Explore Minnesota Tourism
Council Meeting
December 10, 2024
Virtual Meeting
Explore Minnesota Tourism
Council Meeting
September 10, 2024
In-Person & Virtual Meeting
Explore Minnesota Tourism
Council Meeting
June 18, 2024
In-Person & Virtual Meeting
Explore Minnesota Tourism
Council Meeting
March 12, 2024
Virtual Meeting
Meeting was recorded and available to view: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfiMiq-b8kg
Explore Minnesota Tourism
Council Meeting
Tuesday, December 5, 2023
Virtual Meeting
Meeting was recorded and available to view: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WluHPEYjl0U
Attendees
Council Members: Rep. Dave Baker, Bob Bierscheid, Ashlee Ciora, Chuck Dougherty, Steve Dowling, Daniel Hartman, Sen. Grant Hauschild, Ed Hoffman, Nort Johnson, Marianna Khauv, Dave Langhoff, Paul Larsen, Nick Leonard, Molly Luther, Beth Pierce, Xinyi Qian, Stephanie Shimp, Frank Soukup, Rachel Thompson, Cindy Wannarka
Explore Minnesota Staff: Marya Barsanti, Randolph Briley, Devon Cox, Jacqueline Lloyd Cunningham, Lyndsey Hanson, Lisa Havelka, Michael Hernandez, Jared Laabs, Nicole Lalum, Lauren Bennett McGinty, Michael Meyer, Chris Morgan, Gretchen Nussbaum, Cathy Pinske, Derek Ramthun, Kathryn Sutton
Guests: Lisa Anderson, Matt Bick, Laura Boberg, Matt Cerar, Jaye Peterson
Bob Bierscheid: Motion to approve September 7, 2023 Council meeting minutes.
Rachel Thompson seconds; Motion passed.
Administrative Update
Hiring:
FY24 Q3 Forward Look
Seasonal Campaigns & Partnerships:
Winter Campaign:
Spring/Summer 2024 Campaign:
Digital Strategy:
Staffing:
Website Content Audit:
Explore Minnesota for Business:
Communications & Media Relations:
Destination Development:
Industry Relations:
Market Development:
Welcome Centers:
Livability Marketing (Explore Minnesota for Business):
Development:
Hiring/Plans:
Outdoor Recreation:
Overview:
Connecting Communities with Resources:
Building Coalitions and Structures:
Communicating Benefits of Outdoor Recreation:
Strategic Plan & Legislative Goals for 2024:
Council Support/Structure:
Explore Minnesota Tourism
Council Meeting
Thursday, September 7, 2023
In person: Explore Minnesota Offices & Virtual
Meeting was recorded and available to view: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdMyQznYzvA
Council Members: Ashlee Ciora, Alison Fogarty, Dan Hartman, Ed Hoffman, Nort Johnson, Paul Larson, Nick Leonard, Beth Pierce, Xinyi Qian, Courtney Ries, Frank Soukup, Danyl Vavreck, Cindy Wannarka, Jana Webster
Guests: Matt Bink, Matt Cerar, Meghan McCollum, Jaye Peterson
EMT Staff: Lauren Bennett McGinty, Devon Cox, Lyndsey Hanson, Caitlin Hannah, Lisa Havelka, Beth Helle, Michael Hernandez, Leann Kispert, Jared Laabs, Nicole Lalum, Peggy Lindquist, Sean Lydon, Chris Morgan, Gretchen Nussbaum, Anne Paterson, Julie Ramer, Derek Ramthun, Kat Sutton, Linda Vuicich, Gail Walkowiak
Welcome / Q2 Forward Look - Lauren Bennett McGinty and Explore Minnesota Staff:
Approval of June minutes: Minutes from the June Council meeting were previously submitted. Nort Johnson motioned to approve the minutes as submitted. Jana Webster seconded the motion. All members in attendance voted to approve the minutes. Motion carried.
Please see Board Report:
090723BoardReport.docx
As requested, following is additional information on the Hamline kiosk project:
Update on Strategic Plan & Legislative Goals for 2024 – Lauren Bennett McGinty and Lyndsey Hanson:
Strategic Plan Goals:
Challenges: Inconsistent reports/monitoring, budget, new way of doing our work.
Opportunities: Increased training, adding Explore MN for Business goals; growth areas for staffing and marketing; increased collaboration with new groups; better outcomes with consistent tracking.
Legislative Goals:
Important legislative dates:
Council Support/Structure – Lauren Bennett McGinty:
Seeking interest from Council members to serve on subcommittees for education, marketing and legislative. These subcommittees will not create policy but will create open conversations. Meeting would be held online quarterly.
Moving forward, full Council meetings will be held virtually in September, December, and March. Will meet in person for June meeting (which may be a longer meeting).
Half of the Council appointments expire in January 2024. Council members can view their appointment information, as well as find information to reapply here: Tourism Council / Tourism Industry Minnesota (mn.gov).
Campground and travel media appointments remain open.
Announcements will be made in EMT Express for Council applications. Current Council members must reapply.
The seven new Council seats will be open in January 2024.
Next meeting:
Tuesday, December 5
EXPLORE MINNESOTA TOURISM COUNCIL
June 6,2023
Explore Minnesota Office & Virtual
Saint Paul, Minnesota
Council Members: Rep. Dave Baker, Ashlee Ciora, Chuck Dougherty, Steve Dowling, Dan Hartman, Ed Hoffman, Marianna Khauv, Paul Larsen, Molly Luther, Beth Pierce, Xinyi Quin, Courtney Ries, Maureen Scallen Failor, Stephanie Shimp, Frank Soukop, Rachel Thompson, Danyl Vavreck, Cindy Wannarka, Jana Webster
Guests: Matt Bick, Matt Cerar, Megan McCollum, Julia Lodge, Gina Nacey, Jaye Peterson, Sarah Psick
Staff: Lauren Bennett McGinty, Devon Cox, Caitlin Hannah, Lisa Havelka, Beth Helle, Michael Hernandez, Leann Kispert, Jared Laabs, Peggy Lindquist, Gretchen Nussbaum, Andrew Parks, Glori Rantz
A recorded copy of the Council meeting can be found here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jW-jcC-NMdE
Welcome – Lauren Bennett McGinty:
Chair Lauren Bennett McGinty thanked Council members for their attendance.
Approval of Minutes: Minutes from the March Council meeting were previously submitted. Dan Hartman motioned to approve the minutes as submitted. Jana Webster seconded the motion. All members in attendance voted to approve minutes. Motion carried.
Agency Administrative: Hiring Updates:
· Interviewing this week for Deputy Director of Destination Marketing
· Job announcement for Communications/Media Relations Manager closes this week
· Will be hiring the following positions in the near future: Industry Relations Manager, Tribal Liaison, Deputy Director of Livability Marketing (Explore for Business + additional staff), PR specialist, Welcome Center supervisor
Budget & Legislative Discussion – Lauren Bennett McGinty & Lyndsey Hanson
The 2022 legislative session has wrapped up. Highlights for EMT include:
· Increasing EMT’s base budget from $14.4 million to $18.3 million in FY23, plus another $746,000 in FY25. First base budget increase in over a decade.
· Will receive one-time funding of $5.5 million in FY24 and another $5.5 million in FY25 to support Explore Minnesota for Business initiative, that will position us to become a top market for livability and economic opportunity. Some of the initiatives include:
o $6 million to MN Sports & Events to host the 2024 US Gymnastics Trials; $2.2 million to provide grants to Minnesota’s 11 Tribal Nations; $2 million for recovery grants; funding for multicultural festivals.
Moving forward, EMT will be working with media to discuss statewide impact of tourism along with Minnesota travel destinations.
Governor’s Office has asked for opportunities to promote tourism this summer through quick visits/tours around the state.
Explore Minnesota will house the Outdoor Rec position. This is a shared position with DNR, DEED and IRRRB.
Council Discussion:
· $6 million specifically for 2024 US Gymnastics? This was not requested by EMT.
· Why specific festivals? These were festivals who worked with legislators for their specific requests. Will be pass-through funding. Funds can be used for anything, not just marketing.
· Hmong Freedom Festival had reached out to U of M to do economic impact study. Festival had been charging admission but hoping to make it free for next two years with this funding.
· Exciting to see $2.2 million for Tribal Nations - $100k each year for each Tribal Nation. Will work with tribes on what their needs are. Working with AIANTA to meet with tribes in the state.
· What can local DMOs expect for grants? EMT will have something within next 3 weeks. Watch for announcement around June 26. Will be based on organizational budget size. Grant application date will be mid-July. Will have webinar for industry. Start date is August 15. $1 million for each FY. Cash match requirement has changed in statute and allows EMT to be more flexible. No match for FY24 or 25 grants. Cash and in-kind matches are treated equally.
· Top 10 destinations – when does EMT plan to have those metrics identified? Gretchen has been working through a definition for this. More details to come.
· Congratulations! This all takes a lot of hard work.
Marketing Report:
Marketing Update – Leann Kispert
This past spring, EMT solicited RFPs for the ad agency contract. After reviewing written proposals and listening to oral presentations, Adventure was again awarded the ad contract.
Campaign goals: Deepen emotional connections; increase differentiation; drive traveler engagement.
Summer Dream State campaign creative: variety of layouts for print, social. Vast majority of budget goes out of state, 20-25% stays in state.
Spring/summer niche campaign highlights national park sites, food and drink, events/live music.
Overall brand lift outcomes – recent campaigns have generated continued, consistent increases in brand lift KPIs and significant gains in diversity audience.
Breakdown niche audience – strong numbers in national park sites are helping the lift. Food & drink doing really well. Pulled back on some of the events budget as it was not performing as well as the other niche markets.
ADARA reported $681,842 hotel revenue generated.
Third party credibility campaign. Puts paid media behind current media hits. MN’s North Shore Scenic Drive saw almost 10k page views. Next campaign is Winona for being named ‘1 of the 10 cutest towns in Midwest.’
Flight Market – Spring/Summer test: campaign to take to that have higher level of diversity than Midwest and have direct flight access - targeting Dallas and Atlanta. Both performing very well.
Fall niche campaigns will highlight hiking and food & drink (with events overlay).
Reminder of our new audience segments; Cultural travel gurus (30 years old; single with no kids; mostly educated; $83k HHI; average trip spend around $4k) and aspirational explorers (38 years old, female; married some with kids; outdoor activities a must; mostly educated; $78k HHI; average trip spend $3440).
Council Discussion:
· What didn’t go as planned: Events niche did not drive ROI as anticipated. Put toward other two niches.
· What was process for choosing ad agency? Received 14 written proposals. Committee scored and invited five agencies in for oral presentations.
· Explore MN for Business will be working with Adventure to create cohesive message. Combine photo/video shoots. Research/HALO effect will be shared.
· Specialized World Expo 2027 bid: How can we ensure that health and wellness is included in our marketing as this is the focus of the World Expo should it come to Minnesota. Continue conversations with Bloomington and Expo partners – announcement to be made on June 21 in Paris.
· Fall campaign scheduled to start third week of August.
· Spring summer campaign uses approximately 65% of media budget.
· National parks –audience that gravitates to this campaign, passionate about this destination.
Partnerships – Glori Rantz:
2023 Passports:
· Sips runs April 1 – November 1. 66 businesses participating.
· Scoops running May 15-Sept 4. Does very well. Top performer.
· MN Family Fun passport starts July 1-Sept 30. Fun way for families to experience summer.
Passports are geared to Minnesota-based audience; drives incremental spend. To sign up for this program, contact Glori at glori.rantz@state.mn.us . To be included, must have EMT listing.
Minnesota Aurora has new jersey and Explore Minnesota is a sponsor.
Also has partnerships with Saint Paul Saints, University of Minnesota Gophers.
Digital Strategy – Devon Cox:
Welcome to Devon Cox, the new Digital Strategy Manager for Explore Minnesota.
Social media performance (March-May 2023 on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram) – 1.3 million engagements. Total net audience growth is 56.4% when comparing to previous 90-day period. We are able to compare year over year.
Tik Tok – developing strategy for it and will be on Tik Tok. We are on as a paid prospective.
Website Performance:
· Industry average bounce rate - industry average is 50%, Exploreminnesota.com is 63%.
· Transitioning from Google analytics to GA4. Bounce rate going away and changing to engaged sessions.
Sean Sherman, Minnesota chef was named one of the 100 most influential people for 2023. Explore Minnesota tweeted the story and was retweeted by Padma Lakshmi and had 19k impressions.
