Month: November 2008

Painting Streets of Pier Park

For the first time, Madonnaro 2008, Emerald Coast’s Street Painting Festival will be held at Pier Park on Panama City Beach.  Painting will be November 14 – 16 and is sponsored by the Visual Arts Center of Panama City.

Street painting has been popular all throughout Europe since the 16th century.  Street painters in Italy were known as madonnari because they often created pictures representing The Madonna, one of the central icons of Christianity.

Madonnari were nomad artists who traveled from town to town, festivity to festivity to cover the streets with their art.  Historically, using bits of broken roof tiles, charcoal and chalk, the artists would paint images, sometimes larger than life that would wash away at the first rain.  When the festivities were over, the artists and paintings would vanish.

Today, “street-artists” use varying shades of chalk to depict their creations and several forms of media, including digital photography, video and blogs to share their work with the world.

Be sure to support this unique form of art at Pier Park in this weekend.

Taste of the Beach at Pier Park

Pier Park played host to The Beach’s Taste of The Beach Friday evening.  With hundreds of wines to taste and 8 restaurants participating, a broad range of flavors wafted through the air.

“We expect 600 to 700 people here tonight,” said Paul Wohlford, VP of Sales and Marketing for the Resort Collection of Panama City Beach.

I’ve never been a good estimator of quantity, but I’d say if they hadn’t hit that mark, they sure were close.

Pier Park closed off the main boardwalk section between Hofbrau Beer Garden and Buffalo Wild Wings to place two tasting tents with a wide assortment of wine, cheeses, food and deserts.  Sponsors came from all of northwest Florida to participate, in addition to local Pier Park restaurants.

The restaurants that had a food sampling were Baja Grille, Margaritaville, Back Porch, Reggae J’s, Hofbrau Beer Garden, Buffalo Wild Wings, Longhorn Steak House, and Firefly.  All of the food was great, and many offered discount cards to dine at their restaurant during the off-season.

As people tasted, reggae music floated through the air.  The mood was pleasant and everyone seemed to be having a good time.

The schedule for the rest of the weekend:

  • Telluride Mountain Film Festival
    • Friday and Saturday night, November 7 & 8th, 2008
    • Mountain Film Festival celebrates the best in independent thinking – where adventure is celebrated, history is important, and people are passionate about what they believe.  It attracts an audience seeking a culturally rich, conversation-inspiring experience in which to discuss films, share ideas and be inspired, all under a dramatic canopy of stars.  Showtimes are 7 to 10 pm and gates open at 6 pm.  Tickets are $25 per person for one night, or $40 per person for two nights; kids 5 to 12 are 50% off, and free to children under 5.
  • Seeing Red Wine Festival
    • Saturday, November 8th, 2008, 1 – 5 pm
    • Join us for an intimate afternoon of wine, food and music in the tranquil beauty of Seaside, Florida.  As you explore, sample and expand your knowledge of the latest in trends in wine from aficionados who are willing to meet and educate you.  $100 per ticket.
  • Winemaker & Shaker’s Dinners
    • Saturday, November 8th, 2008, 6:30 – 8:00 pm
    • “Winemaker & Shaker’s” Dinners will be held in the area’s finest restaurants along the Northwest Florida Gulf Coast.  Celebrity vintners will be paired with a spectacular chef at each of these locations to create an unforgettable evening.  $150 per ticket.
  • Rosemary Jazz Brunch
    • Sunday, November 9th, 2008, 10 am – 1 pm
    • The Rosemary Jazz Brunch blends premium wines, gourmet food and Gulf Coast culture into a sophisticated, educational and entertaining event.  Brunch with champagne, light wines and the Green Hit Band on a tranquil day as you take in the sights of beautiful Rosemary Beach.  $50 per ticket.
  • Taste of The Beach & Charity Auction
    • Sunday, November 9th, 2008, 3 – 6 pm
    • Taste of The Beach & Charity Auction at the luxurious Hilton Sandestin Beach Golf Resort and Spa.  Guests will be treated to distinctive wines from internationally acclaimed vintners, the area’s top restaurants.  While wining and dining attendees will enjoy live music and the excitement of a silent auction.  The night will culminate with a high-energy and entertaining live auction that will include rare and distinctive wines, themed get-a-ways and other spectacular, one-of-a-kind items.  $150 per ticket.

