HomeMy WebLinkAbout11-16-2011 PCC Agenda Packet - Special MeetingAgenda
Promotional Coordinating Committee
City of San Luis Obispo
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
4:00 p.m. Special Meeting Council Hearing Room
990 Palm Street
The Coals of the City of San Luis Obispo Promotional Coordinating Committee are to (1) Improve the quality of life
available to all residents of and visitors to San Luis Obispo and (2) Promote, in a manner consistent with long-range
community goals, the development of San Luis Obispo as a regional and tourist center.
CALL TO ORDER
PUBLIC COMMENT: Each speaker is limited to three minutes of public comment
IAPPOINTMENTS
1. APPOINTMENT OF VICE-CHAIR 5 min
Due to the resignation of Commissioner Davis, the committee will elect a new vice-chair.
ICONSENT ITEMS
C.l Minutes of the Meeting of September 14,2011 and the October 26, 2011 Special Meeting.
[ BUSINESS ITEMS
1. EVENTS PROMOTION BROCHURE -Attachment 1 10 min
The committee will continue its discussion from October 26, 2011 regarding a new events
promotion approach and program. The contractor will present the revisions to the program
as requested by the commissioners.
3. GRANTS-IN-AID -SLO CAR FREE & PAC-Attachment 3 5 min
The committee will look at a new proposal from SLO CarFree and the Performing Art Center
for the use of the 2011-12 grant funding.
ADJOURN.
Any writings or documents provided to a majority of the Promotional Coordinating Committee regarding any item
on this agenda will be made available for public inspection in the Administration office of the City of San Luis
Obispo at 990 Palm Street during normal business hours.
Promotional Coordinating Committee
Minutes
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
5:30 pm
City Hall· Council Hearing Room
CALL TO ORDER: 5:30 pm by Commissioner Fidler DRAFT
PRESENT: Billing, Cox, Palazzo
STAFF PRESENT: Brigitte Elke, Principal Administrative Analyst
PUBLIC COMMENT
There was no public comment
APPOINTMENTS
The committee had to elect an interim chair as two members including the committee chair were not
present and the vice-chair had resigned from the committee in August.
ACTION: Moved by Billing/Palazzo to elect Marilyn Fidler as interim chair.
Motion carried 4:0
CONSENT AGENDA
ACTION: Moved by Cox/Billing to approve the consent agenda as presented.
Motion carried 4:0
PRESENTATIONS
No presentations were made at the meeting as quarterly presentations were scheduled for October
2011.
BUSINESS ITEMS
1. DIRECTIONAL SIGN PROGRAM -DESTINATION LIST
Bridget Fraser, project manager with Public Works, presented the program as approved by the City's
Architectural Review Committee. She went over the preliminary destination list and mentioned that
the program will go before the City Council on October 18, 2011.
ACTION: Moved by Cox/Billing to endorse the City's Way Finding program and destination list
as presented. Motion carried 4:0
2. EVENTS PROMOTION
Commissioner M. Fidler reported on the joint events committee meeting and the presentations
received on August 29,2011. Funding requests from the SLO International Film Festival and the
inaugural SLO Jazz Festival were considered. The committee did not make a recommendation for the
Jazz Festival as there were several open questions the organizers needed to address.
ACTION: Moved by Cox/Billing to recommend allocating $5,000 to the Film Festival for
marketing of the 2012 event. Motion carried 4:0
3. COMMUNICATION PLAN & RFP
Commissioner M. Fidler reported on the last marketing subcommittee meeting and the change in
direction the subcommittee is recommending. The new approach would concentrate on events
promotion and look to refresh the Grants-in-Aid program, the current events approach in the joint
events committee, and also define a better assessment of the economic impact and ROI.
ACTION: Moved by Palazzo/Cox to establish a program that allocates funding to events
promotions in a comprehensive manner by incorporating Grants-in-Aid, events
promotion, print and electronic platforms, public relations efforts, and establishes clear
metrics to gauge ROI. The communication plan originally envisioned will not be
pursued.
Motion carried 4:0
The committee then discussed the promotional elements currently commissioned under the
Community Promotion's program.
