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5. EDSR 03-14-2011REQUEST FOR ACTION TO ITEM NUMBER Elk River Economic Develo ment Authori 5. AGENDA SECTION MEETING DATE PREPARED BY 14 March 2011 Annie Deckert Marketing & Business Development Administrator ITEM DESCRIPTION REVIEWED By Authorize staff enter into contract with ChandlerThinks on City Lori Johnson wide branding and marketing strategy Ci Administrator REVIEWED BY ACTION REQUESTED Authorize staff to enter into contract with ChandlerThinks on Citywide branding and marketing strategy not to exceed $37,250. BACKGROUND At the December 13th Elk River Economic Development Authority meeting, the EDA authorized staff to begin the RFP process and form a branding subcommittee to help facilitate and guide the City branding and marketing process until completion. A Citywide branding campaign is an action step and will support the Goals that support the Vision, approved by the Elk River City Council at the October 18`'' meeting. A branding subcommittee of sixteen people comprised of City staff and key community leaders to represent different stakeholders in the community has been created and has been diligentlyworking the past six weeks to kick off this project. RFT's were elicited for a branding consultant the first half of January. Proposals ranged in price from $25,000-$89-000. The branding subcommittee reviewed the four proposals and invited the top three candidates to present their proposals and respond to questions from the subcommittee before making a recommendation to the EDA. Staff invited Wingnut, Johnson Group and ChandlerThinks to present to the subcommittee on February 14`E'. DISCUSSION In addition to the requirements as outlined in the RFP during the review process, the branding subcommittee emphasized the following criteria: Experience working with local governments/communities Experience working with businesses, residents and non-profits in regard to the development of branding strategies, marketing strategies and other applicable initiatives Level of detail in process and approach in regard to accomplishing the brand strategy and creating an implementation plan N:\Departments\CommuniryDevelopment\Economic Development\Madseting\Branding\Memos\3-1411 EDA Action Requested.doc How the public process will be incorporated Follow up with implementation plan Budget It is important to note that the research component of this process is critical. Identifying the perceptions of our residents, businesses and outside communities is crucial to developing a brand which is supported, memorable, and desirable. The results of the branding initiative will not be impactful and sustainable without that level of engagement and buy-in. After all three presentations were given, the branding subcommittee decided 13-1 to recommend ChandlerThinks to the EDA, The committee felt ChandlerThinks had the most experience, unique approach and effective methods for collecting both quantitative and qualitative data used to assist in identifying our community brand. Steve Chandler from Chandler'1liinks delivered a dynamic performance which demonstrated enthusiasm, capability and extreme confidence in executing this process. He indicated the importance of not only community involvement but fully understood the dynamics of working with a community and political leaders. His positive energy, cutting edge techniques and outside of the box thinking set him apart from the other finalists. The branding subcommittee needed little discussion to move forward with their EDA recommendation. Staff has invited the branding subcommittee to the EDA committee to provide additional comments or answer questions of the EDA. Please note the branding subcommittee has demonstrated both dedication and energy to their involvement in this process and put forth thoughtful consideration while discussing and choosing both the finalists and final recommendation to the EDA. CHANDLERTHINKS With nearlytwentyyears of experience in strategic planning and brand development for local, regional and national brands, Steve Chandler has worked with over forty communities across the United States through the strategic and delicate process of community branding. Throughout the presentation, ChandlerThinks demonstrated experience with the politics and potential pitfalls within a communitythat truly resonated with the branding subcommittee. His unique background and "Brand Compass" process developed to help communities uncover their strongest and most distinct brand position clearly set him apart from all other finalists. His "'Brand Compass" approach includes obtaining background information about the community, review and analysis of our online branding efforts, stakeholder interviews, focus groups, community mystery shoppers, online survey (community and employees) and other tactics to find out what people are saying about us. C-nce the research is complete, the branding subcommittee and ChandlerThinks will evaluate the results to determine our brand profile (shows how our community assets work together to make Elk River great and how everything connects to a common branding direction), promise and strategy. The strategy will show us how to make