Okaloosa County BOCC — May 29, 2014 — Minutes — reading text

meetings? 24 MS. CLARKE: Groups and meetings -- that's a great 25 question. It's -- I should have pointed out that that is Destin Reporting & Technology Group (850) 837-5078 scheduling@destinreporting.com  20 1 actually leisure seasonality that we're talking about 2 right there. And -- and it would fall over to the -- to 3 the group niche audiences that makes sense for that. 4 But in terms of groups and meetings, we actually do 5 have an annual plan for them. It's actually in the very 6 back of your printed copy. We weren't going to go line 7 by line through that, but we can definitely hit the 8 highlights, take you through that. 9 And we actually work with sharing in terms of, you 10 know, when is the -- when -- when do most weddings come 11 here, you know, when are meeting planners. Those type of 12 things do fall into consideration when we're planning. 13 And then we're also trying to reach a few newer 14 emerging markets this year. So you can see Chicago, 15 D.C., New York, Boston, and then Orlando as well. And 16 Orlando specifically was one that we were going to 17 partner with Visit Florida on, and try to get some of 18 that international travel in there to extend their stay 19 and come here. 20 And this is some of our marketing initiatives, just 21 to -- taking you through the highlight of what we're 22 trying to do. We, again, as mentioned earlier, want to 23 continue to conduct into more research to measure our 24 ROI. We want to enhance the groups and meetings section 25 of the website. So if you've been to emeraldcoasting.com Destin Reporting & Technology Group (850) 837-5078 scheduling@destinreporting.com  21 1 you see all the -- the new campaigns are presented there, 2 and also on the weddings site. So we want to -- we want 3 to have that run over into the groups and the meeting 4 sites as well. 5 We want to continue to create social media 6 awareness. That's a huge platform for us, and we want to 7 continue to prioritize that, and then develop media 8 strategy and methoding -- messaging that drives 9 visitation. So making sure to reach our audience and 10 speak to them, and understanding what motivates them to 11 come during certain times throughout the year. 12 So with that, Sonya Landry, our senior media 13 planner, our media chick, as she calls herself, is going 14 to come up and take you through media strategy. 15 MS. LANDRY: Good afternoon. I'd like to thank 16 everyone for your input. You guys and just all of the 17 partners, too. Because there was a lot of important 18 planning parameters that were provided to us, and then 19 there was feedback along the way. And I just think that 20 together we have a very informed plan, and a very diverse 21 plan. 22 So first up, just going through media strategies. 23 This year there will be an increased importance on 24 digital platform, online opportunities. Ultimately what 25 we're trying to do in as many ways as possible through Destin Reporting & Technology Group (850) 837-5078 scheduling@destinreporting.com  22 1 digital and traditional media is have people be one click 2 away. One click away from Emerald site information, 3 Emerald site -- Emerald Coast site booking. 4 We have a branding campaign, but what we're doing 5 is we're ramping up the tactical and promotional focus. 6 And really what that means is as many ways that we can 7 combine our traditional and online advertising so that we 8 have contests, we have sweepstakes, you know, that 9 generates databases. It also generates additional 10 awareness outside of what you purchased. And again, it's 11 another way to keep us focused with online opportunities. 12 Similar, with online and digital, because that 13 clearly is one click away, traditional media. When I buy 14 radio, when I buy print, we want to look for packages 15 that are cross-media. Our integrated media 16 opportunities. 17 So in addition to what we bought traditionally, 18 they would provide a digital presence. And many of these 19 partners also will provide lead generation guarantees, 20 giving you a lead that you could then remarket back to. 21 Also important on the business side of the house is 22 an increased priority in terms of lead generation 23 partners for meetings and conventions, and groups. 24 Basically working with companies that can provide for you 25 a warm lead that you guys -- a warm, qualified lead. Let Destin Reporting & Technology Group (850) 837-5078 scheduling@destinreporting.com  23 1 me stress that -- so that it's in the increased priority 2 for closed rates for your teams. 3 There are a diverse group of marketing segments 4 that we've talked about reaching, and you'll see those 5 throughout the plan. Florida and beach-centric 6 publications, family-oriented opportunities. In addition 7 to your top markets that you saw on the map, we know that 8 Atlanta is extremely important to you guys, so we are 9 recommending some heavyups there. 