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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTBID_2019-10-16_MinutesADVISORY BOARD FOR THE ATASCADERO TOURISM BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT MINUTES Wednesday, October 16, 2019 at 2:30 P.M. Atascadero City Hall - 6500 Palma Avenue, Club Room Atascadero, California CALL TO ORDER: Chairperson Alexander called the meeting to order at 2:30 p.m. ROLL CALL: Present: Chairperson Alexander, Vice Chairperson Dawson, Board Member Sohi, Board Member O'Malley, Board Member Mahar Vacant: None Absent: None. I I Staff Present: Destination Management Consultant Hanna Meisinger, Destination _ Management Consultant Amanda Diefenderfer, Destination Management Coordinator Kylee Corliss, Marketing Consultant Ashlee Akers, and Deputy City Manager/Outreach Promotions Terrie Banish. APPROVAL OF AGENDA: MOTION: By Board Member O'Malley and seconded by Board Member Sohi to approve the agenda. Motion passed 5:0 by a roll call vote. PUBLIC COMMENT: Mary Verdin. A. CONSENT CALENDAR 1. ATBID Draft Action Minutes — September 18. 2019 • Recommendation: Approve the Draft Action Minutes of September 18, 2019. [Big Red Marketing] MOTION: By Board Member Sohi and seconded by Vice Chairperson Dawson to approve the consent.calendar. nMotion passed 5:0 by a roll call vote. Atascadero TBID October 16, 2019 Page 1 of 5 ' B. BUSINESS ITEMS Wine Speak Update • Recommendation: Receive and file Wine Speak Update. [Wine Speak Paso l Robles] • Fiscal Impact: None. Updates: Amanda Wittstrom-Higgins shared the Wine Speak event updates and answered questions from the Board. PUBLIC COMMENT: Mary Verdin and Jessica Sohi. The Wine Speak Summary was received and filed by the Board. 2. The Garagiste Festival Event Sponsorship • Recommendation: Decline $10,000 sponsorship for the 2019 Garagiste Festival. Direct staff to work with event planners to incorporate Atascadero in the 2020 Garagiste Festival locations. [The Garagiste Festival] • Fiscal Impact (GL 2802): None. The Garagiste Festival Sponsorship Questions and Event Information (Exhibit A) was shared with the Board. The Board discussed event opportunities and decided to decline the 2019 sponsorship but provide in-kind promotional support. n PUBLIC COMMENT: None. MOTION: By Chairperson Alexander and seconded by Board Member O'Malley to decline the $10,000 sponsorship for the 2019 Garagiste Festival but provide in-kind promotional sponsorship. Motion passed 5:0 by a roll call vote. 3. Contingency Plan to Address Unallocated and Reserve Funds • Recommendation: Provide staff direction on the draft contingency plan to address emergency and reserve funds. [Big Red Marketing/City Staff] • Fiscal Impact: None. Destination Management Consultant, Amanda Diefenderfer, began the conversation about addressing funds that are not currently allocated in the budget for the year. The budget was presented by Jeri Rangel and discussed with the Board. An ad hoc committee was appointed to consist of Board Member O'Malley and Board Member Sohi. A strategic planning session will be scheduled with the ad hoc committee and City Council. PUBLIC COMMENT: Mary Verdin. n Ad hoc committee appointed by the Board President to meet with City l Council for further decisions. Atascadero TBID October 16, 2019 Page 2 of 5 4. Destination Marketing Services Proposal • Recommendation: Provide staff direction to approve the renewal of Verdin for Destination Marketing Services or reopen RFP process. [Big Red Marketing] • Fiscal Impact (Varied): $68,667 in 2019/2020 and $206,000 in 2020/2021. Destination Management Consultant, Hanna Meisinger, updated the Board about the RFP request for Destination -Marketing services and answered questions. Board Member O'Malley left the meeting at 3:20 p.m. PUBLIC COMMENT: Mary Verdin. MOTION: By Board Member Sohi and seconded by Vice Chairperson Dawson to approve renewal of Verdin for Destination Marketing Services Motion passed 4:0 by a roll call vote. 5. Destination Management Services Proposal • Recommendation: Provide staff direction to approve the renewal of Big Red Marketing for Destination Management Services or reopen RFP process. [City Manager's Office] • Fiscal Impact (Varied): $14,750 in 2019/2020 and $45,250 in 2020/2021. Deputy City Manager, Terrie Banish, presented the destination services proposal from Big Red Marketing and answered questions from the Board. PUBLIC COMMENT: Jessica