the other social media platforms that we currently are not in. Jeffrey Norman asked if she is looking at utilizing existing staff. When the McCallum farmed out some of their social media it did not work because they didn't speak in the voice that was wanted. He recommends that whoever is used lives here. Mr. Rodriguez said that that the search is as much if not more valuable than the social media. With social media you already have someone who is looking for you or who is involved with you. The search is someone who is not involved and they are looking for: "the best vacation spot," "top 10 resorts," "best golf destinations," "best winter getaways" - those things where someone is not thinking Palm Desert Emily Bird-Hrivnak added that bloggers need to be rewarded for staying with you and that has to be budgeted. They have to be able to dine and shop and then write about it. They narrow the search so that people can find you. Mr. Rodriguez agreed and added that there is a whole process for appealing to Google to get you to pop up. Some of it involves publishing and blogging. Very few people do the work and tap into this; keeping your name in the front lines. The opportunity the internet gives us is for people who don't know about us. Jeffrey Norman moved, by Minute Motion, to support social media and digital marketing as a top priority in the City's overall marketing program and direct staff to develop a final plan of action for additional consideration by the Marketing Committee and the City Council. Motion was seconded by Sara O'Flynn and carried by 10-0-1 vote. (AYES: Amick, Bird-Hrivnak, Forrer, Maggio, Nation, Norman, O'Flynn, Rodriguez, Williams, and Hoehn; NOES: None; ABSENT: Graves.) 0 APPROVED MINUTES PALM DESERT MARKETING COMMITTEE NOVEMBER 18, 2014 VII. CONTINUED BUSINESS None Vill. OLD BUSINESS None IX. REPORTS FROM CITY COUNCIL LIAISONS Councilmember Spiegel thanked the Committee members for their efforts, which are really helpful to the City, and presented a token of appreciation from the City Council. He then noted that sales tax is up 6% for the Td quarter of the year. Hotel occupancy is up 12%, which is much better than last year. Mr. Hoehn thanked Mr. Spiegel on behalf of the Committee members for the consideration and recognition. X. REPORTS AND REMARKS A. Chair Mr. Hoehn reported that the airport traffic numbers are increasing. Every month is a new record. New air service is Air Canada Rouge, its low-cost carrier. The Chicago air service that is subsidized by the CVB, which started in October, has been showing very good results. Hopefully the CVB will not have to pay towards the revenue guarantee. The CVB has been incredibly busy with trade shows and sales missions, including China. He then referenced the U.S. Travel Association letter in Section XI, Informational Items, Item B, "U.S. Travel Association China Visa." This is in addition to the efforts of the California Tourism Commission, which has offices in China. The numbers of China visitors to California are growing dramatically. The effort is to be more "China -ready." The CVB is focusing greatly on the shoulder season, with the key being increased air service. That's why events are so important. The Tennis Garden has a shoulder season event planned on May 2nd 2015, the 2nd Lexus Jazz Festival. Advance sales for the BNP Paribas are very successful; way ahead of last year. B. Committee Members Diane Williams noted that there is beginning to be more real estate inventory. Since the Canadian dollar is weaker, numbers of Canadian buyers have dropped significantly. There will probably not be serious 7 APPROVED MINUTES PALM DESERT MARKETING COMMITTEE NOVEMBER 18, 2014 home appreciation over the next few years. Lending has been brutal, with most of the programs going to the Canadians. Interest rates are predicted to go to 5-1/4 to 5-1 /2%. Sara O'Flynn reported that The Gardens is gearing up for the holidays, with more promotions and in-store events. The Christmas tree and decor are up. She went on to list several holiday events that will benefit local charities. She announced that Patrick Klein will begin tomorrow as the new General Manager for The Gardens and El Paseo Village. He is the former GM of Westfield Mall and is well -respected and well-known. Emily Bird-Hrivnak said this is her second day back to work after the birth of her son. The "Rockin' the Holidays Musical Review" live show begins November 29th. It will be Friday, Saturday & Sunday nights through December 28th at the hotel's pavilion. There is an aggressive marketing effort to promote the shows. Bruce Nation was happy to report that Desert Willow has had one if its best 1st quarters ever. They had the best October ever for golf. "Music and Dining Under the Stars" will be expanded to 4 times per month during the season. Franchesca Forrer reported that the mall's new acting General Manager is Diana Gotham. There are more programs and events at the mall than ever. The mall has received approval for a new holiday set for next year, including new decor. Santa is at the mall already, 2 weeks early. The mall will be open Thanksgiving Day at 6:00 p.m. until 10:00 p.m. the next day. Arlene Amick related that the Museum opened their fall exhibition, "A Grand Adventure," on September 27th. October visitor numbers have tripled from last year. About 350 people attended the November 7th first "First Friday" concert. She then went on to describe upcoming events. Jeffrey Norman conveyed that the McCallum Theatre kicked off the fall season on October 19th with the 3`d Annual Family Fun Day, with over 1,000 people in attendance. The 17th Choreography Festival was a big hit, with 5,000 people attending 6 performances. The Annual Gala will be on December 4th, and record numbers are expected. Auditions are open for "Open Call" for any talent ages 8 to 88. This event is run by the McCallum Theatre Institute. Ray Rodriguez noted that Steve Thetford will be retiring at the end of this month. The Palm Desert Chamber will be hosting the Peace Officer and Public Safety Appreciation Awards on November 25th. Mr. Rodriguez' restaurant, Cork Tree, was featured in AAA's Westways Magazine. The restaurant is also Trip Advisor's number 1 restaurant in the valley. L:3 APPROVED MINUTES PALM DESERT MARKETING COMMITTEE NOVEMBER 18, 2014 Theresa Maggio stated Bighorn had its first Bighorn Cares dinner last week. Nearly $400,000 in grants was awarded to 38 local non -profits. Those chosen represented the most underserved in the community. Saturday, November 22"d will be Bighorn BAM's "Miracle on El Paseo" and it will include a Ferris wheel and fireworks this year. Five properties at Bighorn were sold last weekend. C. Staff David Hermann distributed the 2015 City calendars with a theme of "Fit & Fabulous." XI. INFORMATIONAL ITEMS A. Visitor Center Report Ms. Gomez did not have anything to add to the report. With Committee concurrence, the Visitor Center Report was received and filed. B. U.S. Travel Association China Visa Chairman Hoehn mentioned this item in his remarks under Item X, Reports and Remarks. C. Hotel & Signature Events Committee Rudy Acosta reported on the status of direction regarding Measures G and H, which was discussed at last week's Hotel & Signature Events Committee. The most likely attempt at another tax measure will be in 2016. The City is looking for a "champion" for the cause. The most appropriate one would come from the hotel industry. It will continue to be an item on that Committee's agenda. Mr. Hoehn mentioned that the voter materials emphasized marketing rather than city services, and he was not surprised that the measures did not pass. Martin Alvarez added that the goal of the Committee is to monitor and evaluate programs designed to retain and expand our hospitality industry and businesses. They have been brainstorming as to what signature events would benefit Palm Desert. E APPROVED MINUTES PALM DESERT MARKETING COMMITTEE NOVEMBER 18, 2014 XII. NEXT MEETING DATE— DECEMBER 16, 2014 XIII. ADJOURNMENT With Committee concurrence, the meeting was adjourned at 4:00 p.m. ;i 7 , Jare Stanley, Recordfrib 8ecretary 10