impressions - Visit Milwaukee
Transcription
impressions - Visit Milwaukee
August, 2010 648 N. Plankinton Ave. #425 Milwaukee, WI 53203 414.273.3950 www.visitmilwaukee.org UPdates By Paul Upchurch, President & CEO 414.287.4233 [email protected] TABLE OF CONTENTS Members Only New Members Briefings from Brent The Big Sell The Scoop Service in the City Updating Your Listings Marketing Minute Get on the Bus 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 5 6 Mark your caLendars! SEPTEMBER 15 VISIT Milwaukee Open - The Bog To sponsor and/or register to to golf: www.visitmilwaukee.org/vmo SEPTEMBER 23 VISIT Milwaukee 101 Invites will go out in early September LASTING IMPRESSIONS It’s August in Milwaukee and the summer continues to sizzle with signature events like the Wisconsin State Fair (Aug 5-15), the 30th anniversary of Irish Fest (Aug 19-22) and Mexican Fiesta (Aug 27-29) in its 33rd year – all events that residents from all over the state, as well as tourists from the Midwest, nationwide and internationally, return to each year. The Milwaukee County Zoo’s Milwaukee A La Carte (Aug 19-22) invites families to “Feast with the Beasts.” And joining these established events is the Malibu Open (Aug 6-7), a new event which brings the world’s top water ski distance jumpers and slalom champions to the Veteran’s Park Lagoon. This exciting event includes finals on Saturday night under stadium lighting. The elite of the golfing world will descend on the world-famous Whistling Straits golf course near Kohler for the PGA (Aug 8-16). This prestigious sporting event will draw an estimated 35,000 visitors from all over the world, many of whom will stay in Milwaukee. Milwaukee knows how to organize events and festivals and does it in style in premiere venues such as the Henry Maier Festival Park, State Fair Park, the Zoo, our County Parks and renowned golf courses. It’s just one reason why conventions such as the American Chamber of Commerce Executives (750 delegates Aug 4-7) and the American Legion (12,500 delegates from Aug 25-29) choose Milwaukee as their meeting destination. August is no time to rest on our hospitality laurels, but to try even harder to make sure Milwaukee visitors go home with a great impression and spread the word about all this great city has to offer. It’s a wonderful month for family fun and activities in Milwaukee – enjoy! Membership notes It’s oftentimes said that the best compliment a sales person can receive is a referral. To that end, I would like to encourage our members to help spread the word about the benefits of VISIT Milwaukee membership. Recently, Aldo Madrigrano, President of Beer Capitol Distributing, offered the assistance of his salespeople, to distribute information to his customers about VISIT Milwaukee. This unsolicited offer is a huge benefit to an organization like ours. Aldo is leveraging his existing relationships with his customers to help VISIT Milwaukee. In essence, we just increased our sales force exponentially! Members Only B y Todd O’Leary, Director of Membership 414.287.4252 [email protected] First of all, I would like to publicly thank Aldo for his generous offer and willingness to help us. It is greatly appreciated! Secondly, I encourage all of you to help us increase VISIT Milwaukee’s ability to market our destination – through new memberships in our organization. Please share your ideas on increasing membership with me. If you have any leads on businesses that should become VISIT Milwaukee members, please share them with myself or Fran Jackson. It would be a huge compliment to us and to our organization! VISIT Milwaukee welcomes the new members below. If you have any leads on businesses that should become a VISIT Milwaukee member, please contact me! Welcome New Members! By Fran Jackson, Membership Sales Manager 414.287.4248 [email protected] Wisconsin Maritime Museum 75 Maritime Drive Manitowoc, WI 54220 920-684-0218 866-724-2356 www.wisconsinmaritime.org Norma Bishop – Executive Director [email protected] Segway of Wisconsin at Discovery World 500 N. Harbor Drive Milwaukee, WI 53202 877-773-4929 www.segwayofwisconsin.com Sam Mattox – Tour Manager [email protected] Chic Lounge 131 N. Jackson Street Milwaukee, WI 53202 414-763-9444 www.chicloungemilwaukee.com Rita Johnson [email protected] SpiN Milwaukee 233 E. Chicago Street Milwaukee, WI 53202 414-831-SPIN (7746) www.spinmilwaukee.com Jill Wellskopf – Director of Marketing & Events [email protected] City Screen Printing & Embroidery/ Inferno Marketing Group 1910 S. 81st Street Milwaukee, WI 53219 414-771-1414 www.cityscreenprint.com William Hoag – President/Owner [email protected] Chili lili’s Chili Bar 525 E. Menomonee Street Milwaukee, WI 53202 414-897-0555 www.chilililis.com Jay Schiek – Owner [email protected] Nouvo Centanni 218 N. Water Street Milwaukee, WI 53202 414-221-6565 www.nuovocentanni.com Joe Hite – General Manager [email protected] distil 722 N. Milwaukee Street Milwaukee, WI 53202 414-220-9411 www.distilmilwaukee.com Wes Shaver – Marketing Manager [email protected] TAPping into the numbers Trends Analysis Projections, LLC produces the TAP Report monthly for VISIT Milwaukee. This valuable tool is available to all members and contains information that can be used to make strategic decisions within your organization. The section called “8 Year Pace Report” shows definite convention room nights and