City of Williamsburg Request for Tourism Promotion Contingency Funding

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "City of Williamsburg Request for Tourism Promotion Contingency Funding"

Jade Richards
5 years ago
Views:

City of Williamsburg Request for Tourism Promotion Contingency Funding Please complete the following and return to City of Williamsburg, City Manager s Office (401 Lafayette Street, Williamsburg, VA

Applications received within three (3) weeks of the next City Council work session will be held to the next meeting month. See the City Council calendar here.

1 City of Williamsburg Request for Tourism Promotion Contingency Funding Please complete the following and return to City of Williamsburg, City Manager s Office (401 Lafayette Street, Williamsburg, VA 23185) or to citymanager@williamsburgva.gov. Funding requests should be submitted for an initial review at least three (3) weeks prior to presentation to City Council. Applications received within three (3) weeks of the next City Council work session will be held to the next meeting month. See the City Council calendar here. Agency/organization name: Address: Phone: Contact name: Name of project/activity: Mark one: NEW PROJECT/ACTIVITY ADDITION TO EXISTING PROJECT/ACTIVITY Please provide detailed information on the project or activity and how it advances the City s goal to increase overnight visitation to the City. Add page(s) as necessary. How are you coordinating promotion of your event with the Greater Williamsburg Chamber and Tourism Alliance and the Virginia Tourism Corporation in order to leverage exposure from this event? What is the anticipated return on investment (ROI)? Does it complement or add to existing tourism products or activities in the City? YES NO If yes, how: Will you provide marketing, attendance and ROI data with the City at the conclusion of the project/activity? YES NO Will the City be listed as a sponsor for the project/activity? YES NO Please identify City funding received by the project/activity in the current budget year and during the past five (5) years. Please remember to include your marketing plan with your application. Williamsburg City staff will review the request and provide a recommendation for City Council s consideration. City Council will review the request and staff recommendation at the next monthly Council work session for applications received by the application deadline. A funding decision will be made by majority vote of the Council at a City Council meeting following the work session presentation. If you have any questions, please contact the City Manager s Office at (757)

2 The Muscarelle Museum of Art Presents: Botticelli and the Search for the Divine: Florentine Painting between the Medici and the Bonfires of the Vanities February 11 through April 6, 2017 in Williamsburg, Virginia A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to experience the genius of one of the most beloved artist in all of history and the greatest painter of the Italian Renaissance will kick off a groundbreaking exhibition only in Williamsburg. Italian scholars and Italian government officials have called this the largest and most important exhibition of Botticelli ever! The show will feature sixteen Botticelli paintings (twenty eight paintings in total), most with life-size figures, from major museums and churches in six Italian cities. This is a landmark event for our region highlighted by one of only two of Botticelli s paintings of the iconic, life-size standing Venuses that will be on view for the first time in the United States. This piece will be displayed with other Botticelli mythologies and portraits in this major international loan exhibition organized by the Muscarelle Museum of Art in Williamsburg, Va., in partnership with our Italian colleagues and partners, Associazione Culturale Metamorfosi. Sandro Botticelli (Florence, ) was one of the most original and creative painters of the Italian Renaissance. Today his name and images are known as widely as Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, who were his friends. Together with his deeply moving religious images, Botticelli is renowned as the unchallenged master of classical mythologies. In his time, he also replicated the central figure of his iconic Birth of Venus in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence in paintings with dark backgrounds stripped bare of place and time, just displaying the solitary beautiful nude. The exhibition is curated and organized by the Muscarelle Museum of Art, which will serve as the opening venue. It moves to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston after its run in Williamsburg, which is its only other venue. TOURISM IMPACT Economic impact and geographic draw. In 2013 and in 2015, the Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci exhibitions of the Muscarelle broke attendance records for the museum, seeing over 50,000 visitors to Michelangelo and over 60,000 to Leonardo. In 2017, for Botticelli we anticipate that these numbers will increase, and that we will continue to draw visitors from across the country. This all occurring over a seven week period in the most down-traffic months of the year February and March. These tens of thousands of people were observed blanketing our local restaurants, stores, inns and hotels all carrying their Michelangelo or Leonardo catalogue or gallery card. The needle moved significantly in our community in every way and pinnacled in each exhibition receiving one billion media impressions across all traditional, print, electronic and social media sources virtually around the world. We have had people come from as far away as Sydney, Australia to take

