HomeMy WebLinkAbout02-26-2019 LTAC Agenda Packet
Lodging Tax Advisory Committee
Special Meeting
February 26, 2019 – 10:00 AM
Council Chambers
AGENDA
I. CALL TO ORDER
a. Roll Call
II. APPROVE NOVEMBER MEETING MINUTES
III. OLD BUSINESS
1) Financial Report
2) Auburn Adventure Film Festival Report
3) Q4 2018/Q1 2019 Advertising Campaign Report
4) 2019 Lodging Tax Grant Applications Update
IV. NEW BUSINESS
Elect Vice Chair for 2019 term
V. 2019 LTAC MEETINGS
Next LTAC Meetings: Wednesday, April 10, 2019
Wednesday, November 13, 2019
VI. ADJOURNMENT
AUBURN ADVENTURE FILM FESTIVAL
AD PERFORMANCE REPORT
Auburn Adventure Film Festival 2019 for City of Auburn
From Dec 18, 2018 to Jan 18, 2019
Created On Feb 14, 2019
CAMPAIGN SNAPSHOT - PAGE 1
Summary
The Auburn Adventure Film Festival campaign was aimed at awareness and driving ticket sales for the fe stival. As you will see below, the Facebook placement for this campaign dramatically outperformed the banner placement in both CTR and CPC.
This is partly because the Facebook placement is us ing a lookalike audience which is finding people who "look like" the people who have visited the AAFF website. Lookalike audiences help improve the accuracy of targeting because they use many
data points to create the audience.
Even with the banner placement CTR bringing down the overall CTR, a 0.19% CTR is respectable. Unfortunately, because of the limitations of the ticketing platform we weren't able to accurately track conversions and couldn't see what data we did
have until the end which made informed adjustments difficult.
There was a question on the ticket purchase form that asked if they heard about the festival online. In the end, 66% of people who bought tickets online answered yes. Although anecdotal, it does show that a majority of online ticket buyers heard
about the festival through online promotion.
Overall Stats
2.74M
IMPRESSIONS
5.12K
CLICKS
0.19%
CTR
Banner
2.30M
Impressions
1.18K
Total Ad Clicks
0.05%
CTR
Banner Ads
Total 2,299,766 1,184 0.05%$3.59 0
AAFF - 160x600 360,065 129 0.04% $5.25 0
AAFF - 300x250 1,209,189 624 0.05% $3.52 0
AAFF - 300x600 140,899 149 0.11% $1.90 0
AAFF - 728x90 569,259 190 0.03% $5.45 0
AAFF - 970x250 20,354 92 0.45% $0.65 0
Ad Impressiops Total Ad Clicks CTR CPC Click Through Copversiops
Facebook
676.50K
Impressions
5.87K
Clicks
0.87%
CTR
$0.64
CPC
4.88K
Post Engagement
Auburn Adventure Film Festival 2019 for City of Auburn
From Dec 18, 2018 to Jan 18, 2019
Created On Feb 14, 2019
GLOSSARY OF TERMS - PAGE 1
Glossary of Terms
Ad Fraud: Ad Fraud is when a company knowingly serves ads that no one will actually see as a way to drive “views” and revenue. For example, a
website can use bots to automatically refresh its pages in order to register a high number of page views and appear more attractive as an inventory
source on ad exchanges.
Average Session Duration: Provides a top-level view of how long users are sp ending on your website. Google Analytics does not count time for the
last page viewed during a session. This means that average session duration will tend to be skewed lower than the actual amount of time people are
spending on your website.
Bounce Rate: Bounce rate is the percentage of sessions with a single pageview. Bounce rate can provide top-level i nsights about the performance
of your content. It’s also important to apply context when analyzing bounce rate, since some pages will deliver all of the information somebody is
looking for on a single page, for example, a store locator or a blog post.
CPC (Cost per Click): CPC Stands for Cost per Click. This is the price paid by an advertiser for each ad click received.
CTR (Click-Through Rate): CTR is a metric that measures the number of clicks your ad (s) receive per number of impressions.