10 The top U.S. markets, those were the emerging 11 markets that Michelle referred to. And all of the 12 national media, you would be reaching those markets 13 clearly, but then there's some other opportunities where 14 we're reaching the Chicagos, the Bostons, the New Yorks, 15 some -- some Florida emphasis as well. 16 In the coop and groups plans, there are some niche 17 segments for weddings, military and sports. And then in 18 leisure and in coop there's Canadian market, 19 international market -- a lot of that being Snowbird -- 20 and then there's also the recreational fishing 21 enthusiasts that's part of the plan. 22 MS. CLARKE: And then just to highlight on the 23 messaging side of it. We're going to continue to 24 differentiate ourselves using our Emerald Coasting brand. 25 But one thing, actually, that Rachel brought up in one of Destin Reporting & Technology Group (850) 837-5078 scheduling@destinreporting.com  24 1 the Igwater meetings, was how much are we actually 2 reaching our niche audiences. 3 And so this line was added that we're dedicating 4 20% of our total media budget to target niche. So if you 5 just take that off the total, that's -- so a lot of 6 leisure media, as well as our niche media, will reach 7 groups, and that helps drive business, as you all know, 8 during your slower seasons. 9 MS. LANDRY: So now looking at things in summary. 10 First up being your campaign waiting. These are your 11 booking windows. 12 As your sole booking window, fall is leading at 13 35%; however, you then have spring and summer at 30% and 14 20%. Those are overlapping seasons for the most part. 15 So those represent 50% of the total booking window. 16 Christmas is at 5%, and Snowbirds at 10%. 17 Another way of summarizing the plan is to look at 18 it based on media-spent allocations. In previewing this 19 information, you've probably seen that there are two 20 budget summaries. This represents the baseline plan. 21 And leading tactic is online, digital platforms, at 40%, 22 trends at 25, television at 24, and radio at 11. 23 In the incremental plan, because, again, trying to 24 keep that -- that priority of being one-click away, what 25 we've done is made a recommendation to invest 100% in Destin Reporting & Technology Group (850) 837-5078 scheduling@destinreporting.com  25 1 digital platforms that would bring this ratio of online 2 to 55%. 3 Looking at everything summarized by tactics by 4 campaign, the fall/winter, spring/summer, Christmas and 5 Snowbird seasons, every booking window has print. That's 6 what the first line is. Fall/winter, spring/summer will 7 have television, meaning your amped-up television, the 8 national cable. And when you combine those two booking 9 windows, that's actually 85% of the window of booking 10 opportunity. 11 Fall/winter, spring/summer, and Christmas will have 12 radio; that's a combination of terrestrial radio, your 13 spot market, you know, radio stations, and then also the 14 satellite radio. And then every single campaign will 15 have digital and online components, including mobile, 16 meaning your cell phones and your desktop. 17 And you'll see when you actually kind of read 18 through the details of individual media sheets that are 19 in your booklet, and in the summary tables, that many of 20 these online opportunities are year-round, both for 21 leisure, and for groups, and for meetings. So we're 22 trying to have a continuous, ongoing presence. 23 So next up, looking at some media highlights of the 24 leisure plan, by having a higher mix of these multimedia 25 opportunities, where it's a combination of print and Destin Reporting & Technology Group (850) 837-5078 scheduling@destinreporting.com  26 1 online, radio and online, with our traditional media, 2 we're actually having some guarantees delivered to us. 3 And that's in the form of 16,000 minimum leads. You 4 know, a lead you can send an e-blast to; you can mail out 5 a collateral brochure. 6 We are guaranteed 32 million online banner 7 impressions, and 10,000 clicks to the website. This is 8 just a high-level summary of things that were negotiated 9 with roughly 18 media partners. 10 MS. JOYCE: So where would these -- where would 11 these leads go to? 12 MS. LANDRY: I -- I'll let you answer. 13 MS. CLARKE: Sure. No, the leads -- we work with 14 leads to go to the staff, and then where appropriate, 15 they would reach out to partners to facilitate any of 16 those needs. 17 But one of the ways in which we're fulfilling the 18 leads, too, on the leisure side, is that we're going to 19 start a quarterly e-newsletter, so that will go out -- 20 we're going to use these leads, all the e-mail addresses 21 we get to continue to remarket to them. 22 MS. LANDRY: And I have to add, too, these lead 23 lists are very information-dense. It's really hard to 24 get an e-mail address with any type of database, and this 25 has e-mail. It has e-mail, it has a contact name, and it Destin Reporting & Technology Group (850) 837-5078 scheduling@destinreporting.com  27 1 also has an address. 2 So, the first bullet point was specific to 3 traditional media. The second is relative to digital, so 4 the online portion of the plan. You know, your online 5 advertising is really a direct link to the Emerald Coast 6 site -- or back to the