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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Marketing Committee 05/25/200427-6/ 13 PALM DESERT MARKETING COMMITTEE MINUTES TUESDAY, MAY 25, 2004 2:00 P.M. ADMINISTRATIVE CONFERENCE ROOM I. CALL TO ORDER Chairman Ray Rodriguez called the meeting to order at 2:05 p.m. II. ROLL CALL Members Present: Emily Bird Norine Bowen Rick Darius Ray Rodriguez Staff/Others Present: Jean Benson Sheila Gilligan Donna Gomez Kristy Kneiding Lori Wimbish Piper Close Mike Osgood, Desert Willow Members Absent: Melinda Byrd Ric Mandelbaum Michael Shimer III. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS None. IV. CONSENT CALENDAR A. Request for approval of the April 20, 2004 Meeting Minutes. Motion was made by Norine Bowen to approve the April 20, 2004, meeting minutes. Emily Bird seconded the motion, which was carried by a unanimous vote. MARKETING COMMITTEE MINUTES MAY 25, 2004 PAGE 2 B. Correspondence from Peggy Cravens. Motion was made by Norine Bowen to receive and file correspondence from Peggy Cravens. Emily Bird seconded the motion, which was carried by a unanimous vote. V. NEW BUSINESS A. REQUEST BY BIGHORN GOLF CLUB FOR FUNDING/ SPONSORSHIP OF THE SAMSUNG WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP TO BE HELD AT BIGHORN. Sheila Gilligan introduced Warren Smith and Teresa Maggio from BIGHORN Golf Club. Warren Smith gave an overview of the proposal by BIGHORN. He passed out information on other media events that had taken place at BIGHORN and the results of those events. He said BIGHORN has always been a good partner to the City in terms of bringing in revenue. He said the Battle of Bighorn reached 1 billion people in 22 countries. He believed that the Samsung World Championship would bring similar recognition and that ladies golf was finally getting the recognition it deserved. The Samsung World Championship has been in existence for 24 years. BIGHORN has signed on for a two-year commitment with an option. He did not think it too far reaching to believe that this tournament could be a long-term event for BIGHORN. The tournament is scheduled in the month of October, which is not a busy time in the desert. Mr. Smith compared the media present during Battle at Bighorn with the media coverage for the Samsung World Championship. He added that all of these people would be staying in the hotels, eating in the restaurants, and shopping in Palm Desert. Mr. Smith said that anything the City could do to help them would be greatly appreciated. Emily Bird asked Mr. Smith if he was going to approach any other cities in the Valley. Mr. Smith said that was their intention except he just learned that the Toscana Country Club in Indian Wells would be hosting the Bob Hope Classic. He said they might go to Rancho Mirage, although they may be helping the Dinah Shore tournament. Ms. Bird asked what amount did the City contribute to the Battle at Bighorn. Chairman Rodriguez had the statistics on the Battle at Bighorn dating back to 1993. He said starting with the Skins Game MARKETING COMMITTEE MINUTES MAY 25, 2004 PAGE 3 in 1993 the City contributed $100,00; 1994 $100,000; 2000 $50,000 for the first Battle at Bighorn; and in 2001 and 2002 $125,000. Norine Bowen asked staff if the $125,000 they are recommending is in the budget. Kristy Kneiding said, "No, the City Council would have to appropriate those funds." Chairperson Rodriquez asked Mr. Smith if he would be approaching the City of Palm Desert again next year for the $125,000, and is the expectation such that this would be an ongoing participation. Mr. Smith said yes we would be approaching the City again. He said the expectation would be up to the City. He added that this tournament is four days of television, but five days of golf. There is a ProAm on Wednesday; Thursday and Friday will be shown either on ESPN or another station similar to that; and Saturday and Sunday live on NBC. Ms. Gilligan spoke from the City's perspective. She said the City has established a history with BIGHORN and the City couldn't go out and buy the type of advertising that will occur during this event. She also said the City has a history of trying to bring events to the Valley that would be good for the whole Valley. One of the challenges for the Marketing Committee this year is to fill the rooms in the hotels, especially the Marriott. Ms. Gilligan concluded by saying that this event will bring in room sales and people into the restaurants, coupled with the advertising potential nationally and internationally, the $125,000 sponsorship is appropriate. Chairman Rodriquez asked if Mr. Smith had any concerns about the October date. What kind of condition will the course be in with regard to reseeding? Mr. Smith said the course would be in tiptop shape even though the event will put them a little behind in landscape maintenance. Mr. Smith said when BIGHORN is built out their assessment will be $1.5 billion and approximately $15 million of that will go back to the City of Palm Desert for redevelopment. He said he appreciates everything the City does and