a bold statement versus trying to say all things to all people and succinctly tell us how to apply our brand to everything we do. C-ur strongest marketing will come from our existing assets and continued development resources. Recommendations will be made on how to apply our brand to events, education, public service and more. N:\Departments\CommuniryDevelopment\Economic Development\Marketing\Branding\Memos\3-1411 EDA Action Requesteddoc ChandlerThinks will provide a brand introduction plan and training for primaryusers, in addition to "train the trainer" for each primary organization to reach out to their users/supporters (including timeline). A plan will be created to measure success of the branding process and a two year budget necessaryfor successful execution including measured outcomes and potential funding sources. An evaluation will be completed after 6-12 months which will include another community survey to determine how attitudes have changed and recommendations on how to fine tune marketing efforts. NEXT STEPS Staff will work with ChandlerThinks to finalize contract and move forward with the process. Research is anticipated to begin earlyApril, with the results presented mid May. With the branding subcommittee's involvement, staff anticipates the implementation plan to be complete early June. This process will work cooperativelywith the City's Vision and Goals process. FINANCIAL IMPACT The EDA budgeted $60,000 in the 2011 EDA budget for the marketing campaign. Staff research has found that the average cost of a re-branding process to be approximately $25,000-$40,000 with roughly $10,000+ in expenses to implement the plan, depending on the recommend action items. It is important to note that ChandlerThinks was not the lowest proposal received, nor was it the highest. The ChandlerThinks proposal is in the amount of $37,250 and falls within the EDA marketing brand plan budget. ATTACHMENTS • 2-14-11 Subcommittee minutes • Consultant bios Action Motion by Second by Vote Follow Up N:\Departments\ComnnxnityDevelopment\Economic Development\Maiiceting\Branding\Memos\3-1411 EDA ActionRequested.doc MEETING OF THE EDA BRANDING & MARKETING SUBCOMMITTEE HELD AT THE ELK RIVER CITY HALL MONDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 201 I 4:30PM-6:30PM Members Present: Ron Touchette, Nick Zerwas, Wendy Simenson, Chris Carlson, Larry Farber, Jay Lusignan, Alan Sakry, City Administrator Lori Johnson, Marketing & Business Development Administrator Annie Deckert, City Clerk Tina Allard, Steve Benoit, Michelle Martindale, Brad Rolfe, Cathy Mehelich Members Absent: Pat Dwyer, Andy Christianson Board Chair Ron Touchette opened the meeting and indicated the purpose of the meeting is to evaluate the branding consultants based on their presentation and the desired outcome of the meeting is selection of finalists for EDA consideration or a subcommittee consensus to not select any and reissue the RFP. He encouraged members asking questions of the consultants, in addition to the questions provided by staff in the meeting materials. The following consultants presented an overview of their proposals: • wingnut advertising • Johnson Group • chandlerThinks wingnut advertising -John, Greg & Rachel 6-yr old company; 12-person shop; based in St. Cloud "wingnut model" - 5-step process 1) Research 2) Set clear goals 3) Build your plan 4) Flawless execution 5) Build trackable triggers • What set them apart from other consultants -strategy & creative, fun to work with, results tracking, dairy-farm work ethic • Suggestions of measurable for acity -online activity, aided & unaided awareness polling • Most comparable client to Elk River project size & scope - VoteYesMN • Clarification of $85,000 proposal estimate -depends on amount and type of research city determines is needed for the project (undetermined at this point) Tohnson Group -Scott & Crystal • 20-yr old company; 10-person shop; St. Cloud & Brooklyn Park offices • Greatest asset to clients is their Efficiency -ability to stretch their client's marketing budgets • Strategic Approach: it's about uncovering what's `younique' about the community 1) Discovery 2) Strategy 3) Creative 4) Implementation 5) Evaluation Branding subcommittee February 14, 2011 Page 2 of 3 Page 2 • How does city staff buy-in happen? - in the process city-staff is identified as a target group, people need to be ambassadors of the brand, starts with internal launch then external launch of brand • What were measurable results in other cities -Little Falls was based on tourism numbers, worked in partnership with MN History Center to build tourism traffic • Balance between research impressions and vision of subcommittee -requires good set of questions for target groups, best results are in phone polls, people need to believe in the brand for buy-in • Clarification of $25,000 proposal estimate -very confident that it is doable, no overhead, based on previous experience. chandlerThinks -Steve • based in Hendersonville, Tennessee • Recently identified new person -Thomas Bullington, TII~-based with background in Prime Advertising, social networks for Hastings, MN, and former Commuiucatiuns Director for City of Brooklyn Park. • Background