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Finance Report Penny Rich, Finance Chair, reported that the budget is on target at this point. Some large expenditures have been made in postage due to the great response to the latest Southern Living ad. Advertising is on track and the major focus of the budget being on advertising, with a push to keep our tourism dollars from bleeding out to Durham. Laurie Paolicelli offered that our advertising budget of $380,000 is supporting an overall increase in all goods and services while working on bringing in more midweek business travelers and LGBTtravelers and spreading our food message, supporting high school athletics as well as partner with UNC. When you consider that a consumer needs to see a message three to six times this does not look like a great deal of money. Ms. Rich stated that the Arts Commission activity has picked up with the hiring of a new director. Occupancy tax collections are trending 4% ahead to date. Guest /host speakers Laurie Paolicelli introduced our ad agency, Clean Design. They specialize in travel marketing and work with Wilmington and the beaches as well as Boone and Kenan Flagler at UNC. They are here today to explain how they do what they do on behalf of Orange County and why. They began by explaining how the brand has evolved, this includes competition, connections, audience and brand. They start a project by researching and learning about the brand. They recently conducted a refresh of our brand strategy. Their research shows that occupancy rates are growing for weekends more quickly than weekdays. The county's hotels are showing 72% occupancy on weekdays as opposed to 86% on the weekends. In terms of audience they looked at what type of audience to target. That audience is business explorer, groups and meetings and leisure traveler. The common tread for these travelers is that they are open- minded and adventurous. How to connect with these travelers? Paid media, owned media and earned media. Paid media should focus on primary and secondary audiences, which for our brand is not LGBT, Weddings and Local as these would be after secondary audiences. Durham is becoming a very popular destination and we need to set ourselves apart. Durham has a gritty and progressive image, while Chapel Hill /Orange County's image is progressive and refined. The refined aspect includes the arts and cultural offerings. The recommendation here is to own this distinction even more strongly by differentiating ourselves. What should the brand stand for tomorrow? Our brand messaging platform is not your tag line, not your mission statement, it is a focused and prioritized message and directional for visual and verbal brand. Our brand is The New Progressive South. The Chapel Hill area is where you go to encounter experiences unique from your everyday routine. Even if you visit from down the road, the people and the culture is like you traveled 1,000 miles away. Whether it is trying new cuisines, listening to a local indie band, or gathering with open- minded people, the Chapel Hill area adds a level of edge and progressiveness. By visiting the Chapel Hill area, you will broaden your horizons and discover the new progressive South. In the area of creative we should customize some of the successful ads we have created, making them more appealing to the midweek traveler. Customization'was achieved by changing the copy in the ads, these ads are included in the attached power point. The words "extend your stay and discover a new side of the South in Chapel Hill and Orange County" are included in all of these ads. Laurie Paolicelli added that what these ads show is our friendliness and hospitality, which is an ongoing theme, and also what we hear from our visitors. Bill Smith is the most popular ad in terms of responses and we won a state award for our LGBT ad. She also noted the popularity of the music scene in Orange County and that two- thirds of our visitors come for some aspect of the university so we worked with Missy Julian Fox for a forward facing ad of the University, reinforcing the campus and community connection. George Cianciolo noted the retirees who come here to visit while looking for a place to retire are a potential midweek visitor. Our demographic studies have shown our largest group of visitors is couples, average age forty -nine, whos children are grown. It was pointed out by many that we are the new progressive south because of our diversity. The social media ads that are running are more focused on the leisure traveler. Facebook has become a pay 21 Page CHOCVB BOD Meeting October 19, 2016