Explore Minnesota is focusing on accessibility for the website. Between Jan 1-May 1 saw an increase of our accessibility score from 12 points up to 80 points.
New digital strategy – cohesive, integrated plan that spans all forms of organic digital marketing - website, social media and email marketing/newsletters. Goal is to push visitors past the top of the funnel.
Communications – Lauren Bennett McGinty:
· Will be adding Explore Minnesota for Business
· Working on Minnesota appearing on Top 10/Top lists
· Minnesota has been getting a lot of coverage on Northern Lights (Dark sky article has been very popular)
Lauren will be on The Weather Channel this week. Talk about fishing, summer activities in Minnesota.
Travel Guide for 2024, working with Miles. Milles will do sales for Travel Guide and website. Travel Guide advertising deadline is end of June. EMT will still have editorial discretion.
Industry Relations – Beth Helle:
Working with AIANTA on Tribal Nation meeting to discuss how to bring together tribal nations/bands/tourism community to discuss tourism development for tribal nations. Minnesota will plan to host a one-day meeting in November 2023 in cooperation with AIANTA. Explore Minnesota will hire a Tribal Liaison position.
2023 Governor’s Fishing Opener was held in Mankato. This is a partnership with DNR, EMT, Governor’s Office. 133 attendees, 1200 media hits, 500M audience reach. RFP for 2024 event will go out in late June.
National Travel & Tourism Week: Aligned calendar with USTA calendar of events. Governor Walz issued a proclamation proclaiming NTTW week in May.
Welcome Centers
· Call center was centralized in Saint Paul and has now shifted to the Welcome Centers. This allows for 7-day operation.
· St Croix Welcome Center – MNDOT is taking down the existing building later this summer. One-year project. Will house staff in construction trailer during rebuild.
Recovery grant program will begin August 15. More info to be announced in the June 26 th EMT Express.
FY24 coop programs for the industry has a $1 million budget. Make accessible to industry that they could not afford on their own. New programs to be introduced throughout the be ready around July 1. As more funding is available, will announce more programs.
Pheasant Opener will take place in Owatonna October 13-14, 2023.
2024 Tourism Conference – looking to expand to 1 ½ days. Boot camp type options (strategic planning, PR, digital) for optional half-day prior to full-day conference. Will survey industry this summer to gage interest. Will continue to broadcast full-day conference at no cost. Will try to bring outside of metro area for 2024. May create a subcommittee to assist with the additional half-day programming. If interested in serving on this committee, contact beth.helle@state.mn.us .
Market Development – Beth Helle:
Circle WI brings Midwest regional tour operators together for personal appointments. Explore Minnesota conducted 40 appointments on group & bus travel within Minnesota. Leads are available on the tourism industry website.
IPW is the largest international trade show that EMT participates in. 5000 attendees; buyers from 60 countries. 100 trade appointments and 40 media appointments. Will share leads in late June.
Hosted international writer from Netherlands who writes for various fishing publications – caught over 100 fish while in Minnesota. Great experience for him. Attended GFO and traveled throughout the state.
Lauren and Beth traveling to Japan/Korea in July. Minnesota has direct flights to Seoul and Tokyo making this a good opportunity for Minnesota. Brand USA is organizing.
RMI international activity status – agency of record Minnesota is using for international markets in UK, Germany, Benelux, France, Nordic, and projects in Italy. Conducting TRIP report/statewide product audit from the 5 key markets to establish baseline of what product is in the marketplace and what opportunities we have to connect to consumers. Should be available in August and will be shared out.
Also have cooperative agreements with Great Lakes of North America who market to UK and Germany from a trade perspective. MRC/Mississippi River Country cooperative agreement markets to Japan and Canada (media only). EMT is not yet targeting China.
Medical tourism - discussions with Trade Office and Rochester to start these discussions. May be a good opportunity for Explore MN for Business. World Expo would greatly help the positioning of this topic. The Specialized World Expo is expected to attract 14 million people over 83 days, May-August 2027, concluding right before the Minnesota State Fair.
Remaining 2023 Council meeting dates:
Thursday, September 7
Tuesday, December 5
EXPLORE MINNESOTA TOURISM
COUNCIL MEETING
Tuesday, March 7, 2023
Explore Minnesota Tourism Office
Saint Paul, MN
(In person and virtual attendance)
Council Members Attendance: Ashlee Ciora, Courtney Ries, Paul Larsen, Danyl Vavreck, Cindy Wannarka, Beth Pierce, Steve Dowling, Bob Bierscheid, Mike Boldt (For Tracy), Dan Hartman, Ed Hoffman, Frank Soukup, Maureen Scallon Failor, Molly Luther, Nick Leonard, Nort Johnson, Rachel Thompson, Stephanie Shimp, Xinyi Quan, Senator Robert Farnsworth, Chuck Dougherty
Explore Minnesota Staff In Person: Amy Barrett, Lauren Bennett McGinty, Lyndsey Hanson, Beth Helle, Leann Kispert, Peggy Lindquist, Sean Lydon, Mike Meyer
A recorded copy of the Council meeting can be found here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4niFo2rv54
Welcome : Chair Lauren Bennett McGinty thanked Council members for their attendance and a special welcome to our newly appointed members.
Approval of Minutes: Minutes from the December Council meeting were previously emailed. Paul Larsen motioned to approve the minutes as submitted; Danyl Vavreck seconded the motion. All members in attendance voted to approve minutes. Motion carried.
Agency Administrative; Hiring Updates: Explore Minnesota has recently hired the following:
Council Overview & Member Responsibilities: New Council members met with Explore Minnesota yesterday for orientation. Member responsibilities:
· Appointments are for four years. Half of the appointments were made in 2023, the other half will be made in 2024.
· Appointment is assigned to you, not your position/employer. If you have change in employment, your appointment remains with you. We ask that you evaluate if you are still able to represent your industry sector.
· Reminder that you represent your industry sector. Please communicate with them and bring their concerns to the Council.
· For future meetings, we will be asking Council member for a summary of what is happening in the industry sector you represent. Explore Minnesota will send a communication approximately one month prior to our scheduled meeting to gather this.
· Beth Helle, Peggy Lindquist and Lauren Bennett McGinty are the Council’s main contacts.
Budget & Legislative Discussion:Explore Minnesota’s strategic goals are:
· Maximize partner and stakeholder leadership and collaboration
Proposed initiatives fall under four industry facing goals. In addition to funding, we will reassess how we use current funds, optimize staff skills and agency resources and partners externally to optimize the funding we currently have.
The Governor has recommended an increase to EMT’s base budget of $3.8 million in FY24 and an additional $746,000 in FY25.
Explore Minnesota made a budget request for one-time funding (FY24-25) for the following:
· $1.25 million for group business and Governor’s openers
· $2.2 million for tribal destination development grants
· $2 million for marketing (increased targeted marketing for diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility; language and accessibility improvements for exploreminneosta.com; increased funding for domestic and international PR)
· $175,000 to grow stakeholder and educational resources
· $175,000 to invest in a destination stewardship/sustainability program
Proposed a new division under Explore Minnesota Tourism called Explore Minnesota for Business . The goal is to add another division within Explore Minnesota that would market Minnesota for livability. The Governor has recommended $12 million for FY24 to establish. Working in close partnership with DEED. This is above and beyond what Explore Minnesota’s budget.
Council feedback:
· Want to make sure that Explore Minnesota TOURISM remains the priority of a new agency
· Staff from EMT and DEED need to work together and collaborate/double down on repetition of marketing. Messaging is similar and can be built that way. Build on success of Explore Minnesota and their marketing.
Legislative Updates/Bills at the Capitol: Lauren Bennett McGinty/Lyndsey Hanson :
· HF232 (Hansen author)/SF1974 (Hauschild author) provides $10 million in grants through EMT. One-time funding. Lauren is meeting with several legislators and educating them on how our grant structure works.
· HF1922/SF2369 adds seats to our Council for craft beverage, chambers of commerce in underrepresented communities, tribal nations, outdoor rec, arts & culture, tourism business owners from underrepresented communities. Both versions are being heard March 8.
MN Sports Betting Act has money coming through Explore Minnesota (HF2424/SF2425). This is an initiative put forward by the Minnesota Sports & Events Group. It was introduced independently and would provide 25% of the amount deposited in the special revenue fund and would be transferred to MN Sports & Events group initiative for their expenses/grants.
Paul Larsen provided background information on the Minnesota Tourism Growth Coalition. This group began in 2013 to advocate for tourism funding. Sarah Psick is the contact/lobbyist for this. The coalition was created to support Explore Minnesota and its funding. Explore Minnesota can only support what is proposed by the Governor. This Coalition can advocate for additional funds. Council members and industry representatives are encouraged to testify on Tourism’s behalf and contact your legislators.
The cereal box that had been used to showcase the importance of tourism to the state has been replaced with a suitcase. There is also a “Tourism Matters” piece that is available as a handout. These have been sent to the legislature and are available for your distribution.
Regional roundtables are being held around the state to talk about our budget, the impact of tourism to the regions/community. Local media have been invited.
Program Updates:
Marketing Update – Leann Kispert
Adventure Creative is our ad agency of record. The current contract goes through June 30, 2023. The campaign goals are to deepen emotional connections, increase differentiation and drive traveler engagement. Overall winter campaign showed solid gains for the entire season. Saw 2.7% lift in purchase intent. We had a general campaign and diversity campaign. Diversity continues to make significant gains across the board, including 4.7% lift in purchase intent. Niche campaigns (national) were performing arts and winter recreation.
Website results for winter campaign:
· Website session, 2.0 million (25% increase over FY22)
· Newsletter sign-up, 4,846 (30% increase over FY22)
Conducted Winter DEI Research and tested winter tv spots with BIPOC travelers. Results show a 20 point lift in likelihood to visit Minnesota after viewing our “Dream State” winter spot.
Spring/Summer campaign launched March 6 in all markets outside Minnesota. (MN will launch the first week in April). There are three niches for summer: food & drink, national parks, and events & live events.
We are conducting a flight market test this spring in Atlanta and Dallas. These markets offer direct flights to MSP. This launched yesterday and will watch to determine if this will be expanded.
Winter: Updated audience segmentation research which was funded with EDA grant. Updated, more modern. First one is cultural traveler gurus. Enjoys urban, unique outdoor, sporting events. Barriers: Winter. A lot of education needs to happen with this group. Different ways to connect with them:
Aspirational Explorers: spend a lot on travel, create new experiences, more value driven, find ways to create wonderful trips without breaking the bank. Ways to connect: More outdoor oriented. Great fit for MN. Want to be reassured that we can create a great family vacation.
COMMUNICATIONS & PR PDATE – Amy Barrett: CNN, Trip Savvy. Nice friendly welcoming. Duluth in Reader’s Digest. Travel & Leisure. Paul Bunyan State Trail – longest in state. Astrotourism (northern lights) is big.
Channels 4 and 5: Monthly coverage. Alyssa Hayes is leaving. Great coverage at the Tourism Conference. Michael reaching Spanish speaking audience.
March 16 new enewsletter – Minnesota Outdoors: was birding, fishin and winter trails.
Publications: Travel Guide, Golf Guide, Highway Map. Golf in production; new highway map by end of June.
Social media profmrane: over 17 million impressions.
Top 3 FB pots: igloo dining, snowscuplting championship
Top 3 Tweets: night sky, monthly newsletter
Top 3 Instraram: Pizza championship, moose losing antlers, world snow sculpting cambering
YouTUe: 3 million views –
Now on TIkTOk – posted 8 videos. 1355 followers.
New web content: boutique hotels, molly yeh, MN breweries non alcoholic beer cocktails, ice mazes and sculptures.
Questions form cournty: more city shots, betty danger shots, any pressure on tiktok – connecting with PR agency and other state agencies. We are tiptoeing in. research supports that younger travelers are getting info from tiktok. Like combining newsletters with more features and content.
INDSUTRY RELATIONS: Tourism conference last week – 300pus attendees and 120 in person. This conerence needs to remain accessible. One day event at$99. Expense for conference and travel sometimes make it unattainable for. Want a multi day conference. Looking at options to expand by ½ day prior to conference. All sessions were recorded except for Katie Goodman and Ann Bancfot. On industry site. Intend to continue hybrid . adds significant cost. Confer4ence costs about $175k to do. How to balance? How many people serving? What is it costing? Feedback to Beth. Online 150. Is it worth it? Hybrid makes it like a second event – maybe record some things? A lot of staff time. What is ROI on conference – you cannot measure? Not just cost, but value of conference A lot of energy in the room.
FRANK: Would love to have more educational sessions added to two day conference.