Cruizin Hot Rods Roaring Through Panama City Beach

The monster motors are loud, very loud.  The 25 inch slicks on the back barely grip the pavement under the strain of 500 horses of power under some of the hoods of Panama City Beach’s visitors this weekend.

Robert “Rakes” Parish said that we’ll see over 3000 cars at the Emerald Coast Cruizin Classic Car Show tomorrow.  “You won’t be able to move, there will be cars lined up with only five feet apart filling up this entire field,” said Tommy with TCG Productions, the sound and light manager on site this weekend.

“We have people from all over, South Carolina, North Carolina, Kansas, Missouri, Texas, Illinois, everywhere to come to this show,” said Parish, “people come from all over to show off their hot rods.”

The hot rods are everywhere, and their owners, typically middle aged consumers with good incomes are filling up our condos, hotels and restaurants.  They are driving money into our economy during one of the slowest weekends of the year, and notably one of the most beautiful.

Many of these cars have 10’s of thousands of dollars invested in them with everything from custom engines, custom body work, to fully restored classics.

“Last year was a huge success with over 50 cars that sold at auction,” said Rap Peavy, owner of Big Boys Toys on Thomas Drive, across from the Navy Base, “this year, as of right now, we have over 80 cars registered.  We expect more to show up tomorrow.”

Show activities around the beach have been going on all week with tomorrow to be the huge show.  The gates open early in the morning and the action will be taking place all day.

I’ll be out there, be sure to say high if you see me.  This is a great event, and great for our area.  Local businesses, be sure to support this event, we need stuff like this to make it through our shoulder seasons.

See ya at the show!

Jennifer Barbee Takes the Cake – New Panama City Beach Web Site

In addition to talking about MTVu, today’s TDC meeting included presentations from the board’s top 3 web development companies that submitted their RFQ’s to build the CVB’s new web site for Panama City Beach.

The three included Miles Media, Jennifer Barbee Inc., and Simple View, in order of presentation.

If you subscribe to our Twitter page, you may have seen some opinions as the presentations took place, if not, well, you missed out.

First, I’d like to say, working in the digital media/marketing world for the last 3 years, I’ve consistently noticed particular trends.  Most of the time, the guys that can create brilliant back-end cms systems with tons of “coded” features including data collection, reports, functionality, automated processes, etc. tend to really lack on the creative end.  Their pretty pictures may look pretty to them, but to everyone else, they are pretty plain and not very visually stimulating.  This is good for some, but not for all.

Next, the agencies that are great graphic artists, that create very visually stimulating graphics using trendy, relevant and current design elements tend to lack on the back end capabilities.  The sites look good, but don’t do much.

The trick is to find an agency that is good at both, not good, but great, actually.  The agencies that are great at both are few and far between.  This observation was consistent with the presentations today.

The first group to present, Miles Media came out guns blazin, suits ‘a wearin.  Ok, not really, but they were all wearing suits.  Their presentation began with intros by none other than Roger Miles, himself.  They rotated what looked like a practiced and choreographed routine, sharing presentation points with the entire team of 3, plus Roger.

They began with credibility statements, explaining that they had doubled their revenue and more than tripled their client base in the last 5 years. Currently they have over 180 clients and $35 million in annual revenue.

They operate one of the largest travel web sites in the country, visitflorida.com, which fights Vegas for number 1 with regards to most visited in the tourism/travel industry during the peak season, and falls to around number 5 during the shoulder seasons.  They’ve never spent any money on any SEM efforts and have always focused on SEO.  SEM = search engine marketing, or paid placement; SEO = search engine optimization, or optimizing the site so that search engines will pick it up on crawls.  “Competitors spend millions annually on SEM, we spend nothing,” Roger Miles said.

I took a bunch of notes, but I’ll cut right to the chase.  Their creative was weak, their ideas were OK, just OK, and nothing in their presentation poped.  I think I said in one of my twitter updates, they were good, but not WOW.

Roger, I know you read pcbdaily, no hard feelings.  You guys do great work, just not what PCB is looking for right now.