Impression: Impressions are sometimes called a view or an ad view, is a term that refers to the point in which an ad is viewed once by a visitor, or
displayed once on a web page.
Keyword: Google Analytics provide details about the keywords people use in their search to find your website or that trigger an ad to be
displayed.
Pageview: A pageview is reported when a page has been viewed by a user on your website. In the Google Analytics pages report, by default, your
pages are ordered by popularity based on pageviews. This allows you to see which content is being viewed most often.
Post Engagement: The total number of actions that people take involving your ads. Post engagements can include actions such as reacting to,
commenting on or sharing the ad, claiming an offer, viewing a photo or video, or clicking on a link.
Session: A single visit to your website, consisting of one or more pageviews. The default session timeout is 30 minutes, which means that if
someone is inactive on your website for over 30 minutes, then a new session will be reported if they p erform another interaction.
STAY & PLAY
AD PERFORMANCE REPORT
City of Auburn o Stay & Play for City of Auburn
From Dec 18, 2018 to Jan 18, 2019
Created On Feb 14, 2019
CAMPAIGN SNAPSHOT - PAGE 1
Summary
The Stay & Play campaign was a purely retargeting campaign which is why the number of impressions was low, as the universe we targeted was relatively small. Facebook does not provide the number of people in the audience in order to "protect
privacy," however we know there were 4,600 devices in the cookie pool for banner ads which allows us to estimate roughly the same number of devices for Facebook. An individual could visit the site on their smartphone then desktop, so we can't say
for certain it was 4,600 individuals.
We placed a cookie on visitors of the Auburn Adventure Film Festival and Explore Auburn websites advertising special hotel rates during the film festival. We ended up with a 0.62% overall click through rate (CTR) and a 0.56% CTR on banner ads,
which is a very good rate when compared to the banner ads for the Film Festival. In the future we should A/B test ad creative to see if a CTR increase is possible. Also, since we were also targeting the tourism website, we could be reaching a large
number of people who haven't expressed direct interest in the film festival if they were visiting the tourism site.
Although retargeting ads are more costly to run because we are bidding on individual people, those we did reach were much more likely to take action since they were warm leads.
Overall Stats
177.43K
Impressions
1.10K
Clicks
0.79%
CTR
Banner
42.52K
Impressions
238
Total Ad Clicks
0.56%
CTR
Banner Ads
Total 42,515 238 0.56%$1.67 0
Stay & Play o 160x600 3,245 3 0.09% $9.57 0
Stay & Play o 300x250 30,253 78 0.26% $3.65 0
Stay & Play o 300x600 2,083 27 1.30% $0.73 0
Stay & Play o 728x90 5,976 33 0.55% $1.70 0
Stay & Play o 970x250 958 97 10.13% $0.09 0
Ad Impressiops Total Ad Clicks CTR CPC Click Through Copversiops
City of Auburn o Stay & Play for City of Auburn
From Dec 18, 2018 to Jan 18, 2019
Created On Feb 14, 2019
CAMPAIGN SNAPSHOT - PAGE 2
Facebook
134.91K
Impressions
857
Clicks
0.64%
CTR
$2.19
CPC
551
Post Engagement
City of Auburn o Stay & Play for City of Auburn
From Dec 18, 2018 to Jan 18, 2019
Created On Feb 14, 2019
GLOSSARY OF TERMS - PAGE 1
Glossary of Terms
Ad Fraud: Ad Fraud is when a company knowingly serves ads that no one will actually see as a way to drive “views” and revenue. For example, a
website can use bots to automatically refresh its pages in order to register a high number of page views and appear more attractive as an inventory
source on ad exchanges.
Average Session Duration: Provides a topolevel view of how long users are sp ending on your website. Google Analytics does not count time for the
last page viewed during a session. This means that average session duration will tend to be skewed lower than the actual amount of time people are
spending on your website.
Bounce Rate: Bounce rate is the percentage of sessions with a single pageview. Bounce rate can provide topolevel i nsights about the performance
of your content. It’s also important to apply context when analyzing bounce rate, since some pages will deliver all of the information somebody is
looking for on a single page, for example, a store locator or a blog post.
