Spring Break MTVu Partnership to be Discussed

At Tuesday’s TDC meeting, on the discussion board is the consideration of a partnership with MTVu again this next spring break season.

I look forward to much discussion this spring break season, and the months preceeding it. The read all about last years spring break season, be sure to read up under the Spring Break category. There was quite a bit of sprited discussion, to say the least.

Without further ado, the agenda:

AGENDA

MARKETING COMMITTEE MEETING
Panama City Beach Convention & Visitors Bureau, Inc.
Panama City Beach

Tuesday, October 28, 2008 1:00 p.m. Board Room, Visitor Information
Center

I. CALL MEETING TO ORDER

II. ROLL CALL

III. REQUESTS TO ADDRESS THE COMMITTEE ON AGENDA ITEMS (3 Minutes)

IV. DISCUSS & CONSIDER 2009 SPRING BREAK MTVU PARTNERSHIP PROPOSAL – Susan Estler, VP Marketing/Janet Ray, Y Partnership

V. AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION

VI. ADJOURNMENT

View pdf

Now, Back to Regularly Scheduled Bashing

Notes from Today’s TDC Meeting

Bed Taxes are up $117,000 thanks to back-taxes being collected.
The Circus by the Sea is more than likely coming back. Maybe it will draw more crowds next year.
The CVB has a new interactive marketing manager coming on board.
Rowe distributed estimates of costs of strategic plan proposals to board. I’ll be asking for copies of those to post here soon.
Mayor Gayle Oberst explained that Panama City Beach could not use bed taxes to fund lifeguards. As one Marketing Committee member told me later, it’s a good thing we’re smarter than Walton county on that issue. I have a lifeguard manifesto brewing; I’m sure it’ll come out any day now.
The TDC’s market research firm, Klages, is up for contract renewal, and the board showed concern that the 2008 results were not worth the investment. Tabled. Marketing Research, tabled.

Now to the juicy stuff…

Spring Break is heating up quickly… Spring Break funding was tabled after Dan Rowe requested approval on the MTVu plan ($150K CVB, $100K co-op).

Chairman Andy Phillips and Marketing Committee Chairman Buddy Wilkes questioned whether the co-op could really raise $100K. Mr. Rowe believes so; however lodging leaders stepped up quickly and said that because of the exclusive booking deal MTVu has with Student City, they would not participate in that co-op.

Board member Mike Bennett suggests the funding should go into a different Spring Break program. Dan Rowe suggested that if it’s not MTVu, then put the money in something other than Spring Break. Jack Bishop said the Klages report proved the CVB should invest the $150,000 into Spring Break. (It’s getting good!)

Folks in the audience suggested that only the Boardwalk benefited from the 2008 Spring Break plan. (It’s really getting good!)

There was a hint that there may be another Spring Break community workshop. The marketing committee will address the issue before the next TDC meeting on November 6. (Don’t you think this is going to get good!?)

And More Utter Disregard for the Special Event Policy

The Board unanimously approved 2009 funding for the Panama City Beach Seafood, Wine, & Music Festival. Wow. Wasn’t even on the agenda.

Special Event Side Note – Do you realize that 3.25 million dollars worth of lodging has to be brought in to raise $65K in bed taxes?

If PCBSWMF would have reported the need for $65,000 invested in the infrastructure at Frank Brown Park for next year’s event, that would be different. PCBSWMF Promoter Jack Bishop stated that the event could not serve 30,000 attendees as reported by previous promoters. Hopefully PCBSWMF will use all $65K to improve the infrastructure. We’ll see.

Speaking of we’ll see, we’ll see the full PCBSWMF report next month. Hopefully that report will include exactly how and where the 2008 TDC investment was spent.

In the meantime, we sure would like to have other promoters comment here with your thoughts on the TDC’s Special Events “Policy.”

If I misinterpreted anyone’s comments from today’s meeting, please email me at lancaster.kirk@gmail.com, or even better yet, clarify your message right here in the comments section.