has a great deal of respect for everyone in the room. Motion was made by Norine Bowen to support the recommendation by staff of $125,000 for the sponsorship of BIGHORN's Samsung World Championship Golf Tournament. Emily Bird seconded the motion, which was carried unanimously. MARKETING COMMITTEE MINUTES MAY 25, 2004 PAGE 4 B. REQUEST FOR FUNDING OF SANTA ROSA & SAN JACINTO MOUNTAINS NATIONAL MONUMENT DOCUMENTARY Frank Jones passed out a brochure on the National Monument, which was produced for the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) about one year ago. Mr. Jones felt strongly that the Monument was going to be a defining piece of land for the CV and wanted to promote it as such. The promotion of the Monument focused on the preservation and conservation aspects. The ongoing need to create awareness and knowledge, and to raise funds for land acquisitions and management of this land was the driving force for the creation of the National Monument documentary. The documentary will be produced in two versions. The first being 22 minutes long and the second 55 minutes long. The 22-minute version will be a graphic overview and include factual information to be shown at the visitor centers and cultural institutions to give visitors immediate access to the land. The 55-minute version will be marketed to regional, national, and intemational television. Mr. Jones said that several programmers have already approached him. Sponsors who want to supply the documentary, in CD format, to schools locally and regionally as an educational tool have also approached him. He felt this project will be important to the development of the Coachella Valley and that the Monument is the one thing that will distinguish this Valley from other vacation areas, i.e., San Diego, Scottsdale, Phoenix, and Las Vegas. He added that the landscape ranges from the Baja Peninsula all the way to British Columbia in its diversity, and we have that landscape in 15 miles not to mention the Native American aspect of the land. Mr. Jones was very enthusiastic about the project and believed it was going to be an initiative that will represent the area in a very different way to a lot of people. He also believed it would give visitors and residents a very different perspective and affinity to where they live and where they are visiting. The City of Palm Desert is surrounded on its southern and western planes by the Monument and Hwy. 74 just about bisects the Monument. Much of the footage was shot in and around this area. He spoke with the Samsung people asking them to donate 12 of their high definition plasma screens to the local visitor centers so that when they show the high definition documentary, it will be on high definition television. He said he showed them the same clip viewed by the Marketing Committee and they were very impressed. The Bighom course is defined by the Monument and would not be what it is without the Monument. MARKETING COMMITTEE MINUTES MAY 25, 2004 PAGE 5 Ms. Kneiding said this recommendation is similar to BIGHORN's request in that the $50,000 is not in the budget and the City Council would have to appropriate the funds. Chairman Rodriguez said Mr. Jones' letter reads like he was requesting $25,000. He asked staff how they got from a request of $25,000 to a recommendation of $50,000. Ms. Kneiding said she and Piper Close met with Mr. Jones to discuss the project. She told Mr. Jones that he had to make a specific request and she believed he came in with a low figure. Ms. Kneiding said from the research she did on the proposal she felt that $50,000 was a wise investment and the documentary would be good promotional tool. Ms. Gilligan said it memorializes something that has never been memorialized before. She felt that this was something that is missing in the tourism market. The Visitor Center can sell them as well as the Marriott. She said the documentary was something that would be good for today and the future as well. It was pretty easy for staff to justify the sponsorship amount of $50,000, however, it is up to the Committee to decide the value of the National Monument documentary. Mr. Jones said the overall budget for this project is $250,000, which includes all filming, editing, DVDs, including a years worth of marketing. The documentary will be marketed to all available outlets. Donna Gomez said that the Visitor Center has not been actively promoting the National Monument. She said this would be a great opportunity to educate staff and volunteers on how to better promote that area. Chairman Rodriguez said there would be 500 CDs for the Visitor Center. What happens if those are sold in the first 30 days? Mr. Jones said the great thing about a CD is that they cost about $2.00 to copy. They can be reordered. If you sell them for $9.95 you would get your money back. Motion was made by Norine Bowen to support the recommendation by staff to the City Council of $50,000 for the funding of Santa Rosa & San Jacinto Mountains National Monument Documentary. Emily Bird seconded the motion, which was carried unanimously. MARKETING COMMITTEE