Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2008-06-12 ACE MINUTES• • • ALLIANCE FOR COMMERCE IN ENGLEWOOD June 12, 2008 I. CALL TO ORDER The regular meeting of the Alliance for Commerce in Englewood (ACE) was called to order at 11 :39 a.m. in the City Council Conference Room of the Engle wood Civic Center, Chair Schalk presiding. Present: Absent: Schalk, McDermott, Guinther, Vasi las , Verbeck (entered 11 :42 ), Panetta Espinoza (a lterna te ) Lonborg Also present: Michael Morton, Executive Dir ec tor, Chamber of Commerce Vicki Thomas, Thomas-Martin & Associates Staff present: Darren Hollingsworth, Economic Development Coordinator APPROVAL OF MINUTES May 8, 2008 Chair Schalk stated that the Minutes of May 8, 2008 were to be considered for approval. It was determined there was a quorum. Chair Schalk asked if there were any changes or adjustments to the Minutes. There were none. McDermott moved: Verbeck seconded: THE MINUTES OF MAY 8, 2008 BE APPROVED AS WRITIEN . The motion carried unanimously. 11. ACE BUSINESS MARKETING Sample postcards for shopping areas along Colfax were passed around for all th e members t o look at. Chair Schalk said the first item on the agenda is to continue our discussion about marketing and what ACE can do to help market Englewood . He distributed a mock-up of a sampl e website entitle Englewood Living. He said it was something that maybe ACE could get behind and then rally both the BID and Chamber of Commerce to create a community on- line to promote goods, services, etc. He asked all members, before the ne x t meeting, to go to a website called the Bluebirdbeat.com . He passed around fl ye rs that promoted th e businesses and what is happen i ng · on Colfax. It is supported b y the businesses ; the y have an office in the area and are involved in marketing that area . He reviewed som e of th e promotions they offer. He said Littleton and The Highlands also use webs ites to promote their communities . He said we aren 't doing that. Mr. Panetta asked who "we" is. He said all 1 • • • of Englewood. A lot of other communities are doing community marketing and promotion and businesses are coming together and it is making a difference . Mr. Morton said that is pretty much what we are doing at the Chamber with the Business After Hours . That was our first step and we are now in the process of revising the Chamber website to be more like the Bluebird Beat to be able to provide our members and future members with a lot more of a presence in Englewood . The software the Chamber has no w allows us to be a Bluebird Beat by simply changing it around, but we do need the support of the local businesses . We are currently using about 10 % of our capabilities on the website. The Chamber is working in exactly the direction you are describing. He asked if they could pair up with ACE as a joint effort since the Chamber has a staff and ACE does not. Ms. McDermott said on one of the cards she noticed the Colfax Business Improvement District was recognized. She said it seems this effort would work in conjunction with the BID , the Chamber, etc. Chair Schalk said there is a BID in that area . He said some of his fear is that the BID in Englewood and along Colfax includes a group of people, but does not include the larger group of people. It is exclusionary to some degree. He said he feels somewhat the same with the Chamber; unless you 're a member you're somewhat of an outsider. Mr. Morton said they are changing that view by restructuring the website and the way we do events within the City to bring signature events to Englewood. As we do that we will take members and non-members, but members will get a discount. Mr. Schalk said the Colfax BID has gotten behind the Bluebird Beat with funding to help support their businesses . When a new business is interested in moving to Englewood you don 't just have the government site, which is government oriented, and the individual businesses, you have a community that it working together to help support everyone . He said he feels if the community could come together with funds from ACE , the BID, the Chamber and experienced marketing personnel everyone would benefit. He said he doesn 't feel there is a real good sense of community and the businesses aren't talking well together. The BID is an attempt to move forward with that, but we don't have the unified program and on-line is an important presence that many of the businesses in Englewood aren't utilizing. Ms. McDermott asked if he knew what it would cost to be a member of the Bluebird Beat group. Chair Schalk said he did not. Ms. McDermott said if they have an office and staff they have to have some revenue coming in. She said she would like to know what the y charge the businesses and why would that be significantly different from the BID or the Chamber. Mr. Morton said the BID has a pretty narrow focus; only from Yale to Hampden on Broadway. The members would be upset if you spent their money outside of that district. He said he believes this will be more of a City/Chamber type project, not just