Kudos to TDC

I complain often about the results of TDC efforts, but I will say that the new strategic plan is a great accomplishment for Dan Rowe & Co. As long as we achieve all 4 initiatives as a destination, I don’t care how we get there.

Everyone who cares about tourism should download this plan, learn it, share it and live it. The county must work together to help the TDC / CVB execute the plan.

One way to help execute the plan is to give your ideas how to achieve the 4 initiatives. This website is one of the new ways that a community can get together and share their ideas. If you are a tourist industry leader, please let us know how you would execute different parts of the plan.

TDC Narrows Pool Down to Three Website Companies

Friday, during a special workshop the TDC’s Interactive Committee, Marty McDaniel and Buddy Wilkes, whittled the 6 companies that submitted Requests for Qualifications (RFQ) down to their top three.

The six companies that submitted RFQ’s are as follows:

Simple View Inc.
Jennifer Barbee Inc.
Miles Media
Cyber Sytes
The 543 Group
Ypartnership

Susan Estler, VP of Marketing for the CVB recommended Simple View, Jennifer Barbee, and Miles Media as the top three that had the capability and capacity to handle the interactive needs of Panama City Beach.

According to Ms. Estler, Simple View had excellent references. All of their existing clients were extremely satisfied with their performance, and to date, Simple View has yet to lose a client. Their client list spans from Ft. Lauderdale, Jacksonville, Scottsdale, Park City, and tons more. One of the more important issues discussed was the database that will be amassed with this new interactive initiative, and Simple View assured us that the database that is created using our initiatives will, indeed, be ours (well, the CVB’s). This is a huge issue with our current agency, Miles Media, which we’ll discuss in a moment.

Second on Ms. Estler’s recommendation list was Jennifer Barbee, Inc. Jennifer Barbee is a newly formed interactive marketing agency that comes from very well developed roots. Jennifer’s position was secured in this list because of her background with USDM, who is considered somewhat the industry standard in interactive marketing. The database issue is not existent as the data amassed will belong to the CVB. As an added bonus, Barbee uses the same database system as the CVB, further easing the movement of data from the agency to the CVB. Her experience and work portfolio is in line with what the CVB is looking for, in fact, so much so, that the only reason she is in second is because of her company being in its infancy.

The third on the list was Miles Media. Miles Media is the current interactive agency holding the reigns of the CVB web site, VisitPanamaCityBeach.com, and there are several issues with this relationship, with the major issue being who controls the database. Marty McDaniel and Buddy Wilkes both agreed that in the past, Miles Media has been very uncooperative in sharing the database that the Panama City Beach CVB marketing efforts has generated. That is to say, they will not let us have the database that, essentially, we paid for through our marketing efforts that they deployed. Miles Media’s excuse is that all of the user data that all of their campaigns generates is shared with the Visit Florida database and that once it enters that database, it belongs to that “domain”, and can’t be given out to individual clients. I would agree, that the Panama City Beach CVB should not be given access to a database that includes data from campaigns or efforts that are other than their own, however (and this is a big however), there is no reason why Miles Media can’t distinguish the difference between “our” data and the data of someone else’s marketing efforts. Further more, if they are submitting the data to some “master” database, then there is no reason that they can’t duplicate “our” data so as to keep it segregated. If they can’t, I would submit that that is their problem, not ours, and they just need to figure it out. As the contact database administrator of over 750,000 contacts, I can assure you that if I told the principles of my company that I can’t distinguish the difference between different databases within the database, I would have been fired a long time ago.

There are nifty things called computers and programs that allow people to do cool things like organize data however you want, need, or desire to based on whatever you want.

As indicated by the committee members, the database issue in the past with Miles Media has been unsolvable. The committee felt that moving forward, Miles Media would continue to be unwilling to change their approach on this issue. The committee members decided that it would be prudent to ask the question up front whether Miles Media would be willing to share with the Panama City Beach CVB the database their marketing efforts generate, and if the answer was still no, they would be moved to position 4, and have virtually no chance on continuing to be the interactive agency of record. At this point, Cyber Sytes would replace Miles Media in position and move to position three.

