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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Marketing Committee 01/20/2015X E4 PALM DESERT PALM DESERT MARKETING COMMITTEE APPROVED MINUTES Tuesday, January 20, 2015 — 2 p.m. Administrative Conference Room CALL TO ORDER Rolf Hoehn called the meeting to order at 2:00 p.m. II. ROLL CALL Members Present: Franchesca Forrer Rolf Hoehn, Chair Theresa Maggio, Vice -Chair Bruce Nation Jeffrey Norman Ray Rodriguez Diane Williams Members Absent: Arlene Amick Emily Bird-Hrivnak Kerry Graves Sara O'Flynn 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 Jane Stanley, Recording Secretary Barbara Blythe, Visitor Center Supervisor III. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS None. IV. CONSENT CALENDAR A. MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF NOVEMBER 18, 2014. Jeffrey Norman moved, by Minute Motion, to approve the minutes of the November 18, 2014, meeting as presented. Motion was seconded by Theresa Maggio and carried by 7-0-4 vote. (AYES: Forrer, Maggio, Nation, Norman, Rodriguez, Williams, and Hoehn; NOES: None; ABSENT: Amick, Bird-Hrivnak, Graves and O'Flynn.) APPROVED MINUTES PALM DESERT MARKETING COMMITTEE JANUARY 20, 2015 V. CONSENT ITEMS HELD OVER None. VI. NEW BUSINESS A. UPDATE ON DIGITAL ADVERTISING PROGRAMS Donna Gomez distributed a report from Madden Media, which has been running 2 new digital campaigns through JNS Media. The first one is ads on Facebook with a goal of increasing fans. Beginning November 12th to December 5th over 6,100 new fans have been added. The campaign focuses on 5 areas: arts, attractions, golf, outdoor, and shopping/dining. The click -through rate is over 2.4% in all 5 areas. The industry average is about 1 %. The second campaign is a Prospecting and Retargeting program, which is about branding Palm Desert with a goal of driving traffic to our website. The click -through rate is still above the industry average for this campaign. Jeffrey Norman asked why the Palm Desert branding is on the bottom of the ads and thinks it should be put on the top. Ms. Gomez suggested a test be done to test it out. Franchesca Forrer suggested separating shopping and dining. Theresa Maggio also suggested changing "join the club" to "join the e- club." Ms. Gomez displayed on the television the banner ads being run on Trip Advisor. Off Madison Ave. will be at the February Marketing Committee meeting to present results of the 2"d quarter. With Committee concurrence, the Madden Media Digital Marketing Report was received and filed. B. UPDATE ON SOCIAL MEDIA PROGRAMS Ms. Gomez introduced Barbara Blythe, the Palm Desert Visitor Center Supervisor. Ms. Blythe also manages the City's social media. Ms. Blythe distributed a report summarizing results since September 2009, when she began doing social media, to December 2014. Ms. Blythe explained what the City is currently doing with social media and highlighted a few areas: • The Facebook "engagement rate" is 8%; industry average is 1-2%. • 56% of American adults are on Facebook. 2 APPROVED MINUTES PALM DESERT MARKETING COMMITTEE JANUARY 20, 2015 • 87% of Facebook interactions happen on photo posts. • Twitter followers are the most local audience. • She is currently revamping the 3-year-old Pinterest page. • Pinterest is highly tied into sales. 70% of users look at Pinterest before making a purchasing decision. • People spend about 14 minutes per Pinterest session, and 1-1/2 hours a month. Regarding Instagram, OMA is putting together some guidelines. It has huge potential and is next on Ms. Blythe's list. Rolf Hoehn encouraged driving up the local participation rate in any way possible. With Committee concurrence, the Social Media Update September 2009 to December 2014 was received and filed. C. UPDATE ON BUDGET Ms. Gomez reported that in February there is an opportunity to increase the Marketing Budget by $200k at mid -year budget review. Staff is working internally on some programs for co-ops, especially in the hotel industry area. Ms. Gomez will prepare some white papers in March for next fiscal year regarding new ideas, such as a new ad campaign, producing a video, strengthening the 1st Weekend program, and Public Relations. Contracts for digital and traditional media programs will be going out to bid for next fiscal year. RFPs will go out in March and the top agencies will make presentations to the Committee in April or May. Mr. Rodriguez commented that a video would be worth its weight in gold. Mr. Norman added that The McCallum Theatre now has 3 videos with different looks to get their messages across, and they are getting good reactions. Rolf Hoehn stated that PR is an important area and a larger investment in it would be worthwhile to bring the focus to Palm Desert. VII. CONTINUED BUSINESS None. VIII. OLD BUSINESS None. 3 APPROVED MINUTES PALM DESERT MARKETING COMMITTEE JANUARY 20, 2015 IX. REPORTS FROM CITY COUNCIL LIAISONS Councilmember Spiegel was happy to report that the hotel occupancy rate is better than it has ever been. Sales should be pretty good since it has been difficult to drive in town with all the traffic. There is consideration for separating Fashion Week from the Food & Wine Festival. X. REPORTS AND REMARKS A. Chair Mr. Hoehn