because I am on the Chamber, but because we can cover the whole area. 2 • • Mr. Vasilas said the BID area is very defined, but after something like the website is created , the BID can join in and within Englewood Living create their own website where each business would pay a small fee to be included . We need an overall website that covers the entire business community. Ms . McDermott said what you're saying is this greater Englewood Living area would be based upon marketing, the businesses, events; will be more community inclusive as opposed to exclusive. There would be a membership and some type of organization to run it. Is that correct? Chair Schalk said he believes someone needs to be involved in running the website, someone that is not involved in the BID or the Chamber. It is an advertising tool and brings the businesses together. You can then come up with the marketing campaign and promote the website in newspapers such as Westward or The Onion, through radio campaigns, etc. You will be helping the greater of all the community. Mr. Morton said that brings ACE in direct competition with the Chamber. Chair Schalk said he does not want to be in a competition . Mr. Morton said he feels there is a lot of dual issues being talked about here and what the Chamber is implementing now. Chair Schalk said it needs to be a unified effort. Mr. Morton agreed, but thinks there is double duty being made here and he's not sure ACE really needs to do. He said the Chamber is gaining new members and prominence in the community, advertising events; everything that you are talking about is what our website will turn into and just because this website is created we are not going to stop our forward motion . He said by next year we will be the major events coordinator in Englewood . He said that is his goal and it was implemented at the last Board meeting and they are moving in that direction . If we are competing with another entity that is putting on events, that deludes both of us . He cautioned ACE as to what they are doing. Either we are coordinated or each board/entity has a different focus, but what I am hearing is about the same focus as what we are doing at the Chamber. Chair Schalk said he would like to see a new name branded . Chamber of Commerce feels very business to business and not community to business . Mr. Morton said that is very true, but is the old model of the Chamber. He said what he is creating is a new model. Mr. Verbeck said with it being the same name, how will we know it is going to be different. Mr. Morton said it is still the same name. Chair Schalk asked about rebranding. Mr. Morton said they could rebrand saying sponsored by the Chamber. He said they don't want to appear like the old model of the Chamber. He wants to expand way beyond that. Next year will be our focus year on expanding beyond that narrow view of Chambers of the past. The model he is building is a completely different Chamber from any other Chamber in the City. You will see that start to happen gradually by the end of this year. The focus will be on the Community of Englewood, not just business to business. Mr. Verbeck asked if the Chamber would be marketing to the residents as well. Mr. Morton said that was correct. That will begin with Englewood Days. It will be a much more varied • event than ever seen before. 3 • • • Mr. Vasilas asked Mr. Morton if he had a project right now in his hands to create what he is proposing. Mr. Morton said he did. Mr. Vasilas also wanted to know if he will be using his staff or contracting outside. Mr. Morton asked for clarification . Mr. Vasilas said he doesn 't feel the current Chamber staff is capable of creating a new website. Mr. Morton noted he has added two new staff members in the last week and a new computer system that will be installed by Wednesday. Mr. Vasilas said that was very good news. Several members agreed we need a new brand and not use the Englewood Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Morton agreed and said it is not a great name, but said he has also changed a lot of perceptions around town and with different business groups as to who we are and how we are moving forward . Chair Schalk said he felt the mixers were a good thing and there are some good things happening. He asked if there was some way ACE , the BID and the Chambers could work together to come up with a new name that we can start branding that we all feel represents our community. Mr. Verbeck suggested dividing it into pieces ... ACE moves forward with Chair Schalk 's idea of creating the new marketing piece, Mr. Morton works on rebranding the Chamber and once everything is complete it is turned over to the Chamber. Mr. Hollingsworth introduced Ms. Vicki Thomas who has worked with the State of Colorado in community branding assessments as it relates to marketing. Ms . Thomas said she is attending ACE strictly as a volunteer and her capacity is to share information with ACE and to also be a resource. She distributed a flyer entitled Community Marketing, Overview of: Best Practices When to Use Outside Resources. She gave a brief overview of branding and marketing. She stated community marketing impacts residents, tourism, business and revenue. Community marketing is different than business marketing in two specific areas 1) when it comes to decision making you look at your business as an owner and you make a decision. When you look at the community you have a lot of different people involved. One of the challenges is in getting a consensus. 