I’ll skip Jennifer Barbee real quick and go to Simple View.  At first, the board thought Simple View had the lead, and I agreed.  They seemed to have the experience we wanted, the client list to back it up, and the capability to fulfill our creative marketing desires.  I think they blew it with their presentation, which was very dry, boring, and displayed their complete lack of creative talent.  They started the whole thing out with a 5 minute video that looked dated, poorly put together, boring, and entirely too long.  At first, I was able to tolerate the vid, but after about 2 minutes of the same music, no narration, and screen-shots and words flashing across, they lost me.  They started reviving me when they showed some of their web work, which some was pretty good, but I started dozing off with the “tech-talk” on how the back end cms system works, etc.  Their entire presentation seemed to be working up to a system that the TDC could take and make changes themselves, with the ability to create pages, new navigation menus, or new web initiatives.  This seemed like good flexibility, but everything seemed geared towards, “ok, we’re done, here ya go,” and then the vendor disappears.

All in all, the board decided they were NOT what they were looking for as they worried Panama City Beach might get lost in the middle of all of Simple View’s ‘big’ clients.

Last, but not least, Jennifer Barbee Inc. Their presentation was second, and I knew right away, they would probably be the best.  First off, their presentation was very graphically oriented, very fun to look at.  That captured my attention, I was ready to see what they could do on the back end.  It was very apparent, very quickly, that they were great graphic artists and could make very visually stimulating creative.  And, the more Jennifer spoke, the more impressed I was.

Jennifer started out as a software developer, and over the years morphed into web development and marketing.  As of two years ago, she had worked her way up to be (I think) one of the Presidents of USDM, an interactive marketing company, regarded to be one of the best in the destination and tourism industry.  Her separation from them was because she wanted to get back into something that was smaller, or a boutique.  She wanted to get back that intimacy that came with having only a few select clients.  She isn’t the only one that I’ve know to do that over the last couple of years. Sometimes “corporate” just gets too corporate.

One of the big concerns in the RFQ review process with Jennifer was her company size and age.  The marketing committee was concerned that maybe she was inexperienced or that her company didn’t have the resources to handle an account like Panama City Beach.  Turns out, this is exactly what ended up giving her the greatest value. She conveyed the feeling that we would be special and given personal, individual treatment.  Something the TDC very much liked.

Jennifer clearly demonstrated her knowledge of all the latest trends in the social media side with innovative ways to implement marketing initiatives across the web, not just on the Panama City Beach web site.  She mentioned not only the importance of up-to-date, fresh content, but the importance of distributing that content across the web using social media, link exchanges, paid bloggers, videos and more.

Something else that was cool was their idea of customizing site content based on user submitted information.  She showed an example of a visitor coming to a site, a brief survey may come up, and based on the results, the visitor is taken to a page that is specific to what that visitor may be looking for, with interactive capabilities that are tailored to him or her.

Jennifer spoke into her agency’s capability to make marketing recommendations based on varying environmental changes, i.e. economic downturn, etc., tailoring initiatives to best leverage what people may be looking for during these times.

At the end of the presentations, it was clear that Jennifer Barbee Inc. had the graphical talent to stay on top with the look and feel of the new site, and a strong back end knowledge to create a site that has tons of interactive capabilities.

The board was all in agreement, with the exception of Mr. Walsingham, that JBinc. was the right choice.

Even PanamaCityBeach.com’s Charles Mason commented at the end his agreement with the board – there’s your published confirmation Marty!

I was convinced that JBinc. was not just the best of the three, but the best for the job.  Congrats Jennifer!

How to become a re-invited guest

Having been on both sides of the vacation rental door, I’ve discovered what it takes to be a re-invited as a guest. As an owner, I already know what I expect from my guests, and how to be diplomatic about those expectations. But how do I convey this to my potential guests without sounding like an overprotective harpy? Well, like I said, I’ve been a renter as well, and the number one attitude I’ve come away with is – treat it like it was mine, better yet, treat it like I had guests coming too.

Wherever we’ve stayed, we’ve always been good about leaving our hotel room or vacation rental, in good shape. But we’ve also felt like if we damaged anything, that we’d be honest enough to inform the owner. We observed the rules during our stay, and went beyond the general checkout cleaning procedures. Maybe I’m insecure enough to not want others to think badly of me. So we’d clean, pick up, fold, wipe down the shower, you name it. But that’s just us. Here I’ll discuss a few ideas of what it takes to make your rental landlords want you back.

