April 9, 2008
Marketing Committee
Atrium B&B, Fort Bragg, CA

The meeting was called to order by Richard Strom at 9:40 am. Present were, Richard Strom, Josie Perla, Jeff Stanford, Cally Dym, Scott Schneider, Renata Dorn, Pam Amante, Kevin Gallagher, Stuart Marcus, Alydia Atkins (guest), Janet Thompson (guest). Phone: Mike Bradbrook

Privilege of the Floor:
• Janet Thompson is here from the South of Boston and is looking into buying a B&B in the Mendocino County area.
• Jeff reported a writer coming to stay at the Inn that is not a writer using his facility, getting free massages, etc. “A” list writers need to ensure they stay in the best rooms in the County.
• Pam suggests we place an advertisement in the Southern California/Nevada edition of AAA guide.

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

Chairman’s Report:
• Richard reported
o Improved number of events on gomendo.com. He is working to get every event in the County onto the calendar.
o Attended a Geotourism conference call. This is a great initiative with funding. Geotourism area from San Francisco to the Oregon border. One deliverable of this is an interactive map. Encouraged people to look at www.crownofthecontinent.net. This is an example of a Geotourism area website that has gotten great results.
o Santa Rosa airport had 133,000 passengers through the terminal in its first year. Sonoma County spending $75,000 to advertise the services outside of its County. Vegas is booking very fast with service starting April 24th. Horizon Air very happy with its services and is looking at ways of expanding. Richard encourages innkeepers to link to this website as well.
o MCLA attended member showcase for SFCVB yesterday. An orientation was also held for the Visitor Center. They feel we need a proper map size brochure for the County which includes a map as well as developing tours to the County. It is a challenge for many visitors, mainly international, to come here due to lack of public transportation. It was recommended we work with conventions that bring 1,000 or less hotel nights and get trips offered for participants. Mark from Hype House is to follow-up on this.

Chair Election:
• Pam nominates Jeff. Kevin seconds the nomination. Motion Passes.

Administration Report:
• Joint Marketing -
o Marketing Survey & Plan – Firm to hopefully be hired in April. Down to 2 firms. Process will begin within 4-6 weeks.
o RFP sent out for Photographer to be hired at March meeting. Contract with photographer should be clear that any members within the organizations may use the photos.
o Had a meeting with MWWC on programs for next fiscal year. It was a successful meeting.
• Scott is seeking a Board/Committee member to attend the CTTC media event on April 22 in San Francisco.
• CalTIA Rural Tourism Conference sponsorship – opportunity to be a sponsor of the Conference this September in Santa Rosa. Richard motions we do a ¼ page ad in the program. Cally seconds. Motion Fails. Stuart motion we do 4 ¼ page ads to do “Wine”, “Waves” & “Wilderness”. Preference is to combine the ads to do a full page, if allowed. Pam seconds. Motion fails. Kevin motions to spend $600 to spend on an ad. Josie seconds. Motion Passes.
• Advertising Performance Update – Scott reports on performance of print and on-line advertising. Committee agrees to get rid of landing pages based on

Old Business:
• Fulfillment Piece Reprint – Scott seeking direction on waiting on the possible establishment of Eco-Fest or to print immediately. Print piece immediately after further change with 4th of July festivities.
• Partnership funding policy and form(s) – Scott passed out draft forms, applications, etc. for approval. Kevin motions to approve forms. Josie seconds. Motion Passes.

New Business:
• Partnership Requests:
o Mendocino Coast Writer’s Conference – Maureen Epstein & Johanna Jensen presents a request for $1,000 for conference in July 31 – August 3. Committee recommended they partner with the Arts Council to maximize resources. Kevin motions not to fulfill request. They should come to MCLA earlier next year so we may have input on program and ads being placed. Josie seconds. Motion fails. Stuart motions we give the $500 as long as they cooperate in promoting County-wide workshops for writers year-round. Pam seconds. A letter will also be sent with a copy of our partnership policy. Motion Passes.
o Winesong! – Carol Joyce presented possible transportation sponsorship “safe rides” for the event. Consensus from Committee is not to honor request.
• America’s Greenest County – Consensus is not to use this tag line as we do not have the facts to back it up.
• Advertising in Press Democrat for new Las Vegas service – Consensus is not to advertise.
• Update from Arts Council – Anna Kvinsland reported
o Successful request for funding from the BOS for next fiscal year.
o Past year has improved arts and tourism considerably.
o Adopted “M” logo.
o Developed GoArts
o Developed Arts module for gomendo.com
o Able to hire a part-time employee
o Increased membership by 100% - 193 members so far
o More involved in regional tourism promotion
o Credibility has been built with the Arts Council
o Providing support for photography RFP by Joint Marketing
o Arts Summit – May 16 in Caspar. Attendance is encouraged.
o Gualala Arts joined Arts Showcase at our request. Using $1,000 grant by MCLA to pay for coordination of Showcase.
o $1,500 to inland group being used as a match to a Community Foundation to develop brochure. $500 used for coordination and project management. New group calls themselves, “Inland Performing Arts Group”.
o Partnership with Arts Council has been vital.
• Update from Nature Tourism Coalition – Penny Greenwood, Johanna Jensen & James Bernard reported
o April 2008 proclamation by the BOS as “Children and Nature Awareness Month”
o Provided much media information to HypeHouse (33 pages) regarding Children & Nature for press releases, events, activities, etc.
o Naturetourism.org is currently under development
o Nature Tourism workshop is tomorrow in Ukiah
o Visitor maps need improvement to properly portray our “green” areas. Letters have been written to the map producers and recommendations to our map in the fulfillment piece.
o Good headway on the Community Foundation grant. 221 attractions in the database not including State Parks.
o Potential Deliverable for 2008-2009 year is to develop Mendocino Meanderings (By-Ways) – themed tours around the County. This would be the first step of a map.
o Committee is requesting a map in the coming months. Coalition requests specifics of the map.

Kevin made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 1:10pm. Pam seconds the motion. Motion Passes.