2) the other area is implementation. Again, in your own business you can say the marketing/sales department will do that, but when in a community branding/marketing effort you are bringing in a lot of different people. She reviewed the Best Practices list of ten activities and When to Use Outside Resources. Mr. Vasilas said implementing things is not easy. He said all three entities, ACE, the BID and the Chamber of Commerce all need to sit down and work together to find the branding name . From then on it will become easier to implement using all three budgets. Mr. Hollingsworth asked all the members to introduce themselves to Ms. Thomas. Ms. McDermott said what ACE needs to tell Ms. Thomas is that this has been an evolution for us. She said she believes it is safe to say we would all like a community that looks like Littleton. Even though we are entirely different in terms of demographics we like the idea that Littleton puts on a very successful parade every year and the community comes together and acts very community minded. They are inclusive not only with their businesses but with their residents as well. Englewood has numerous businesses and 50,000 plus people going in and out of Englewood every day. We can't figure out why, when we have 4 • • • this beautiful community, we ha v e numerous works of art, we have enthusiasti c business es, we can't make the shift to be more consistent in our community events . We worked a y ear on establishing the BID so that the downtown businesses are now organized . What we struggle with is the rest of the community that has so many businesses in it. Wh y can't w e all get off the dime and become more participatory and proj ect this fabulous community imag e. She asked the rest of the memb ers to help tell Ms. Thomas what we a re stru gg lin g w ith . Mr. Verbeck said we have created the v ehicles to mov e forward, but part of it is th e perception that we need to help change. What is the outside perception ? It is not about w hat w e want to be, but what are we now. He do esn 't believe p eople outsid e look at Engle w ood in a positi v e manner. We see the good b ecau se we li v e here and see it every da y. How do we change that outside perception? Mr. Hollingsworth said his perception is that ACE is a very driven, action-oriented, goal- oriented, measure-oriented group. The BID is doing the same thing and the Chamber is moving in the right direction. How do we begin that discussion of pulling to geth er ? H e fe els there needs to be a coordinated approach so that the three groups can ha v e some outcomes that they can support. Maybe that outcome is a website or rebranding the community .... he said he doesn't know, but certainly ACE can help set that agenda. He said ty pically Staff involves City Council and others, but there is more here than City Staff alone has the capability of doing. Ms . Thomas said her company did a m arketing and branding endeavor with Littl eton several years ago. It was not something that happened overnight. It does t ake fa c ilitating the consensus of everyone in the direction you want to go in and how you are going to project yourself. From within the main committee there were a lot of other committees that we re in charge of events. They have launch ed a lot of new events, one of which is The Wild on Littleton event that is coming up this Saturday. When they do their events it is about collecting emails addresses from the peop le w ho participate . Before they did not ha v e a website, they did not an e-newsletter ... the y had no way to communicate to the people who came there . Now, they ha v e a wonderful database that the y continue to add to. People did not come to the events before because they did not know about them. Many times it is good to have someone outside of your group facilitate who doesn 't necessaril y have a v ested interest other than helping to define what it is you want to do. That is the best place to start. She said ACE is on the right track ... you have an awareness and a great desire . Ms. McDermott exited the meeting at 12:30. Ms . Guinther asked who maintains the em ail addresses for Littleton. Ms. Thomas said it is done b y a person who was a part of the merchant's group, the y liked him and contracted w ith him . That's part of utilizing the people within your community. Ms. Vasilas stressed the importance of the website in today's society. Ms . Guinther said we have danced around this issue for years and are now at the point w here we need the facilitator to get to the details. 