As owners, we’ve been quite fortunate to have only a few instances of wear and tear…ones that are hard to avoid from regular use. We’ve had spoons sacrificed to the disposal (I’ve done that myself, DOH!). A few suitcase scuffs on the hallway walls (I highly recommend those miracle sponges!), and red mystery drink spills, presumably from someone’s toddler. These little hiccups are halfway expected and life happens. One time, we got a call from a frantic guest that as they sat and watched television, a picture hanging between the patio doors just slid down the wall and crashed to the floor, breaking the frame. She didn’t want us to think they were negligent in any way. Well, truthfully, I’m surprised it hadn’t happened before. It was not a logical placement and was probably knocked off the hook by the opening and closing of the vertical blinds. We replaced the picture with a small tin wall hanging…one that even if it did fall, wouldn’t break. So no harm, no foul.

Here are some important pointers guests should consider when renting a vacation home.

  1. You are not in a hotel. This is someone’s home, whether it is a condo, townhouse or full-sized home. The owners have a mortgage, insurance, association fees, housekeeping staff and more. Replacing or repairing items can be costly, time-consuming and can interrupt their flow of guests. They may not have alternate rooms, condos or homes to let should a major repair come into play. All renters should be respectful of that.
  2. If you damage something, please let your owners know about it. Don’t make them guess who the culprit was. If it’s minor, they’ll just be happy you were honest enough to tell them. It may be an item they planned to replace at some point anyway. If it is a costly accident, even more reason to call the owners. You will probably have to pay – this will come off your deposit, or may go beyond your deposit. But they will appreciate your honesty, will be fair with you and even though your accident was claimed, because you were upfront about it, will still be invited back. It depends on the incident.
  3. If you are a student and you are allowed to rent during spring break, expect a higher deposit and stricter guidelines from the owner. Be respectful of all rules and put yourself in the owners’ shoes. If you feel compelled to “let loose” while on your vacation, don’t do it in your rental! Just because you’re out of your parents’ care and away from the dorm, doesn’t give you permission to destroy other people’s property. A crime is a crime, and willful destruction of property has no excuse.
  4. Pay your fees and deposits as requested. Don’t aggravate the owners by being delinquent in paying your balances. You may even end up losing your deposit and your booking. Whatever date your rent is due, pay it by then or before. If you feel you may possibly not have it by the due date, don’t reserve until you know for sure. Rental owners need to keep their availability calendars up-to-date so that their prospects can know what dates are open. So try to be sensitive to that. If your balance is due 30 days before your arrival, pay it by then or before. It is up to the owner to be flexible, or not. And it depends on how well, if at all, they may know you. Don’t assume they will bend just for you.
  5. During your stay, keep your doors locked when you are not there, and at night while you sleep. Whether your resort or rental has security or not, it’s not up to the owner to guarantee that nothing will happen to your personal property. But you are obliged to protect theirs.
  6. Follow the checkout guidelines given to you. Go beyond it if you can. Remove food and trash from the premises. Flush the toilets, at least rinse down the sinks and showers. Sweep the floors of excess sand or dirt. If the owner expects stripped beds, do it. If you launder the bedding and remake the bed, leave a note that you did so. And please remove lint from the dryer’s lint trap. But remember, the housekeeping staff and the owners probably have a system of their own anyway. Check all drawers and closets for your personal items. Remove media from players and return them to their proper place. Wash any dishes, or at least run the dishwasher, or put things away. Did you microwave popcorn? Won’t take a minute to wipe down that butter splatter!
  7. Okay, here is a sensitive subject. But I owe it to you, and owners, to discuss this. Children. If you bring diapered babies, please ensure that “overflows” do not occur on mattresses or furniture. Now hopefully, the owners have thought to use moisture shielded anti-microbial covers on mattresses and pillows, but why tempt fate? If they supply a crib or playpen, use them! Imagine you are an owner and your housekeeper calls you four hours before the next guests are due to arrive. “I was changing the bedding and smelled urine. There’s a big wet stain on your mattress. What do I do?!” Well, I can tell you, your little family probably won’t be invited back, at least until your little angel is potty trained! Sorry, it has to be said.
    • Continuation of “children”: Brought your PS3? Cool. But that big ole 52” LCD doesn’t like to have a gamed paused on it for three hours while you all go to dinner. Have the kids turn it off when they aren’t playing. In fact, don’t leave the TV on when you’re not watching it. More and more owners are furnishing their rentals with higher-end electronics for their guests. Those things don’t come cheap, and neither do the extended warranties and insurance.
    • Furniture: Do you let the kids walk on the furniture or run through your house? Fine, let them at your home. But you’re not home. This is someone else’s home as well as a business. It’s a business that comes with a busy season and quick turnaround for the housekeeping staff. You may be paying a cleaning fee, but don’t push it. You didn’t pay for the extra hour it takes to remove chocolate handprints from the sofa. You’ll likely be charged extra, I’m just warning you.