tentative convention room nights into the future by year and by month. It also shows a variance from a consumption benchmark, which is a three-year historical average and a DA consumption benchmark which is our targeted goal. These variances allow you to quickly analyze if Milwaukee convention bookings are ahead, even, or behind previous years and months. briefings from brent By Brent Foerster, VP of Sales & Marketing 414.287.4226 [email protected] The Pace percentage allows you to quickly calculate how many convention rooms we expect to actualize in a future year if all factors remain constant. Pace forecasting is not an exact science, however, this calculation takes into consideration five years of history and also evaluates booking patterns into the future. As events in our industry affect meeting planner booking patterns, this formula is able to take that into consideration. To get the forecasted convention room night pace, take the Pace percentage (107% for 2011) and multiply it by the consumption benchmark (158,894) and you get the current pace forecast (170,016). The last useful section is the Peer Set Benchmark. This allows you to see how competing Midwest cities cumulatively are doing toward the convention room night pace targets. This can be used to forecast future demand and potential competition in the Midwest both by year and month. If you have questions about the report or want to know how to better make use of the information, please contact me and I will be happy to meet with you. I am also scheduling Jeff Eastman, the developer of this report, to present to us sometime in September. A Season of Conventions It is with great excitement that I write to you in midst of a great summer convention season in our city. Groups are reporting record attendance and a desire to come back to Milwaukee as their attendees rave about their experiences in our city! the big sell By Mia Nardi, Director of Sales 414.287.4259 / [email protected] Your VM sales department conducted three site visits and went on two sales trips to both Chicago and Madison. We also attended CESSE (Council of Engineering and Scientific Society Executives) where we are establishing relationships in this very important market segment and with long term hopes of hosting the event! We are planning for a very busy August as we attend two of our largest conventions “Connect Marketplace” (SMERF groups) and ASAE (American Society of Association Executives). Stay tuned next month to hear how they went! Unifying our MARKet A few years ago, a group of community volunteers led by Dean Amhaus at the Spirit of Milwaukee, worked to develop a new symbol or “mark” that embodies today’s Milwaukee. The end result was a rendering of the wing spread open at the Calatrava addition to the Milwaukee Art Museum. Other cities have iconic identifiers – the St. Louis Arch, Golden Gate Bridge, Statue of Liberty and Sydney Opera House immediately come to mind. It only made sense that the Art Museum come to symbolize “new” Milwaukee. Shortly after the mark was unveiled, VISIT Milwaukee embraced it (with a minor modification) as the new logo for our organization and quickly the new symbol was being used by businesses throughout the region, from storefront decals, to print ads to corporate letterhead. the scoop By Dave Fantle, Vice President of Public Relations 414.287.4253 [email protected] The mark made sense a few years ago and it works today as a unifying symbol for our community. If you haven’t used the mark (or stopped using it), I hope you will consider bringing it back and featuring it proudly as part of your organization. Give me a call or shoot me an email if you want to tap into the mark. The VISIT Milwaukee Services department will be busy in August hosting convention attendees and golf fans from around the world. -Annual Summer North American Conference for the Society for the Study of Reproduction will be in town July 30-August 3 with 1,200 attendees. -The American Chamber of Commerce Executives will bring their Annual Convention to Milwaukee, August 4-7. 750 executives from throughout the country will attend. service in the City By Dave Larson, Director of Convention Services 414.287.4224 [email protected] -The PGA Championship will return to Wisconsin August 9-15. Whistling Straights in Kohler, WI will play host for the tournament but Milwaukee will host many of the fans, sponsors, and media for this world-class event. -The American Legion will bring their National Convention back to Milwaukee, August 26-September 2. Their 10,000+ attendees will take over the city, including a parade through downtown Milwaukee on August 29th. The Services department is also traveling to get ready for some conventions coming to town in 2011. We will be traveling to Anaheim, CA to get ready for the International Association for Food Protection’s Annual Meeting which will take place in Milwaukee July 31-August 5, 2011. We will also be traveling to Austin, TX to get the National Guard’s attendees excited about coming to Milwaukee August 23-30, 2011 for their general conference. UPDATING Your Listings Our ongoing “tour” of our Members Only section continues this month by covering “Manage Your Events.” This section is very popular amongst our membership, as it is one of our many free membership benefits and very visible to our visitors. Also, keep in mind that our Calendar of Events