focus experience in Destination Marketing, Brand Strategy, Digital Marketing • Stressed branding is not about a logo, it's about i7eohle's experiences and what they remember about a place, product or service they experienced. • A community brand needs to be bold and more than 'a great place to live, work & play' • `Brand Compass Program': 1) Explore 2) Evaluate 3) Expressions 4) Evangelize 5) Evaluate & Refine • Research data -both qualitari~ c and duantitativc (demographics/shopping data) • City needs to identify its `core idcntir~' and then collaborate with school, chamber, county, etc to ingrain it through the communit<,~. • Best practices in successhil hr.lnclit:~ clmpai~n where collaboration is key -McKinney, TX • Clarification on $5,1UU estin~atc tor: tra~cl coots (3 trips) -feels it is enough and could be less if we choose to utilize their nev SIN person f<,r some components of the process. Subcommittee Discussion Following some open discussion on reacti~ ins of all consultants, Board Chair Ron Touchette requested roundtable input from each subcomn~ittec member for their recommendation. Thirteen of the fourteen members present recommended chandlcrthinks and provided the following comments: • chandlerthinks o likes community involvement component o keep close reign on his approach and cost o best understanding of what we need and brings most positive energy to process o likes he style and approach best o most passion and experience for the project o Johnson Group gets us what we want but chandlerthinks gets us what we need • Johnson Group o Is safe and starts with what we already have, keep business local Branding subcommittee February 14, 2011 Page 3 of 3 Page 3 Board Chair Ron Touchette indicated that since a majority of the committee selected chandlerThinks, that this will be the recommendation to the EDA for final approval of the branding and marketing consultant. He noted that the proposal estimate including travel costs from chandlerThinks does not exceed the EDA's budget estimate for a branding consultant. The EDA will consider the committee's recommendation at its March 14`}' regular meeting at 5:30 p.m. Committee members are encouraged to attend to provide additional comments. The EDA Branding & Marketing Subcommittee meeting ended at 6:30 p.m. Respectfully submitted by, Catherine Mehelich Director of Economic Development Steve Chandler Brand Strategist/Principle ChandlerThinks: Steve Chandler is a career marketing man with almost two decades of experience in strategic planning and brand development for local, regional and national brands connected to the travel industry. Most recently Steve was Director of Business Development for Paramore~Redd Online Marketing, immersing himself in the highly relevant digital marketing world. Serving as President of North Star Destination Strategies, Steve guided over 40 communities through the strategic and delicate process of destination branding. His career also included tenure at a few of the South's premiere advertising agencies such as hospitality-focused BOHAN Advertising, The Buntin Group and international branding agency BBDO. This tour of the ad agency world allowed Steve to work on some great brands such as Grand Ole Opry, Bayer, Lava Soap, Goody's Headache Powder, and Angel Soft bath tissue. Today, Steve operates his own marketing firm, ChandlerThinks:, helping small to-medium size companies and destinations put their unique brand into action and enter the must-play digital marketing arena. He often speaks on the topic of branding, social media and how to extend your intended brand into the online world. Steve extends his professional passion outside of the office by serving as a board member and Past-President for the American Advertising Federation - Nashville, a State Director and board member for the American Advertising Federation 7th District, and a member of the Program Advisory Committee for Western Kentucky University's Department of Advertising and Journalism. A devoted husband and proud father of two boys, Steve and his family call Hendersonville, TN home. Let's connect. Tweet me - www.twitter.com/sschandler (aka C~sschandler) Link me - www.linkedin.com/in/steveschandler Blog - www.chandlerthinks.com Email - steve@chandlerthinks.com g~ ~ 5 ~s,~.:.. Tom Bullington Bio Tom Bullington is Founder and President of Citylmage, a firm specializing in marketing communications for communities. He founded Citylmage in 2002. Tom has 19 years' experience in developing and managing marketing and communications strategies. Tom is widely recognized for his practical approach and the workable solutions he brings to clients with limited budgets. Tom not only delivers insightful strategic advice, but also hands-on training and creative marketing solutions. He is known for designing and implementing impactful yet cost-effective advertising strategies, web solutions, publications, and media training programs. For ChandlerThinks, Tom serves as a strategic advisor focused on public communications and plan development. Community Marketing Experience • Prime advertising: Copy and communications for Osseo, MN and Elk River newsletter. • Community marketing plan for Derby, KS (suburb of