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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018-09-20 EPPBID Regular Meeting MinutesBoard Meeting Minutes September 20, 2018 El Paseo Parking & Business Improvement District Civic Center Administrative Conference Room 73-510 Fred Waring Drive, Palm Desert, CA 92260 I. CALL TO ORDER Chairman Klein called the meeting to order at 8:09 AM. II. ROLL CALL Board Members Present: Patrick Klein; Susan Stauber; Elyssa Goldberg; Sonia Campbell; David Fletcher; Christine Stein. City of Palm Desert Staff Present: Thomas Soule, Tourism and Marketing Manager; Kevin Swartz, Associate Planner; Martin Alvarez, Director of Economic Development; Brianne Lawson, Recording Secretary. Other Attendees: Councilmember Jan Harnik, City of Palm Desert; Stephanie Greene, Director, FG Creative; Jaclyn Scarlett, Social Media Manager, FG Creative; Amy Smith, Senior Vice President, Chartwell Properties; Cheryl Nilson, True You; Areli Beltran, CODA Gallery; Kelly Gray, CEO, Grayse; Frank Jones, Associate Publisher, Palm Springs Life; Jim Doyle, Advertising Account Manager, Palm Springs Life; Paulina Larson, Marketing Director, Palm Springs Life; Kathi Pettersen, Advertising Representative, Palm Springs Life; Christine Carrera, Advertising Representative, Palm Springs Life; Julie Rogers, Advertising Representative, Palm Springs Life. III. CONSENT ITEMS a. Approval of minutes from August 15, 2018 Board of Directors Meeting. Mr. Klein asked for a motion to approve the minutes from the August 15, 2018 board meeting. A motion was made by Campbell and seconded by Stauber to accept and approve as submitted. Motion passed with a 5-1-0 vote, with Klein, Stauber, Goldberg, Campbell, and Fletcher voting in favor, and Stein abstaining. b. Approval of the Financial Statements ending August 31, 2018. Mr. Klein asked for a motion to approve the financial statement ending June 30, 2018, subject to slight changes relating to unbilled amounts. A motion was made by Fletcher and seconded by Campbell. The motion passed unanimously with a 6-0 vote. 1 IV. CONSENT ITEMS HELD OVER NONE. V. GUEST PRESENTATIONS a. Palm Springs Life i. Photography/Campaign Presentation Frank Jones of Palm Springs life provided a presentation for the new El Paseo branding campaign proposal, which included print outs from a recent two-day photography shoot. Mr. Jones then requested feedback from the Board, asking if they felt the new campaign was going in the right direction. The Board members responded favorably to the new photographs, with both Christine Stein and David Fletcher commenting that they preferred the photos in color over the few examples that were provided in black and white. The Board was given two different advertisement campaign options: Option A, which followed the design thread of the previous year's campaign, and Design B, which included different layouts with the new photography. After a short discussion, the Board came to a unanimous agreement to go with Option A, with the inclusion of a listing of brands and stores in the advertisements. Mr. Klein asked for a motion to approve Option A for the advertisement campaign. A motion was made by Stein and seconded by Stauber to accept and approve as submitted. Motion passed with a 6-0 vote, with Klein, Stauber, Goldberg, Campbell, Stein, and Fletcher voting in favor. ii. Website and Catalog Reports Mr. Jones provided an additional presentation for a new digital campaign, which has the goal of increasing traffic to shopelpaseocatalogue.com, as well as increasing in-store traffic by 20% for each participating merchant. This new campaign will start January 1, 2019, and will run until June 30, 2019. Mr. Jones then highlighted some tactics that will be used to reach these goals, which include geo location targeting, contextual targeting, and keyword targeting. Susan Stauber inquired if the campaign could begin before January, to which Mr. Jones responded that January is the time period when the largest amount of people are in the area. Additionally, more time is required to make the presentation of the digital campaign to individual stores on El Paseo. VI. OLD BUSINESS NONE. 2 VII. NEW BUSINESS a. City of Palm Desert El Paseo revitalization update Kevin Swartz, Associate Planner with the City of Palm Desert, provided an update on revitalization plans for the El Paseo shopping district. He stated that the City Council has approved documents submitted by Gibbs Planning, and that the Council is now looking at a cost analysis for what each street in the area could potentially look like. Mr. Swartz then added that it will most likely be five years before modifications are made to the sidewalks, and that the Mayor had recommended a demonstration of possible street changes, similar to how the suggested changes to San Pablo were demonstrated. Following this, Mr. Swartz added that short term changes could possibly begin in January or February of 2019. Mr. Klein inquired if there had been any discussion of tax assessments, to which Mr. Swartz responded that