You don’t have to be told that it was decided that Cyber Sytes would be in position four. It was agreed upon by all present that Cyber Sytes has a very talented team and in the last two years, they have made very positive movement by way of bringing on talented graphics arts staff and have grown professionally and artistically. They have become virtually THE web design firm in Bay County, and have been recognized for this. However, the committee agreed, they just didn’t think Cyber Sytes was “ready” for the CVB.

The process moving forward will include a special meeting to be called sometime in between next Wednesday’s meeting (agenda forthcoming) and the next scheduled meeting to hear presentations from the top two agency picks, Simple View, Inc., and Jennifer Barbee, Inc.

I will, of course, be covering these meetings, so stay tuned.

TDC – Interactive Selection Committee Meeting

On Friday, October 10th at 10:30 am the Interactive Selection Committee will meet to discuss the Requests for Qualifications (RFQ) received for the new TDC web site. The Interactive Selection Committee consists of Marty McDaniel and Buddy Wilkes.

During the meeting Susan Estler, VP of marketing for the CVB will present staff recommendations and review the qualifications of the other agencies that want to become involved with our future interactive marketing opportunities.

This should be a pretty cool meeting, I plan to be there.

AGENDA

INTERACTIVE SELECTION COMMITTEE
Panama City Beach Convention & Visitors Bureau, Inc.
Panama City Beach
Friday, October 10, 2008 10:30 a.m. Board Room, Visitor
Information Center

I. CALL MEETING TO ORDER

II. ROLL CALL

III. REQUESTS TO ADDRESS THE COMMITTEE ON AGENDA ITEMS (3 Minutes)

IV. PRESENTATION OF STAFF RECOMMENDATIONS, Ms. Susan Estler, VP of Marketing

V. REVIEW AND CONSIDER RECOMMENDATIONS TO BOARD OF DIRECTORS, Mr. Marty McDaniel, Chairman

VI. AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION

VII. ADJOURNMENT

Please Note: If anyone would like to review the RFQ’s in advance of the Committee meeting, copies are available for review at the CVB Offices.

Click here to download the agenda.

The New TDC Website

Imagine that you’re a tourist (which we all are, at some point and place). You’re heading home from a great (or not-so-great) visit to Panama City Beach, Florida. You see 2 or 3 billboards on your way out, thanking you for choosing Panama City Beach, and a sincere request to “let us know how we’re doing!”

You see a HUGE “VisitPanamaCityBeach.com” web address and the good old-fashioned “1-800-PCBEACH” phone number to send your feedback. Whether you give feedback or not, doesn’t this at least make you think about how you feel about your vacation?

The new ability to phone right then and there from the car, or get online quickly once you get home, is something that today’s consumer is taking advantage of. Customers are letting their voices be heard, and they’ll talk to Bay County too, especially if we ask them. (And we need to ask more than 400 of them per month).

Those billboards and a feedback campaign would be a pretty smart way to spend TDC advertising dollars, if TDC advertising dollars must be spent.

The TDC/CVB’s staff’s main objective should be to listen to our tourists, save the data and share it with local bed tax collectors and Bay County businesses. This is marketing research. And in such a campaign, a very simple website is all that is needed to accomplish this tactic.

Instead, the TDC’s new website plans include selling ads, renting rooms and generating revenue. They will be able to accomplish this after they spend money to develop the new site, to the tune of $110,000.

If the CVB succeeds at building an effective, easy to use, money-making e-commerce website (HARD TO DO, I ASSURE YOU), our governmental Council is then, in one way or another, competing with a multitude of other business’ websites. From the bed tax collectors themselves, all the way to sites such as Google and Expedia, VisitPanamaCityBeach.com would be in the business-website business. Which is no business for real Tourism Development, in my humble opinion.

