HomeMy WebLinkAbout10-08-2014 PCC MinutesPromotional Coordinating Committee
Meeting Minutes
Wednesday, October 8, 2014
5:30 pm at City Hall
CALL TO ORDER: Chair Jill LeMieux
PRESENT: Franciskovich, Palazzo, Pearce, Levi, LeMieux, Collins
STAFF PRESENT: Molly Cano, Tourism Manager
Meeting to order at 5:30 pm
OATH OF OFFICE
The City Clerk provided the Oath of Office to Brandon Collins to serve on the PCC.
PUBLIC COMMENT
None.
CONSENT AGENDA
Staff presented the results of the TOT Report, consent item C7.
ACTION: Moved by Pearce/Levi to approve the consent agenda .
Motion carried 7:0
PRESENTATIONS
1. QUARTERLY REPORT BY CONTRACTOR
The Community Promotions contractors presented the quarterly activity reports.
Molly Kern from the Chamber of Commerce presented the activity report for the contracts with the PCC.
Highlights included: for GIA support 22 of the 26 events have been served. The monthly event sheet was
distributed to all hotels, restaurants and SLO wineries to keep them informed about what’s happening in our
city. From the PR perspective, numerous press releases were distributed in the quarter. By promoting SLO from
various angles, we continue to build traction with many different audiences. For example the Savor release was
sent out to Western US Food and Lifestyle outlets and focused on the San Luis Obispo city connection. A few
of the media results include: One of the 7 most bike – friendly small cities (Bicycling.com); #1 farmers’ market
to visit this summer (SaveOn Energy); Top 10 Drive ins in the US by Trip Advisor; #3 best Lighthouse hikes in
the US (Backpacker.com) 132,616 unique views. The largest and most SLO focused placement this quarter was
the 5 page spread in 805 Living magazine. The publication is based in Westlake and the main audience is the
affluent, northern LA market which is a wonderful SLO traveler and someone who will come back again and
again. The circulation for 805 Living is 30,820. For the Visitor Center Services, the staff continued to expand
the number of events that are added to the event calendar. Walk-in traffic was up 3.6% at 20,501 and these are
tracked through a people counter.
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Ashlee Ackers and Christiana Newcomb presented the results of the activities for the SLO Happenings.
Highlights included: 1239 total app downloads, 6194 app sessions, and 6385 page views. There were more than
65 new events submitted to the app in the quarter. Advertising and promotions of the app continues. Facebook
ad impressions were 15,113 for the promotion of the Facebook page, and 104,772 for the splash page. In app
digital banners through KSBY program resulted in 159,884 impressions however the click through rate remains
low. In August the spend was switched to Charter ad program. Social media continues to be strong with 6-7
Facebook posts per week, which has resulted in 5% increase in page likes. For twitter the goal is to have 500
followers by December and they are on track to achieve that. There were 115 new followers this quarter and the
total followers count is 278.
BUSINESS ITEMS
1. 2015-17 GOAL SETTING
The committee had reviewed the 2013-15 goals submitted by the PCC and found many of them still
appropriate for 2015-17. The commissioners discussed the items and worked on writing the goals to be a more
general focus. They will continue to consider the goals during the November meeting.
2. SLO HAPPENINGS NEXT STEPS
The committee will considered options for the SLO Happenings program direction due to not receiving any
proposal submission from the Request for Proposal (RFP) Specification No. 91305 for Events Promotion
Outreach Services. Staff presented four suggestions for consideration of the SLO Happenings program. The
committee discussed the various options in great length. The received public comment from GFL Systems
expressing interest in the program should the RFP open again. The option number three seemed to stand out
amongst the committee. The options suggested that the committee seek a new proposal from Verdin to continue
the program through the end of the fiscal year which would allow the committee to re-evaluate the program and
release a new RFP.
ACTION: Moved by Pearce/Palazzo to move forward with option number three and move the
reconsideration of the RFP to a taskforce.
Motion carried 7:0
Taskforce committee members: LeMieux, Collins, and Palazzo
3. 2013-14 CARRYOVER UPDATE
Staff updated the committee that their request to carryover the remaining funds from the 2013-14
fiscal year budget into the current year’s budget was approved. The requested carryover amount from
the PCC was $3,000.
COMMITTEE COMMUNICATION
GIA Report:
LeMieux emailed her list of events.
Staff will provide the list to new member Brandon Collins.
TBID Report:
Pearce reported on the TBID updates.
Tourism Program Update:
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Molly Cano presented the Tourism Program update:
- Annual Report for the TBID was approved by Council
- Public Hearing set for 10/21 at 6pm
- Special Meeting of Council for TMD- 11/10 at 4:30pm
- SAVOR was successful
- FAM trip- UK SuperFAM: September 29 & 30- Luxury pillar was very successful
- media visits:
Sam Eichblatt- during SAVOR
a freelance journalist, Sam Eichblatt with an upcoming press trip. Sam is planning to visit
California and will be writing a travel feature for Air New Zealand’s in-flight magazine, Kia Ora.
Specifically, the article will be about a road trip on the Pacific Coast Highway, including a
stopover at San Luis Obispo.
Publication: Kia Ora (Air New Zealand In-Flight Magazine)
Circulation: 45,000
Expected media coverage: 7 page feature dedicated to Pacific Coast Highway road trip
Equivalent advertising value: NZ$52,500
Dates travelling in San Luis Obispo: 24th September (one night)
- TBID is continuing to work on the booking engine. Helium’s first deliverable has been received
and is being reviewed. TBID’s Management Committee will meet to receive feedback from
agency in consideration of approving the deliverable and releasing the funds.
Meeting adjourned at 7:32 pm