5 Questions for Bed Tax Collectors

Not for BTCs to answer, but to ask the CVB.

1. We are in the second year of conducting professional marketing research through the Klages Group. Where can we easily access that information? Have the staff put together any kind of comprehensive results from this research? We need to know this so we can better spend our own advertising dollars.

2. What is the cost to date for this research from the Klages Group?

3. In the spring of 2009, Jennifer Barbee implemented proper Search Marketing into the CVB site, data started being gathered that can help us today with our own online marketing. Assuming that we’re all equally benefiting from the TDC tax dollars, we should have real-time access to web stats. We should be able to access the CVB’s Google Analytics reports so we can compare them to our own reports, and likewise for Google Adwords and any other search engine marketing reports attached to the CVB’s efforts.

How do we get access to these common Google reports, as well as your more advanced measurement reports?

4. The extra tax passed. It has been confirmed at the recent TDC meeting that the new money would be going to the ad campaigns. Where can we access the full marketing, advertising and budgeting plans for this year?

5. Spring Break 2009 campaign included several new marketing tactics, including implementation of social network sites Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and text messages via a “PCB Insider” campaign. Facebook shows a respectable 5900 “friends” of PCB/CVB. How many people signed up for “PCB Insiders”? What was the overall result of our first “texting” campaign? What could you share with us about the results of the efforts in social network marketing? And what was the cost per lead for the efforts in this initial campaign?

Redfish Riviera Recipe of the Month – April

Creole Mustard Redfish or Speckled Trout

Start to finish: 15 minutes
Makes: 4 servings

1 pound fresh or frozen fish fillets, 1/2 to 1 inch thick. Redfish or Speckled Trout.

1/2 teaspoon lemon-pepper seasoning
1/4 cup dairy sour cream
1 tablespoon milk
1 tablespoon Creole Mustard
2 teaspoons snipped fresh chives or chopped green onion tops

1. Thaw fish, if frozen. Rinse fish; pat dry with paper towels. Cut into 4 serving-size pieces, if necessary. Measure thickness of fish. Place fish on the greased unheated rack of a broiler pan. Turn any thin portions under to make uniform thickness. Sprinkle with lemon-pepper seasoning.

2. Broil 4 inches from the heat until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork.
(If fillets are 1 Inch thick, turn once halfway through broiling.)

3. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan stir together sour cream, milk, mustard, and chives. Cook and stir over low heat until heated through (do not boil).
Spoon sauce over fish to serve.

Easter Egg Hunts at Pier Park

On Saturday April 11th at 3pm be sure to be at Pier Park with the kids for an Easter Egg hunt with the Easter Bunny, live and in person – ‘er bunny.

The hunt will go down at the volleyball court and grassy area caddy-corner to Five Guys, across from Buffalo Wild Wings, and within earshot of the ice cream churn at Marble Slab Creamery. The hunt will be broken into three different age groups: 2 to 3; 4 to 6; and 7 to 10 year olds. Sorry pre-teens, no dice for you – ya gonna have to sit this one out. Maybe if you’re nice, your little brothers and sisters will share their candy.

Once you’re full of candy and you’ve put all the empty plastic eggs in their place, mosey on over to the Aaron Bessant Park Amphitheater to hear a free concert from the Mark Canfora Band from 4 pm to 8pm.

Superhero Saturday, Free Food

This Saturday April 4th will prove to be an epic event for Panama City as a one-day event unlike any other happens: Superhero Saturday. Hosted by the 23rd Street restaurants Taco Casa, Gyro Cafe & Marble Slab Creamery in the Wal-Mart Plaza, Superhero Saturday will be a one-stop shop for superheroes in all sorts of ways.

From 12-4pm, there will be various free “super” activities to enjoy while dining at these three restaurants owned by English Enterprises. There will be live costume superheroes including Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. In additional, local cartoonist Jayson Kretzer will be giving away free sketches of your favorite superhero, and next door the video game store Play & Trade will be hosting a free video game tournament. To top it off, Taco Casa & Gyro Cafe will be be offering a free meal for children with a paid adult entree.

“With the recent movies, television shows and video games, superheroes are a big part of our culture,” said store owner Geoff English. “Following a recent appearance by these costumed superheroes at our restaurant, we decided to base an event around them. We hope the kids and adults will enjoy it.”

The event will be held on Saturday, April 4th from 12-4pm at the Taco Casa, Gyro Cafe & Marble Slab Creamery in the 23rd Street Walmart Plaza across from Big Ten Tires.