reported that the Tennis Garden is ramping up for the tennis tournament. Tents are already being set up. He again mentioned the 2nd Lexus Jazz Festival planned for May 2nd, 2015, headlined by Tower of Power and opened by Lisa Fischer. The airport finished 2014 up 9-1/2% resulting in a record year. The Airport Commission and the CVB are working on getting air service earlier and a non-stop to the East coast during the season. The CVB is also investigating the creation of an investment fund with cities' participation to aid the airlines. He then noted that City Council did not include the Marketing Committee's complete recommendation when they approved the additional $75k for the 2015 Food & Wine Festival. The portion that "staff work with Palm Springs Life to look at a measurable process to recoup the investment" was not included. Ruth Ann Moore responded by saying that staff will be exploring this over the next month at planning meetings for breaking out the 2 events in 2016 and finding new locations. Ray Rodriguez asked if the City is providing seed money and when do we stop putting public funds into private work? There was discussion about "seed money" vs. sponsorship. B. Committee Members Theresa Maggio thanked Ms. Moore for all her assistance with the Bighorn BAM Miracle on El Paseo in November. It was a fantastic event with over 1,200 attendees. Bighorn now has a new GM, Tony Ogrodnick, who was the Director of Golf for 14 years and began there 20 years ago as a valet and caddie. 4 APPROVED MINUTES PALM DESERT MARKETING COMMITTEE JANUARY 20, 2015 Diane Williams noted that fewer homes sold last year primarily because of a lack of inventory, unwillingness to pay the going rate, and unfavorable loan programs. 2015 should be a good year because of new loan programs. Sales prices are gradually increasing. Bruce Nation said that Desert Willow had the best 2"d quarter since 2008. The facility is completely sold out for Super Bowl weekend to a privately - owned company called Performance Contracting. There will be a Classic Cars Under the Stars event on March 28th in conjunction with the Cruise Night El Paseo group. The music and dining events have been selling out a few weeks in advance. Food sales are up 15-17% over last year and December was a good month for holiday parties. There will be 30-35 wedding events this year. Jeffrey Norman noted that the December Gala was the most successful in the history of The McCallum Theatre, raising $1.375M. The season has started in earnest with performances every day until April 151h. The theatre is currently 89% of projected occupancy for the entire season. Ray Rodriguez thanked the members for helping him understand sponsorship money in a different light: once an event is successful the funding is translated into marketing money. Things are going well in the restaurant world. Many had the best November and December seen in a long time. He then expressed gratitude for The McCallum Theatre programs that bring art education to the Valley's classrooms. Franchesca Forrer said the mall had an incredible December with sales up nearly 10% and traffic up about 17%. There were so many shoppers the last 2 weeks of December that almost $20,000 was raised for charities through the gift -wrapping booth. A small sponsorship for Modernism Week has turned into a much bigger partnership than anticipated. She is working with their advisory board to help with the new mall decor that will have a Modernism feel. Several events are planned at the mall in conjunction with Modernism Week. She is also working with Golden Voice and will be having a Coachella contest. The interim GM Diana Gotham is now permanent. Councilmember Spiegel asked Ms. Forrer to invite Ms. Gotham to a Council meeting. C. Staff Ruth Ann Moore noted that there is a new marketing person at The Gardens who has replaced Sara O'Flynn. The report just released shows third quarter sales were up over 8% citywide. The developers for the El Paseo Hotel have opened escrow and will go to the Architectural Review Commission soon. The Fairfield Inn on Highway 111 that burned last year will be remodeled to a SpringHill Suites. Tomorrow, staff is doing the final concept review for the Quicksilver Hotel project. 5 APPROVED MINUTES PALM DESERT MARKETING COMMITTEE JANUARY 20, 2015 Ms. Gomez mentioned again that OMA will be at the February committee meeting to present the 2"d quarter report. The American Documentary Film Festival has contacted the City for sponsorship, which the Committee will see next meeting. Budgets will be on the March agenda. XI. INFORMATIONAL ITEMS A. Visitor Center Report Ms. Blythe said November and December were strong months, and January is slightly up. Ms. Gomez added that there are currently negotiations with the landlord of the Visitor Center for a new lease. With Committee concurrence, the Visitor Center Report was received and filed. XII. NEXT MEETING DATE— FEBRUARY 17, 2015 Rolf Hoehn and Theresa Maggio said March 17th is not a good date, as they will be in the midst of big events. If the meeting date is changed to one week later, March 24th, they would both be able to attend. XIII. ADJOURNMENT With Committee concurrence, the meeting was adjourned at 3:47 p.m. Jane' Stanley, Recording Secretary