Just remember this, bed tax collectors… every dollar you spend on online marketing is about to be supplanted with your own bed tax dollars, in a partner-like, yet competitive kind of way.

Please use that hard-earned bed tax to get information you need to improve your own marketing and advertising. Don’t let the TDC get into the business of competing with your business.

Gorgeous Outside, Heavy Brainstorms Inside

Tuesday, September 23: TDC Marketing Committee Meeting

Highlights of ideas from the new marketing committee.

Russ Smith of the Towne of Seahaven brought up the success of filling beds through wholesalers (Expedia, Travelocity, Bay County’s very own BookIt, etc.)

Probably the single easiest and most effective tactic the TDC/CVB could execute would be to buy ad space on the major wholesaler sites, driving travelers to the independent properties who sell rooms via these websites.

How Wholesalers Work (in a nutshell)

Properties provide inventory to the wholesaler. At a wholesale price, of course.
The Wholesalers already have working websites that would enable a hotel or condo to sell rooms, then and there, online, 24/7.
They have HUGE amounts of travelers booking through their sites daily.. or at least shopping rates.
They spend HUGE amounts of advertising dollars to drive visitors to their sites

How Should the TDC Participate?

Bring all the wholesalers to our beach for workshops that show our Bed Tax Collectors how to get involved and sell rooms online. Smith indicated that his reps at Expedia told him they were very willing to help us sell all this new inventory.
Buy advertising within the wholesaler sites, introducing travelers to Panama City Beach as they make vacation or business travel plans.

Concern about Wholesaling

The hospitality world must move online, and the tourist markets LOVE this wholesaling concept.
Property owners like retail concepts. We can’t wholesale the whole beach, year round. Improving price and value, by ensuring the product is as clean, safe and rewarding as possible, will also increase wholesale value.

——

Lee Ann Leonard of By The Sea Resorts brought up an idea for the Family Spring Break campaign: kids storming the beach, as in “reclaiming” the beach after the college students are gone. That’s a brilliant message, it addresses the reality of the anti-spring break identity and moves ahead in a positive direction. Proof that we don’t need better brains from out of town making up our creative messaging.

——

Annie Holcombe of Oaseas has the unique opportunity to sell in both Bay and Walton counties. She said when selling group accommodations to Atlanta, they won’t even talk to you if you say ‘Panama City Beach.’ Say ‘Destin’, and they’ll listen. This is such a very important opportunity that no one wants to focus on.

We must change that perception because we have many new facilities at a much greater value than South Walton and Okaloosa. Whenever I mention those in Atlanta who hate us, I must remind you of the hundreds of thousands who don’t even know us. Proper research would prove me right or wrong, but I would venture to say that between 1-2 Million Metro Atlanta residents do not know who we are, what we have to offer nor that we’re only a short 5 hour drive down the road.

——

Bryan Durta… all the PCBDaily readers know who he is… brought up a couple things. He quickly noted that an online “win a vacation” contest wouldn’t be very newsworthy with just one winner, so he suggested a juicier option, such as a giving away a free month every day to multiple winners. That got the committee excited. Something like “900 Nights Free at the Beach” was one of the rough concepts. It would be smart to give people a taste of what we really have to offer down here… but will the condo and hotel owners give up that many rooms?

Bryan questioned the drive-to market spending and suggested ideas relating to new markets. This is a common argument on the beach. I’m a drive-to market believer. Regarding outer “emerging” markets, I’m convinced that if Mom and Dad are going to pack up the car to drive 12 hours to Florida, they’re going to take the extra few hours to go see Mickey. Just a hunch, but I bet most outer-market families cannot afford to fly to PCB at this time. Or if they do have that kind of vacation budget, they’re not going to choose us.

None of us will know who is right or wrong on this issue until proper research is conducted.

——

I called Amy Harris of Royal American Hospitality and asked her thoughts on the marketing plan; she discussed the idea of targeting University Alumni to reach DINKs (double income, no kids) and KISs (Kids in Strollers) for the shoulder seasons. That’s a smart idea, especially if Y Partnership is still figuring out where to post online ads.