16th Annual Business Expo in Panama City Beach

The Panama City Beach Chamber’s 16th Annual Business Expo is Tuesday, April 21, 2009 at Edgewater Beach Resort, from 3:00 to 7:00 pm. Business Expo 2009 is presented by Pier Park and sponsored by Comcast, Knology, the News Herald, Edgewater Beach Resort, Barefoot Beach Club/By the Sea Resorts, Innovations Federal Credit Union, Waste Management and Regions Bank. Media sponsors include Beach TV, WMBB News 13, WJHG News 7, Magic Broadcasting, Beach 95.1 Radio, Clear Channel, Viamedia, Panama City Radio Group and Lamar Advertising.

Business Expo serves the business community with a comprehensive B2B tradeshow displaying wide-ranging trades and industries. It entertains thousands of locals and families with a fun theme (“The Nature of Business”), decor, costumes, music, a “Best Booth” competition, food and a cash bar. It’s an opportunity for consumers to get out and take note of hundreds of area businesses showcasing their newest, most innovative products and services. Over three thousand people attended the last Business Expo.

This year the Chamber is proud to present four Green workshops. These “mini-presentations” will run every 45 minutes throughout the event and take place in the Green Room, a specially designated area set aside for businesses showcasing their green/sustainable products and services.

3:15 – 4:00 “What is LEED?”
John Toppe, Founding President of U.S. Green Building Council, Florida Gulf Coast Chapter

4:15 – 5:00 “Green Overview: What Footprint will YOU Leave?”
Tammy McDaniel, Fort Walton Beach Chamber

5:15 – 6:00 “Energy Efficient Home Performance”
Tim Welch, Peaden Air Conditioning, Heating & Plumbing

6:15 – 7:00 “Introduction to Ecotourism in Bay County”
John D. Tobe, Ph.D., Director of Ecological Restoration and Conservation,
Ecological Resource Consultants, Inc.

More information on these workshop topics will be available at Thirty Days of Green and the Bay Green Expo on May 16th at Gulf Coast Community College (www.baygreenexpo.com).

This year the Expo is charging a $1-per-person Admission Fee, which will go to the Chamber’s Education Foundation helping local schools. For more information call the Panama City Beach Chamber at (850) 235-1159.

Canadian Pianist Tops Pops Season Finale on May 2

In regular concerto engagements and recitals in major halls around the world, Canadian pianist Christine Mari Yoshikawa has quickly established herself as one of Canada’s most sought-after young pianists.

She will be the featured soloist during “Music of the Night,” the final concert of the season by The Panama City POPS, Saturday, May 2, 2009, 7:30 pm at the Arnold High School Auditorium.

Building on its best season yet, which has featured world premiers and guest composer appearances, The POPS will finish the schedule with a night replete with romantic overtones.

The evening’s highlight will be a twenty-minute POPS medley entitled, “A Tribute to Gershwin.” The arrangement, by composer Jack Jarrett of the Berklee College of Music, has been performed internationally.

“Gershwin’s music remains as some of the most popular work of the Twentieth Century,” comments Maestro Eddie Rackley. “What set Gershwin apart was his ability to manipulate forms of music into his own unique voice, and what makes this medley really special is Jack Jarrett’s masterful interpretation.” The POPS Chorale will accompany the orchestra for the ambitious finale.

“The entire evening will have the feeling of romance,” states Rackley, “even in the classical sections.” Concert-goers may expect to hear everything from Tchaikovsky to Kevin Kaska, whose “Golden Falcon Prelude” was premiered by The POPS in its season opener.

Mr. Kaska also wrote a commissioned piece for the Panama City Centennial concert entitled “Emerald Jubilee.” The piece received a rousing ovation. For the final concert Rackley decided
to include another arrangement by Kaska, “I’m Glad There is You,” the Sinatra standard whose new arrangement was commissioned by The Boston Pops as an encore to one of its concerts. The composition is a jazz/Latin fusion piece featuring jazz piano and trumpet with full symphonic orchestra.

“This has been a wonderful year for The Panama City POPS,” remarks Victoria Williams, President of the organization’s Board of Directors. “The musicians have never sounded better and our community has recognized just how talented our local orchestra truly is. We look forward to another outstanding season.”

Established as a mentoring orchestra, The Panama City POPS invites advanced student musicians of all ages to audition. If qualified, they are mentored by current POPS musicians who help guide and teach them while giving them the opportunity to play and perform with an orchestra.

Also that evening, The Panama City POPS will conduct its second annual silent auction in collaboration with the Visual Arts Center. The painting, “Nature’s Symphony” by local artist, Kim Griffin, is the featured work of art on this season’s Panama City POPS Orchestra brochure, program covers and television commercials. The original artwork will be on display at the Visual Arts Center in downtown Panama City until the final POPS concert on May 2. More info on the artwork and auction is available at http://www.panamacitypops.org.

