Feb. 6, 2008
Marketing Committee
Victorian Gardens, Manchester

The meeting was called to order by Richard Strom at 10:10 am. Present were, Richard Strom, Cally Dym, Josie Perla, Scott Schneider, Stuart Marcus, Renata Dorn, Pam Amante, Kevin Gallagher, Jeff Stanford, Jo Bradley. Phone:

Minutes to be approved – Cally motions to approve. Josie seconds. Motion passes.

Chairman’s Report:
• Richard discusses absolving the Marketing Committee and have the Board do the marketing work. Committee felt that was a bad idea, but wants to bring the idea of having 9 members to the Board this afternoon. The committee now has 9 members due to inactivity.
• Renata would like to have a workshop to specifically discuss the misrepresentation of promotion of the different areas of the County. Scott is working to have Berkeley Young present in March in Ukiah and work with MCLA on how to best use our BID dollars effectively. Marketing committee agrees to spend at least $1000 for this workshop.
• Stuart attended the CABBI conference and is being sought after to be written up with the national association. A workshop was also held, sponsored by MCPA, to look at putting on an Agritourism workshop to possibly develop an Agritourism program in the County. Stuart makes a motion the Marketing Committee supports the efforts of the establishment of an Agritourism program in the County. Pam seconds. Motion Passes.

Administration Report:
• Video usage – Committee agrees the intention is that it can be used by anyone.
• Jeff motions to pay up to $1000 to redesign the ad for the Film Locations event guide to go along with our branding. Pam seconds. Motion passes.
• State website – businesses need to list businesses on website. Newsletter should have “co-op Marketing opportunities” column in each newsletter.
• Jeff motions no list of media leads be given out to membership. Media are unveiled once an article is published. Richard to write a letter to this effect. Pam seconds. Motion passes.
• Joint Marketing -
o Marketing Survey & Plan – RFP currently being developed. Firm to hopefully be hired in March.
o Committee agrees to support the hiring of a photographer as a start to a new fulfillment piece. Photographs would be owned by MCLA, MCPA & MWWC to be used in any promotion, as necessary.
• North Coast Tourism update – helped pay for NY trip.
• NY media trip – had 7 deskside meetings – one article already and one visit booked for September. Specials being featured on websites. Very successful.
• Cultural & Heritage Symposium – Scott to work with cities on Preserve America program. Also explore the National Heritage Area partnership as well as the Geotourism partnership.
• Bay Area & LA Times Travel Show –
o handed out 1700 bags of information. Richard encourages committee, Board and general members to attend these shows.
o Renata & Jo volunteered for the Sunset Celebration show in April if we have confirmation of a booth.
o Postcards were developed for LA travel show explaining how easy it is to get to Mendocino County and has the scheduled Horizon LA flights.
• March Presentation – (Mentioned above)
• Airport Meeting – to be discussed under new business

Old Business:
• New Airport Ad – tabled to new business
• Niche Marketing Report – committee unable to meet – will report back in March.

New Business:
• Partnership Requests:
o Mendocino Coast Botanical Garden – requests $1000 for new website – Kevin motions we fulfill this request. We require a prominent link to gomendo.com and use of our logo where appropriate. We also request they market the Gardens as “Mendocino County’s…” We also request to be a part of rebranding process, if appropriate. Jeff seconds. Motion Passes. Scott to suggest money be used for SEO and marketing of website.
o Scott to develop an application for funds (a form) which states our requirements when accepting partnership funds.
• Horizon Air Partnership/Advertising –
o Scott met with Santa Rosa airport to discuss partnering. Also, at most, we can get a 10% discount if we can get the County to write a letter stating their intention to renew the BID for three years.
o The idea is to either partner with the airport spending these advertising dollars with the airport or to develop a partnership with Horizon Air and spend these dollars with Horizon Air magazine.
o Committee directs Scott to explore relationship with Horizon Air including a possible trip to Seattle.
o Committee votes to do 1st choice of Ozone’s new airport ad that features the redwoods and the village of Mendocino. The thought is the next time we produce a new ad, we will feature a different village in the County and use different towns as we rotate ads, as appropriate.
• 2009 Festivals – Cally reports the feeling is we took two somewhat successful festivals into a single unsuccessful festival. MCPA has supported the Crab Cake Cook-Off greatly, but is not planning on doing that again. WOW! was hired this year to help with “Taste” and is now coming up with a strong recommendation on how to deal with festivals in the future. Cally will attend next Joint Marketing Committee to express concerns of MCLA Marketing Committee.

Kevin made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 12:45pm. Pam seconds the motion. It was approved.