Item Coversheet

OLD BUSINESS  6.

COMMITTEE MEMORANDUM

TO: Neighborhood/Community Affairs Committee Members


FROM:
Jimmy L. Morales, City Manager


DATE: May 20, 2019


SUBJECT:MARKETING STRATEGIES OF THE NEWLY RENOVATED MIAMI BEACH CONVENTION CENTER.

HISTORY:
This item was referred to the NCAC by Commissioner Steinberg at the March 13, 2019 City Commission. It was deferred to the May 2019 NCAC meeting to allow for the Convention Center Advisory Board ("CCAB") to meet on Tuesday, April 30 to review the Greater Miami Convention and Visitor Bureau ("GMCVB") and Spectra marketing plans and make recommendations.

ANALYSIS:

The purpose of a Miami Beach Convention Center ("MBCC") marketing plan is to put a clear strategy together on how the various entities (GMCVB, Spectra, Centerplate, and City of Miami Beach), will promote and showcase the MBCC and its services to current clients, potential clients, tourists, and residents.

 

On Tuesday April 20, 2019, the GMCVB, Spectra, Centerplate and the City of Miami Beach presented the overall marketing plan to the Convention Center Advisory Board (copies of both presentations are attached).  The overall plan focuses on key  client audiences, to bring new business to the center and to secure existing clients into multi year deals.  The other portion of the strategy, includes promoting what has happened within the building, to ensure that residents understand the importance of this important revenue generator in the community.  

 

Together, with GMCVB and Spectra, the City posed a few questions when developing the marketing plan: what should our message be?  How should we position the building?  What content do we want to create and what KPI's need to be capture?   We utilize these questions to build out the multi layer strategy with focuses largely on International / National Convention business, and a smaller portion on community and social events - we want to focus on what makes us different, versus the same as other venues within local, regional, national and global markets.

 

The MBCC marketing strategies should make sales easier - target our ideal client in a smarter way, and increase our chances of converting leads into sales, by showcasing our offerings to help identify the specific desires of our clients, to secure bookings.

 

When developing the MBCC strategic marketing strategy, we want to create an "a-ha" moment in the client's mind. The moments where the client realizes that MBCC has an answer to something that has been on their mind to some degree, whether that is physical space, technology, cultural surroundings, amenities, culinary offerings, convenience of airports, hotels, etc.

 

The GMCVB plan focuses on Priority 1 and Priority 2 business, while Spectra strategies speak more to Priority 3 clients and social catering potential with Centerplate.  There is obviously some crossover in marketing plans, to ensure that no hard lines are drawn in what clients see from various entities. The City of Miami Beach Marketing and Communications team focuses on further promoting these messages, but also ensuring that our local community is aware of what is going on, to ensure pride in the new, local investment.

 

All strategies focus on more than just the physical building, by including decor, culinary and cultural assets that set the MBCC apart from other venues in the country.  They teams at GMCVB and Spectra are capturing all data relevant to their marketing strategies and continue to fine tune, based on based on impressions, click through and key word reports, on a monthly basis.

 

Moving forward, in order to fine tune our approach, the MBCC is working with some of our cultural anchors and important stakeholders in the geographic area (NWS, Fillmore, Botanical Gardens, Lincoln Road, etc), to being to incorporate them into our strategy to show clients and residents that this special part of the City is so much more than a physical building - it is what we consider a Campus - where everyone plays a crucial role in our success.  These cultural anchors are also working to further promote the strategies of the MBCC.




CONCLUSION:

The strategies presented are in line with expectations, and the administration will continue to work with the GMCVB, Spectra and Contemplate, to ensure marketing strategies are in line with expectations, and proper KPI's are set.  Our main focus will be on ensuring consistency between the various agencies, while also allowing them to exist independently, and focusing on their channels.  We believe that once the building is officially open, we will be in a much stronger position in which to understand and fine tune our geo-targeting practices and local / community initiatives. 


ATTACHMENTS:
DescriptionType
Spectra MBCC Marketing Strategy April 2019Memo
GMCVB Marketing Strategy 2019Memo