DAN H: Great job to team. Everyone looks forward to it. Want return to two day conference. Advocate to return to two day. Nice feature to add accessibiltty . moving away from hybrid and going to recorded conference. Networking opportunity is invaluable.
REP BAKER: attended many conferneces. Collaborate with HM, craft breweries, so we don’t take on whole front. Coordinate with Day on Hill. Legislative reception to see our industry first-hand. Appreciate all the work done on this. Need to be more interactive with legilators. Need to get Minneapolis back on their feet.
We cannot host legislative session. Would need host for it. Good idea to line up with day on the hill. Will need to put out RFP very soon. having internal recap in a couple weeks. Thanks for input.
For the first year we had a scholarship program: Winona and Saint Catherine’s. will continue to do. Students matched with industry mentors. Tribal nations also offered scholarship
Openers: Turkey opener happening on April 15 led by DNR. Media event only. GFO in Mankato – May 12-13. Governors pheaswant opener Owatonna oct 13-14
Tourism Matters – Lauren tuched. New microsite. Legislative updats, emails, newsletters, suitcases, budet overview sheet. Distributed to house and senate last week.
Coop mrkeitng – added so %750,000 now. Available for businesses, DMOs and tourism industry.
Welcome Centers – new phone system that routes calls and chats to WC. CallS being answered 7 days a week.
WC survey with Tourism Center.
St. Croix closing July through Septe. Operations will continue in trailer as new building built.
Marketing grant program - $500K now closed. All grant funds used. Opened for 67 days and funded 57 programs. Previously had $1M in program. Strong need for base budget funding. Summary of grant receipients at end of grant program on industry site.
Market Development – in board report. Cheryl Offerman, Market Development Manager.
Signed first intrnational aency of record with RMI. Represents in UK Germany, Netherlands, focus . supplementing work with Brand USA, MRC and Great Lakes. MRC for Japan and Korea.
New itinerary guide for group tour marketing. Worked with leisure group travel. ABA distributed and will taketo domestic sows. ABA in Detroit – Jake did 30 1:1 apts. Circle WI this month. MRC and Great Lakes Annual meeting. Delta France Asian fam next month IPW in san antio . Brand USA shows.
STRATEGIC DIRECTION UPDATES – LBM
Grow Minnesota’s Visitor Economy. A lot of initiatives kicking off. Inititatves have staff assigned.
Increase totalvistiation
Increase economic impact
More inclusive, welcoming
OUtreah to chambrs of underrepresented communities
Open to ideas of outreach opportunities. More diverse writers for our content.
Posting positions on diverse sites.
Maximize partners & Stakeholdrleadership and collaboration. Looking to add to partnership and coop marketing.
Make staff more accessible and available
Destination stewardship: meet with destination assessment folks. Ensure that available for generations to come. How to sustain influx of travelers.
Ensure organizational excellence: evaluate positions before replacing. More successful in the future. More intentional. Teambuilding with team – meet quarterly. Focus on internal process.
Let’s work together: Supporting Governor’s budget for explore Minnesota. Talking to legislators is most important thing for tourism industry to do. Participate and provide feedback. Regional coordinators – reach out to them!
Exploreminnesota.com/industry
Turismmatters.org
DANI: Derek Ramntun will be at MFEA at end of month for coop session.
EXPLORE MINNESOTA TOURISM
COUNCIL MEETING
Thursday, December 1, 2022
Bloomington, MN CVB
(In person and virtual attendance)
Council Members Present:, Megan Christianson, Chuck Dougherty, Steve Dowling, Maureen Failor, Robert Herman, Ed Hoffman, Marianna Khauv, Paul Larsen, Nick Leonard, Molly Luther, Terry Mattson, Peter Mihajlov, Cynthya Porter, Xinyi Qian, Danyl Vavreck, Cindy Wannarka, Jana Webster
EMT Staff: Lauren Bennett McGinty, Lisa Havelka, Alyssa Hayes, Beth Helle, Michael Hernandez, Leann Kispert, Jared Laabs, Nicole Lalum, Peggy Lindquist, Sean Lydon, Mike Meyer, Gretchen Nussbaum, Derek Ramthun, Glori Rantz
Guests: Michelle Benson, Joel Carlson, Matt Cerar, Meghan McCollum, Laura Mitchell, Gina Nacey, Jaye Peterson, Sarah Psick, Liz Rammer
Welcome: Chair Lauren Bennett McGinty thanked Council members for their attendance both in-person and virtually. Thank you to Bloomington for hosting the meeting.
Approval of Minutes: Minutes from the September Council meeting were previously emailed. Terry Mattson requested a correction to the minutes state that “Explore Minnesota can only lobby for what is in the Governor’s budget . . .” With this proposed change, Jana Webster motioned to approve; Steve Dowling seconded the motion. All members in attendance voted to approve minutes. Motion carried.
Agency Administrative: Hiring: Explore Minnesota is in the process of interviewing for the HR director position. Expect to have someone hired by the end of December. Also hiring a project coordinator; interviews will be held soon. Other upcoming hires include digital strategy manager and market development and policy manager. Prior to the pandemic, Explore Minnesota had more than 50 employees; we currently have 35, which includes Welcome Center staff.
Council Seats Expiring January 2023: Half of the Council seats expire in January 2023. Current Council members can re-apply and they will continue to serve until new appointments are made. The appointment follows the person, not the position. Thank you to the members who have served on the Council. Applications are held for one year.
2027 World Expo – Bloomington CVB/Bonnie Carlson: Bloomington CVB provided an overview of the bid for the 2027 World Expo (also known as the World’s Fair). Minnesota is seeking to bring the World’s Fair to America for the first time in 43 years. Minnesota’s theme is “Healthy People, Healthy Planet.” This is currently a private development with proposed revenue generated from ticket prices, corporate sponsorships, and merchandise licensing. Project 13.3 million attendees over 93 days in the summer of 2027. Expo will create 33,000 jobs in the U.S., including 17,000 in Minnesota; $2.5 billion economic impact; $365 million incremental tax revenue to State of Minnesota. The final decision on the location for the 2027 World Expo will be held in June 2023.
Budget & Legislative Discussion:
Explore Minnesota’s budget proposal aligns with strategic plan. Budget was presented to Governor’s Office and Minnesota Management & Budget Office last week.
Detailed review of 2024-2025 budget proposals:
· Tourism and hospitality workforce marketing campaign to attract talent and ignite interest in tourism and hospitality career paths. Educating high school and college students about career paths in this area.
· New grants to secure group business, DEI&A initiatives, and funding to support bids to secure large-scale events and sporting mega events.
· Tribal Nations destination development grant program and new funding for collaboration and engagement at the state and national level – worked with Leech Lake Band for 2022 GFO – also looking in to getting a tribal liaison.
· Harness the brand and expertise of Explore Minnesota to develop a new office, marketing economic development opportunities in Minnesota. This would be an independent office within EMT, with separate funding.
· EMT has not received an increase in 10 years. If we would receive our requested budget increase, we would then be in line with the state of Michigan’s tourism budget.
Once the Governor releases his budget proposal, Explore Minnesota must support that budget. Council is supportive of EMT’s budget requests. Tourism industry help is needed to move it forward. Industry needs to contact legislators and educate them on the economic impact of tourism. Explore Minnesota is working on a communications plan for industry and legislators. Currently advocating to move EMT legislative bills to the Jobs & Economic Development Committee.
No longer producing the cereal box. Will create something for industry to use when talking tourism. Information/statistics will be broken down by counties.
Requested change in statute to add six Council seats (art/culture, tribal nations, outdoor rec, sports, chamber of commerce – underrepresented communities). Also requested that the cash-match requirement be removed from incentive language.
Public Policy Meet Up – December 12: If the Governor’s budget is released, the Public Policy Committee will meet December 12 at 1:30. Additional information will be provided.
Program Updates:
MARKETING – Leann Kispert
Fall Recap: The fall campaign wrapped up in October. Measured awareness, consideration, purchase intent and favorability and see a strong lift across the board. Diversity continues to perform well within advanced measurement platforms. Niche markets were hiking and biking. Adara reports that $907,453 hotel revenue generated by advertising. Website results show pageviews for 2022 were up 23% from 2021. Website sessions were up 12%; e-newsletter sign ups were down 18% from 2021.
Winter Update:General/Diversity campaigns launched November 14. Niche campaigned will launch December 12 and highlight winter sports and performing arts. Winter trails and holiday focus on paid social through December. Will shift to general winter after the holidays. Broadcast will launch on January 9. Also highlighting accolades and awards where media has named Minnesota “best of . . . “ (Example: AFAR recognizes Minneapolis Eat Street as one of best food neighborhoods in the U.S.) Will do four bursts of these between now and end of fiscal year.
Spring/Summer Niches: Currently planning creative and media strategies for spring/summer. Will launch out-of-state media on March 6 and Minnesota campaign will launch April 3. Niche markets will highlight national park sites (6 in MN) and event/live music and food & drink.
Testing two diverse flight markets – Dallas/Fort Worth and Atlanta. Through a digital campaign, will target people willing to travel. Launch in early March.
Marketing Plan Overview:This is a new marketing plan which is companion piece to our strategic plan. It is a roadmap to why and how EMT markets.
Request For Proposals: We are required to put out marketing contract every five years. Contract with Adventure expires June 30, 2023. Will be soliciting proposals.
Partnership Campaigns – Glori Rantz:
· Gopher Sports runs from August 2022 – June 2023. Fan 365 digital ads running targeting Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa markets.
· Iowa Wild partnership in its fifth season. Runs October 2022 - May 2023. Inspires fans to plan a MN getaway. Recent sweepstakes featured Visit Lakeville.
· MN Slopes running November 15, 2022 - March 15, 2023. No sweepstakes this year. Goal includes creating awareness and generating travel to Minnesota ski areas and destinations through the winter. Aim to increase website and social traffic, provide travel ideas and resources for consumers. Where to Ski: Best MN Ski Areas | Explore Minnesota
· MN Winter Sports passport runs December 15, 2022 - March15, 2023. Featuring winter deals by participating winter sports rentals such as cross country skiing, downhill skiing, snow tubing, snowshoeing, dog sledding, ice skating, ice fishing, winter biking and snowmobiling.
COMMUNICATIONS & PUBLIC RELATIONS – Alyssa Hayes
Weber Contract Renewed: The PR contract with Weber Shandwick has been extended through November 30, 2023.
Earned Media Coverage + Activity Pipeline Update: Media coverage highlights for FY23 includes
3+ billion in estimated audience reach. 375 local, regional and national media placements. 30+ top list placements. Seeing trends holiday happenings (national and local), winter festivals, where to go in 2023, New Year celebrations. Council members are encouraged to check out the HARO (Help A Reporter Out) website to respond directly to reporter’s request for story ideas.
Monthly Television Segments: Lauren and Alyssa are appearing on monthly segments with KSTP’s “Minnesota Live” segment, highlighting Trip on a Tankful ideas. Also monthly appearances with WCCO’s “The Four.”
Publications and Newsletters: Birding, fishing and winter trails newsletters will be consolidated into one ‘outdoor recreation’ newsletter.
Travel Guide print and digital editions will be in market December 28.
TikTok – soft launched last week. Explore Minnesota is now on TikTok tiktok.com/@exploreminnesota .
Website Updates: Website is highlighting the following: Step into a Holiday Movie in these Charming Minnesota Towns; Where to Watch Plays, Musicals and Other Live Performances; Warm up to Winter on Candlelight Trails; How to Make the Most of Voyageurs National Park (with or without a houseboat).
INDUSTRY RELATIONS – Beth Helle
Grant Program:The grant program opened December 1 with $500,000 available. Grant program runs from January 1 – June 30, 2023. To apply for new funds, applicant must close out current grant before applying for new grant. This change is being implemented because unused grant funds are not returned to EMT. If an entire grant is returned, that grantee will be disqualified from the next application cycle. Future programs will work like this. Council suggested that for future programs it would be helpful to end one cycle before starting other. 2023 Tourism Marketing Grant / Tourism Industry Minnesota (mn.gov)
2023 Tourism Conference: The 2023 Explore Minnesota Tourism Conference will be held Tuesday, February 28 at the Double Tree Hyatt in Bloomington. Registration and sponsorship will open next week. Registration is $99, free for virtual attendees. Award nominations are currently open. If your association is interested in holding a meeting prior to the conference, there is space available, contact Beth Helle. A new scholarship program is being offered to those interested in tourism and hospitality careers and for the purpose of growing tourism and destination development for Native Nations. Council members are encouraged to become mentors for scholarship attendees.