3 advantage of Colonial Williamsburg, Williamsburg Inn and Muscarelle Leonardo weekend, for example. The greatest draw of people that are impacted by these marketing and advertising dollars came from an easy driving distance of the greater Northern Virginia area and from the Raleigh-Durham and Charlotte areas. Cultural opportunities. Our local community will host an art exhibition that rivals that of any large city in the United States. Guests have the opportunity to view art that cannot be viewed anywhere in the country at no other time of their life. Unlike many exhibitions that travel extensively, visitors have just two venues in which to view this show, making the call to action very strong. Education. This exhibition will provide learning opportunities for students at all levels, from younger students through college, through guided docent tours, lectures, and special events for students. PROPOSED USE OF ADVERTISING FUNDS Our marketing outreach plan consists of the combination of owned, earned and paid media. We propose to utilize grant funds to extend our paid advertising portion of our outreach and bring more visitors to the Williamsburg area. Markets and Demographics. We will focus on paid advertising in the following markets: Washington, D.C. metro area, Raleigh and Charlotte. We are seeking to reach out to age 30+ individuals with higher education and family incomes. Media. We propose the use of a mix of traditional and digital media. Traditional media will reach much of our older and more affluent audience, while digital media can target specific audiences and can be very efficient. Our media mix would include digital, public radio and newspaper, with a specific plan to be prepared that outlines outlets and costs. Execution on the plan can begin immediately, and placements would be scheduled to begin running in February We are so pleased to be able to bring this extraordinary exhibition to historic Williamsburg. This will never happen again for those who love art, and for those who want to learn more. We feel that it drives visitors to Williamsburg where people can experience all the other wonderful world-class offerings of the area besides the Muscarelle Museum of Art. We already have solid evidence of this so it is not so speculative

4 There is much opportunity to think creatively about developing packages, leveraging holidays, such as Valentine s Day Botticelli and Venus, as well as bolstering our local economy via the increase in tourism. It would seem inconceivable that there could be a more perfect, effective and most responsible use of the City tourism contingency fund and other resources to market such major event than this world-class opportunity and it does not last one day or a week, but seven weeks.

5 Media. We propose the use of a mix of traditional and digital media. Traditional media will reach much of our older and more affluent audience, while digital media can target specific audiences for us and can be very efficient. Our media mix would include digital, public radio and newspaper, with a specific plan to be prepared that outlines outlets and costs. Washington, DC and Raleigh NC: In both markets, we will create ads that position a visit to the Botticelli exhibition as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Creative: Our creative will promote the stunning beauty of the art, as well as the history of the Williamsburg area, with links to resources and packages. Audience: Our audience will be educated and will have discretionary income to travel. Target media: Targeted media will include digital, as well as traditional print publications that include daily newspaper and possibly magazines if appropriate and timely. In the Washington area, the Washington Post print and digital, Washingtonian magazine digital and public radio (WAMU, WETA) are strong outlets for us. In Raleigh, the News and Observer print and digital and public radio (WUNC) will reach the audience we seek. More outlets will be researched as the plan is formulated and rates are negotiated. Execution: We will create a professional media plan with negotiated rates that will be executed by a media buyer. Timing: Work will begin immediately, with placements timed to the opening of the exhibition.

What Was the Renaissance?

THE RENAISSANCE What Was the Renaissance? It was a change in thinking about the world and the place people occupy in it A new philosophy called HUMANISM came to dominate people s thinking Humanism emphasizes