So, rest assured that the new marketing committee has a lot of brain power, even though I am no longer on it. :c)

Why Ask Y?

It was “deja vu all over again” as the new TDC Marketing Committee reviewed the CVB / Y Partnership 2009 marketing plan. Some faces were new, but many of the questions remained the same:

“Should we really target that $75K demo?”
“Are we missing opportunities in the Midwest, Northeast and other emerging markets?”
“Are you sure it’s best to spend most of our budget in the drive-to markets during the summer?”

We have had the same advertising / marketing agency for over 5 years. These questions should be answered by now – posted up on a wall in big, colorful graphs and maps. It was requested of the agency more than once by the former marketing committee to start delivering — at the very least — Google Analytics. This simple (and free!) data would give the TDC Board information about new target markets. For instance, Google Analytics will tell you — down to the city — from where your site visitors came.

So why ask Y these questions? You might as well not, because they have proven that they “just don’t know.” (“I just don’t know” was an exact quote from the account exec when discussing a proper message and target market for the summer campaign.)

I’m as sick of bashing the work of these nice folks as you are of hearing it, but this is business. We deserve better results for the investment. And if any single one of you TDC Board members, committee members, Y Partnership agents, business owners or Bay County residents wants to discuss with me all the other ways this agency has disappointed from a client’s perspective, please feel free to take me to lunch for clear explanations. Yes, that means you’d buy lunch… but satisfaction is guaranteed.

We need a TDC Beat Reporter

Bryan Durta, PLEASE reconsider posting your thorough notes and the TDC/CVB collaterals, leaving your opinions and ideas for the committee work. As you can see, a commentator is all I be!

Any other detail-oriented, organized fact-takers, please contact Jason@PCBDaily.com.

Also,

TDC Agenda – Marketing Committee Meeting

Well, this will be the first meeting for the new marketing committee, and it’s sure to be a fun one! Looks like they’ll be talking about Responsibilities and Procedures, and The Sunshine Law. Can’t wait.

We’ll also be going over the marketing plan and hear from the YPartnership team. See ya there!

—————————————————————————

AGENDA

MARKETING COMMITTEE MEETING
Panama City Beach Convention & Visitors Bureau, Inc.
Panama City Beach
Tuesday, September 23, 2008 1:00 p.m. Board Room, Visitor Information
Center

I. CALL MEETING TO ORDER

II. ROLL CALL

III. REQUESTS TO ADDRESS THE COMMITTEE ON AGENDA ITEMS (3 Minutes)

IV. CHAIRMAN’S WELCOME, Mr. Buddy Wilkes, Chairman

V. EXPLANATION OF MARKETING COMMITTEE RESPONSIBLITIES AND PROPER PROCEDURES PERTAINING TO THE SUNSHINE LAW, Mr. Doug Sale, Legal Counsel, and Mr. Dan Rowe, President

VI. INTRODUCTIONS, Ms. Susan Estler, VP of Marketing

VII. OVERVIEW OF MARKETING PLAN, Ms. Susan Estler, VP of Marketing, Mr. Dan Rowe, President, and YPartnership Team

VIII. PROMOTIONS/MIXED MEDIA/INTERACTIVE STRATEGIES, YPartnership Team

IX. DEVELOP TACTICS FOR SPECIFIC CAMPAIGNS

X. AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION

XI. ADJOURNMENT

Click here to download the agenda.

New TDC Marketing Committee = New PCBDaily Contributor

I was notified this weekend that my service is no longer needed on the Bay County TDC marketing committee. I guess they know where I stand, and have decided that my suggestions and directions are not in the best interest of the Bay County Tourism industry.

Therefore, I am pleased and honored to announce that I will now have time to serve as a contributing author for the PCBDaily.com news site. Thanks to Jason for inviting me on board.

While Bryan Durta will continue to be the “TDC Watchdog,” reporting all the facts, I look forward to adding suggestions and analysis regarding Bay County’s Tourist Development efforts.