CPC (Cost per Click): CPC Stands for Cost per Click. This is the price paid by an advertiser for each ad click received.
CTR (Click-Through Rate): CTR is a metric that measures the number of clicks your ad (s) receive per number of impressions.
Impression: Impressions are sometimes called a view or an ad view, is a term that refers to the point in which an ad is viewed once by a visitor, or
displayed once on a web page.
Keyword: Google Analytics provide details about the keywords people use in their search to find your website or that trigger an ad to be
displayed.
Pageview: A pageview is reported when a page has been viewed by a user on your website. In the Google Analytics pages report, by default, your
pages are ordered by popularity based on pageviews. This allows you to see which content is being viewed most often.
Post Engagement: The total number of actions that people take involving your ads. Post engagements can include actions such as reacting to,
commenting on or sharing the ad, claiming an offer, viewing a photo or video, or clicking on a link.
Retargeting: Serving ads to people who have previously visited your website. It involves adding code on the websit e which places a cookie on a
visitor's device allowing ads to be directly served to them for a period of time o normally 30 days.
Fund 104 - Hotel Motel Tax Fund
Through December 2018
Source : General Ledger
Budget YTD YTD YTD
as Amended 12/31/2018 12/31/2018 12/31/2017
Beginning Fund Balance 200,371$ 200,371$ 200,371$ 180,146$
Revenues
Sales Tax 113,300 128,045 128,045 124,486
International Film Festival Admission - 345 345 -
Investment Income 400 4,135 4,135 1,738
Total Revenues 113,700$ 132,525$ 132,525$ 126,224$
Expenditures
Salary 38,625$ 41,144$ 41,144$ 35,340$
Benefits 7,500 10,275 10,275 8,710
Supplies 2,800 1,113 1,113 -
Professional Services 158,000 67,815 67,815 54,531
Advertising - 5,192 5,192 1,661
Miscellaneous 2,575 2,683 2,683 757
Transfer out (Grants)10,300 7,000 7,000 5,000
Total Expenditures 219,800$ 135,221$ 135,221$ 105,999$
Ending Fund Balance 94,271$ 197,675$ 197,675$ 200,371$
2018 Budget to Actual
Comparison 2018 - 2017 Comparison
The largest non salary expenditure is for Professional Services which includes the tourism web site; advertising
buys; promotional items like a prize wheel and photo booth at trade events; marketing consultant; Parrot Expo
(grant) expenditures, a few banners; film festival; and gift bags for the Japanese delegation.
Lodging Tax Advisory Committee
Meeting
November 14, 2018 – 10:00 AM
Room 3, Second Floor of City Hall
MINUTES
I. CALL TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order at 10:11 am by Chairwoman Nancy Backus.
In attendance: Mayor Nancy Backus, Bob Fraser, Aman Ghag, Susan Roberts, Christian
Faltenberger, Reggie Matto
Unexcused Absence: Andy Cho
Staff present: City Attorney Steve Gross, Doug Lein, Economic Development Manager;
Lorraine Chachere, Tourism Coordinator
II. APPROVE APRIL MEETING MINUTES
Committee Member Faltenburger motioned to approve the April Meeting minutes.
Committee Member Ghag seconded the motion.
MOTION PASSES UNANIMOUSLY 5 – 0.
III. OLD BUSINESS
1) Rules of Procedure Revision
Attorney Gross presented a red lined version and a clean copy version of a proposed
revision of the Rules of Procedure to Committee Members. There were no
substantial changes, just cleaned up language for the document.
Committee Member Faltenberger motioned to approve the updated Rules of
Procedure. Committee Member Ghag seconded the motion.
MOTION PASSES UNANIMOUSLY 5 – 0.