5 • • • Chair Schalk said his reason behind the Englewood Living name is that it is very soft. We need something simple that represents what we currently have . The City is the biggest outsider in our group. The City spends our money doing concerts at City Center, our money doing different events that doesn't involve the entire community, just the City ... it's their deal. In Denver you have many events that involve the entire city. Englewood holds free concerts that benefit very few and is not publicly promoted that well other than on the City website. He said he's hoping ACE can create a community outside of the City and hopefully, get the City involved. The City is not involved in the business community. Mr. Panetta said he would take exception to those comments . He said it goes back to where we have had so many dysfunctional organizations, but the City makes valid attempts. He said he doesn't believe members of the business community reall y make an attempt to coordinate with the City. There's the BID group, which has done a great job coordinating its membership, but that is an exclusionary membership . The Bluebird Beat is basicall y members of that inclusive community .... he did not see on the card the City of Denver as a sponsor. All the sponsors were the members of that small section of that community. Maybe Ms. Thomas's point by having an outside facilitator is a great idea ... I just don 't know how we get the necessary factions together for the good of the common cause. He said In all the years he has been involved there never has been an effective mechanism in finding that common hook to get a fair representation of the various factions of the community. Ms. Thomas noted Mr. Panetta brought up a good point. So many times when we are looking at our message and what we are doing we think about it internally, when really if we are trying to draw more businesses , tourism, consumers to our city ... what is in it for them. Not only how do they perceive it, but why do they want to come? What is here that would entice them and why do they want to stay or come back. Mr. Vasilas asked Mr. Hollingsworth if ACE had money in their budget to help. Mr. Hollingsworth said ACE has a very small operating budget and Community Development has a very small marketing line item. He said he is trying to leverage the line item for community marketing to get to the $30,000 range for an implementation budget. Taking the next step as a group, in his opinion, we need some outside facilitation to go through this process . The process can be funded by the City. The challenge is defining what our objective for the marketing strategy will be. We need an action plan . Chair Schalk said he doesn't promote Englewood Living, it's just an idea. He asked if th ere were other ideas . If they do, he suggested they meet with the B-ID and Chamber. Let's bring a variety of names to the table. Mr. Verbeck said that is great, but that is what we've been doing. If we are going to launch anything, we need to now schedule one meeting with a group of people and start the process .... identify what our needs and wants are. Pull all the pieces together and the name will come . Ms . Espinosa agreed with Mr. Verbeck . She said we have a guideline from Ms. Thomas, but one of the big pieces we are stuck on is that we are trying to do this umbrella thing and what Ms. Thomas says is that we are not necessarily suppose to do the business piece w ith the consumer piece . She said she believes ACE is trying to consume so much to try to get it 6 • • • all going. She said she thought Mr. Verbeck's idea of a separate meeting for the sole purpose of this issue is a good idea . Mr. Vas il as suggested a meeting be set up with in the next few weeks w ith t w o representatives from the BID, the Chamber and ACE and Mr. Hollingsworth repr ese nting the City to discuss hiring an outside source to help and report back to ACE at the ne xt meeting. After discussion it was decided that ACE would meet right after the meeting to set up the sub-committee and a time to meet. ACE members did not feel City Council should be in v olved until the marketing/branding piece is further along. Chair Schalk suggest ed the meeting be open to an y one who wanted to bring their voice to the table. Mr. Panetta asked Ms. Thomas what role does the make-up of the local community have in terms of the success of the business community. If the residents of Englewood are not shopping in Englewood, is that a message the y are sending? Are they saying the types of stores that they want to visit are not here. Are we trying to get greater bu y-in from Englewood residents to shop and buy in Englewood and /or are we trying to bring in more non-Englewood to Englewood to shop and buy? Ms. Thomas said that is a really good question and her answer would be to ask them . Mr. Morton said the customer base should come from anywhere. If we are going to dep e nd on just the citizens of Englewood then we are not looking at this as a wide enough scope . He said no, we do not have the right mix of businesses on Broadway. He said that has b een told to him for the last five months by people