Playeasy Sports Marketing Platform: Explore Minnesota has launched a new partnership to allow all destinations and venues in Minnesota to be involved on the Playeasy platform. This platform matches sports planners to facilities and communities. It is free to participate. More than 25 entities have already joined.
Governor’s Openers: The 2022 Governor’s Pheasant Opener was held in Worthington. Owatonna has been awarded the 2023 Governor’s Pheasant Opener; scheduled for October 13-14. The 2022 Governor deer Hunting Opener was held at Three Rivers in Maple Grove. Planning for the 2023 Governor’s Fishing Opener will be held May 12-13 in Mankato.
International/Market Development Updates:
· Brand USA Travel Week was held September 26-30 in Frankfurt, Germany. Over 40 appointments were held with European travel buyers.
· NTA Annual Convention was held in Reno, NV, November 12-15. Participated in 30 appointments with domestic buyers.
· A two-week consumer editorial and digital campaign with The Telegraph in London was held around the Vikings game in London.
· Explore Minnesota reactivated the Rocky Mountain International (RMI) gateway membership. Encourage overseas travelers to come through the MSP gateway to western destinations.
· Working with Premier Travel Media on a new itinerary guide. The guide will be printed and digitized for distribution prior to ABA annual convention in February.
· Working on Group Tour guide. Will try to incorporate this information into general guide and website also.
· Market development is prioritizing U.K., Germany and the Netherlands. Wil add France in early 2023.
Strategic Direction Overview – Lauren Bennett McGinty: Key strategies have been identified and an EMT staff person has been assigned to lead the discussion/direction on each strategy:
Grow Minnesota’s Visitor Economy – increase total visitation, increase economic impact
Create a welcoming experience for all visitors
Partners and stakeholder leadership and collaboration
Foster destination stewardship
Council members are encouraged to work with our team on any piece of the strategic plan. Contact Lauren Bennett McGinty if interested.
This Council meeting can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mf6nsQqKLrQ
Proposed 2023 Council meeting dates:
Tuesday, March 7
Tuesday, June 6
Thursday, September 7
Tuesday, December 5
EXPLORE MINNESOTA TOURISM COUNCIL
In Person EMT Office St Paul/Virtual Meeting
Tuesday, September 13, 2022
10 am – 12 noon
Council Members Present: Megan Christianson, Steve Dowling, Maureen Failor, Alison Fogarty, Robert Herman, Senator Susan Kent, Marianna Khauv, David Langhoff, Paul Larsen, Molly Luther, Terry Mattson, Peter Mihajlov, Xinyi Qian, Senator Carrie Ruud, Cindy Wannarka, Jana Webster
EMT Staff Present: Amy Barrett, Lauren Bennett McGinty, Lisa Havelka, Beth Helle, Michael Hernandez, Leann Kispert, Peggy Lindquist, Sean Lydon, Mike Meyer, Julie Ramer, Glori Rantz,
Guests: Michelle Benson, Laura Cederberg, Matt Cerar, Kallie Hagerman, Meredith Kessler, Meghan McCollum, Jaye Peterson, Sarah Psick
Welcome: Chair Lauren Bennett McGinty thanked Council members for their attendance both in-person (for the first time since the pandemic) and virtually.
Approval of Minutes: Minutes from the June Council meeting were previously emailed. Terry Mattson requested that reference to the $552,000 funds for the recovery grant program that was requested, but not passed, be added to the June meeting minutes. With this addition, Terry Mattson motioned to approve the June meeting minutes; Peter Mihajlov seconded the motion. All members in attendance voted to approve minutes. Motion carried.
Agency Administration Update: EMT staff continue to telework. “Together Tuesdays” has been introduced for St. Paul staff to encourage them to come together to the office on a monthly basis. All staff meet quarterly, with the next all staff meeting scheduled for September 20.
Council Seats Expiring January 2023: Half of the Council seats expire in January 2023. An outreach is underway (via EMT Express, industry meetings, etc.) to fill. Current Council members can reapply, and they will continue to serve until new appointments are made. Jean Bowman has accepted a new job and resigned from the Council. Information on when terms expire and how to apply for the Council can be found at Tourism Council / Tourism Industry Minnesota (mn.gov)
Budget & Legislative Discussion: FY23 began July 1. EMT has submitted baseline budget documents. Specific budget recommendations will not be known until after election. EMT has not had a budget increase in 10 years. Requesting a minimum increase of $4 million to cover inflation during that time in addition to other agency-wide requests including newly-proposed positions within EMT. As a reminder, Director Bennett McGinty noted that EMT can only advocate for what is in Governor’s budget.
To stay competitive, EMT is requesting that state general funds dollars be increased to replace money we received through EDA. This money would be spent by the end of 2022. Niche campaigns continue to perform extremely well and new funding would include funding into these campaigns. EDA funds allowed us to do onsite ‘Experiential Campaign’ in St. Louis and Chicago. Also, with the upcoming loss of cookies, we are having to become much more engaged/rely on research.
EMT/tourism industry relies on our grant programs to support evolving needs of industry. The current funding for grants is $500,000. At one point, the grant program was funded at $3 million.
Welcome Centers: Looking at how to best serve our customers. How to expand network and better technology.
EMT will continue to expand industry partnerships.
Would also use additional funding for interagency projects. Lauren is working with other agencies on projects, including the Governor’s “Thriving Economies Economic Roadmap.”
Fostering destination stewardship is part of our strategic plan. Explore Minnesota is connecting with Coraggio to look into the Global Sustainable Tourism Council’s Destination Assessment. The assessment would set a baseline for EMT to review current sustainability achievements in the state, sustainability risks and set a plan with targets and best practices.
Minnesota Tourism Growth Coalition – Terry Mattson: MTGC is supportive of budget increases. Tourism and travel are a big contributor to Minnesota’s economy. Sarah Psick continues her work at the Capitol. As EMT can only lobby for what is in the Governor’s budget, additional funding request needs to come from the tourism industry and the industry needs to be a voice at the Capitol.
Cereal box: may be new or different moving forward. Need to determine what type of information needs to be shared with legislators, as this is a communications/educational piece.
Council members want/need to be a strong voice in supporting Explore Minnesota’s budget increase. Members want to be more active and involved in helping with budget increase and legislative needs. EMT should create a “ call to action” for Council members. Members need to take an active role in one-on-ones with legislators and provide testimony during hearings.
Program Updates:
Industry Relations – Beth Helle
Staff working on Governor’s Opener events:
· The Pheasant Opener will be held October 14-15 in Worthington. Lisa Havelka is lead. Location for 2023 event will be announced in Worthington.
· Governor’s Fishing Opener team meeting September 13. Event will be held May 12-13 in Mankato. Nicole Lalum is lead.
Event partnerships:
· Twin Cities Pride took place in June. #OnlyinMN monument placed and some brand awareness surrounding event.
· #OnlyinMN monument was at the Minnesota State Fair.
· For the first time, EMT partnering with Twin Cities Marathon (October 1-2). Event draws 300,000 and creates over 80,000 lodging nights. Working on ultimate marathon guide. Will have some promotional opportunities throughout the marathon, as well as with Twin Cities in Motion throughout the year. Michael Hernandez is point person.
Michael Hernandez is EMT’s new metro regional manager. He was recently at Meet Minneapolis and worked at Visit Saint Paul.
Hiring of Market Development Manager has been postponed, but international work continues with several partners including Brand USA, Rocky Mountain International, Mississippi River Country and Great Lakes of North America. Minnesota is starting to see the return of international media fams, including one coming prior to the Minnesota Vikings game in London.
Co-op program will soon be announced to industry.
Grant program is an industry partnership program and begins January 2023 with $500,000 available. Staff working on guidelines and will announce in a few weeks. One change is that any open/existing grants must be reconciled to apply for new funding.
Marketing – Leann Kispert
Spring/Summer Campaign Recap : Dream State campaign launched in April and ran through end of June. Campaign saw 17% lift in favorability and 34% indicated it lifted their intent to travel.
How campaign drew website results:
Niche campaigns for summer were paddling, golf and events. All performed well.
Participated in St. Louis PrideFest in late June and Maggie Daley Park’s Fourth of July weekend Chicago. Included giveaways and sweepstakes. This had great PR and media exposure. Experiential Activation saw 30.3MM impressions and 476,000 social engagements.
Fall Campaign: Launched mid-August. First rendition of fall Dream State campaign. Primary effort is to build first party data collection (cookies going away), converting users with fall color report, drive to Dream State landing page, continue to build awareness through tv.
Fall creative will show diversity and accessibility in all campaign spots.
Fall niches focus is biking and hiking.
ESTO Award: Explore Minnesota won an ESTO award from US Travel. Recognized for True North “Just Add Water’ spot.
Brand USA Video Award: Won an award for our special series on culinary campfire that highlighted Yia Vang. Showcased Hmong cuisine throughout the state.
ADARA Partnership: – this new partnership includes three elements including the measuring of attributable ROI, future-proofed targeting, activating on EMT’s first-party data.
Winter Preview : in production. Will start mid-November. Creative covers regions and activities and will convey warmth. Winter niche will include winter rec and adding performing arts.
Partnership Campaigns – Glori Rantz: Information is shared regularly in EMT Express. Launched three new passports this past year: MNSips, HikeMN and MNFall. MNSips ran April 1-Sept 12. Very successful. Over 300k pageviews, 8722 registrations and 3,338 redemptions.
MN Winter Rec Passport: Launching December 2022 - March 2023. Will reach out to those with EMT listings. Feature winter deals by participating in winter rentals, ice fishing rentals, cross-country skiing, downhill skiing, dogsledding, skating rinks, snowtubing, etc.
MN Aurora new partnership ran November 2021 through June 2022. EMT held exclusive jersey sponsor that included EMT logo on jerseys.
Saint Paul Saints partnership ran April – September 2022. Lots of opportunities available with this partnership, including Wednesday sponsorship. Participated in sweepstakes with them and Visit Roseville provided prize package.
Gopher Sports - took year off but returning August 2022 - June 2023. Targeting Gopher fans living in Iowa and Wisconsin.
Iowa Wild program runs October 2022 - May 2023. Fifth season of partnering. EMT logo appears on helmets through this partnership. Provides nearly 5:1 of in-kind value. Visit Lakeville has provided prize for sweepstakes.
MN Slopes will begin in late November or early December 2022 - March 2023. Get people ready and excited for winter. Continue ski reports with KARE 11 and KSTP.
EMT partners with EMGA and MGA. Create new golf guide for 2023. Will discuss in spring.
Communications – Amy Barrett
Excellent national coverage throughout the summer, including 35 stories in national coverage. Collectively reach was 850 million.
Partnered with WGN radio on their newly launched ‘Best in Midwest’ program. Lauren did live interview. Provided giveaway of $200 gift cards to MOA.
BuzzFeed visited this summer and sent crew in early August. They visited Niagara Mystery Cave, Lanesboro, Minneapolis, Northfield, Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, Owamni. Reach of their travel account is 50 million travelers around the world.
EMT is aiming to position Minnesota as top 10 destination. List of some Top 10 lists provided and we will add that MSP International Airport is #1 best airport in the country/North America.
Fall and winter pitches to national media: Dark Skies/Northern lights, small towns with big lights, new year’s resolutions, winter activities for friends and family.
Recently sent out news release on summer industry survey conditions. Lauren was interviewed by KSTP TV on this story.
Sent fall cover report press release in partnership with DNR.
First edition for fall color report sent out September 8 and will be sent out on Thursdays throughout the season. 50k subscribers.
‘Trip on a Tankful ’ is a series of articles on where you can go on one tank of gas. Reached out to the industry for story ideas and received about 25 responses.
No longer publishing the Explorer in any season. We will focus efforts on the Calendar of Events listings to make it a more complete calendar.
Continue coops with Star Tribune. They published article on 10 cost saving activities for thrifty Minnesotans.
Partnered with Thrifty with a Compass, two friends who travel and published story on Duluth area. They also wrote story on 48 hours in Duluth for 2023 Travel Guide.
Strategic Plan Update – Lauren Bennett McGinty: Strategic Plan was sent to Council for review. Also shared with Governor’s Office, DNR, DEED.
Timeline: Initial Strategic Plan completed at end of July and approved by Governor’s Office in August. Currently reviewing and aligning existing programs and new initiatives.