ACTION: Moved by Fidler/Palazzo to discontinue the current ShopSLOIDineSLO program that
has been commissioned month-by-month since July 2011, by September 30,2011.
Motion carried 4:0
Meeting adjourned at 7:10 PM
Promotional Coordinating Committee
Special Meeting Minutes
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
5:30 pm
City Hall -Council Hearing Room
CALL TO ORDER: 5:30 pm Committee Chair Marco Rizzo
PRESENT: Fidler, Palazzo, LeMieux
STAFF PRESENT: Brigitte Elke, Principal Administrative Analyst
PUBLIC COMMENT
There was no public comment
1. EVENTS BROCHURE
Ashlee Akers with Verdin presented a new events promotion program for 2012 with two semi-annual
print brochures now suggested at 16 pages each. The cost for the program was proposed at $64,000.
Included in the proposal were the cost for the print brochure, web presence, and a social media and
ad campaign.
The commissioners discussed each program component with the contractor. Based on the limited
number of visitors to the events website (4,100 in 8 months) and the fact that the City already owns
two website, the commissioners directed the contractor to find ways to define a web presence within
the two existing options instead of a stand-alone website. Commissioner Palazzo also pointed out
that this was a City of San Luis Obispo product and needed to be presented as such.
ACTION: Moved by LeMieux/Fidler to recommend the continuation of the events brochure
contract in 2012. Motion carried 4:0
ACTION Moved by Palazzo/ LeMieux to move forward with Verdin's proposed campaign at
$64,000 with the online component still to be determined.
Motion carried 4:0
Commissioner Palazzo asked the agency to present the tracking mechanism for the additional post-it
campaigns to proof traffic produced through this effort.
Commissioner LeMieux wanted to make sure that the agency will place the URL at the bottom of the
brochure pages.
Meeting adjourned at 6:25 pm
verdin* ATTACHMENT 1
City of SLO
Events Brochure
Proposal for 2012
Proposal
2012 Budget: $64,000
Budget breakdown for each brochure
Coordination, design, printing, dist: $23,000 x 2 = $46,000
Brochure online functionality: $ 1,500 x 2 = $ 3,000
Ad & Social Media: $ 7,500 x 2 = $15,000
Coordination, design, printing and distribution:
• Qty 100,000, 16-page brochure
• Distribution through the Tribune's Total Market Coverage program, reaching 88,000
households in the county.
• Balance of 12,000 brochures will be distributed through the Chamber, lodging properties
and events venues.
• Brochures will be delivered to key locations four times throughout the year
Brochure online functionality:
• Coordinate position of online brochure link with City of San Luis Obispo and TBID, and
work with their development team to create brochure icon link.
• Format and layout brochure on Issuu.com to include active links for events.
• Design and develop custom brochure button that will link to brochure.
The budget also includes continuing advertising, ad production and social media support:
• SanLuisObispo.com banner ads -Receives over 400,000 unique visitors per month
• Facebook.com -Place very targeted ads purchased on a pay per click basis
• Tribune Post-It Note ad -Running two Post-It Notes, one with each distribution of the
brochure, flagging the brochure insertion in that issue
• SLO Chamber Kiosk & Vistslo.com advertising package
o Advertisement on 24/7 Kiosk-exclusive ad throughout events section, 14 pages
o Tier 1 banner advertising on Visitslo.com
o Advertisement on display board in Visitor Center
• Social media outreach on Facebook and Twitter to drive traffic to the slocity.org/events
o Digitalize the print brochure, while still publishing it in print, using Issuu.com (free
interactive tool that allows users turn the pages of a document, click through to
links, embed on any website, share it with friends. It also allows publishers to
track views).
o Create a San Luis Obispo Events community page on Facebook, and create a
unique Facebook event listing for each event in the brochure OR search for the
event listing, as it might already exist on Facebook, and then share it on the San
Luis Obispo Events Facebook page.
o Create an Issuu tab on the Facebook page and embed the interactive brochure.