2) Tourism Updates
a. Tourism Open House
The first ever Tourism Open House took place on November 7th. It was
meant to showcase projects that both Tourism boards have been working
on and 2018 highlights. Mayor Backus started the event with talking
about the impacts of tourism to our local economy. Keynote and invited
speaker Camila Clark, Senior Director Corporate Communications for
Brand USA spoke about growing international markets for Auburn
tourism. As a result, Auburn will partner with Brand USA in some
Lodging Tax Advisory Committee
Meeting
November 14, 2018 – 10:00 AM
Room 3, Second Floor of City Hall
MINUTES
upcoming 2019 initiatives. Thirty three partner stakeholders, community
residents, and businesses attended the event which took place in the
Auburn Community and Event Center.
b. September 2018 Financials
The September Financials were presented. It was requested that
Coordinator Chachere prepare a forecast of Q4 vs actuals to better
understand what remains to be spent for the 2018 fiscal year for the
Committee by mid-December.
The format of the financials will most likely change in the near future and
be something that Finance provides indicated Manager Lein.
IV. NEW BUSINESS
1) Q4 Advertising Campaign
2) Auburn Adventure Film Festival
3) Review 2019 Grant Applications
Due to late submissions and in light of the City’s review of procedures related to
use of Hotel-Motel Tax funds, applications submitted by for-profits were deemed
ineligible for consideration.
The eligible applications were reviewed. Committee Member Faltenberger
requested more information from Auburn Parks’ Geocache applicant of: 1) when
is the event date 2) That they can demonstrate that the event has funding to
finance it and it will happen irrespective of granted Auburn lodging tax funds 3)
how will the event be marketed.
Committee Member Faltenberger motioned to recommend to City Council to
approve the funding requests for Auburn Parks’ Petpalooza event for $5,000,
and $3,500 for Auburn Parks’ Veterans Day and Parade. Committee Member
Fraser seconded the motion.
Lodging Tax Advisory Committee
Meeting
November 14, 2018 – 10:00 AM
Room 3, Second Floor of City Hall
MINUTES
MOTION PASSES UNANIMOUSLY 6 – 0.
4) Second Round of Grant Applications
Two applications were received past the deadline due to extenuating
circumstances. To encourage more applicants and more events to be brought to
Auburn, it was suggested that a second wave of applications might be
considered by the LTAC at a Special Meeting since the monies set aside for the
community grants have not been exhausted.
Committee Member Faltenberger motioned to extend the deadline for the 2019
Lodging Tax Grants with a deadline of January 1st and for applications received to
be considered at a Special Meeting in February. Committee Member Roberts
seconded the motion.
MOTION PASSES UNANIMOUSLY 6 – 0.
V. NEXT LTAC MEETINGS
Wednesday, April 10, 2019 at 10AM.
Wednesday, November 13, 2019 at 10AM.
VI. ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business to discuss or conduct, the meeting adjourned at
11:28am.
_________________________________ _________________________________
MAYOR NANCY BACKUS, CHAIR LORRAINE CHACHERE, TOURISM COORDINATOR
Fund 104 - Hotel Motel Tax Fund
Through November 2018
Source : General Ledger
Budget YTD YTD YTD
as Amended 11/30/2018 11/30/2018 11/30/2017
Beginning Fund Balance 200,371$ 200,371$ 200,371$ 180,146$
Revenues
Sales Tax 113,300 118,261 118,261 115,645
International Film Festival Admission - - - -
Investment Income 400 3,687 3,687 1,523
Total Revenues 113,700$ 121,948$ 121,948$ 117,168$
Expenditures
Salary 38,625$ 39,109$ 39,109$ 32,570$
Benefits 7,500 9,763 9,763 8,010
Supplies 2,800 1,113 1,113 -
Professional Services 158,000 40,597 40,597 54,482
Advertising - 3,733 3,733 91
Miscellaneous 2,575 2,312 2,312 603
Transfer out (Grants)10,300 7,000 7,000 5,000
Total Expenditures 219,800$ 103,628$ 103,628$ 100,756$
Ending Fund Balance 94,271$ 218,692$ 218,692$ 196,558$
2018 Budget to Actual
Comparison 2018 - 2017 Comparison
The largest non salary expenditure is for Professional Services which includes the tourism web site; advertising
buys; promotional items like a prize wheel and photo booth at trade events; marketing consultant; a few
banners; film festival; and gift bags for the Japanese delegation.