HomeMy WebLinkAbout10-08-2008 PCC Minutes Promotional Coordinating Committee
Minutes Wednesday, October 8, 2008
5:30 pm
City Hall
Council Hearing Room
990 Palm Street
CALL TO ORDER: Cate Norton - 5:30 pm
PRESENT: Babb, Nicklas, Maggelet, J. Conner, Kinney, T. Conner
STAFF PRESENT: Brigitte Elke, Principal Administrative Analyst
PUBLIC COMMENT
There was no public comment
CONSENT AGENDA
ACTION: Moved by J. Conner/Maggelet to approve the consent agenda as presented.
Motion carried 6:0 (one member of the committee arrived after the approval of
the consent agenda)
PRESENTATIONS
1. PR CONTRACT – CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
Lindsey Miller reported on the Chamber’s PR efforts over the last quarter. The City received
coverage in Sunset Magazine- Dream Cities, USA Weekend, Vintages & Voyages, Mother
Earth News, Traveling Mamas.com, USA Tourist News Magazine, and MSN.com that utilized
the Sunset article one month after the magazine coverage. In addition, they worked on
promotions with Open Studio Tour, Cal Poly’s Sustainability Conference, the Straight Down
Golf Tournament, Botanical Garden, the SLO Vintner’s Harvest Celebration, SLO County
Airport, and Cal Poly’s Homecoming.
For the upcoming quarter they will concentrate on a cultural niche theme including the Path of
History, focusing on downtown, the Children’s Museum, and niche related magazines for PR
coverage.
2. SLO VINTNERS HARVEST CELEBRATION – BECKY GRAY
Becky Gray, Executive Director for the SLO Vintners came to thank the committee for its
support of the SLO Vintners Harvest Celebration 2008. She showed several video clips that
showcased what a difference the financial support made in the promotional efforts. Sales for
the event are up dramatically from three tables sold at the same time last year to 11 tables to
date with one month to go before the actual event. Most of the tables were sold to people
from the Bakersfield area. They attribute the success to the podcast and the fact that many
events in Santa Barbara are so overcrowded that people are looking for more “intimate”
venues.
Based on a question from the committee, she stated that TASTE is doing really well and that
Domain Alfred has re-joined the association.
BUSINESS ITEMS
1. USE OF “LEFT OVER” ADVERTISING FUNDING
The committee received a proposal from Verdin Marketing Ink that addressed funding
currently allocated to buy Visitors Guides for 2009-10. Since it is not clear whether Verdin
Marketing will continue to hold the contract, they wanted to at least present possible use of
the $27,000. Since the PCC has yet to address its strategy for the upcoming financial plan,
Verdin’s proposal was not voted on, but simply received for future discussion.
Part of the proposal outlined a package to collaborate with the SLO Airport. John Conner
gave a brief report on the Airport Marketing Manager’s (Phil D’Acri) presentation to the TBID
Board the same morning. Phil outlined an immediate need for dollars to invest in a marketing
partnership with US Airways. After some deliberation, the committee voted to allocate $3,000
from Verdin’s “left over” funding to this effort.
ACTION: Moved by Nicklas/Kinney to approve $3,000 to collaborate with SLO Airport
on US Airways’ marketing proposal given that the Airport will be seeking
funding from other sources in the County.
Motion carried 5:2
The committee members acknowledged that the funding will come from the advertising
contract and that the funding currently allocated for tourism guides was lowered to $24,000.
2. BUDGET GOAL SETTING 2009-11
After a lively discussion, the committee approved the goals as outlined in attachment 1 to be
forwarded to the Finance & IT Director.
ACTION: Moved by Kinney/Babb to approve the goals as outlined in attachment 1.
Motion carried 4:0 (three members of the committee had to leave at 7pm).
PCC LIAISON REPORTS
1. GIA UPDATE
Cathie Babb and Jeanne Kinney reported that they had contacted all of their respective
liaisons.
2. MARKETING SUBCOMMITTEE REPORT
The Marketing Subcommittee did not meet in September.
The meeting adjourned at 6:55 pm to the November 12, 2008 meeting.