New initiatives include:
· Develop strategy to increase cultural community outreach and engagement
· Utilize resources from other state agencies/state associations to advance diversity in tourism messages
· Develop a strategy around opportunistic partners and coop marketing
· Increase visitation by prioritizing new and existing high-yield market opportunities outside of the state, based on travel trends/data
· Develop a marketing plan to highlight the benefits of a career in leisure and hospitality
· Conduct global and local assessment of MN’s stewardship activities
· Develop an action plan of education and best practices for industry, with other state agencies
· Along with other state agencies, create guidance for tourists to ensure safe and sustainable travel practices
EMT staff participating in Native Nation visits. Recently met with Fond du Lac and Grand Portage. Discussed how we can work together. Much of the strategic plan includes working with other state agencies to complete projects and bolster existing program. Feedback from the industry during the strategic planning process showed that the industry wants EMT to be leader in trends, diversity/inclusion. The new plan outlines significant resources dedicated to that leadership.
Next steps: Finalize integrated marketing strategy/plan; finalize new initiatives and owners; implement new systems to organize staff; hire new employees to help carry out initiatives.
Q & A :
Strategic plan is based on money available. This is dependent on legislation. Council members should be very active. Use energy from Council members. Engage Governor and legislators. Find a way to get Council’s support. Council willing to meet with legislature.
Council could create subcommittees to work on specifics, how to market tourism at legislature. Lauren to send out additional information after meeting.
This Council meeting can be viewed at h ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCBFATniUjo
Next Council Meeting Dates:
Thursday, December 1, 2022
2023 Proposed dates:
Tuesday, March 7
Tuesday, June 6
Thursday, September 7
Tuesday, December 5
EXPLORE MINNESOTA TOURISM COUNCIL
Virtual Meeting
June 1, 2022
10 am -12 noon
Council Members Present: Bo Bigelow, Megan Christianson, Chuck Dougherty, Steve Dowling, Alison Fogarty, Sen. Susan Kent, Dave Langhoff, Paul Larsen, Nick Leonard, Molly Luther, Terry Mattson, Peter Mihajlov, Cynthya Porter, Xinyi Qian, Sen. Carrie Ruud, Anna Tanski, Ben Thuringer, Cindy Wannarka, Danyl Vavreck, Cindy Wannarka, Jana Webster
EMT Staff: Amy Barrett, Lauren Bennett McGinty, Lisa Havelka, Alyssa Hayes, Beth Helle, Nicole Lalum, Peggy Lindquist, Leann Kispert, Sean Lydon, Mike Meyer, Gretchen Nussbaum, Julie Ramer, John Schultz
Guests: Michelle Benson, Joel Carlson, Doug Carnival, Matt Cerar, Kallie Hagerman, Tony Kwilas, Meghan McCollum, Danni Melquist, Gina Nacey, Jaye Peterson, Sarah Psick, Julie Wearn
Welcome – Lauren Bennett McGinty: Lauren welcomed members to today’s virtual meeting.
Moving forward, Council meeting invites will be sent to Council members only. Guests are welcome to attend and can find meeting announcements at Tourism Council / Tourism Industry Minnesota (mn.gov)
Approval of Minutes: Minutes of the March Council meeting were previously emailed. Cynthya Porter motioned to approve minutes as submitted. Chuck Dougherty seconded the motion. All members in attendance voted to approve minutes as submitted. Motion carried.
Agency Administration : Saint Paul staff continue to work in a hybrid environment. This is a permanent change. Metro Square is open to staff who prefer to come in, but it is not required. Quarterly in-person meetings will begin this month. The agency is currently working through the strategic planning process and will likely have some staffing changes in the future. We have started to refill some open positions, specifically Welcome Centers and in marketing and communications departments.
Legislative Update – Lauren Bennett McGinty : Environmental bill (which holds EMT funding) did not pass during regular session. This had included $552,000 for recovery grant program.
MN Sports + Events funding of $1m/$450k for subsequent years would be pass-through money through EMT’s budget. This is not additional funding to EMT’s budget.
Yet to be determined if/when Special Session would be scheduled.
MN Tourism Growth Coalition leads the charge to request increased funding for EMT, as EMT cannot ask for more than what Governor proposes in his budget. This year, the Governor did not include tourism funding in his budget recommendation. Tourism industry needs to continue to promote ROI message, tourism benefits entire state, big and small businesses. Meeting with MTGC and Lauren to be scheduled.
EMT is looking into possibility of hiring an internal policy and government relations position. Currently, we contract with DNR for these services.
Hearing from restaurants that the state tax of restaurant revitalization funds is a hit to Minnesota restaurants, who have already been hit hard from the pandemic. If special session is held, would like pressure on state to not tax federal dollars received.
Online hospitality training program did make it into final jobs bill, funded at $250k. If this does not pass, Hospitality MN and the U of M will need to think creatively to make this happen.
Industry Relations & Market Development – Beth Helle :
Governor’s Opener Events & Recap: The 2022 Governor’s Fishing Opener took place May 12-14 at Lake Winnibigoshish. For the first time, a tribal nation (Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe) hosted the event. Seeking community host for 2023. RFP is open through June 24: https://mn.gov/tourism-industry/about-us/tourism-council.jsp
RFP for 2023 Governor’s Pheasant Opener will be out soon.
Industry Partnerships: Several key partnerships in the works, including Twin Cities PRIDE, Twin Cities in Motion (Twin Cities Marathon), Minnesota State Fair, Target USA Cup. EMT monument will be on display at these events in addition to other partnership engagement.
Hiring : Interviews for Metro regional manager will be held in June. August is the target start date; position has been open since retirement in January 2022.
International Marketing Update: IPW will be held next week in Orlando. Expecting 4000 attendees. EMT, MOA, Bloomington and Minneapolis attending. EMT has 40 media interviews scheduled and approximately 100 appointments with travel trade representatives. Reports and lead sharing will be posted in EMT Express.
MSP Airport reports that many international flights are now returning – operating at 83% capacity when compared to 2019. We are returning to primary/mature international markets beginning with UK, Germany, Nordic, Benelux, France utilizing Brand USA programs. UK, German and France (postponed from 2019) multi-channel marketing programs are slated for spring/summer 2022.
Communications & PR Report – Amy Barrett:
Communications : Web content features the ‘Dream State’ campaign. Will continue to add content to the site.
MSP Junior: This is the second edition on MSP Magazine’s “Junior” edition. EMT worked with MSP Magazine to highlight fun kids’ activities from around the state, inspiring family travel. This is a popular piece and will be distributed at Welcome Centers.
Summer Explorer: Will be available June 15. The look will change, as it is no longer in newsprint tabloid format, moving to StarTribune Magazine format. Will feature paddleboarding, dining, golf, festivals & events. EMT to receive 60k overruns to distribute.
Cory Lee who is a travel blogger and advocate for accessibility to accommodate disabilities of all kinds, will be traveling to Minnesota to cover accessible travel experiences.
Public Relations Recap – Alyssa Hayes:
FY22 highlights:
· 4.5 billion in estimated audience reach; over 1,100 earned media placements; generated coverage locally, regionally, nationally, internationally. EMT contracts with Weber Shandwick on this outreach.
· National Travel & Tourism Week (NTTW) was held May 1-7. We received a lot of media attention during this time, including leading stories on local tv newscasts. Fun week to highlight summer tourism.
· Governor’s Fishing Opener was held May 12-14. Hosted 25 media outlets and 100+ interviews at media row. Partnered with Governor’s Office and DNR.
Trending topics include summer travel, bucket-list trip planning, luxury glamping getaways, green travel, festivals + events.
Marketing Updates – John Schultz:
Canada Update: Promotion executed late last year when borders reopened. Targeted Winnipeg and Thunder Bay.
Brand Campaign Update – Adventure:
Spring/Summer campaign highlights include the launch of the “Dream State” campaign. So far, campaign has 22% lift in travel intent. EMT website traffic has surpassed 2019 levels – page views up 45%, website visits up 42%, e-newsletter signups increased 199%.
This summer, travelers will have the opportunity to experience the ‘Magic of Minnesota’ interactive display in the heart of Chicago and St. Louis.
Spring/summer niches: Paddling, golf and events.
Key media partnerships include Paddling Magazine, TripAdvisor, Outside, Golfweek, Backpacker, African American Golfer’s Digest and AFAR.
Testing new innovative strategies by expanding platforms across campaigns via TikTok, Pinterest, Spotify and Pandora). Testing new digital partners with ADARA, DATAFY, Sojern, Illumin. Beta testing will be done through theTradeDesk.
FY23 Fall Campaign:
Niches markets for the fall campaign are biking and hiking which has historically been our best performers.
Q&A:
Q: Is the “Find Your True North” campaign still in market?
A: No, that campaign has been sunsetted and out of market. When tested in the market, agency saw more emotional tug with ‘Dream State’ campaign, as it brings in new emotional layer.
All Find Your True North items have been removed from the website and are no longer in circulation in the market.
Strategic Direction Status – Lauren Bennett McGinty:
‘Know Minnesota’ took situational assessment.
Listening sessions were recently held. Common themes are excitement, hopefulness, natural resources, workforce, diversity and inclusion. Will continue to work with DEED on workforce issues/opportunities. We have also developed an Outdoor Recreation Working Group with DEED and DNR to continue to find opportunities to promote and support the outdoor recreation industry in Minnesota.
Marketing, Communications, and Industry Relations are currently auditing their marketing efforts to better understand what programs and projects we are doing and why. Once the audit is completed, we will be able to categorize each project and program into the new strategic direction to ensure that they are in alignment with where we are going.
We are working to broaden cultural community engagement including our efforts to expand Council (which did not pass this legislative session). In addition to that, we are being more intentional about how we promote various cultural communities and activities.
Lauren recently presented to Indian Affairs Council and will set up meetings with Tribal Nations around the state to discuss how EMT might work with them to promote tourism in their area. The Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe and Explore Minnesota has a great experience working together to put on the GFO and are looking forward to finding additional connections with LLBO and other tribes. Furthering the discussion of expanding our EDIA (equity, diversity, inclusion and accessibility) work, we have committed to our largest PRIDE partnership ever, and will have both LGBTQ+ and an accessibility influencers travel through Minnesota in a few weeks. There are also ongoing conversations at the senior leadership level about cultural awareness, sensitivity training and inclusivity and diversity in marketing, EDIA efforts will be one of the major cornerstones of the new strategic direction.
Continue to strengthen interagency relationships with DNR and DEED. Will be visiting communities this summer to promote outdoor rec, job growth and other issues.
Proposed Commitment & Active Council Engagement – Council Discussion:
What are Council goals? What do you want to contribute? Council members are voice of industry and community. What is needed in Council meetings? How can Council be more engaged?
Council discussion:
· EMT work environment: Is the goal to work remotely forever? EMT will continue to be hybrid teleworkers. Will continue to have office space, but perhaps less physical space will be needed moving forward. Currently office space is leased through Ramsey County. We will have all staff, in-person meetings quarterly where we will have special presentations and workshops for staff.
· Like role of proposed new EMT position responsible for government relations. MTGC may have some ideas of needs from that position.
· Dream State – very creative. Likes this approach. True North campaign was never well received by southern Minnesota.
· Will still be challenged by budget. In the past, various funding options (ie. Car rental) were looked at to break away from general funding.
· Council is here to give reaction to ad campaign before rolling out to entire world.
· Would like return of in-person Council meetings. Miss the connections.
· Likes the idea of having subcommittees. Council members have different areas of expertise. Meeting with various EMT staff would be helpful. All have different skillsets. Council members interested in serving on subcommittees should reach out to Lauren.
Link to Explore Minnesota Council meeting: https://youtu.be/9fu74dQITz8
Link to Explore Minnesota Power Point: TourismCouncil_June1Mtg_2022.pptx
Link to Adventure Power Point: Here is a download link
Link to FY22 Competitive report from Adventure: https://we.tl/t-iK9LlLapRT
Next Council Meeting: Tuesday, September 13
DRAFT
EXPLORE MINNESOTA TOURISM
COUNCIL MEETING (Strategic Planning Session)
Thursday, March 10, 2022
10 am – 12 noon
Virtual Meeting
Members: Bob Bierscheid, Rep. Matt Bliss, Jean Bowman, Chuck Dougherty, Steve Dowling, Allison Fogarty, Robert Herman, Bud Johnston, Sen. Susan Kent, Marianna Khauv, David Langhoff, Nick Leonard, Molly Luther, Terry Mattson, Cynthya Porter, Sen. Carrie Ruud, Maureen Scallen Failor, Anna Tanski, Ben Thuringer, Cindy Wannarka, Jana Webster
EMT Staff: Amy Barrett, Lauren Bennett McGinty, Alyssa Hayes, Leann Kispert, Jared Laabs, Nicole Lalum, Peggy Lindquist, Sean Lydon, Mike Meyer, Julie Ramer, Derek Ramthun, John Schultz
Guests: Michelle Benson, Joel Carlson, Doug Carnival, Matt Cerar, Ninwa Hanna, Kallie Hagerman, Michelle Janke, Jaye Peterson, Sarah Psick, Liz Rammer, Shannon Thomasser, Julie Wearn, Ben Wogsland
Welcome – Lauren Bennett McGinty:
Approval of December 2nd Council Meeting Minutes: Minutes from the December 2nd Council meeting were previously emailed. Motion to approve the minutes as submitted was introduced by Terry Mattson and seconded by Cynthya Porter. Motion carried.