ATTACHMENT 1
verdin*
City of SLO
Events Brochure
Proposal for 2012
Additional Recommended Opportunities
Additional advertising schedule
• Two additional Post-It Notes on the front of the Tribune, one to run three months after
distribution of each brochure to coincide with replenishment schedule. Directs traffic to
the EventsSLO.org website.
o $1,107.12 per Post it Note
• Increasing online media bUy to include Fresno, through FresnoBee.com and Orange
County, through OCRegister.com
ATTACHMENT J
October 3, 2011
City of San Luis Obispo
Promotional Coordination Committee
990 Palm Street
San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
Subject: Re-Submittal of Grants-In-Aid proposal for SLO Car Free
Dear Ms. Elke and Promotional Coordination Committee,
The Central Coast Clean Cities Coalition and the SLO Car Free Program would like to thank you for
awarding us a grant for the 2011/2012 fiscal year. We assure you that we will use the grant funding to
the best of our abilities to promote the City of San Luis Obispo and the SLO Car Free program.
The reason for this letter is to let you know we need to move in a different direction than what was
mentioned in Attachment 1 of the Grants-In-Aid Agreement and we need to get the Committee's
permission prior to moving forward.
As stated in our Application, the purpose of our grant request was to provide money to help market and
promote the SLO Car Free program through general advertising in San Luis Obispo County, as well as
advertising and promotional events outside San Luis Obispo. Both encouraging visitors to travel here
without their car or once they are here, in San Luis Obispo, to park their car and get around via local
transit, bike, walking/hiking, or alternative fueled vehicle. The main goal is to promote the City of San
Luis Obispo (as well as the County) in the most effective way possible.
As outlined in Attachment 1 of the Grants-in-Aid Agreement, the Committee requests that the money be
used "For ads on visitcalifornia.com to promote the statewide program." The California Car Free program
is a collaborative effort between the SLO Car Free, Santa Barbara Car Free and Napa Car Free programs,
with Santa Barbara spearheading the efforts. Unfortunately, the program is still under development and is
quite a ways out from being fully developed and ready to launch to the public.
SLO Car Free is committed to bringing sustainable tourism to San Luis Obispo and promoting the county
and its attractions and businesses as a whole. We strongly feel that promoting the California Car Free
Program would be an extreme disadvantage to the City, as the program is not final and not solely
promoting SLO Car Free has the potential to reduce visitors to San Luis Obispo.
An example ad that would be used to promote and support SLO Car Free is outlined below:
1. The SLO Car Free program will promote SLO Car Free on visitcalifornia.com. The ad would
include text saying:
a. "Our car free tourism program is making international headlines! Sign up and try out the
newest travel trend and great discounts."
b. Find all the pleasures San Luis Obispo has to offer. Maps I Discounts I How to get around
I Top Attractions I Events I Hear what others have to say.
c. Ad would include the SLO Car Free and SLO City logos, website, eye catching pictures,
Facebook and Twitter logos and QR code.
ATIACHMENTJ
Although the first option would be our ideal direction, if we must promote California Car Free, despite it
being our opinion that it would be at a disadvantage to the City of San Luis Obispo, we would like to
follow an outline similar to the following:
2. The SLO Car Free program could promote SLO Car Free on visitcalifornia.com. The ad could
include text saying (draft):
a. Visit California, Car Free!
b. California offers many destinations with car free amenities. Try out the San Luis Obispo
Car Free program where you can get great discounts on transportation, hotels,
restaurants and fun activities.
c. Coming soon ... the California Car Free program, working to expand car free options
across the state!
d. Include the SLO Car Free and SLO City logos, website, eye catching pictures, Facebook
and Twitter logos and QR code.
Advertising "California Car Free" rather than just "SLO Car Free" could be very confusing for viewers of
the ad since CA Car Free does not yet exist. We also highly discourage including the Santa Barbara and
Napa Car Free programs in the advertising as this dilutes the SLO Car Free program and the potential of
travelers to our area specifically.
Unfortunately, the SLO Car Free program has very limited funding and resources to promote the
program. When given the opportunity, we need to maximize our efforts to the best of our abilities. We
assure you that promoting the SLO Car Free Program specifically would highly benefit the City of San Luis
Obispo and the County, as a whole.
We look forward to answering any questions the Committee may have regarding our re-submittal. Again,
thank you for your consideration of our proposal.
Sincerely,
Meghan Field
mfield@co.slo.ca.us
805-781-1003
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