MINUTES MAY 25, 2004 PAGE 6 C. REQUEST FOR CONSIDERTION OF WEBSITE REVIEW AND REDESIGN Ms. Kneiding said the website is about 3 %2 years old and she felt it was time to revisit its design. She would like the Committee's comments on the design aspect of the website as well as the user's perspective, i.e., is it useful, is it functional, and is it easy to navigate. Rick Darius said the information is good, structured well, and you don't have to click too many times to get into any one place. He said for a relatively low cost the site could be redesigned and realigned with the new ad campaign. Chairman Rodriguez expected there to be more consistency with the way the City is presenting itself. He said it looked as though there was dead space and it looked like that on a couple of pages. Ms. Kneiding said the copy came directly from the Vacation Planner. She added that they were looking at making the home page more interchangeable wherein it would rotate like the Art site. She also said they wanted people to look at the site, enjoy it and move onto other places within the site so she believed it was a conscious decision at that time to have space, but that could be changed. Ms. Bird said Marriott's website has been changed to reflect the time in which people are viewing the site. During the day business travelers view the site. In the evening, leisure visitors review the site. She said change is good, important, and it probably does need a new look after three years. Ms. Bird asked if staff had any idea of what the cost would be. Ms. Kneiding said that staff is in the process of getting bids. She said it really depends on what direction they want to go, i.e., do they want them to write the copy or will staff write the copy. Ms. Kneiding said they could spend up to $15,000 for everything including the programming. The company that the City is currently using is "SiteWire" and they are incredibly knowledgeable. She added that there is money in the budget for the redesign. There are currently about 4,500 visitors in the database that are not being reached by any promotional effort. She said they are going to be working on that this year. MARKETING COMMITTEE MINUTES MAY 25, 2004 PAGE 7 Mr. Darius asked if there was any flash element in the site. Ms. Kneiding said there is not and the reason is because flash does not register on any of the search engines. Mr. Darius said depending on who your audience is and what kind of equipment they are using determines the technology used. Ms. Kneiding said they are dealing with a low -end computer user. Motion was made by Norine Bowen to support the redesign of the City's Website. Emily Bird seconded the motion, which was carried unanimously. D. REQUEST FOR APPROVAL OF A ONE-YEAR CONTRACT EXTENSION FOR FULL GALLOP MARKETING CONTRACT Ms. Gilligan said Ms. Close works very well with the City. From the City's standpoint we have to ask ourselves if she succeeded in accomplishing what we (the City) set out to do. In Ms. Kneiding's absence, Ms. Close was at the forefront and assumed a lot of responsibility for very little additional money. She said Ms. Close has a real feel for the City. Ms. Gilligan felt that Ms. Close has done a very good job, and she didn't think anyone at the City would disagree with that. She does believe in the five-year review process, but felt Ms. Close has earned another year on her contract. Ms. Kneiding explained how the Full Gallop Marketing contract works. Ms. Close receives a monthly retainer and does everything for that retainer except when the City has a large project like Hopalong Cassidy. She does not get commission on ad placements. That 15% is passed onto the City as a savings. She said the City saves a significant amount of money by having the contract work the way and it does. Ms. Gilligan said the marketing budget has remained very consistent in dollars over the last 3.5 years and the reason is because they were able to take that savings and put it back into the budget. It wasn't an easy thing for the City to do because they are a contract City, but it has worked very well. Norine Bowen said she did not consider Piper Close an outside person. She also felt Ms. Close had great passion and that is so important especially when the Committee is talking about enhancing the brand. When Ms. Close stepped in for Ms. Kneiding during her absence that took dedication and commitment especially MARKETING COMMITTEE MINUTES MAY 25, 2004 PAGE 8 since it was done for very little compensation. She was supportive of staffs recommendation. Chairperson Rodriguez said he was a big believer in the person who did the work before you. He said he has spoken to Ms. Close's peers in the marketing/advertising field and they grudgingly acknowledged that she has done a fine job for the City. You don't often hear that from one to another in that particular field. He said that speaks very well for the job that she has done. Although he would expect a thorough review after five years because that is what has been established. Emily Bird agreed with Chairman Rodriguez. She added if the change is