Individual tickets for the May 2 concert are $25 for adults, $18 for over age 65 or active military, and $10 for ages under 12, and are on sale now at http://www.panamacitypops.org or by calling
(850) 785-POPS (7677).

Seabreeze Jazz Festival at Pier Park

A full lineup of award-winning artists are ready to hit the stage in Panama City Beach, Fla., the new home of the Gulf Coast’s annual Seabreeze Jazz Festival. Panama City Beach’s Pier Park sets the stage for a jazzy, all-star weekend, April 16 – 19, expected to draw music lovers near and far. The lineup includes nationally acclaimed smooth jazz artists: Boney James, Wayman Tisdale, Will Downing, Nick Colionne, Warren Hill, Joyce Cooling, and more.

“We’re proud to be the new home of the Seabreeze Jazz Festival,” said Dan Rowe, president and CEO of the Panama City Beach Convention and Visitors Bureau. “Overlooking the Gulf of Mexico, Pier Park provides the perfect setting for this nationally recognized event.”

The weekend kicks off Thurs., April 16, 7:00 p.m., with the three-hour Smooth Jazz Dinner Cruise on beautiful St. Andrew’s Bay presented by the Bay Point Marriott Resort and Spa. Enjoy the upbeat, funky-style performance of the renowned jazz keyboardist Alex Bugnon aboard the Solaris, a 125-foot yacht known for exceptional cuisine.

Friday begins with a performance by the Urban Jazz Coalition, 6:00 p.m., followed by The Smooth Jazz All-Star Jam Show featuring festival host Nick Colionne, Four80East, Alex Bugnon, Brian Simpson, Shilts, Nils, Matt Marshak, Althea Rene and Jackiem Joyner. The evening concludes with dancing and revelry at the Jazz Under the Stars party at Pier Park’s Reggae J’s.

Great performances continue all day Saturday, starting 10:00 a.m., with high-energy artists and ending with another Jazz Under the Stars party that will send all your blues away. Saturday’s performers include Wayman Tisdale, Will Downing, Joyce Cooling, Four 80 East, Eric Darius, Althea Rene’ and more. The weekend finale is a day of live entertainment, Sunday, beginning 9:30 a.m., with performances throughout the day and evening by Boney James, Warren Hill, Nick Colionne, Brian Simpson, Nils, Jackeim Joyner, Roman Street, and Jones and Company.

“With expanded on-site parking, great beaches, extensive shopping and dining options at Pier Park, plus an abundance of hotel and condos nearby, the 2009 Seabreeze Jazz Festival will have it all,” says Mark Carter, the event’s organizer. “The weekend brings together a collection of great artists and people who love contemporary smooth jazz.”

The Difference Between "Real Fun Beach" and "Summer White Sale"

Here are 5 reasons why “Real Fun Beach” will work and 2008’s “Summer White Sale” wasted a lot of money.

1. “Real Fun Beach” (RFB) tells you exactly what Panama City Beach is, has been, and will always be.

It is what “the Beach Lovers Beach” was trying to be, but never was.

It replaces the long time, halfway official “world’s most beautiful beaches.” Claiming to be the world’s most beautiful beaches is a little too broad and boastful to hang your hat on, even though it’s a very true claim to me and thousands of others who love it here.

2. They got the domain name! YAY! “RealFunBeach.com” is a beautiful, easy to remember, easy to type, tells-you-what-it-is domain name.

3. The sub-concept — I’ll call it “Yesterday: Real, Today: Fun” since I don’t know what the staff and agencies call it — is equally brilliant. Its message says “one day you’re in your real world: worker, parent, student, etc., and today you can be in the fun world at the Real Fun Beach. This is perfect bait for fishing in PCB’s honey hole, Atlanta. A fast five hour drive from the real world to the fun world.

4. The “Yesterday/Today” idea can be used and reinvented in so many great ways. This is a concept that can grow and thrive for years, because it’s so flexible in letting us compare real world vs. fun world.

5. The offline campaign ties in perfectly to the online campaign. Go figure. Read Jason‘s article on the online campaign for more info.

And the “Summer White Sale”? It had none of this. Nothing to differentiate PCB, nothing to transform the mindset of the consumer about PCB (it actually reinforced negative perceptions of being a cheap, lower-class destination). Nothing that could grow and live on as a brand, nothing that could really help us move forward with a new image. It never had a chance.

A few concerns (only 3!) with this new campaign:

1.
Real. Fun. Beach.
Using. Periods. For. Emphasis. In. Headlines.
Way. Over. Done.
But. Maybe. It. Still. Works.
Heck. I’ve. Done. It. Before.

