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Home My WebLink About081324-03.4STUDY SESSION MEMORANDUM 3.4 TO: Mayor and Town Council August 13, 2024 SUBJECT: Holiday Campaign and Events Update BACKGROUND The Town’s Economic Development Program supports local businesses in a number of different ways. Direct financial support occurs through annual budget allocations for a Holiday Campaign and Business Promotion Grant Funds. The FY 2024-25 budget for this combined program is $50,000. The Holiday Campaign has most recently been focused on developing and promoting a “gift guide.” Started in 2009, this approach has evolved to meet the changing needs of businesses and shoppers. However, as businesses recover from pandemic impacts and people turn increasingly to online sales, the strategies of the past have diminishing effectiveness. At the April 16 Town Council meeting, survey results regarding the 2023 Holiday Campaign were provided. Key findings included nearly all businesses reporting little to no discernable business resulting from participation in the printed gift guide. Subsequent Town Council discussion and feedback included the desire to seek updated alternate strategies for promoting holiday shopping in Danville. Additionally, the Town’s financial support of events through Business Promotion Funds is now more closely tied to the Town’s overall community events strategy. Events hosted by the Town, by independent organizers, and by business owners are scheduled together to provide the community with consistent quality events year-round. Business Promotion Grant Funds have been typically awarded each fiscal year, while the annual events program is approved at the beginning of each calendar year. DISCUSSION Holiday Campaign Since 2018, the Holiday Campaign strategy has involved working with Your Town Monthly to offer discounted ad rates for businesses to participate in a gift guide distributed in their publication. In 2023, the Town paid $10,000 to Your Town Monthly to subsidize discounted ad rates ranging from $260 for a quarter page to $375 for a half page. In 2023, there were 24 half-page ads sold, 4 quarter-page ads, and 10 smaller ads that were sold at a lower rate. This represents a small fraction of the businesses that make up Holiday Campaign and 2 August 13, 2024 Events Update the unique shopping experiences in Danville. After gathering informal feedback from businesses in 2022, an online survey was conducted after the 2023 holiday campaign to assess use, satisfaction, and return on investment for the gift guide strategy. Fifty percent of the advertisers responded, and the key findings were: •69% of participants are retail businesses. •88% participate solely to be part of a Townwide effort. •99% reported none, few, or some customers referenced seeing the gift guide. •6% reported the gift guide generated foot traffic. •63% reported that the biggest benefit was ease of participation The remainder of the holiday campaign budget has traditionally been spent promoting the gift guide and Danville holiday shopping. Until 2022, this was done through broadcast TV and radio, with some social media support, as well as fliers, posters, and signage. In 2023, the digital campaign focused on local streaming ads that were targeted to a nearer geographic area. This approach, combined with fliers and signage, provided trackable, measurable results. The advertising was targeted to residents of Danville and the surrounding Tri-Valley area, and analytic data could be tracked easily. Given the feedback from businesses and the increase in online shopping, holiday campaign efforts should focus on increasing foot traffic to Danville as a destination, highlighting key businesses but offering all businesses the opportunity to be part of the promotion. Some key strategies would include: •Launching the Discover Danville mobile walking tour app •Creating an online gift guide that any business can contribute to, at no cost •Promoting Small Business Saturday with specials, deals, and giveaway items •Creating a festive Downtown atmosphere by encouraging businesses to light their storefronts and programming live music at Prospect Park Plaza •Working with businesses to stay open late Friday nights •Using campaign funds to promote a season of shopping across Danville •Highlighting businesses participating in Lighting of the Old Oak Tree, and encouraging “open house” style participation to drive foot traffic. •Continuing paid advertising in Your Town Monthly to continue to reach that audience; adding paid advertising in other local print media. Holiday Campaign and 3 August 13, 2024 Events Update Events Update The Town adopted a Community Events Policy in 2023 (Attachment A) that outlined means to support a variety of events benefitting the community. The categories foster shared responsibility and pooled resources to present a robust calendar of events, including Town Events, Town-Partnered Events and Town-Assisted Events. Town Events and Town-Partnered Events that require Town Council approval for use of resources or specific funding are approved annually, at the beginning of each calendar year. However, many smaller Town-Assisted events are developed following an application process after funding is approved at the fiscal year. In FY 2023-24, the Economic Development team created an outreach strategy to promote new use of these funds. As a result, and based on historical use of granted funds, a total of $30,000 was awarded in grants to local businesses and organizations. In FY 2022-23, $28,750 was awarded. In promoting this grant opportunity to businesses, staff found that while many expressed interest and applied for funding, some backed out for various reasons – usually due to lack of event planning experience or time to dedicate to organizing. The Economic Development team provided milestone outlines and guidance to support planning, and some new events did occur. To further encourage participation in the program and better offer a cohesive picture of all Town events, staff would like to align the Business Promotion Fund grant award schedule with the Community Events schedule. Grants would be awarded annually, and reimbursed by fiscal year. A tentative schedule would be: •November: Business Grant Promotion Fund and Town-Partnered Community Events applications open •January: Council reviews requested resources for approval, in context with all annual events. •January-June: Funds are reimbursed from the active fiscal year for events in this timeframe. •July-December: Pending Council approval of the grant funding through the annual budget, funds are reimbursed from the active fiscal year for events in this timeframe. For practical purposes, larger events receiving direct funding or in-kind support would not be affected. For smaller events that do not require significant resources or Town Council approval, staff would be able to promote an annual opportunity as well as a late- year opportunity to present new events to the community. Organizers receive funds only after their event occurs and documentation is provided, so this would primarily be an Holiday Campaign and 4 August 13, 2024 Events Update administrative change. RECOMMENDATION Provide input on potential plans for an updated Holiday Campaign; provide input on proposed schedule change to Business Promotion Grant allocation. Prepared by: Jenn Starnes Communications & Economic Development Manager Approved by: Joseph A. Calabrigo Town Manager Attachment A: Community Events Support Policy ATTACHMENT A