Agency Status: Teleworking, Hiring: Welcome Jared Laabs to EMT. He was recently hired as our marketing coordinator. Also hiring multimedia editor this month. Hiring underway for Welcome Center vacant positions. St. Paul staff continue to telework. MMB has announced return to work can begin in late April and that a hybrid workplace will be the norm. Senior management team will discuss what that looks like for staff. Will be finalized before next Council meeting.
Tourism Conference Recap – Nicole Lalum: This year’s conference was held March 1 and was a hybrid event. Estimated attendance saw 230 in-person attendees and 673 virtual unique views (524 consistent viewership, indicating viewer remained on for one-plus hour). Sponsorships were sold out. Keynote speakers included Governor Walz, Lauren Bennett McGinty, PJ Fleck, Peter Slatin, Adam Sacks and
Amanda Brinkman. Congratulations to all award winners. Media coverage included two dozen placements and 2 million in estimated audience reach . Coverage highlights included KSTP-TV and Minnesota Live, KARE-TV, WDIO-TV, MPR, El Minnesota de Hoy and Minnesota News Network radio. Recap of the conference can be found here:
Live on the industry website including video of the day and presentations as well as photos of award winners
Governor’s Opener Events – Nicole Lalum: Planning for the 2022 Minnesota Governor’s Fishing Opener is underway; more information available soon. Although organizers will be considerably scaling back certain elements of the event, due to ongoing concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic, the annual occasion will continue to promote the excellent fishing and travel opportunities throughout Minnesota.
State agencies are already in discussions about the 2023 Governor’s Fishing Opener as well as all of the Opener events to ensure they are serving the people of Minnesota and gaining targeted media coverage.
Legislative Update – Lauren Bennett McGinty and Sarah Psick:
Tourism Industry Recovery Grant Program (SF2769 Ruud / HF3616 Hansen): MTGC put forward a $6 million bill to aid tourism after the pandemic; amended in the house to $10 million. Passed in House and referred to the Ways & Means Committee. Senate hearing held yesterday; $6 million ask was laid over. Good legislative support with excellent testimony from tourism industry. Senator Ruud and Representative Hansen are chief authors of the bill. Tourism recovery affects all parts of the state and the support from the tourism industry during these hearings is appreciated. Senate may keep in budget bill. Several budget recovery bills out there. Senators Ruud and Kent have been excellent advocates for the tourism industry. Cereal box continues to be a big hit with legislators. Important to have county information on back as legislators are interested in their area. Cereal box and county factsheet can be found at:
MNTourismMatters.Com
https://mn.gov/tourism-industry/research/tourism-and-the-economy.jsp
Cereal Box PDF
https://mn.gov/tourism-industry/assets/22CerealBoxWeb_tcm1135-519386.pdf
County Data Factsheet PDF
https://mn.gov/tourism-industry/assets/22_FactSheet_tcm1135-518462.pdf
Additional Surplus Funding Proposal: EMT recently submitted funding proposal to the Governor’s Office for budget surplus funding.
Explore Minnesota Tourism Council Membership Modified (HF3708): Representative Christensen introduced a bill to increase Council membership from 28 to 35. Additional seats would include three additional representatives of statewide associations representing craft beverage establishments, chambers of commerce for underrepresented communities, and Tribal nations as well as business representing outdoor recreation, sports, arts & culture, Native American community.
Lauren meeting with legislators to update them on impact to tourism industry and sharing research and comparison of other states tourism budgets. Committee received cereal boxes; will send out to all legislators soon.
Online Hospitality Workforce Training Program – Ben Wogsland (SF3771 Ruud / HF3550 Baker): Thank you to Senator Ruud who has authored a bill that would offer an online training program modeled after South Dakota’s program that creates an online training program for hospitality workers/cert program. Expect to train 4,000 students each year to address workforce shortage.
Portion of Lottery Allocation Appropriated through Explore MN to MN Sports & Events (SF3738 Rosen):
A bill was introduced that would help fund sports and events to Minnesota (funding would be for proposals and to put on events). The original funding proposal was for funding from Lottery revenue. Now looking at other options to fund. MNSE is meeting with Senator Ruud to discuss.
Doug Carnival serves on the MNSE board and added that the intent of the bill is to add money into the tourism world and find a way to have a long-term plan to attract large events to Minnesota. Suggested MNSE make presentation at a future Council meeting.
Communications/PR – Amy Barrett & Alyssa Hayes:
Since January 2022, estimated audience reach is 570 million. Working with our PR vendor (Weber Shandwick) to pitch events and destinations across the state to national and regional publications.
PR activity includes outreach on NCAA Women’s Final Four, spring activities, summer activities, opportunistic pitching and national desk side meetings. Working to promote Minnesota during National Travel & Tourism Week, May 1-7. Also producing Minnesota Hotdish which is a quarterly newsletter providing timely news, seasonal topics, etc. to our media contacts. Trending topics include focus on US domestic travel, inspiring bucket list trip planning, accessible travel, sustainable/eco travel, wildflower viewing, seasonal events.
Publication highlights include the distribution of the 2022 Travel Guide, which received an Adrian award (excellence in hospitality advertising award). Work will begin next month on 2023 guide. Ad sales for the 2022-23 Fishing Guide went great. 2021 Annual Report is digital only and can be found here:
https://mn.gov/tourism-industry/assets/21AnnualReport_8.5x11_Digital_tcm1135-519676.pdf
Cereal box featured the mammoth (mammoth on display at Bell Museum) to show that the pandemic had a mammoth impact on tourism industry.
There will not be a Spring edition of Explorer. This is moving to Star Tribune Magazine (June edition), which has a circulation of 174,000. EMT will get 60k copies to distribute. As an added value, content will also be included in Twin Cities Values.
International Marketing Return - Market Development Update – Nicole Lalum:
Strategy for International Marketing 2022 – Future: Explore Minnesota will be working with Brand USA for current and future international activities. EMT has already done multichannel digital ads and are bringing an influencer to Minnesota through Brand USA’s program. Other strategies include working with Visit USA committees that we are a member of and continuing to work with our rep firm in China to do social media activities.
Group Tour Strategy Activities: In January, Explore Minnesota attended the American Bus Association’s trade show in Texas , the first trade show we have been to since March 2020. We continue to work with group tour companies and our DMO partners in this sector. Explore Minnesota will also be putting out a quarterly newsletter for the group tour market to give updates about what is happening in Minnesota for groups.
Upcoming Shows & Activities:
· Presentation to 200 German operators at Visit USA Germany virtual roadshow on March 10th
· Quarterly newsletters for both international media and group tour operators coming in March
Industry Relations – Nicole Lalum:
Industry Opportunities for 2022: EMT is contracting with Miles Partnership to sell our 2023 Travel Guide. Miles will also be involved in our digital opportunities, banner advertising on the consumer website, featured business listings and the online lead generation program. E-newsletters will continue to be trafficked by Explore Minnesota staff and there are still avails in Events, Fishing and Birding but the others (Travel, Winter Trails and Fall Colors) are either sold out or close to it.
Website Changes/Community Brochure Program: The online lead generation program is moving to a paid program on the consumer website effective April 1, 2022. 58 current participants and recent past participants have been notified of the change. New in the program is a thumbnail image for the DMO on the order page along with the option to have a digital download or link only. Prices range from $300 - $1,500 annually.
Review 2022 Marketing Grant: One million dollars in funding with a 1:1 cash match and no geographical requirements. Solicitation was open from 12/8/21 to 3/1/22 but funding was exhausted on 2/18/22 (10 days before close).
Marketing grant breakout: 104 Recipients/35 Southern; 23 Central; 20 Metro;11 Northwest;
11 Northeast; 4 Statewide.
Co-ops: A second round of co-op programs is available with expanded opportunities. Added a Meetings & Conventions category that includes four new programs. There is also additional availability in some of the most popular digital programs as well as another issue of Mpls/St.Paul Magazine .
Beth and Lauren participating in Destination Capitol Hill in Washington DC in April. DCH is organized through U.S. Travel and is a national effort to bring tourism to the forefront. It is an opportunity to meet with Minnesota’s Congressional delegation to discuss the important of tourism to Minnesota.
Marketing –Jaye Peterson, Adventure and Kallie Hagerman, True Media:
Campaign Launch: To date, the campaign has seen the following increases after consumer has seen the ad: 9% awareness; 18% favorability; 23% consideration; 41% travel intent; 70% familiarity.
Website traffic continues to improve winter over winter. Pageviews, website sessions, and e-newsletter sign ups have all improved significantly when comparing to FY20 and 21.
Media and Creative Strategy: Key current geographic markets are MN, IA, MO, WI, IL, MI, NE, SD, ND and CO. Expanding into the following markets: MT, WY, UT, IN and OH.
Priority niches are paddling, golf and events. Returning to national market with these niches.
Key partnerships will include Paddling Magazine, TripAdvisor,Outside Magazine, Golfweek, Backpacker, and African America Golfer’s Digest. Will also work with AFAR on LGBTQ+ focused articles for spring/summer.
Testing new innovative strategies and expanding platforms across TikTok, Pinterest, Spotify and Pandora.
Testing new digital data partners with ADARA, SOJERN, DATAFY and illumin.
Will also Beta Test for targeting with theTradeDesk. This will use first party data to target users in campaigns. Testing to set up for success when third party cookies are phased out.
Campaign Evolution : Is Find Your True North still the most resonant message? Went through strategic process on this campaign to evaluate.
Findings: slow travel is about entire journey, not just destination; conscious travel is purpose-driven;
wellness travel is for both mental and physical wellness; multigenerational travel is especially attractive among diverse audiences.
Also held focus groups in spring 2021 to understand motivation for travelers.
Always monitor competitors and watch where they are moving their campaigns.
FYTN moved toward emotional messages. Competition has caught up to a similar message.
Strategic Opportunity: Travel trends show more thoughtful connections and shared experiences.
Travelers dream of feeling part of a bigger story.
Brought FYTN modifications and new concepts to focus groups and are now modifying the campaign toward an emotional response.
Campaign framework was thoughtfully designed to achieve macro goals of deepening emotional connections, increasing differentiation and driving traveler engagement.
Dream State campaign has been created and will feature one :30 and two :15 spots. Print ads will include QR codes.
Dream State Toolkit
https://mn.gov/tourism-industry/our-marketing/dream-state-toolkit.jsp
Dream State Ad
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUUwUASWidM
Strategic Direction Status – Lauren Bennett McGinty:
Know Minnesota; Go Minnesota; Grow Minnesota.
Council members are asked to complete the strategic planning survey which can be found at:
https://www.research.net/r/Explore-Minnesota-Strategic-Planning-Survey
Will use input to mold EMT’s strategic direction, which will be announced around July 1.
At this time, Explore Minnesota staff were excused from the remainder of the Council meeting.
Coraggio facilitated the remainder of the agenda to walk through strategic planning exercise with the Council.
Future Council Meetings:
Wednesday, June 1
Tuesday, September 13
Thursday, December 1
A recording of this meeting is available https://youtu.be/KQmotGHkaKE .
