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

ultimately mirrors the 14 make-up of the market. 15 MR. GOSSOM: Good. Thank you. That's correct. 16 MS. CLARKE: Got it. 17 MS. LANDRY: You got it? Okay, thank you. 18 MS. CLARKE: Not sure -- you said Southern Weddings 19 or Southern Bride? 20 MS. JOYCE: Southern Weddings. 21 MS. LANDRY: Okay. All right. Forgot to look at 22 this. 23 MS. CLARKE: If okay, we might come back to that 24 question because she has that answer for you. 25 MS. LANDRY: I have it, just -- Destin Reporting & Technology Group (850) 837-5078 scheduling@destinreporting.com  51 1 MS. JOYCE: Okay. I counted on the page. It 2 wasn't listed. 3 MS. CLARKE: Yeah, she'll find it for you. 4 MS. JOYCE: Okay. 5 MS. CLARKE: If okay we can continue to keep going 6 and we can come back to that. 7 MS. JOYCE: Absolutely. 8 MS. CLARKE: So we won't go through each of these 9 unless y'all have any specific questions. 10 MS. LANDRY: And I think what you'll notice in the 11 body of that is, you'll see when there's Visit Florida 12 opportunities, you'll see -- you can see when there's a 13 combination of print and media. I think one of the 14 standouts right now in Canadian Traveller is -- not only 15 are -- does that help reach the consumer, but there is 16 actually a travel trade portion to that as well. 17 So it just speaks to the integration. 18 MS. CLARKE: So I will flip through these, and go 19 to -- real quickly touch on measuring success. So kind 20 of to the point that Rachel identified. And we do 21 provide reporting; we do monthly analytics reporting as 22 well, in terms of the website performance. 23 We're always trying to track everything that we're 24 doing. So we understand how important that is to show 25 return on your investment. The ways in which we do that, Destin Reporting & Technology Group (850) 837-5078 scheduling@destinreporting.com  52 1 you need visits to the website, our social media 2 performance, we provide reporting to the CBB on this as 3 well on a monthly basis. The bed tax revenue, we look at 4 that as well, whenever we get it in to look month by 5 month. 6 The visitation of the visitor's spending, we will 7 have that with the Hot Center research. So these are all 8 ongoing performance measures that we use. And then we 9 always check everything. So, to Rachel's question 10 earlier, we actually do provide tracking on every single 11 banner ad that we put out there, so we can tell you the 12 exact performance. So we will make sure to continue to 13 share that with -- with this group as well. 14 And then we will take you through the marketing 15 plan budget. Charlie, do you want to take them through 16 it, or do you want me to take them through it? 17 CHAIRMAN PETERSON: Does any -- before we move on, 18 does any of the council members have any -- you know, 19 we're going to approve this budget, and all these line 20 items on here, and that's a lot of money for us to be 21 approving this. Does anybody have any questions? 22 Because we're jumping right over this. 23 You know, we've had it for awhile, and some of us 24 were involved in the -- the meeting on that -- on the 8th 25 of May, but I just want to make sure everybody's Destin Reporting & Technology Group (850) 837-5078 scheduling@destinreporting.com  53 1 comfortable with what we've seen, and what they've done, 2 and what they've presented to us. 3 All right. 4 MS. JOYCE: Oh -- 5 CHAIRMAN PETERSON: Rachel? 6 MS. JOYCE: I'm curious -- they already know, 7 they've heard -- they've heard me kind of gripe about it. 8 My -- my big, big, big concern is -- and I had 9 asked if they would reach out to some of the 10 stakeholders, based on our market segments, and Joe had 11 mentioned it before, like SEC is a great example in the 12 fall, I love the fact that the difference between this 13 year and this last -- the -- what they're presenting now 14 based on what they did this last year is they have more 15 distinct moneys and percentages split into the seasons, 16 those shorter seasons that we need more emphasis on. 17 However, I am concerned because of the makeup -- 18 the market segments that make up that business in those 19 off seasons I don't think are appropriately represented. 20 You know, the -- with the leisure market, it's going to 21 help, the groups in the conventions, you know, that's 22 what we're going to have to rely on in our off seasons; 23 less and less leisure. 24 It's different for condos and hotels. I had 25 mentioned that, too. And where I would just -- I would Destin Reporting & Technology Group (850) 837-5078 scheduling@destinreporting.com  54 1 think that more than 20% would need to go towards those 2 specific niches compared to all of it going to more 3 leisure. 4 But I'm -- I -- my question to y'all is what do you 5 think about that. Is that something that you're 6 interested in, or something that you think you agree 7 with, disagree with? 8 MS. CLARKE: One -- 9 CHAIRMAN PETERSON: Any comments? 