Title
Receive a report regarding marketing efforts for County of Monterey Parks Division; provide comments and recommendations to Parks staff.
Report
RECOMMENDATION:
It is recommended the Monterey County Parks Commission receive a report regarding marketing efforts for County of Monterey Parks and Lakes; provide comments and recommendations to Parks staff.
SUMMARY/DISCUSSION:
Marketing efforts and rebranding of the Parks Division are currently underway with cooperation from SEE Monterey (formerly Monterey County Convention and Visitors Bureau), County of Monterey Communications Division, and Vista Recreation.
In 2022, the Parks Division was contacted by SEE Monterey regarding photo shoots in various parks that they would be using on their website to market recreational opportunities in the region. Photoshoots took place at Jacks Peak Park, Toro Park and Lake San Antonio. The images captured have been used in television commercials, in print media and on their website. One of the SEE Monterey website pages is for the “Top 10 Hiking Destinations,” with Jacks Peak Park in the number one position and Toro Park as number four. Both parks were higher than many other scenic areas such as Big Sur. The partnership is continuing with SEE Monterey helping to distribute County Parks rack cards to local hotels and hospitality venues.
In fall 2023, the County Communications team partnered with MP Media and KSBW Creative Services to create two, 30-second television commercials; one for all County parks and recreation areas and another focused-on County day-use parks. The ads aired in both English and Spanish, fall through spring, on local media stations during nightly newscasts and during the NFL football regular and post season games, especially during the San Francisco 49ers games. County Communication absorbed a majority of the cost for production and airtime, with Parks contributing approximately $13,000. The ads appeared to help with creating a 17% increase in day-use reservation revenues over the previous year. In addition to the ads, County Communications has created a new Parks graphic/logo and produced a rack card detailing each parks attributes. Parks has started to rebrand the division as County of Monterey Parks and Lakes. The rack card has been distributed to the County Supervisors’ offices, SEE Monterey, Laguna Seca and various County departments that have public lobbies with display capabilities. County Communications will continue to partner with Parks to create additional ads and help rework the current logos used on the Buildings and Grounds uniforms as well as assisting with creating a new Park Ranger logo and badge.
In addition to the marketing efforts of the Parks and Lakes Division, the Lake Nacimiento Resort concessionaire, Vista Recreation, has been busy with marketing and promotions of their own which is paying off significantly during this time of high water. Radio ads are aired in Southern Monterey County and San Luis Obispo County. Parks staff has also requested that the radio ads be aired on Spanish radio stations in Monterey and San Luis Obispo Counties. Vista Recreation is also partnering with various boating and water recreation companies who are shooting videos and taking static images for social media marketing. Vista and the County have sub-agreements with these entities outlining the parameters of their efforts including that the footage be given to both Vista and Parks and Lakes for our own marketing purposes. These are both nationally recognized and local companies that water enthusiasts are very familiar with, some of which have hundreds of thousands to millions of followers on social media platforms. Vista Recreation is consistently coming up with promotional opportunities to increase revenues and visitorship during slow days and seasons such as two for one deals, mid-week specials and boat rental discounts. With the completion of the lodge renovations in the next 8-12 months, additional revenue will be realized as Vista Recreation will be able to rent out the lodges during the fall and winter seasons rather than closing them due to water intrusion issues during the wet season.
Parks staff will include a presentation with this item that will include airing of the ads and print material mentioned above.
Prepared by: Bryan Flores, Chief of Parks (831) 796-6425
Approved by: Randell Ishii, MS, PE, TE, PTOE, Director of Public Works, Facilities, & Parks