2. The cute little names for our tourists, Sandy Bottom Bunch, Soul Searcher, etc., are clever and can be expanded to define more types of visitors. Another great concept that could live on for years.

But since local tourism businesses will now have the ability to target these segments directly through the CVB site, who’s to say a big bar can’t clutter my “Soul Searcher” page when I expect only “relaxed and laid” back results for my vacation planning? Perhaps the CVB has a plan in place for this, but then they’re walking a fine line by telling one business that they do not qualify to market to the “Sandy Bottom Bunch.” This is another perfect example of why government entities and tax dollars should not be used to run business and marketing campaigns such as this one. This campaign, in a perfect world, would have been developed by one of the large accomodation providers or a coalition of private businesses such as the Greater PCB Chamber.

3. I am convinced that Jennifer Barbee and company will accurately measure online traffic through all the major channels, and probably help with offline measurement as well. With all this new data coming and being properly measured, don’t we all get to have a copy of that information? All bed tax dollars are spent equally and fairly for the benefit of the Bay County tourism industry, right? And since it’s run by the county, all citizens get access, right? And even tourists – who suffer the burden of the tax equally with the collectors – should get a peek since they helped fund it, right?

One last thing. The team did some research for this campaign in Atlanta. The professionals discovered what this hack in Lynn Haven has been telling you for 3 years: Atlanta does not know us, and the Atlantians who think they know us don’t know the real us. The fact that they’re already our number one market is irrelevant. Here’s something I’ll bet on in 2009 and 2010…there are many more potential visitors in Atlanta, Georgia (repeat visits included, of course) than there are the rest of the world. Call me crazy, but that’s just how it is when you add a little real world common sense to all the marketing research and data.

Now, with Real Fun Beach, I suggest all of you bed tax collectors jump on board with this idea, aim 5 easy hours up the road to Atlanta, use “Real Fun Beach” in your advertising, call your guests “Soggy Bottom Bunch” or “Dark Sharks” or whatever is being promoted on the web site and REALLY BUY INTO THIS THING TO MAKE IT WORK.

Whisper Dunes is Selling

Buyer confidence returns as sales, traffic builds at Whisper Dunes

Last April, Beazer Homes’ Whisper Dunes community was a buzz of construction activity in a challenging economy.

But the national homebuilder remained confident in the Panama City Beach market, and today claims the No. 1 spot in single family attached sales volume and is in seventh place overall in home sales for Panama City Beach in 2009, according to the MLS.

“While buyers were hesitant to do more than look last year, since January it’s like a big cloud suddenly was lifted,” said Matt Brandman, Beazer’s Northwest Florida Division president. “Buyers seem much more confident and have a positive state-of-mind. They are seriously looking with an intention to buy, rather than simply shaking the bushes.”

Whisper Dunes includes town homes from the $170’s and villas beginning at $219,990. The cabana, swimming pool and network of walking paths have been completed just in time for a Grand Opening April 4 that will showcase villas which have just been finished.

Brandman said traffic since the first of the year has been more than 50 percent, and close to 25 percent of the first phase has sold, mostly in the past 90 days. The price and completed amenities, as well as special incentives and eco-friendly construction that guarantees low monthly heating and air bills, have been the big draw for those who want to own a new home.

He said half of the buyers are local and the rest have come from the Northeast and Midwest.

“We’ve seen a lot of people who have been coming to PCB for years and years and are tired of renting for three or four months at a time,” he said. “First-time buyers particularly see this as a perfect storm, with the lowest mortgage interest rates on record, great pricing on solid brand new construction and the $8, 000 tax credit that will expire before the end of the year.”

Designed for both permanent and seasonal buyers, the first phase of Whisper Dunes will include 44 homes. Once complete, the community will have a mix of 156 town homes and 222 single family attached villas, ranging in size from 1,500 to 2,000 square feet.

The April 4 Grand Opening celebration is expected to draw a big crowd because celebrity organization guru Monica Ricci will be on hand to offer complimentary advice on replacing chaos with order.

Considered a leader in her field, the author and frequent guest on HGTV’s Mission Organization has an impressive following on Twitter and Facebook, and a blog where she critiques new products as they come to the marketplace.

A little over two years ago, Beazer’s planning and design team began tapping her expertise to add space-saving storage and organizational elements to its homes nationwide, many of which are found in the builder’s model homes at Whisper Dunes.

You can meet Ricci, tour the model homes and enter to win prizes during the Grand Opening from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The first 25 guests will receive a free copy of her book, Organize Your Office In No Time. Whisper Dunes is located at 101 Sand Oak Blvd. in PCB. Visit Beazer.com for more information.