EXPLORE MINNESOTA TOURISM
COUNCIL MEETING
Thursday, December 2, 2021
10 am – 12 noon
Virtual Meeting
Members: Bob Bierscheid, Rep. Matt Bliss, Tracy Boldt, Jean Bowman, Rep. Shelly Christensen, Megan Christiansen, Chuck Dougherty, Steve Dowling, Alison Fogarty, Robert Herman, Sen. Susan Kent, Marianna Khauv, David Langhoff, Paul Larsen, Nick Leonard, Molly Luther, Terry Mattson, Cynthya Porter, Xinyi Qian, Sen. Carrie Ruud, Maureen Scallen Failor, Danyl Vavreck, Cindy Wannarka, Jana Webster
EMT Staff: Amy Barrett, Lauren Bennett McGinty, Lisa Havelka, Alyssa Hayes, Beth Helle, Leann Kispert, Nicole Lalum, Peggy Lindquist, Sean Lydon, Mike Meyer, Gretchen Nussbaum, Lori Peterson, Julie Ramer, Derek Ramthun
Guests: Michelle Benson, Joel Carlson, Laura Cederberg, Matt Cerar, Annalee Garletz, Kallie Hagerman, Meredith Kessler, Tony Kwilas, Meghan McCollum, Gina Nacey, Elisabeth Nowak, Jaye Peterson, Sarah Psick, Liz Rammer, Kallie Quinn, Jessica Tabbutt, Anna Thill, Shannon Thomasser, Julie Wearn, Ben Wogslund
Proposed 2022 Council Meeting Dates
Introduction of Executive Director Lauren Bennett McGinty: Welcome to Explore Minnesota’s new Executive Director Lauren Bennett McGinty! Lauren has worked in nonprofit management for over 10 years. Most recently, Lauren was the Executive Director and lobbyist for the Minnesota Craft Brewers Guild.
Introduction of Council Members: Council members and guests took the opportunity to introduce themselves and their affiliations.
Approval of September Council Meeting: Minutes from the September 14th Council meeting were previously emailed. Motion to approve the minutes as submitted was introduced by Maureen Scallen Failor and seconded by Cynthya Porter. Motion carried.
Agency Status – Leann Kispert:
Teleworking: Return to office has been pushed back again. Currently, there is not a specified date on when Explore Minnesota staff will return to the office.
Staff may now travel to meetings if vaccinated or test negative for COVID. Virtual meetings preferred if this option is available. State employees attending meetings in person must follow state protocol of masking and 6-foot distance.
Hiring: Vacancies that need to be filled now that hiring freeze has been lifted:
Governor’s Opener Events: Explore Minnesota played a significant role in openers with Governor’s office. Currently, reviewing process of hosting the 2022 GFO. 2021 Pheasant Opener took place, but EMT did not play a role. Future of Deer Opener to be determined.
Review Legislative Priorities Leading up to Session – Beth Helle: EMT provided our legislative requests to the Council via email on October 22 which included:
· Housekeeping: Seeking six additional Council seats. These seats are for: Tribal Nations, Sports, Arts/Culture, Outdoor Recreation, Chambers of Commerce - Underrepresented Communities; Tourism Business – Underrepresented Communities.
· Fiscal: $6 million to create Tourism Recovery Grant Program. Specific to meetings and conventions, group business, events and general tourism marketing. We received $750,000 last year for recovery grant program for small, no match grants. All funding was awarded within first 8 hours of application opening.
EMT met with Council legislative representatives to discuss priorities. Council legislative representatives stressed the importance of more face time as we move forward. Share stories at statewide and local level. Plan is to have 2022 Senate hearings in person. Can make appointments in senate offices if comfortable doing.
Public Policy Committee will meet January 12 at 10 a.m. Terry Mattson chairs this committee.
EDA Update – Mike Meyer : EDA approved application for $9 million, which includes $4 million to EMT. Legislative advisory committee reviewed and approved. A kickoff meeting with EDA will be held December 13. Working with DEED to go through reimbursement process.
What is needed from Council for legislative priorities:
· We already need to start planning for 2023 session.
· There is a strong need to tell a better story about importance of tourism industry. What data points are needed to help support this story?
· Legislative members serving on the Council recommend strong messaging. EMT’s bills go through Environmental Committee (both positive and negative).
· Promote the health and wellness message. Tourism plays a vital role in this.
· There is a lot of good data available. Need fresh way to share. It is statewide. Talk about jobs, ROI. Show this data every year. ROI is good data but need to freshen up how we say it. Need PR, research assistance. Events funding received good feedback because it was a new idea.
· Opportunity to add human element. Example: lodging revenue dropped by 90% in one month
· Share community level stories that are impactful from business/community impact. Without tourism spending, how would that impact every Minnesotan?
· We have included valuable information in the past. Tell in different way. Tourism is an investment for every resident in the state. EMT is a statewide asset. Enhancing state image. Our efforts open so many other doors for the state. COVID and reputation management is needed.
· Need great testimonials from around the state. Encourage all to send stories in soon.
Listening Sessions Recap and Industry Survey – Beth Helle: Strategic Direction was discussed at the September meeting. Since then, four listening sessions were held October 7 & 12, with approximately 175 industry participants. Followed up with industry engagement survey; received approximately 236 responses to the survey. Summary deck of industry engagement survey was shared. Recordings of the listening sessions can be found at Listening Sessions / Tourism Industry Minnesota (mn.gov)
Strategic Direction Status – Lauren Bennett McGinty: Moving forward, the Strategic Direction will align with our fiscal year (July 1- June 30) and not the calendar year. Will have an outline for next 6 months. In June, we will have a broader strategic direction for following year.
Marketing – Jaye Peterson, Kallie Quinn, Meghan McCollum from Adventure:
Fall and Winter 2022 : strong seasonal growth and continue optimization:
· Double digit lift results across key brand measures
· Maintaining and growing digital channels despite significant drop in spend year over year (YoY)
Fall Campaign Highlights
· Awareness, familiarity and favorability: Exceeding benchmark in all three areas.
· Despite significant drop in spend, the campaign is growing momentum.
· Google will be taking away third-party cookies. In 2022, EMT must focus on first-party lead generation strategies.
· Top campaign performer: Hiking. Saw 30% brand awareness lift
· 24% of consumers reached with our media have traveled to/in Minnesota. Top geographies impacted by our ads: Denver, Missouri, South Dakota.
· Diverse audiences saw the highest behavioral lift: Asian travelers- 26% lift; Hispanic travelers saw 31% lift.
FY22 Winter Campaign
· Winter spot has been running since 11/15. Strong performer for video engagement.
· Also featuring niche creative through museums and winter recreation.
· Working to connect with diverse audiences. Partnering with AFAR (travel publisher) to connect these audiences.
· Driving engagement with digital display and social presence. Facebook and Instagram are top performers.
FY22 Spring/Summer/ Campaign
· Has been filmed and captured. In production and editing stage.
Public Relations – Alyssa Hayes:
PR Highlights for CY21:
· Included in outlets that cover travel, food, leisure entertainment, general consumer, business and trade
· Seeing coverage returning to pre-pandemic numbers.
· Generating coverage by inbound media requests and working with Weber Shandwick on desk side meetings.
· Final Q4 media outreach underway: Holiday activities press release going out December 2.
· Holiday shopping, holiday attractions and towns, Minnesota winter adventures, national side desk outreach
· 2022 Q1 stories include: Minnesota winter adventures, NCCAA women’s Final Four, Minnesota in bloom, continued opportunistic pitch and desk side outreach planned.
· Trends seeing for spring travel: safe and affordable, outdoors, socially distanced. Focusing on domestic travel. State and national parks. Inspiring, bucket-list trip planning; new and noteworthy announcements continue to grab national attention, such as MN’s recent International Dark Sky certifications.
· 2022 topline goals: continue to position the state in local, regional and national travel conversation. Move MN’s destination brand and travel economy forward. Reach new audiences across demos and locations; align PR with niche marketing efforts in target markets.
Weber Shandwick and EMT have produced the Minnesota Hotdish newsletter that promotes latest travel tips, destination news and stories from the Land of 10,000 lakes.
International Marketing Return/Market Development Update – Beth Helle, Leann Kispert and Alyssa Hayes:
Canada “Welcome Back” Campaign : Border reopened on November 8. EMT was ready to welcome tourists back. Created a targeted campaign that was promoted in Thunder Bay and Winnipeg. Campaign elements included search engine marketing, targeted billboards, and print insertion in Winnipeg and Thunder Bay newspapers (including insertion of 20k MN Travel Guides in Winnipeg). Shared creative with Minnesota Welcome Centers for digital messaging. Paid social media began around November 1 with several messages and creative elements. Used to track consumer sentiment in Canada. Sent media kits to Canadian media which were well received. Conducted media interviews all week. Senator Klobuchar held a press conference and Governor Walz proclaimed Canadian Travelers Day on November 8. Results are already showing Canada up 300% YoY; up over 36% from 2019.
As Canadian travelers leave the U.S., they must take a COVID test to reenter Canada. This is a major issue as testing facilities are not readily available. A task force has been created to work on this. EMT’s role is to communicate the correct resources for travel planning and testing requirement.
International Marketing : Restarting international marketing with our target markets, with the exception of Asia. Entering with caution as some target market countries are returning to lockdown/partial lockdown, limiting travel. U.S. estimated recovery time for international travel is about 24 months out. Connecting flights are returning. International travelers are so important as they typically stay twice as long as domestic travelers and spend three times as much, also bring new dollars into state. Our primary partner in international marketing is Brand USA, the destination marketing organization for the U.S.
International recovery will be led by national parks.
Group Tour: Group tour has been paused for several months. This has been an important market segment for Minnesota and has changed dramatically over the years. Need to evolve our approach and integrate group opportunities into our overall consumer messaging – publications, website, etc.
Upcoming Shows and Activities: Attending American Bus Association (ABA) show in early January. This show attracts several thousand attendees. EMT is expecting approximately 40 one-on-one appointments and leads will be available and shared with the industry.
Industry Education – Beth Helle:
Explore Minnesota Tourism Conference: Will be held March 1 at the Sheraton Minnetonka. Registration is $99. Keynote speakers include PJ Fleck, Amanda Brinkman and Adam Sacks. Awards will be presented during luncheon. Space is limited to 250 attendees. Registration will be open soon – more information shared in EMT Express and through dedicated emails. Tourism Conference / Tourism Industry Minnesota (mn.gov)
Educational Webinars: Two sessions have been presented. Remaining sessions will be held January 11 “The Power of Hospitality in Leadership, Business and Life” by Taylor Scott and on February 8 “No Budget? No Problem! Digital Marketing Moves to Make Now that Get the Most Bang for Your Nonexistent Buck” by Shelia Scarborough.
Industry Opportunities for 2022 – Beth Helle:
2022 Marketing Grant Program: Applications will be accepted beginning at 9 am on December 8 and closes in March, or until all funds are used ($1,000,000 available). This program is funded solely from our general fund budget. Previously, the max award was $7k; increased to $15k this round. All matches are all 1:1. Trying to promote collaborate initiatives. New tactics are included in guidelines. Training webinar was held December 1. Marketing grant webinar was recorded and available
2022 Tourism Marketing Grant / Tourism Industry Minnesota (mn.gov)
Grant application can be found at MGP22 Application_tcm1135-509975.pdf (mn.gov)
Co-ops: Will be taking a different approach. Committed to evolve program through the year. Launching several new meetings and coops in January.
A full recording of this meeting is available https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_M7-C2Q5hQU
EXPLORE MINNESOTA TOURISM
COUNCIL MEETING
Tuesday, September 14
10 am – 12 noon
Virtual/Zoom Meeting
Members: Bo Bigelow, Jean Bowman, Megan Christianson, Chuck Dougherty, Steve Dowling, Maureen Failor, Bob Herman, Bud Johnston, Sen. Susan Kent, Marianna Khauv, Dave Langhoff, Paul Larsen, Nick Leonard, Molly Luther, Terry Mattson, Peter Mihajlov, Anna Tanski, Ben Thuringer, Danyl Vavreck, Cindy Wannarka, Jana Webster
EMT Staff: Amy Barrett, Lisa Havelka, Beth Helle, Leann Kispert, Peggy Lindquist, Mike Meyer, Sean Lydon, Gretchen Nussbaum, Lori Peterson, Julie Ramer, Derek Ramthun, John Schultz
Guests: Joel Carlson, Matt Cera, Kallie Hagerman, Meghan McCollum, Jaye Peterson, Sarah Psick, Jessica Tabbutt, Anna Thill, Xinyi Qian, Julie Wearn, Ben Wogsland
Welcome & Approval of Minutes: Minutes from the June 9th Council meeting were previously emailed. Motion to approve minutes as submitted was introduced by Maureen Failor and seconded by Steve Dowling. All council members in attendance in favor of passing the minutes as submitted. Motion carried.
EMT Staff and Office Status – Leann Kispert:
Director Search & Hiring: Leann Kispert continues to serve as Interim Director for the agency. Interviews are being held with hiring committee. The committee will make recommendations to Governor/Lt. Governor and top three candidates will interview with Governor. Hope to have announcement in October.
Hiring freeze for State of Minnesota has been lifted. EMT currently has two postings for Welcome Centers – one at Thompson Hill, the other at Moorhead. Also hiring a marketing coordinator. Working on position description for content creator for communications team; this position was vacated by Brian Fanelli.