Wichita). • Created a social network for Hastings, Minnesota - www. HastingsHappenings.com. Communications Director for Brooklyn Park. Awards Tom received a prestigious Savvy Award from the City-County Communications and Marketing Association (3CMA) and has received numerous commendations from the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) and Minnesota Association of Government Communicators (MAGC). The City of Elk River Branding and Marketing Initiative Linda H. DiMario. Tourism Specialists & Strateaic Planner/Principal, DiMario & Associates DiMario launched DiMario & Associates, an independent destination marketing and tourism industry consulting practice following athirty-year, results-driven career. DiMario specializes in working with cities, counties and states to identify and develop their tourism performance, destination branding capacity, market positioning and measurable and results-driven strategic sales and marketing plans to improve the community's ability to generate revenue from a variety of economic development engines. Her list of clients to date includes Travel Portland, OR, Savannah, GA CVB, Georgia International Maritime Authority, Bakersfield , CA CVB, Washington County, OR CVB, San Diego North CVB, Indiana Association of CVBs, Columbus, Indiana CVB, Shreveport/Bossier City, LA CVB, Montrose, CO CVB, Florida Space Coast CVB, Great Bend CVB and Kansas Wetlands & Wildlife National Scenic Byway, Sonoma County, CA VCB, North Coast Tourism Council, Oceanside, CA CVB, City of Lancaster, CA, Yakima, WA VCB, City of Long Beach Harbor Commission, City of Stanton, CA, City of Chesapeake, VA, Savannah Chamber of Commerce, Henry County, GA CVB, Andy Street Community Association, Long Beach, CA, North Star Destination Strategies, Laguna Beach, CA CVB and Warren County, OH. DiMario was president and CEO of the Arlington (Texas) Convention & Visitors Bureau for six and half years working with Arlington leadership to stage an epic city transformation highlighted by the new Dallas Cowboys Stadium. Prior to Arlington, DiMario served as president & CEO of the Long Beach Area Convention & Visitors Bureau for seven and half years working with public and private sector partners to transform Long Beach's city economy, create a national convention market for the expanded convention center and develop the tourism industry as an economic engine. DiMario served as Vice President of Sales & Marketing for the Greater Tucson Convention & Visitors Bureau for three and half years and crafted programs that forever improved the hotel occupancies during the summer months. As Director of Sales & Marketing for the Oakland Convention & Visitors Bureau for three years, she markedly improved the Bureau sales effort and led a team that maintained market share in the aftermath of the Bay Area Earthquake. DiMario has served on the Boards of the Destination Marketing Association International (DMAI) Foundation Board of Trustees and Board of Directors - in this capacity, worked as one of eight DMAI appointments to the DMAI/IAAM Joint Liaison Council to develop Best Practices for CVBs and Convention Centers. She previously served on the Board of Directors and is Past President of the Western Association of Convention & Visitors Bureau, the Association of Convention Operations Managers (ACOM) Board of Directors, the Association of Convention Marketing Executives (ACME) Advisory Council and the Dallas/Fort Worth Area Tourism Council. ChandlerThinks: 203 Bahia Mar Point; Hendersonville,TN 37075 Page 14 of 21 Hospitality and Destination Development Experience aribe Royale All-Suites Resorts ity of Alliance, NE Frist Center for the Visual Arts ity of Peoria, AZ rand Ole Opry City of Arlington, TX Kenai Peninsula, AK ity of Mesquite, TX Fairbanks Convention & Visitors Bureau ity of Missouri City, TX alveston Island Tourism ity of Shenandoah, TX Uvalde Tourism ity of Beaumont, TX hreveport-Bossier City Tourism City of Overland Park, KS New Orleans Plantation Country Warrensburg Chamber of Commerce Saint Paul Convention & Visitors Authority ity of Lancaster, CA Petoskey-Boyne Country Tourism City of Columbus, IN Dublin Convention & Visitors Bureau Hopkinsville, KY Chamber of Commerce Susquehanna River Valley Tourism Reading-Berks County Tourism Downtown Anchorage Partnership City of Dayton, OH ity of Fort Collins, CO City of Providence, RI reeley Chamber of Commerce ity of Fremont, NE umner County TN CVB Bowling Green, KY ACVB Other Experience National 76 Auto/Truckstops Block Drug Company United Way of Nashville Goody's Headache Powers Borgia-Pacific Paper Company Lava Hand Soap Angel Soft Bath Tissue ractor Supply Company Sparkle Paper Towels Bayer Advanced Lawn & Garden roducts rack bowling HCA MidAmerica Division olumbia 300 bowling Parkridge Medical Center Ebonite bowling Centennial Medical Center Hammer bowling Skyline Medical Center alaxy.com Shepenco -Shelbyville Pencil Co. he Tin Roof (rest.) Homestead Properties ity Saver coupon books Capella Healthcare odwhy church Nashville Technology Council Parris Printing Company Lifepoint Hospitals Nashville Entre reneur Center International Stor tellin Center bold indicates a client of ChandlerThinks r~ 4 ~Rt~1111~~: