REPORT TO REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY CHAIR AND AGENCY BOARD TO THE HONORABLE REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY CHAIR AND AGENCY BOARD: DATE: January 25, 2011

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1 REPORT TO REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY CHAIR AND AGENCY BOARD AGENDA ITEM NO. 7.a TO THE HONORABLE REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY CHAIR AND AGENCY BOARD: DATE: January 25, 2011 SUBJECT: AN AGREEMENT WITH COMCAST TO PROVIDE ADVERTISING, PRODUCTION AND OTHER RELATED SERVICES TO THE CONCORD REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY FOR THE CONCORD AUTO DEALER SALES EVENT MARKETING CAMPAIGN TO OCCUR IN FEBRUARY 2011 IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $40,000 Report in Brief Staff recommends the Agency Board authorize the Executive Director to enter into an agreement with Comcast in an amount not to exceed $40,000 to provide advertising, production and other related services to the Redevelopment Agency for the Concord Auto Dealer Sales Event Marketing Campaign which is scheduled to occur January 26 through February 21, The agreement will provide for the following: Background Creation of the scripts for T.V. commercials Scheduling production of commercials with the auto dealers Arranging set up for commercial shoots Production of the T.V. commercials Creation of the commercial-run schedule Equipment rental as needed for the commercial productions A copy of this agreement is included as Attachment 1. The Concord Auto Dealers, in cooperation with the City of Concord, will be promoting and holding the first-ever Concord Auto Dealer Sales Event: Buy Your Next Car in Concord in February Advertising for this sales event will occur the week prior to and through the President s Day Weekend (Sunday, February 13 through Monday, February 21, 2011) at each participating dealership site.

2 APPROVING AN AGREEMENT WITH COMCAST UP TO $40,000 TO PROVIDE ADVERTISING, PRODUCTION AND OTHER RELATED SERVICES TO THE CONCORD REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY FOR THE CONCORD AUTO DEALER SALES EVENT MARKETING CAMPAIGN TO OCCUR IN FEBRUARY 2011 January 25, 2011 Page 2 The following Concord Auto Dealerships will be participating in this event: Audi Concord, Acura of Concord, BMW/Mini of Concord, Concord Chevrolet, Concord Honda, Concord Mitsubishi, Concord Nissan, Concord Toyota, Future Ford Lincoln Hyundai, Lehmer s Buick Pontiac GMC, Lexus of Concord and Niello Infiniti. Concord is home to thirteen auto dealerships which offer twenty different brands and is recognized as the Car Capital of the East Bay. The City, in partnership with the dealerships, want to advertise this fact to all Concord residents, employees of Concord businesses, and to the residents in the greater Contra Costa County area that are considering buying a new or used car within the next six months. Advertising for the event will include T.V. commercials on Comcast and Astound, local radio commercials, online banner and blasts through the Contra Costa Times, local newspaper ads and a dedicated page on the City s website. Additionally, a letter from the City of Concord will be sent to every residential household encouraging them to purchase a new or used vehicle from a local dealership during the event taking advantage of dealer specials and promotions. Marketing will be largely targeted to the Contra Costa County area during a nine-day period starting on Sunday, February 13, The participating auto dealerships have agreed to donate a percentage of sales on each vehicle sold to the United Mt. Diablo Athletic Foundation and Mt. Diablo Music Education Foundation. These organizations will be assisting in promoting and advertising the event to their members, volunteers, parents and schools. The City of Concord s Redevelopment Agency has pledged to contribute at least $30,000 to this sales event. The participating auto dealers are contributing $3,000 to $5,000 to support the event and to ensure that it is a success. The proposed campaign will target the Contra Costa County market using Comcast, Astound, KKDV/KKIQ radio, Contra Costa Times, local newspapers, internet banner advertisements, blasts, along with the letter from the City of Concord encouraging residents to buy their next car in Concord. Local credit unions have been contacted to participate by marketing the event to their members as well as prequalifying their members. The City is also developing a special web site page as part of its Buy Concord program for this sales event. The web site will feature each auto dealer participating in the campaign and link customers to the dealer s web site. Fiscal Impact The event agreement will cover the period through February 21, 2011, at a cost not to exceed $40,000, and will be funded from the Fiscal Year 2010/11 Budget. There is funding available from the Redevelopment Agency s Marketing Budget as well as additional funding from the participating auto dealers to fully support this campaign. Comcast will be paid in installments as the work products are completed, with final payment at the time the advertising campaign is completed.

3 APPROVING AN AGREEMENT WITH COMCAST UP TO $40,000 TO PROVIDE ADVERTISING, PRODUCTION AND OTHER RELATED SERVICES TO THE CONCORD REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY FOR THE CONCORD AUTO DEALER SALES EVENT MARKETING CAMPAIGN TO OCCUR IN FEBRUARY 2011 January 25, 2011 Page 3 Public Contact Notice of the meeting has been posted. The Concord Chamber of Commerce, Comcast, and participating Concord Auto Dealers have received a copy of this report. Recommendation for Action Staff recommends the Agency approve an event agreement with Comcast covering the period January 26 through February 21, 2011, in an amount not to exceed $40,000, and authorize the Executive Director to execute it. The agreement will provide advertising, production and other related services to the Agency for the first-annual Concord Auto Dealer Sales Event scheduled for January 26, 2011 through February 21, Prepared by: Joyce Davidson Seitz Economic Development Specialist joyce.seitz@ci.concord.ca.us Daniel E. Keen Executive Director dan.keen@ci.concord.ca.us Reviewed by: John Montagh Redevelopment & Housing Manager john.montagh@ci.concord.ca.us Attachment 1: Comcast Agreement

4 Buy your next car in Concord! Working to encourage Contra Costa citizens that the best place to buy their next car is found in Concord! The Team that will Make It Happen John Montagh, City of Concord Joyce Seitz, City of Concord John Arnaudon, Concord Mitsubishi Jeff Twibell, Comcast Spotlight 1/6/2011 Contract San Francisco

5 The Marketing Challenges Facing During our last meeting, you outlined the marketing objectives for the : 1. Develop a marketing effort to encourage regional car buyers to buy their next car from Concord. 2. The Campaign is to Culminate on Presidents Day Weekend We are to develop some direct response components that will drive qualified car buyers to Concord Dealerships. 4. We need to be sensitive to the fact that dealerships will need to have some direct exposure in this campaign as they will financially support the effort to enhance the budget provided by the City of Concord. 5. Comcast Spotlight Offered to Host a Mini-Brainstorm to develop out some additional ideas (not all marketing) that may help make this a more well-rounded and effective effort. Concord continues to develop and redefine itself through the years and has become the industrial, commercial and retail leader in Contra Costa. While the citizens of Concord know of this redevelopment and growth, the greater region may not be aware of all the benefits the City of Concord can provide most notably its extraordinary and robust automotive offerings. Our goal is to develop a compelling message and direct response components to drive potential car buyers to Concord. We think our Buy Your Next Car in Concord promotion will be the perfect way to draw regional car buyers to Concord Dealerships.

6 Buy Your Next Car in Concord! While there are a variety of options exist to successfully accomplish this campaign, I believe a variety of specific tactics will help us best deliver the results we seek. Establish and reinforce the Brand: I recommend a localized two to three prong approach to delivering our branding message. I recommend that we utilize television, local internet banner, and local newsprint to convey the message to the Contra Costa area. While reaching the greater bay area can potentially have an impact, our goal should be to grow the share of local sales by Concord Dealerships. It will be easier and more advantageous to our dealers to prevent a unit sale to Walnut Creek or Antioch, than it would to pump in a unit from the Peninsula. That being said I would recommend that we focus all media content to the immediate geography. As for our campaign message I feel we need to keep it simple and consumer-focused, as well as enlist the help of our local Dealers. A simple message means that we need to break down the benefits the consumer will experience when they buy their next car from Concord. From the shear amount and variety of dealership makes, to free parking and the secondary community benefits of buying local; we need to make sure that the consumers understand that its in theirbest interest to buy in Concord. The best way to ensure full dealership participation is to make sure they get face time in the spots. I recommend that whatever scripting we decide on is ultimately delivered by the dealer or local GM s themselves. This will ensure that they have direct exposure in the creative.

7 Buy Your Next Car in Concord! Develop the Infrastructure: Its important that we develop as many opportunities to allow for consumer interaction as possible while not detracting from direct involvement to the local dealers. BuyConcordCars.net: I recommend that we have a special portal developed to serve as a designated hub storing all automotive related data regarding Concord Dealerships (possibly connected to the buyconcord.net website). From Dealer listings, to maps, to real estate reserved for dealership offers, having a specialized webpage would be an excellent way to track engagements. Promote the Direct Response Components: This specific campaign effort culminates on President s Day Weekend 2011 which means its important that we need to be sure there is sufficient and additional reasons to visit the Concord Dealerships that weekend. I recommend a few different ideas: Local Restaurants Stationed at Each Dealership to provide food Coupons and Product Prizes from Local Businesses for Test Drives Network Supported Sweepstakes to be Draw by City of Concord Dealership Donations to Local Organizations for each Car Sold

8 Details of Buy Your Next Car in Concord Flight Dates: Zone Focus: 2/10/2011 2/20/2011 (11 Days) Contra Costa, Contra Costa Plus (Astound) 133,500 Households Comcast Spotlight Elements: Television: $21,220 Recommended Networks: AMC, BRAVO, COMEDY, CNBC, CSBA, Discovery, E!, ESPN, ESPN2, FOOD, FX, Fox News, HGTV, History, Lifetime, MSNBC, TLC, TNT, Travel, USA Dayparts: Primetime, Weekend Daytime, Bonus, Warriors and NBA Basketball, Fixed Position Programming Total Spots: 450 Per Zone Rch: 83.2% Freq: 2.8 Imp: 555,004 Nielsen SF CDMA August 2010 Production: $6,000 Multi-Location Shoot Production 4 Variants of Core Spot Comcast.net Banner Advertisement: $3,600 Home Page Only Impressions : 225,000 per Zone Banner Development Included Promotions: Included Network Support Sweepstakes Includes Prize, POP Displays, 250 Promotional Spots per Zone Estimated Investment: $30,820 I approve the proposed marketing campaign: Signature: Date:

9 Total Campaign Support What you can expect from me I will work in every capacity I can to make this campaign a success. I am happy to provide any research that would help to define or clarify our strategic imperatives. I will be happy to coordinate with my local media partners to ensure a cohesive and consistent marketing message across all media. What the client can expect from Comcast Spotlight Comcast Spotlight will labor to provide you with a targeted and effective marketing campaign. We will ensure that our agency focused production team develops a creative and effective High Definition Commerical(s) that will drive our target demographic to our campaign objectives. You will also have at your disposal a marketing specialist to help coordinate and implement our promotional assets. Lastly, I will reach out the Comcast Systems side to see if there are any additional ways to support this campaign. What is our future meeting schedule I recommend we set a follow up meeting to confirm and flesh out the campaign concepts that resonate best with the committee. During this meeting we can finalize our campaign imperatives and develop action plans to accomplish our benchmarks.

10 Critical Path 10/26 Campaign Concept Discussion 11/8 Flesh out and Confirm Campaign Details 11/26 Dealership Enlistment December Creative Development January 2011 Finalize Promotional Assets 2/7/2011 Campaign Launch