made too often nothing ever gets accomplished. She seconded the comments of Ms. Bowen. She said Ms. Close has done a great job for the City. Ms. Kneiding added that a lot of times agencies that are on retainer give their 30 hours a week because that's what you pay for. Ms. Close has not once said, "no I can't do that, or I've worked to long on this, or my time is up, or I've had it." You never get a glimpse of that. Ms. Kneiding felt very fortunate that she can work in that manner and the City definitely gets its moneys worth. Motion was made by Rick Darius to approve a one-year renewal of the contract with Ms. Close of Full Gallop Marketing Communications. Motion seconded by Norine Bowen, which was carried unanimously. VI. OLD BUSINESS A. RETAIL PROMOTION SUBCOMMITTEE Ms. Kneiding said the Retail Subcommittee met and discussed Ruth Ann Moore's $50,000. The subcommittee recommended that $25,000 be directed towards the "Pursue Some Happiness" piece which is a collateral piece that is supported by the CVA. The distribution is in the San Diego Union Tribute, the Los Angeles Times, and the Orange County Register to households with an income of $150,000 or greater. That piece must be opened up to other entities in order to have the CVA's stamp of approval. The City decided they could by ads and the CVA would sell the ads to other people to support this piece. The subcommittee felt that would be a good use of the money. MARKETING COMMITTEE MINUTES MAY 25, 2004 PAGE 9 Palm Springs Life will produce the piece, write the piece, and sell the advertising. This time they will create an opportunity for banner pages so that smaller businesses that can't afford to go in and purchase an ad can do something smaller with the City picking up the cost of the banner and creating less expensive advertising opportunities. She did not know what the ad rates were going to be for the smaller ads but it seemed the least expensive was going to be $2,920.00, which is still a pretty good chunk of change for a small shop to be able to bite off. Ms. Kneiding said they felt that piece needed one more chance. We thought that this was a piece worth reviving and letting those people receiving it be the judge. She said they are hoping it becomes an annual or bi-annual piece in the future. Mr. Jones said it is a total of 480,000 households in those three papers. It is a massive print run and massive insert. It is a 16-page four-color insert. Those papers will allow them to buy the inserts and sell other advertising in it because of the CVA. If we were to buy '/4 page in all three of those newspapers the price would be $40,800.00. He said this is quite an opportunity to reach that large of an audience. Ms. Bowen asked if they decided that the banner ads would tie into "Palm Desert Rocks", "Palm Desert Dines", etc. Ms. Kneiding said yes. Ms. Close said that they try to combine things into the appropriate sections. If they do four banner pages they would showcase those four areas so that we would be hitting the shopping, dining, outdoor activities, special attractions, etc. Chairman Rodriguez asked if the City would be on the line for anything above the $25,000. Ms. Close said no. Ms. Kneiding said the subcommittee recommends that the remainder of the money be used for the production of a restaurant discount card. The card would be included in the reprint of the dining guide, which will be updated next year. They will offer restaurants the opportunity to be a member of this card with a discount of 10%. She added that there would also be an overrun of Rack cards and they will be available at all the hotels and the Visitor Center. The subcommittee felt that would be a good use of the remaining funds as restaurants are rarely a part of the shopping advertisements. MARKETING COMMITTEE MINUTES MAY 25, 2004 PAGE 10 Ms. Bird said Michael Shimer mentioned a "Privilege Card" that has restaurants and other amenities with a discount of at least 10%. She said Mr. Shimer said he gets at least 10-15 cards per week. Ms. Close said restaurants are predominately the types of business that can offer 10% off of something and not hurt their profit margin. That is why we wanted to do something specific for restaurants. Ms. Bowen said Mr. Shimer actually keeps track of those kinds of sales. She said it was a significant amount and it raised our antennas to say there has got to be more here. It is a sophistication level that you want to attract. Ms. Kneiding said the Marketing Committee's recommendation will be given to Ruth Ann Moore who in turn will take it to City Council. Motion was made by Norine Bowen to approve $25,000 for the "Pursue Some Happiness" piece, and $25,000 for the production of a restaurant discount dining card. Motion seconded by Emily Bird, which was carried unanimously VII. REPORT ON CITY COUNCIL ACTION (S) None. VIII. REPORTS AND REMARKS A. Chair None. B. Committee Members None. C. Staff None. IX. ADJOURNMENT Chairman Rodriguez adjourned the meeting at 3:45 p.m. MARKETING COMMITTEE MINUTES MAY 25, 2004 PAGE 11 Respectfully submitted, Lot' Wimbish, Recording Secretary