I will also have the opportunity to be the “Trash Reporter,” reaching the large PCBDaily.com audience regarding the conditions of our beaches.

The new committee will be announced at Tuesday’s TDC meeting. Only 2 members, Russ Smith and Phillip Griffits, Jr. will continue to serve on the committee.

I welcome all members of the community to contact me to discuss concerns, issues and ideas regarding tourism in Bay County. My email address is Kirk@KirkLancaster.com

Fix our Beach, THEN advertise.

Here are the thoughts I summed up for the TDC board after comments Tuesday.
——————————————
1. Advertising Budget

We should not advertise until the “product is fixed.” What is wrong with our product?

* Lack of Cleanliness
* Lack of Safety
* Lack of Proper Marketing Research distributed to all Tourism Businesses
* Lack of Sports Complexes to meet Demand
* and above all – A broken image. Our current advertising cannot improve an image. An image must be improved by providing a great product and service… which starts with clean, safe beaches.

I realize Mr. Rowe and Staff are aware of many of these issues and are working to improve them. But if we put our advertising budget into our problems, they will be resolved more quickly.

Another problem I have with spending tax dollars on advertising – no matter what event or message you promote, you’re going to be held accountable by the community. If you quit advertising, and just provided infrastructure support, marketing research and public relations, no one could blame the TDC on problems such as Spring Break disasters, drownings, etc. Can you imagine having TDC meetings without people like Charles Mason, Bryan Durta and myself because we have nothing to complain about? ;c) Get rid of advertising, replace it with tangible research and infrastructure, and get rid of complainers.

So, if we did not advertise, how would we promote our destination?

a. Market Research. This is being done with our existing guests (400 surveys per month), but much more could be accomplished in this area. Imagine giving a report to all local businesses that show who is most likely to visit, where they live, and how to reach them. Then let the hotels, condos, restaurants, fishing boats, retail, attractions and events do their own advertising.

b. In-house creative: Imagine the CVB/TDC offering a beautiful catalog of stock photography and video of Bay County that small businesses could use in their own advertising.

c. In-house Public Relations: I am thankful there is now an in-house marketing team; they should be able to handle Public Relations.

d. Most Importantly – provide a reason for our guests to return home and say “Panama City Beach is a great place to vacation.”

But since we do have an agency, and we are advertising and outsourcing Public Relations…

* Please hold our agency to REMARKABLE standards. The White Sale did not provide remarkable results, and quite honestly, wasn’t even remarkable out of the gate. It was status-quo. Mr. Yesawich said that himself, basically, when he said others are doing “coupon / value / sales” campaigns and it worked for his clients in the past.

* Please consider that we pay this agency hundreds of thousands of dollars that go out of Bay County into Orlando’s economy. With an in-house marketing team, and the ability to outsource tasks (website development, photography, video, press release writing and distribution), we do not need to spend that kind of money on an agency when we have such a small budget. Perhaps one day when our beaches are clean, beautiful, and Richard even has a little problem filling up all our new sports arenas… then we can afford to invest in advertising

2. Trash

I am thankful you realize this is a serious problem. The method we use is not working, and the county should review other options.

My comment I say often about our beaches and trash … “Do you think Buddy Wilkes lets someone walk through his park with a glass bottle? Do you think he lets a diaper sit around in a public space? Are there cigarette butts everywhere? Is there trash floating in his wave pool? Of course not! So why can’t we protect our beaches just as a private attraction would protect their park?”

We must implement a process of prevention instead of cure when it comes to trash on our beaches. When/if the time does come to discuss new trash ideas, I request that I am notified so I may either assist in planning or pitch my own proposal for beach cleanup.

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I also made comments in the meeting that $6 per website visitor is too much to pay for our particular tourism industry. I have seen great numbers of people seeking information online for Panama City Beach, and a proper ad campaign can drive thousands of visitors to a PCB vacation website for $1-2.