10 MS. CLARKE: One comment I would like to add to 11 that in consideration is that although that's specific to 12 niche messaging, keep in mind that your niche audiences 13 are still getting your leisure ads. So it's not that -- 14 it's not that you're only getting 20% of that audience. 15 So say you're a sports group wanting to think about 16 planning an event or something. You probably would see 17 leisure ads as well. So that's one thing, too, in terms 18 of balancing and waiting, that 20% is the minimum, not 19 the maximum. 20 MS. JOYCE: No, I know. 21 MS. CLARKE: Yeah. 22 MS. JOYCE: I completely understand that. I guess 23 it's going to kind of come to an impression of that, too. 24 MS. CLARKE: Uh-huh. 25 MS. JOYCE: Because if you're scheduling that in Destin Reporting & Technology Group (850) 837-5078 scheduling@destinreporting.com  55 1 December, you know, they're not going to think to come, 2 you know, in October, November, December, because the -- 3 people don't think to come to the beach. They want to 4 come to the beach during the beach season. That's when 5 we get most of our leads for these groups, is during June 6 and July. 7 And so we're all having to turn them away, because 8 they -- they also don't want to pay, you know, the rate 9 for it. So we also need to kind of start pushing to give 10 them an impression, hey, this is a great place to come in 11 those off seasons. So, yes, the leisure site going to 12 push it, but, you know, are they really going to want to 13 go snorkeling in November? No. 14 So what's going to convince them to come in the off 15 season? 16 MR. DIXON: What you think? 17 MS. JOYCE: Any thoughts? I guess it's a 18 discussion, you know, not -- not just my opinion, but, 19 you know, I'm willing to hear, hey, what do you think 20 about it, you know, and ... 21 MR. GUIDRY: I agree with you. I agree with you. 22 I agree with you (indicating), that you guys have done 23 such a great job putting this whole thing together. And 24 I think it's pretty easy for Joe to sit here and say, 25 well, what about SEC football, you know, something like Destin Reporting & Technology Group (850) 837-5078 scheduling@destinreporting.com  56 1 that. And it is -- is something that you have 2 considered. 3 My feeling is that, okay, this -- you've -- you've 4 put this plan together, and you've laid this plan out, 5 and I'm -- I'm willing to go with it. Go with it, and 6 support it, and from what I have seen, is that you guys 7 tweak on the fly, and, you know, when you see an 8 opportunity, you grab it. 9 But from the standpoint of having a base plan, and 10 -- and I'm -- I'm willing to go support that. I think 11 the things you bring up, like who goes snorkeling in 12 November? I think that -- that's good stuff, and they're 13 sitting over there, and they're writing this stuff down 14 and whatever. And, you know, I think it will reflect 15 back. You know what I mean? That's just my feeling. My 16 two cents on it, you know. 17 MR. GOSSOM: One of the things we talked about last 18 year was putting together and integrating marketing 19 campaign. A total campaign. 20 MR. GUIDRY: Yeah. 21 MR. GOSSOM: You could maybe do some things on the 22 fly, you could maybe do as you get into it, and you cross 23 integrate all the different markets and so forth, so on. 24 There are probably maybe some things that slip through 25 the cracks, but hopefully you guys will catch it. Destin Reporting & Technology Group (850) 837-5078 scheduling@destinreporting.com  57 1 MR. GUIDRY: That's why we have these sessions. 2 And I think they're paying attention. 3 MS. JOYCE: Yeah, I -- I mean -- you know, it's not 4 -- I'm in no way saying they have not done an amazing 5 job. 6 MR. GUIDRY: No, I think you bring up really good 7 things -- 8 MS. JOYCE: -- we have two different meetings. 9 It's just, you know, my concern is, are we putting the 10 dollars in the areas and on those seasons. Specifically, 11 you know, is the plan going out for what we know will get 12 the business in the off seasons? It was just a question. 13 CHAIRMAN PETERSON: And I don't know how y'all's 14 numbers are looking, but our -- our fall season is 15 already looking strong -- stronger than in the past 16 pace-wise. So that -- that's been working. 17 MS. JOYCE: It's too soon for hotels. 18 CHAIRMAN PETERSON: It's been too soon. It's been 19 a tough year this year to look at our numbers. But as I 20 think that -- you know, October, you still do have 21 leisure market. You still have a fishing rodeo, you 22 still have a Seafood Festival. You still have a mullet 23 festival. 24 You know, you have things going on in October, 25 September/October. November, I can see, you know, Destin Reporting & Technology Group (850) 837-5078 scheduling@destinreporting.com  58 1 looking for some way to bring somebody in here in 2 November. You know, which is -- it can still be a very 3 pretty month. 4 MR. SCHROEDER: Mr. Chairman, if I could? 5