the Council first wants to determine what the cost would be for revitalizing the street. b. FG Creative Marketing Update Stephanie Greene gave an overview of the monthly reports that were sent out prior to the meeting. Mr. Klein inquired about the 50% open rate for e-mail blasts, asking if the e-mail lists have been checked for invalid addresses. Ms. Greene responded that there is a very small e-mail bounce -back rate. In relation to the social media activity overview, David Fletcher asked why the same messages aren't being sent to different groups. To this Ms. Greene responded that Facebook has new rules for businesses sending messages and posts, and that the social media platform has a new algorithm. Ms. Stein commented that she likes the variation in social media posts, and having different messages posted to different platforms. Ms. Greene then updated the board on the state of the budget. The budget currently pays for three to four hours per month of public relations. However, PR hours have been adding up due to different offers and events. Ms. Greene then suggested the solution of billing for these opportunities as needed at the end of each month for the next three to four months. Thomas Soule commented that this would allow flexibility, as some months will require more hours of PR than others. Ms. Greene added that the line item for PR has proven to be more important than when the budget was initially approved, and that a recap could be provided for each month. All board members were in agreement of taking this direction with the budgeted PR hours. Ms. Greene then stated that seventy-two merchants have joined the El Paseo Merchant Group on Facebook. Additionally, Ms. Greene noted that there have been interactions generated from e-blasts. However, in order to touch everyone, the budget should be looked at again to concentrate more money on e-blasts. Money from another line item could possibly be moved for this purpose. Mr. Klein asked how many hours per month are being used for e-blasts. Ms. Greene responded that these numbers are provided in the monthly reports, and then added that 3 the best use of FG Creative's time is having the board place their trust in them to do what is right. A discussion followed regarding communication between the Board and FG Creative, and the fact that extra time that was not budgeted for is required for them to do a great job. Mr. Klein suggested revisiting the subject of the budget and what is covered in the contract in a future meeting. Ms. Greene announced the Concierge Scavenger hunt has two possible dates, either November 27th or December 4th. There are forty to fifty people anticipated for attendance, and Desert Adventures' will be bringing jeeps to accommodate the Courtesy Carts overflow. The budget for the event is a total of $6,250, including the $3,250 fee from FG Creative. Ms. Greene added that the stores stayed open during the last scavenger hunt, and that three to four of the red jeeps will be used to help transport attendees. Mr. Klein suggested the December 4th date as being ideal for the event, but recommended getting rid of the safari theme elements. Ms. Greene then introduced options for the Courtesy Cart graphic campaign, which is meant to increase awareness of the service. The campaign is scheduled to launch November 1, 2018, and has a total budget of $5,000. Ms. Greene presented several different designs for the campaign, and also noted that some other choices include the printing of an info card, window clings, and sidewalk decals. Ms. Stein asked if retailers would add the decal to their window, to which Ms. Greene replied that some would take the decal while others would prefer the info card. Ms. Klein pointed out that national retailers are unable to display window clings, which then led to a board consensus to not include the window decals in the campaign. In response to some discussion about painting the sidewalk instead of placing sidewalk decals, Martin Alvarez commented that paint is an option, but that it would cost more. He then added that the sidewalk decals could be used at first in order to get them out in time for the season, and other sign and paint alternatives could be looked into afterward. The Board expressed an overall preference for the "Option B" campaign design presented by Ms. Greene, specifically with the use of a blue arrow in the graphic. Mr. Klein asked for a motion to approve Option B for the Courtesy Cart graphic campaign. A motion was made by Stein and seconded by Goldberg to accept and approve with suggested changes. Motion passed with a 6-0 vote, with Klein, Stauber, Goldberg, Campbell, Stein, and Fletcher voting in favor. NONE. VIII. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS IX. REMARKS a. City of Palm Desert NONE. 4 b. Board Members NONE. X. NEXT MEETING: Confirm October 18, 2018 Board Members confirmed that the next meeting will be held on October 18, 2018, 8:00 am. XI. ADJOURNMENT With board member concurrence, the meeting was adjourned at 10:24 am. Brianne Lawson, Recording Secretary 5