Lots of questions asked at BID marketing meeting

Eduardo del Rivero, left, of Jaguar, part of Marketing
Committee, with Carl Templer, new BID Director

I went to the BID (Business Improvement District) Marketing meeting yesterday, I hadn't been for quite a while. There's a new BID Director, Carl Templer, from Milwaukee, and I liked him the minute I met him earlier in the day, so I wanted to sit in on the meeting and I'm glad I did. From what I see, there are going to be some changes for the better at the BID and in the Grove.

Carl's first point was to state that basically the BID has no mission statement or vision. He asked, "What is the strategic plan?"

A large part of the meeting was about the Marketing Budget for the year. The budget was cut, and many events will have to go without funding or get less funding if this isn't rectified. The Marketing Committee wants to go back to the BID Finance Committee and ask for more money. They feel they need it to market the village, especially through events which always brings a lot of people into town. I always wondered why events cannot just support themselves without always running to the BID for funds, but that's another story.

It appears that money can be saved by not paying for an extra Social Media person (there's one already) and it also turns out that the administration costs went up; there is even money in that budget for another person to work in the BID office, but when Peggy Quattro, Marketing Manager of CocoWalk, who is on the BID Marketing Committee, asked about that, she was ignored, which seemed out of character for the Marketing Committee, which seemed quite open and upfront about everything. I was curious about that, too. What is the extra money for? Who is getting that as an administrator?

Peggy was not shy about saying, "Maybe if we cut back on flower baskets, we can put it into marketing!" I had to laugh and agree.

A large chunk of BID money is going toward co-op advertising, about $140,000 worth, I figure, per season. There are 28 businesses involved and each is getting $5000 from the BID, which is again, per season! So for summer alone, that is $140,000!

Peggy also brought up the fact that most of the advertisers in the co-op program advertise anyway, so why is the BID supplementing them, that money, she suggested, should go into other advertising concepts, like maybe in national publications, which is not being done now.

Lots of intelligent conversation happened around that table yesterday, and it was open and all inclusive, as the audience was made part of the process, and I see good things coming from this.

Afterthought: As Peggy mentions in the comments below, the question about the salary for the extra administrative person was brought up because the money was coming directly from the marketing budget.