If you liked your accommodations, and you wish to return again, it’s for a reason. Do the owners a favor and refer the home to your friends and family. Let the owners know it too. As you develop that relationship as repeat customers, you may find yourself recipients of specials, extra amenities and a whole lot of self-respect. You know, the whole “golden rule” thing.

Well, I hope I given you just a glimpse of what you can do to be great guests. It’s not an exhaustive list, but one that will put you on the road to having a good reputation as a responsible guest. Yes, vacation homeowners need your business. But vacationers also want good rates, smooth transactions and great memories. Respecting the vacation homes you stay in will make this possible – and you’ll find that owners will be inviting you back year after year.

Pier Park adds Nike, Crocs, Runway Collection and More

Simon Property Group, Inc. (NYSE:SPG) is pleased to announce several specialty shops scheduled to open before the holidays at Pier Park, the 900,000-square-foot retail and entertainment lifestyle center located on 93 acres that covers land from Front Beach Road (at the City Pier) to the heavily traveled Highway 98 (Back Beach Road) in Panama City Beach. Simon Property Group is the country’s largest owner, developer and manager of high-quality retail real estate.

Retailers scheduled to debut in time for holiday shopping include the following:

  • Aqua Gallery
  • AT&T
  • Crocs
  • Emerald Coast Mirror Maze
  • Nike
  • Polka-dots, toys and gifts
  • Runway Collection

Aqua Gallery offers an eclectic mix of gifts based on works of art. The store will carry prints, books, carpets, electronics and more. Aqua Gallery is scheduled to open in the Boardwalk area in early November.

AT&T is the nation’s largest wireless company and the premier telecommunications company in the world. With the largest digital wireless voice and data network in the country, exclusive devices like the iPhone, unlimited calling to the largest Mobile to Mobile calling community and advantages like Rollover Minutes, AT&T helps connect people to their worlds wherever they live and work. AT&T is scheduled to open at Pier Park during the first week of December.

Crocs, Inc. is a rapidly growing designer, manufacturer and retailer of footwear for men, women and children under the Crocs brand. Crocs is committed to making a lightweight, comfortable, slip-resistant, fashionable and functional shoe, which can be produced quickly and at an affordable price to customers. Crocs shoes are sold in more than 100 countries and come in a wide array of colors and styles. Crocs is scheduled to open at Pier Park during the first week of December.

Emerald Coast Mirror Maze and Laser Craze are scheduled to open at Pier Park in late November. This is a family activity that challenges both the young and “young at heart” at Pier Park. Mirror Maze is exclusive to Pier Park in Florida and one of only four in the Southeast. Along with getting lost in the labyrinth of mirrored passages and dead ends within the mirror maze, the visitors to Emerald Coast Mirror Maze can experience the thrill of traversing the Laser Craze, a corridor of laser beams crisscrossing in a black room. Emerald Coast Mirror Maze will make your visit to Pier Park a memorable one for years to come.

The Nike swoosh is recognized and respected worldwide and will debut at Pier Park in mid-November. Nike, Inc. based near Beaverton, Oregon, is the world’s leading designer, marketer and distributor of authentic athletic footwear, apparel, equipment and accessories for a wide variety of sports and fitness activities. Nike is dedicated to developing products that help athletes of every level of ability reach their potential.

Polka-dots, toys and gifts, opened on the boardwalk on October 17. Owners Deb and Gary Pruitt choose products for Polka-dots that they feel will be remembered for a lifetime–products that promote creativity and imagination and toys that make learning an adventure. You won’t find this unique selection of European and American-made toys anywhere else. Polka-dots also offers gifts, featuring items such as wine accessories, French soaps, soy candles, music, gourmet foods, cookbooks, seasonal items and much more. There is sure to be something for everyone on your list this holiday season.

Runway Collection is a men’s and women’s fashion boutique which offers high-end designer options in a range of prices. Runway Collection is scheduled to open in the Boardwalk area at Pier Park in late November.

Pier Park, which boasts eight anchors and more than 100 retailers currently open, is continuously expanding to offer the Emerald Coast and tourists a more enhanced shopping experience.