Sohi. MOTION: By Vice Chairperson Dawson and seconded by Chairperson Alexander to approve renewal of Big Red Marketing for Destination Management Services Motion passed 4:0 by a roll call vote. 6. Co -Op opportunity: SLO CAL Visitor's Guide • Recommendation: Approve a full-page editorial placement in the upcoming Visit SLO CAL Visitor's Guide. [Verdin] • Fiscal Impact (GL 2502): $3,650. Marketing Consultant, Ashlee Akers, presented the opportunity for the upcoming SLO CAL Visitor's Guide. PUBLIC COMMENT: Jessica Sohi. MOTION: By Board Member Sohl and seconded by Board Member Mahar to approve of a full-page editorial placement in the upcoming Visit SLO CAL Visitor's Guide. Motion passed 4:0 by a roll call vote. Atascadero TBID October 16, 2019 Page 3 of 5 7. Monthly Marketing Statistics Summary • Recommendation: Receive and file Marketing Statistics Report. [Verdin] • Fiscal Impact: None. Marketing Consultant, Ashlee Akers, provided a marketing update on the website statistics, traffic sources and social media statistics for September 2019. PUBLIC COMMENT: None. The Monthly Marketing Statistics Summary was received and filed by the Board. 8. Monthly Budget Report • Recommendation: Receive and file Budget Report. [Big Red Marketing] • Fiscal Impact: None. Destination Management Consultant, Hanna Meisinger, presented the Monthly Budget Report to the Board. PUBLIC COMMENT: None. The Monthly Budget Report was received and filed by the Board. C. UPDATES l 1. Visit SLO CAL TMD Update — Board Member Sohi — Board Member Sohi informed the Board that all the local City Councils have unanimous supported the SLO CAL TMD renewal. On November 19th SLO CAL presents to the Board of Supervisors and Sohi encouraged the Board to attend, as well as on January 7th during the public hearing. 2. Visit SLO CAL Marketing Committee Update — Verdin — Marketing Consultant Akers encouraged the Board to attend the upcoming Visit SLO CAL Educational Seminar. 3. Destination Management Update — Big Red Marketing — Destination Management Consultant Meisinger showcased the brochure designed by Verdin (Exhibit B) and provided updates. 4. City Business Update — City Manager's Office — Deputy City Manager Banish provided the Board an update on city business. C. BOARD MEMBER COMMENTS Board Member Mahar informed the Board that Motel 6 is going to a franchisee in late l ! November/early December. Atascadero TBID October 16, 2019 Page 4 of 5 E. ADJOURNMENT Chairperson Alexander adjourned the meeting at 4:14 p.m. MINUT�S PREPrD BY: — . , / / r Management Coordinator Exhibit A— Garagiste Festival Sponsorship Questions and Event Information Exhibit B — Visit Atascadero Marketing Brochure APPROVED: November 20, 2019 Atascadero TBID October 16, 2019 Page 6 of 6 ATBID Minutes Exhibit A Date: 'THEA .` .. R� i STE ftSTIVAL.- G. Q I T,08 AROELEti- --CjELEBRATIN,G=�THE- ARTISAN 11'INEMAKER, , A 501c3 non-profit organization benefiting the Cal Poly Wine{& Viticulture Program Founded 20111 "The #1 Best Wine Festival in the Country" USA Today Reader's Poll Our unique, year-round focus on Paso Robles Wine Country pays major dividends in national attention. Your support makes it possible. Let's recap. Eight years ago when we began, the word "garagiste" was largely unknown, even within the wine industry. But due to our PR efforts, the word is now in common usage in the trade and consumer press and Paso Robles Wine Country is now widely recognized to be the home of this movement of cutting-edge micro -wineries. This gives the area a unique selling proposition, setting it apart from wine regions anywhere in the world. And the Garagiste Festival is the center of that movement and it creates increased tourism for the area not just for our popular sold -out events, but all year round as awareness of the Garagiste movement spreads in the consumer wine world. Why We Need Your Support - Simply put, we could not exist without the support of our sponsors. We deliberately keep our ticket prices affordable for the average wine consumer - allowing more of our attendees to travel and to afford a hotel room. The same is true of the winery table fees — our wineries are the little guys and girls, many of which are mom and pop shops with extremely limited resources (kinda like us!). We have no $1000 -level tickets, nor the support of a large trade organization to absorb the costs of operating the event. Your support is crucial. Why We Need Your