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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024-04-22 - Minutes -Fayetteville Advertising and Promotion Commission Minutes April 22, 2024 Fayetteville Town Center Commissioners Present: Commissioners Absent: Staff: Chair Chrissy Sanderson, Tourism & Hospitality Representative Mike Wiederkehr, City Council Representative Katherine Kinney, Tourism & Hospitality Representative Sarah Bunch, City Council Representative Andrew Prysby, Commissioner at-large Todd Martin, Elvis Moya Molly Rawn, CEO (absent) Jennifer Walker, VP of Finance, Sarah King, VP of Marketing and Communications I. Chair Sanderson called the meeting to order at 2:00 pm and declared a quorum. II. Old Business A. Chair Sanderson presented the March minutes for approval and Commissioner Kinney made a motion which was seconded by Mike Wiederkehr to approve the minutes as presented. B. Roll call attendance reflected that Commissioners Martin and Moya are absent. VP Walker stood in the place of CEO Rawn who was absent. III. New Business A. CEO Report VP Walker presented this report, highlighting a few of the items. She stated that we are planning to bring a budget revision to the May commission meeting to reflect personnel changes and to show a decrease in spending in some areas to reflect a lower than budgeted HMR revenue to date. On the Master Tourism Plan, we are winding down the first section called Get Clear and will begin the next phase, “Get Moving.” This phase is more internally focused, but please know work is continuing. She pointed out all of the events we were involved in during the weekend of April 5-6 including the US Pro Cup at Centennial Park, a press tour for international travel journalists, the NCAA Gymnastics Regionals, Razorback baseball, NCAA track tournament and many more including the opening weekend of the Farmers Market on the square. Additionally, we distributed 10,000 eclipse glasses through hotels and attractions such as the Botanical Gardens and through our Visitors Center. We are updating some of our marketing collateral items and also we have some new light pole banners in production. Additionally, we have a new Hootboard in the Visitors Center- it is a digital visitors kiosk. The town center has hosted 29 meetings since the commission last met and the roof repair is almost complete with solar panels to come next. We’ve also done some repair work on gutters at Walker Stone House. She pointed out the long list of events we’ve funded so far this year in the enclosed Community Event Incentives report. We’ve allocated $51,000 thus far in 2024. To close, she stated that upcoming events included the Downtown Fayetteville Coalition Annual Meeting next Monday April 29th, the return of First Thursday on May 2nd, UA Graduation Saturday, May 11th, the inaugural Strawberry Festival on Sunday May 19th and Walmart Shareholders June 5-7. B. Financials VP Walker stated that the March financials were in the agenda packets. The target budget for expenses and revenue for March is 25%. With total revenue YTD $1,285,727, we are 4% below our target. Total expenses are at $1,240,007 or 22%, we are 3% under budget. With HMR tax collections 3% below the seasonally adjusted budget, we are projecting to come to the May commission meeting with a budget revision to address this current decrease. The balance sheet for March shows $4.9 million dollars in cash and investments and the unearned revenue for the town center is $371,000. C. Vote. Fayetteville Town Center Chair Purchase VP Walker presented this voting item of 1,200 chairs from Mity Lite with a quote of$141,228.50 which includes all taxes, freight and fees. This expense comes from our capital budget and was included in the 2024 budget. Commissioner Wiederkehr asked what our life expectancy on chairs are and Tyler Wilson stated that we’ve had the current chairs for 20 years. A benefit to this purchase is that we can order replacement parts to repair any of the Mity Lite chairs when needed. Commissioner Bunch asked what we would do with the old chairs and Wilson said we’d keep 50 for outdoor use and we will then contact local agencies to donate the remainder. Commissioner Katherine made the motion to accept the quote from Mity Lite for the replacement of event chairs and authorize the CEO to spend up to $155,351.35, which represents the cost of the quote plus a 10% contingency. Commissioner Prysby seconded the motion which was approved unanimously. D. Marketing Updates Director of Brand Strategy Ashley Cane introduced Anne Davis with Outright Media. Anne then shared highlights and strategies behind their first advertising campaign they are launching for Experience Fayetteville. The primary goal of this campaign is to increase awareness of Fayetteville as an attractive long weekend travel destination. This campaign will run from April through December and is built on the themes of outdoor recreation, food & drink and arts and culture and are targeting geographic areas with nonstop flights to NWA, including Colorado, Chicago, Dallas/Ft Worth and also road trippers. Outright was able to secure 10% in added-value impressions with media partners, allowing us to stretch the campaign budget further to maximize visibility and impact. The campaign concept is “Day and Night” to reflect the various experiences you can have in Fayetteville, sunrise to starlight. The campaign is adaptable and will be flexible for the longer time we will be running it. Anne pointed out that the standard display features “Favoriteville” and that about high impact display ads are more interactive – the expandable banner ads were demonstrated. She then shared the reactive ads which change as you scroll through them. She then shared the online video example. They are planning a video shoot in May to get video for these specific ads and other uses. The report was appreciated, especially the interactive display ads and Commissioner Prysby asked specifics of the marketing plan. It was stated that we are looking forward to future months’ reporting so we can see the impact of this campaign. E. Downtown Fayetteville Coalition Presentation Kelly Rich, Director of Downton Initiatives began by inviting all the commissioners to attend the annual meeting which is next Monday the 29th at the town center. You will learn more about our strategic plan and that process at the meeting. She stated they will also be adding two more board members to the current nine at the annual meeting. She then gave an update on the organization’s goals and accomplishments. These included creating a strategic plan, securing additional staff, hosting several activations such as Open Streets during Lights of the Ozarks and Phantasma in the lower ramble and festivals. Additionally, Rich shared that they were also working on projects to beautify downtown such as repairing light pole banner hardware and will be launching a façade enhancing program with a 50% match to help business owners do updates to the exterior of their property such as signage, awning etc. The commissioners were complementary of the progress and appreciative of the update. F. Adjourn Commissioner Sanderson asked if there were any additions or announcements. With no further business, Chair Sanderson adjourned the meeting. Minutes submitted by Amy Stockton, Director of Operations, Experience Fayetteville