“We’re very pleased to see the mix of stores and entertainment options growing at Pier Park,” said Felicia Cook, director of mall marketing at Pier Park. “The arrival of retailers that are exclusive to the market, such as Mirror Maze, and retailers who already have presence, such as Polka-dots, further validate Pier Park as the premier shopping destination in the Southeast.”

Cook also noted that more store and restaurant openings will be announced in the next few months.

Total List of Stores currently open in Pier Park include the following:

Anchors

  • Borders
  • Dillard’s
  • JCPenney
  • Margaritaville
  • Old Navy
  • Ron Jon Surf Shop
  • Target
  • The Grand 16 Theatres

Specialty Shops

  • A.M. Cafe Accessories On The Boardwalk
  • Aeropostale
  • Alltel Wireless
  • American Eagle Outfitters
  • Ann Taylor Loft
  • As Seen On TV & More
  • Ava Blue Boutique
  • Back Porch Seafood & Oyster House
  • Baja Grille
  • Bath & Body Works
  • Beach Scene
  • BeBo’z
  • Bellies & Babies
  • Blender Clothing, a fusion boutique
  • Bootleg Barbeque
  • Buffalo Wild Wings
  • Caché
  • Camille’s Sidewalk Café
  • Candy Maker
  • Carlyle & Co.
  • Carter’s Clothing
  • Chico’s
  • Claire’s
  • Coldwater Creek
  • Cost Cutters
  • Counts Oakes Resort Properties
  • Déjà vu
  • Del Sol
  • Emerald Coast Photography
  • Fish Tales
  • Five Guys Famous Hamburgers & Fries
  • Footprints Coastal Decor
  • GameStop
  • GNC
  • Great American Cookies PretzelMaker
  • Guglielmo’s Italian Restaurant
  • Hana Japan
  • Hofbrau Beer Garden
  • Hollister Co.
  • Jake at the Beach (Life is Good)
  • Jos. A. Bank
  • Journeys
  • Justice
  • Kay Jewelers
  • Kilwin’s Chocolates & Ice Cream
  • Lane Bryant/Cacique
  • Lids
  • LongHorn Steakhouse
  • Marble Slab Creamery
  • Massage Envy
  • Maurices
  • Merle Norman Cosmetics Studio
  • Mermaid Trading Co.
  • Motherhood Maternity
  • Nails So Happy
  • New York & Company
  • No Regrets Stationery and Gifts
  • Olive Garden
  • PacSun
  • Paint’n Place
  • Panera Bread
  • Paradise Found
  • Payless ShoesSource
  • Peace Frogs
  • Perfumania
  • Polka-dots, toys and gifts
  • Popcorn Kingdom
  • Rack Room Shoes
  • Red Brick Pizza
  • Reggae J’s Island Grill
  • Regions Bank
  • Rocky’s South Philly Cheesesteaks
  • Shimmering Seas Jewelry and Gifts
  • Smoothie King
  • Solace Day Spa & Salon
  • Southern Waters Outfitters
  • Starbucks
  • Sunglass Hut
  • Sunglass World
  • Sunsights by Solstice
  • Tatoe Tots
  • The Eye Gallery
  • The Walking Company
  • Tilly’s
  • Tootsies Orchid Lounge
  • Trader Tom’s
  • Tran Fashion
  • Ulta Beauty
  • Unique Boutique by Irene & Co.
  • Verizon
  • Victoria’s Secret
  • Yankee Candle
  • Zales

About Pier Park
Located in the heart of Panama City Beach, Pier Park is destined to become the region’s premier shopping address.  Developed by Simon Property Group and comprising nearly 900,000 square feet, the open-air regional lifestyle center is anchored by Borders, Dillard’s, JCPenney, Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville, Old Navy, Ron Jon Surf Shop, Target and The Grand 16 Theatres. Pier Park is also comprised of fashion and specialty retailers, including exciting new-to-market choices such as Ann Taylor Loft, Caché, Chico’s, Coldwater Creek, Hollister Co., Jos. A. Bank, Lane Bryant and Ulta Beauty. In addition, the center embraces many unique dining options such as Hofbrau Beer Garden, Back Porch Seafood & Oyster House, Bootleg Barbeque, Five Guys Burgers and Fries, Longhorn Steakhouse, Panera Bread, Reggae J’s Island Grill, Tootsies Orchid Lounge and many more. Shoppers can also enjoy movies at The Grand 16 Theatres, which features stadium seating, digital sound, advance ticketing over the Internet, three concession areas, a specialty café and game room. For more information about Pier Park, please visit http://www.simon.com