is used as the basis of our weekly social media campaigns. To access your events, go to members.milwaukee.org (no www) and login. Click on the Manage Your Events link located under the orange Manage Your Profile menu bar at the right of your screen. Here you are given three options: Add - if you would like to add a new event, click this link, enter all required information and click submit. Open - if you would like to view or edit events previously submitted, click this link and click submit if changes are made. Delete - if you have an event that has been cancelled, highlight the event and click delete. We will contact you directly to verify the deletion. We do encourage you to send us an image to post alongside your event. Please submit an image in .jpg format no larger than 275x270 to [email protected]. This will be added to your event once it is approved. Members Covered By Maria Strand, Membership Coordinator 414.287.4259 [email protected] We ask that members only submit events they are conducting; ie: not for your partners. Also, please do not submit a “delete request” for past events, as we wish to keep a record of events. We look forward to helping you promote your events! Marketing Minute By Rachel Oliver, Director of Marketing 414.287.4250 [email protected] Love Love I LOVE Summer…it is a great time of year and we are thrilled to be making the most of it. From the launch of our new website in early June to the continued buzz surrounding our social media campaign to the invitation through our marketing efforts in the Chicago area for our neighbors to experience summer here, we have been building awareness and excitement about Milwaukee. Here are just a few samples of the many great things people are saying about our hometown: I LOVE LOVE LOVE Summerfest...its been generations my family has attended since the first opening day back in the 70’s ...now, my daughter’s generation. Keep the flow of fun, music and food in the sun! -Sarah, via Facebook I love visiting Milwaukee! The city has wonderful architecture and numerous cultural events at any given time to enjoy. -Lora Niemeier I love Summerfest and Irish Fest and German Fest and Festa Italiana and Zoo ala Carte... –Amy, via Facebook Pridefest was sooooo sweet, Kathy Griffin and Patty Labelle...u rock Milwaukee! -Tonya, via Facebook And people are continuing to learn more about Milwaukee every day through our efforts! The social media success has received kudos from Deep Dish Creative as being a leader in the Destination Marketing industry. Having social media feeds “parked right into their website” is very convenient for the consumer and Deep Dish Creative states the opportunity to connect with all fans at once as “unfolding beautifully.” We look forward to continuing to market the destination using traditional media and new social media platforms. This combination is a great way to increase brand awareness and excitement to visit Greater Milwaukee! free exposure, for Pete’s sake Get on the bus! By Wendy Dobrzynski Group Tour Manager 414.287.4222 [email protected] Thank you so much to the Forest Home Cemetery for hosting our July Explore Milwaukee’s Best Meeting. If you haven’t visited the Forest Home Cemetery, be sure to stop in and explore the “Halls of History” to learn more about the Milwaukeans and Wisconsinites who shaped our city and state. You can also visit the resting places of the Blatz, Pabst and Schlitz families, the Davidsons, Lunt and Fontanne and others. They offer group tours on a variety of subjects. Watch for your email invitation to the August Explore Milwaukee’s Best Meeting. Social Media and group tour... check out the Facebook page of the American Bus Association. Flat Pete’s trek across North America has taken him around the county and as stated in the July 19th issue of the ABA Insider, “he crossed back into the United States and headed to the Milwaukee Art Museum, as well as to have a chat on motorcoach tourism and travel with reps from the Milwaukee CVB.” Flat Pete has been seen throughout the Greater Milwaukee area. Where will he go next? It’s up to you! If you haven’t yet taken Flat Pete for a tour at your attraction, restaurant or hotel, now’s the time. Print out a color copy of him, (www.buses.org) take him to your favorite group tour spot, snap a photo and post it to ABA’s Facebook page. It’s a great way to earn no-cost attention for your destination and show ABA operators what you offer for group travelers. Be sure to periodically check the “Members Only” section of the VISIT Milwaukee website for the list of group tour “prospects.” These prospects are generated from various means, including the appointments that are scheduled at industry trade shows and reader response inquires from advertisements in industry trade publications. These tour operators and group leaders have indicated their interest in bringing their group to the Greater Milwaukee area and are in need of your information. If you would like to learn more about how VISIT Milwaukee is promoting our members to the group tour and international markets, please do not hesitate to contact me. clarification from July voice GO Airport Connection will continue to donate vans to Growing Power as they are able, which may or may not total six vans by the end of 2010. These donated vehicles will not be powered by propane, but will be diesel or gasoline-powered vehicles.