Support, Part 2 - Our story is unique — no other event or organization focuses on the micro -winery movement, which is an emerging story nationally. Your support is necessary for us to continue to employ a professional PR firm to spread the word through editorial coverage (as opposed to advertising). Obviously, editorial coverage is worth many times the value of paid advertising. The national recognition in USA Today is a direct result of our efforts. And not only that, our publicist deeply discounts their normal fees for the Garagiste Festival, bringing even more value to your contribution. Our unique, press -based marketing approach attracts wine tourists nationally and internationally. Remember: 74% of our attendees come from outside of SLO County. Attendees from 30 States, plus the UK, Canada and Mexico Paso Wine Country Awareness — Our Los Angeles event in June was another sold -out smash hit. Many, many of our attendees are learning; about the Central Coast for the first time. The Garagiste Festival is essentially a traveling road show for the area all year long. It never ceases to amaze us how many wine aficionados (not novices — we mean people -who - have -wine -lockers -at -Morton's type of folks) who still have no idea where Paso is and how good the wine is. There is a HUGE wine audience in So Cal that still thinks "wine country" means Llu t7uil�t lTrlc�trnitlt jndepie 14gLt MAGJ%Z NC , Z- NEWS �■■■ Alioetrs Zirne s 1h IGNI I19[to PASO ROBLES % only "Napa." We are helping to change that, not only to the festival attendees, but to all who read about us in the LA Times, Fox TV, the LA Daily News, and LA Weekly as well as word-of- mouth. We are making a difference. We Never Stop - We are always active, always promoting, always reaching new wine tourists. The Garagiste Festival is much more than just one event on one weekend every year. Sponsor support has enabled us to conduct our extensive promotion, fueled our growth, and has paid off in all of the ways outlined above. And yet, we are just beginning. The Garagiste movement is exploding and we are only just scratching the surface of potential wine tourists for Paso Robles Wine Country. We would love to answer any questions you may have and we hope you will choose to support our work. Thanks for your consideration! Doug Minnick and Stewart McLennan Co -Founders, The Garagiste Festivals 818-929-3684 dkminnick@mac.com http://californiagaragistes.com Facebook: The Garagiste Festival Twitter: @GaragisteFest The Garagiste Festival Wins #1 Best Wine Festival in America - https://www.wineindustryadvisor.com/2018/09/04/ arg agist e -festival -wins -best -wine -festival Los Angeles Magazine - California's Renegade Winemakers are Pouring Weird, Wonderful Wines - http://www.lamag.com/digestblog/garagiste-festival-wine/ Wine Enthusiast Magazine - Meet the Garagiste Winemakers of Paso Robles - http://www.winemag.com/2017/08/02/meet-the-gara ig ste- winemakers-of-Paso-robles/ USA Today 10Best Announcement - https://www.1Obest.com/awards/travel/best-wine- festival PRODUCED BY GARAGISTE EVENTS, INC. A 501C3 NON-PROFIT ORGAN17ATION WWW.GWOSTM SMVPL.COM 5225 SANTA MA RD. TUTLr bN, CA 93465 818-929-3689 Garagiste Festival Q&A from Douglas Minnick How many attendees would do you expect for the entire weekend of events? • If we were to use the Pavilion on the Lake, we would expect 400 +/- attendees for the Friday night event. • The Saturday event draws about 800. As discussed in the meeting, our attendance is largely determined by our venue, so there won't be tons of growth. We also intend for Garagiste to be a relatively intimate event that allows consumers and winemakers to actually meet and talk for a bit, as opposed to an event with big lines and huge crowds. That's one of the things that makes us special/different. • Since we deliberately chose our previously "off-season" weekend in November, we are also at risk of rain at that time of year, which is just one reason we will not hold the event outdoors, even though we could probably sell more tickets. Friday night growth is more realistic. Can you provide further insights about where your attendees stay when they come for the weekend? • We don't have a breakdown about which city attendees stay in, but the last time we did a survey, it showed that 40% of attendees staying a local hotel or B&B, with 25% saying they now come to the area more frequently now because of the Garagiste Festival.