About Simon Property Group
Simon Property Group, Inc. is an S&P 500 company and the largest public U.S. real estate company. Simon is a fully integrated real estate company which operates from five retail real estate platforms: regional malls, Premium Outlet Centers®, The Mills®, community/lifestyle centers and international properties. It currently owns or has an interest in 385 properties comprising 262 million square feet of gross leasable area in North America, Europe and Asia. The Company is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana and employs more than 5,000 people worldwide. Simon Property Group, Inc. is publicly traded on the NYSE under the symbol SPG. For further information, visit the Company’s website at http://www.simon.com

TDC Approves working with MTVu for Spring Break

The Tourist Development Council approved moving forward with MTVu for promoting Spring Break 2009.  I guess at this point, it is too late to “go back to the drawing board.”

Here is the evolution of how it all went down.

The original MTVu proposal included a 10 day village with 8 concerts over 4 days, 300 30 second TV ad spots, 10 million online impressions, a database by which to collect user contact info (mobile numbers, email addresses, etc.), and a few more things.

The whole proposal was discussed during a marketing committee meeting and overall a motion was made to approve moving forward, but with the stipulation that the TDC wanted the price to be lowered to $200,000 (stemmed from what some believe as an effort to come up with less co-op money).

When MTVu heard about this, they weren’t that happy and came back with a proposal that was just more than half of their initial proposal for 20% less money.  Of course, that wasn’t gonna work for the TDC.  After calming MTVu down, Dan Rowe, et.al. was able to negotiate 250 30 second TV ad spots, 10 million online impressions, database collection, a 10 campus kick-off tour featuring Panama City Beach as a spring break vacation destination, featured premium placement on the MTVu hub page (what does that mean??), and a link back to the micro site (from where???).

Dan explained that some of the benefits of working with MTVu include that they are regulated by the FCC, they have a brand to protect, that they do NOT advertising any alcoholic products, will not publish any film/pictures of alcoholic related activity or drunk students, and that they are good for our image and our initiative to vacation responsibility.

The board stressed their desire to not spend more than $150,000, and that the rest MUST come from co-op sponsors.  Staff (Dan and co.) have so far received commitments for co-op in the amount of $50,500 and anticipates that number to grow as we come closer to spring break.  All additional funds generated will go first to operational costs associated (costs can be up to $90,000 above and beyond the $150,000 – someone correct me if I’m wrong here), then go to paying the TDC back for the initial $150,000 investment.

This year, compared to last year, there are actually three categories for co-op sponsors:

  • Lodging – hotels, condos, resorts, etc.
    • There will be two levels of sponsorship opportunities, premium and all the others.  Premium will be limited to 6 advertisers and will have premium placement on the main lodging page, and all the others will be on a page linked to through an “all offers”, or “all other offers” text or graphic link from the main lodging page.
  • Food/entertainment – restaurants, bars, clubs, etc. For this category, there are unlimited opportunities available, for premium and otherwise.  The premium sponsors will have the opportunity to have their specials, etc. broadcasted to the TDC database via text messages (that is supposed to be geo-targeted).
  • Retail/attractions – the new element (can’t beleive this never existed before), includes retails stores or services such as Victoria Secrets or California Cycles.  This category will have the same premium “text message” opportunity as the food/entertainment category.

There are a lot of cool things that can be done with text messaging marketing.  I’m not sure the geo-targeting aspects are all they are cracked up to be as they require to user to have an application up and running on their phone in order to receive messages, and I’m not sure that students will be walking around with their phones open and an app running, or if they’d even start the app in the first place.

Also, with doing just plain text message advertisements are still limited to 160 characters per messasge, which can get used up pretty quick.

Can this be done without MTVu, I’m sure of it.  However, at this point, what are the alternatives?  I don’t know, and neither does the TDC.  I’m sure they would be open to suggestions of anyone that could come in, set up a whole online marketing campaign with millions of impressions, put on a fairly large scale show with several concerts, incorporating a variety of web and tv posibilities and do it all for a package price.  Anyone?

Bayou Shrimp Boat

This is a photo of an authentic and dying part of the Emerald Coast.  Homemade shrimping and oyster boats are all but a thing of the past along the coastal bayous and bays of the panhandle.  During their hayday, you could see dozens of these boats trolling St. Andrews, Port St Joe and Apalach Bays.  Now it is rare to even glimpse a single vessel of this granduer (in my humble opinion).