Congratulations to Derek Ramthun on his appointment to NE Regional Representative. He will also continue his duties as EMT’s marketing strategist overseeing our co-op marketing program.
Introduction of New Research Analyst : Welcome to Gretchen Nussbaum, EMT’s new research analyst.
Status on EMT Return to Office: Pushed back to January 2022, at the earliest. Staff are only allowed essential business travel; travel is very minimal. State implemented vaccination policy – staff who are required to be in the workplace must be vaccinated or test weekly.
Marketing – Adventure/True Media – Callie Hagerman and Meghan McCollum:
Spring Summer Campaign Recap:
· Over 187 million impressions as a result of the campaign. 17% were added value.
· Drove over 734k pageviews from paid media.
Top performers:
· MN Scoop - one of the most efficient & best received campaigns of the year by the metrics
· Diversity efforts – generating strong engagement
· Search Campaign – outperforming benchmark
· Food & Drink - 40% more efficient than average. Culinary campfire series, featuring chef Yia Vang, contributed to the success of the food & drink niche.
Visitation Study Results: 15% of consumers reached with our media have traveled to/in Minnesota. Reached 3.1 million travelers with our media.
Summer Website Traffic up well beyond pre-pandemic 2019 levels:
· + 11% website sessions
· + 33% pageviews
o Seeing pageviews vastly outpace session volume growth at this clip demonstrates an appetite for travel content from visitors, along with underscoring some potential successes of the new website vs. old site
Fall Overview :
· Previewed brand and dining spots, which are presently in market
· Sponsored content: Backpacker Hiking article, AFAR Articles (supporting black businesses and best hikes with Dudley Edmondson)
Mercury Award @ ESTO: Congratulations to EMT for its ‘ Best of Broadcast Advertising: TV ’ recognition, edging out some State DMO competitors with significantly larger production budgets.
Public Policy Report:
Industry Survey Recap – Gretchen Nussbaum : Summer 2021 Tourism and Hospitality Industry Survey. Full recap can be found at https://mn.gov.tourism-industry/research/reports.jsp
Highlights:
· 74% of firms growing or in a stable but positive financial position.
· Summer customer demand varied by region. Summer 2021 customer demand relative to supply capacity varied by region.
· Summer lodging revenue up strongly, except in southern region. Higher summer 2021 revenue relative to summer 2020 for 81% or more of overnight accommodations.
· Food and drink establishments’ summer revenue more varied by region.
· Return to pre-pandemic levels varies by business (and season). 34% of firms at or close to pre-pandemic business levels and 41% more expect to be by end of 2022.
· Tight labor availability continues to pose a challenge. Very tight labor availability reported by 63% of firms.
· Fall 2021 lodging revenue expectations differ by regions. Accommodations’ fall revenue outlooks range from 73% of metro to 49% of central MN firms expecting higher revenue relative to 2020.
· Somewhat higher fall 2021 revenue expectations for food and drink establishments in 4 of 5 regions.
Council Comments:
· Travelers are frustrated with impacts of understaffing at restaurants.
· Outside of metro travel: when talking to guests, there is a feeling of safety when they leave the metro. Huge trend for summer travel to out of metro (may be temporary).
· Ability to staff is an enormous issue; not sure how that will trend. EMT will ask questions about labor availability on future surveys.
· Hospitality Minnesota notes that survey data showed regional differences/across sectors, i.e. Hotel/motel vs resorts/campgrounds.
· DEED projecting 80k workers coming off unemployment with the expiration of expanded benefits.
· In full report, did call out comments about customers’ expectations from the business perspective.
· Labor shortage was a talking point in press release and media interviews.
· Asking customers to be patient. Industry is working to provide best possible experience possible. Tried to get messaging out to general public.
EDA Grants – two distinct programs: Leann Kispert:
Minnesota’s allocation on non-competitive EDA funds is $9.194 million
· DEED is designated lead agency and coordinating the application.
· Governor Walz has approved the following allocations and purposes:
o DNR: $4 million for paddling infrastructure projects
o EMT: $4 million for out-of-state tourism marketing
o DEED: $1 million for talent recruitment campaign
A look at the competition: Wisconsin received $5.56 million in EDA and $7.5 million in ARP; North Dakota received $2.7 million in EDA and $7 million in CARES; Michigan received $10.3 million in EDA; Illinois received $18.4 million in EDA; Wyoming received $2.7 million from EDA.
Please note: this information is preliminary and pending approval in some states; final funding amounts may differ.
EDA competitive grant :
· $240 million available through competitive grant program (must be used for construction/infrastructure projects, job creative, economic development initiatives, etc.)
· Applications directly through EDA. First priority deadline is January 2022
EDA competitive grant updated from University of Minnesota Tourism Center: Need clarification if project can cross EDA districts. Minnesota designated to Chicago office. Goal is to work with design team members to pull together a proposal. Hope to cross to make it a national proposal. Otherwise, Great Lakes grant colleagues will submit grant proposal before end of 2021.
Minnesota State ARP Funds: How state will use/divide available funds will be debated during the next legislative session. State of Minnesota/MMB has sent out a survey to gather input on how to use ARP funds. Survey closes Sept. 17. Encourage tourism to take the survey and recommend how money can continue to support tourism in Minnesota. Governor will make supplemental budget recommendations and legislature must approve/vote. Want tourism and hospitality at the top, so encourage all to take the survey! Survey can be found at: https://mngov/mmb/arp/
2022 Legislative Housekeeping and Budget Requests – Beth Helle :
· Housekeeping request: Additional Council seats – 6 seats - Arts/Culture, Sports, Tribal Nations, Outdoor Recreation, Chambers of Commerce - Underrepresented Communities, Tourism Business Owner – Underrepresented Communities
· Not seeking change to revenue / match funds language this session
· Budget requests - In 2019, EMT dedicated $950k to industry programs (grants, coops) aside from new events grant money. Last year, this was tripled to $3 million (20% of overall budget) because many of EMT’s programs were paused. Last session, we asked for $6 million for recovery grants; we received $750k. Our request for next legislative session is due in early October.
What is industry looking for/support through next session?
o So many success stories to point to. Need to share stories about how crisis grant program impacted every corner of the state.
o Fragility of recovery.
o We are at a vulnerable time. 2/3 of food service/restaurants took on debt during COVID. There is a real need for this industry. Will continue to advocate for direct relief to those operating right now (Hospitality Minnesota).
o Need to expand the workforce.
o Council/industry needs to drive this. Cannot just be lobbyists asking for money. Need industry support.
o Industry survey results: some of the industry (resorts) may be back at pre-pandemic numbers. Not everyone is recovering equally. Southern and metro are hurting. Show/share more data that full recovery has not happened equally. Tourism is front door to economic recovery. Show how dollars benefit other areas of the economy. Need to show strong message of why this investment is still necessary. Still need state assistance. Need Council and industry to speak in united voice.
o General recovery grant money is what would be best in this budget year. (Last request: Requested $2 million last year – one in each year of the biennium.)
o Local units of government were added to new grant language.
o What is dollar amount request EMT should make, and do we have right supporting data for request? $1 million should be the floor.
o Areas that still need direct help: Lodging industry in metro; events; DMOs. Funding is going to public safety, unsheltered residents. Destination marketing doesn’t seem to be a priority. Tourism has immediate needs - staffing is cut, struggling to bring conventions to town. Need marketing dollars and help in guiding EDA opportunities through Chicago office as far as we package capital approvement, infrastructure. Need to learn more and act quickly.
Industry Relations – Beth Helle:
Recovery Grants : EMT received $750k for use in immediate projects. Guidelines posted this week, also hosted webinar to review guidelines with the industry. This is a totally different program. Information can be found at: Grant Programs / Tourism Industry Minnesota (mn.gov) Grant awards up to $20k. Funding limits based on overall budget. No match required. On first come, first review basis. Application is available and regional team can answer questions now. Accepting applications beginning September 15. Projects must be completed by June 30, 2022.
International/Market Development Update : Boarders for international travel again restricted to the United States. IPW taking place in Las Vegas at the end of September. EMT will not be participating but some partners are still attending. Also had to cancel BrandUSA Travel Week in UK due to travel restrictions for staff as well as those of clients attending this event. Uncertain of NTA (National Tour Association) in November. Cancelled Group Tour Showcase in October. Continue to be in close contact with international partners. Currently running print in domestic trade publications to maintain our visibility. Working on international coop marketing (Rocky Mountain International + North Dakota) to create new international itinerary to launch when the time is right – Great Lakes to Great Plains.
Explore Minnesota Speaker Series : Kicks off October 5th leading up to the 2022 Annual Tourism Conference. Each of the 30-minute webinars will be followed by a live Q&A as an opportunity address some of today's most relevant professional development and marketing topics. They will take place on Tuesdays at 11 a.m. CST.
Oct. 5: Uncommon Connections: Cultivating a Trusted Network presented by Thom Singer.
Nov. 9: Cultural Sensitivity for the Accidentally Insensitive presented by Shannan Paul.
Jan. 11: The Power of Hospitality in Leadership, Business and Life presented by Taylor Scott.
Feb. 8: No Budget? No Problem! Digital Marketing Moves to Make Now That Get the Most Bang for Your Nonexistent Bucks presented by Shelia Scarborough.
2022 Explore Minnesota Tourism Conference : Conference will be held March 1, 2022. RFP has been issued, to be held within the 7-county metro area. This will be a one-day, hybrid conference. Tourism marketing awards will be presented at luncheon. Review RFP here . All questions to be directed to MMB and proposals due October 1, 2021.
Fall Listening Sessions : Currently scheduled for October 6 and 7 but may be changing dates due to MACVB conflict. There will be a total of four listening sessions; two for DMO/Lodging specifically; two where everyone is welcome. This will help to inform agency priorities for strategic planning. Would like Council members to be involved. Please let Beth Helle know which sessions you can attend so that we can introduce you as a member of the Council.
Strategic Planning – Leann Kispert and Beth Helle:
Thank you to those who responded prior to today’s meeting. Additional comments can be sent to leann.kispert@state.mn.us.
· Will prepare an initial, abbreviated plan for 6 months (January – June 2022) and update in spring of 2022 for July 2022-June 2023.
· Draft plan available by November 1, will send out for review.
· Public posting and input from November 15-November 29.
· Council will review final draft at December meeting.
· Council strategic planning session will be moved to December (used to be held at June meeting).
Following are the questions Council members are asked to respond to:
· Biggest obstacles to industry recovery that EMT can address with its scope or influence
· How can EMT best help to accelerate industry recovery within its scope or influence
· Research or metrics to strengthen the perception of tourism as an essential industry in Minnesota: (What data do we need to strengthen our story telling; strengthen the perception of tourism in Minnesota.)
· What could EMT do to support or engage your constituency that we are not currently
· What do you see as the most important action EMT should take as a marketing organization in the next year?
Council Comments to above questions:
· NEW: meetings and conventions industry: road to recovery. What is EMT’s space in helping with meetings and conventions recovery: Please share your thoughts with EMT on this.
· Opportunity to help remind planners about Minnesota as a safe, affordable and desirable meeting location. Does impact resorts/hotels with meeting space, not just convention centers. Definitely a role for EMT. How can we be effective partners?
· Tremendous opportunity to work together. Most of the focus is on tourism and travel but must maintain meetings/conventions sector. Need EMT’s help to assist in brand image.
· Every destination (particularly metro) scrambling to book/rebook business. Little less cooperation right now. Need to have cooperative effort to partner with bigger image.
· Area where EMT can assist: Co-op for data/software tools (similar to EMT dashboard), track credit card spend in the area. Powerful tool for DMOs to have in order to educate elected officials on the power of tourism. Research firms are starting to get into dashboards and monitoring. Could be more options on the table. Very expensive but all need to tell our story around data points.
Other:
Governor’s Openers:
· Explore Minnesota and MN Department of Natural Resources meeting in early October to learn intentions of 2022 fishing opener. Liked statewide fishing competition like at the Ottertail County opener in May 2021.
· Deer Opener in November: EMT has not heard anything
· EMT is not as the lead agency but as support and community liaison for openers.
Future Council Meeting Dates :
December 2. Will be virtual.
Return Strategic Planning questionnaire to Leann Kispert this week.
Retirement Party for John Edman:
Invitation to all Council members for John Edman’s retirement party: October 5 (MACVB conference). Will be held from 5-7 pm at Radisson Blu at Mall of America.
View the recording of the Council meeting here: https://youtu.be/XnWqjcg1vHw