This shot was taken just off Hwy 30-A on the road to Cape San Blas.  Many of you know 30-A as the road to Seaside to the west of PCB.  I had a “lifetime local” tell me that wasn’t 30-A, but according to the sign and all maps it’s FL Hwy 30-A just east of Port St Joe off of Hwy 98.

Description: This is one of my favorite photos.  The “homemade” shrimp boat was sitting in a quiet bayou near Cape San Blas.  As the sun rose it created a beautiful mirror image of the vessel.  Note the bright red hand-painted boat number.

**Click on the image to see a closeup of the details in the photo.

Visit my photo blog Sand between Your Toes .

Teddy

TDC's $52 million improvement iniative

Wednesday, the TDC’s Revenue Enhancement Committee (fancy for bed tax committee) met to discuss improvement ideas for Panama City Beach and how to fund it all.

The ideas range from a new beach trash disposal system to a grass amphitheatre with bathroom and concessions facilities at Aaron Bessant Park.

The ideas stem from the Strategic Plan and include:

  • TDC Marketing and Awareness
    • Welcome to the Beach campaign which would include welcome signs west of the Hathaway Bridge and along Highway 79, and replacing existing signs.
    • New beach trash disposal system to replace the existing blue refuse containers.
    • Beach safety campaign to increase public awareness about the flag warning system and fund additional flag poles. (THIS ISN’T ENOUGH, PEOPLE, AND YOU KNOW IT!)
    • Estimated total cost of $500,000 per year.
  • Special Events Marketing
    • Construct a permanent stage suitable for concerts and theatrical performances at Aaron Bessant Park, at Pier Park.
    • Build an amphitheatre ‘bowl’ with a grass covered berm with restroom and concession space on the back/underside of the grass ‘bowl’.  Should be capable of a 5,000 capacity.
    • Create space for tents, vendor areas, or other festival support areas in the flat areas of the park.
    • Estimated total coast of $5 million

I think this is a really neat idea, and definitely worth looking into, but we need to be planning for 25,000 people, not 5,000 people.  Aaron Bessant Park needs some renovation, but will never have the capability to have anything much larger than the summer Concerts in the Park series.  We need to be looking at improving larger capacity facilities, like Frank Brown Park.

  • Sports Marketing – Frank Brown Park
    • Develop two additional ‘pinwheels’ of softball/youth baseball fields with the appropriate infrastructure.
    • Make two of the fields in the new ‘pinwheels’ the ‘marquee’ fields with additional seating, dugouts, press boxes, etc., one for baseball, one for softball.
    • Look at building a warm-up pool and permanent seating at the aquatic center to enhance potential at attracting regional swimming competitions.
    • Enhance the equestrian facilities
    • Estimated total cost is $7.5 to $10 million
  • Sports Marketing – Sports Village Complex (in addition to Frank Brown Park, would need to acquire additional land)
    • Develop indoor field house to expand offerings to include court and mat sports.
    • Develop 8 to 12 rectangular fields for soccer, lacrosse, field hockey, flag football, etc. Some would have grass, others artificial turf
    • Develop 8 full-sized baseball fields for additional tournaments and practicing facilities.
    • Estimated total cost is $33 to $35 million
  • Destination Marketing
    • Begin international marketing efforts when the new airport comes online and our area becomes more easily accessed.
    • Increase domestic advertising – more money is needed in order to fully penetrate our core markets and expand outside the southeast (or we could just use the $500k that was wasted on the Summer White Sale campaign for something that is more innovative, creative, and effective)
    • Enhance the Visitor Center with new technology and look and feel
    • Estimated total cost is $1 to $2 million

Now, where did all these numbers come from?  That is an unknown as of now, just estimations.  The committee requested of Dan and Staff to ‘zero-base’ the numbers and give details to how much each aspect of these improvements will cost, ideally to have everything spelled out by the December TDC meeting.  The goal is to have everything in order to request an additional 2cents be added to the bed tax first part of the year.

Staff counsel, Doug Sale said that from implementation to actual collection could be up to 90 days, so if they could get the tax implemented first of the year, collections could start rolling in for the new season in spring break.

I’m in total agreement that we need to collect additional bed tax in order to keep up with the competition.  I’ve not been too impressed with the way the money has been spent in the past, however.  I will give kudos to TDC Chair Andy Phillips for staying on everyone to be sure the numbers included will have some specificity in the near future.