both inside and outside of Englewood . Mr. Panetta totally agreed. Ms . Thomas said downtown Littleton went through the same thing and believes today they would tell you they do not believe they have the right mix of businesses. However, they have more people coming to Littleton and a lot of it is your residents do not know what is here. Ms. Thomas said she knows the Economic Development Commission had funds allocated for what they called community branding and marketing assessments with the State of Colorado . She said she would be happy to provide a name of someone to contact there . She said she believes they may still be will in g and have the funds to do it. It is based on demand. What ACE is talking about is exactly what their branding team did . The ACE members asked her to provide the name to Mr. Hollingsworth . Chair Schalk thanks Ms. Thomas for her presentation. 111. COMMENTS & EVENTS CHAMBER OF COMMERCE Mr. Morton again noted the Chamber will have a who le new computer system installed by next week. A membership director has been hired to work with him on securing new 7 • • • members and also a director of events has been hired. He has 18 years of experience putting on major events in Colorado. He will be helping organize Englewood Days and other upcoming events. Mr. Morton has been working with the foundation that owns the CityCenter land and has gotten their full support to start running major events at CityCenter. He said they are drawing in a lot of sponsors from outside of Englewood that want an advertising presence in the City. Ms. Guinther asked if membership has gone up. Mr. Morton said a few new members have been added. For us to draw in a number of new members we have to have events that they can either sponsor or advertise through. This is a transition year for the Chamber; there will be a lot of visible changes happening in 2009 . The members we have added since January are very excited about the idea of the Chamber holding major events here in the City where they can not only advertise but get out to the community at large and involve more of the public. He stated his new model for the Chamber is completely different from what has been done in the City in the past and from what any other Chamber in the state has done. This is to be more inclusive with the community and not so clickish and membership driven . Ms. Espinosa asked Mr. Morton to share with the others the 1099 ambassador program he started. Mr. Morton said the Chamber has ambassadors that go out and meet the businesses. That is where he has been able to gain a lot of the understanding of what the businesses want and what we are lacking here in Englewood. Mr. Morton said he has personally gone with the ambassadors to many of the businesses in the area including the industrial district. He stated there is interest from the new development in Sheridan in joining the Chamber since many of their customers will be coming from Englewood . Mr. Morton said since the Chamber has a limited budget and while our membership is small they need more staff. What has been implemented is a plan that where the membership director came from the ambassador group. He wanted to do more and make some money. The program allows ambassadors that prove they can handle the job of signing up new members can move up to the membership program. It will be a 1099 program where we are hiring someone as an independent contractor. If they produce they get paid, if the don 't there is nothing out of the Chamber's budget. So far, we are only working with one individual. As the program progresses, more individuals will be added . The current individual has extensive event experience . He puts on several motorcycle and car shows a year, golf tournaments, and charity events. We will be using this avenue to bring people in to assist the Chamber until we have a large enough membership base and budget to hire paid employees . Mr. Morton provided an update on the proposed Sale Day to be held in Englewood . There are fifty businesses that will participate in Sale Day and hang flags outside their business. The Lion's Club and the Chamber joined together to start the Sale Day. Installation of the flag holders should begin next week. Currently, the sale flags will be along Broadway only. Hopefully, Sale Day will start the end of July . 8 ACE MEMBERS • There were no further comments . BID COMMENTS Mr. Vasilas stated there will be an Open House at The Falcon on Tuesday, June 17th from S to 8 p .m. It is a combined effort between the BID and Chamber of Commerce. The BID m et with a landscape architect a week ago to discuss landscape improve m ents from Yale to Bates. STAFF COMMENTS The Recording Secretary distributed the 2008 Englewood Community Profile and th e new Southwest Metro Denver Chamber map of the southern portion of the metro area . Mr. Hollingsworth encouraged the Chamber to use the 2008 Englewood Community Profile for businesses seeking demographic and community information . It is also ava ilable on the City's website. Denver Marble is under construction on a 4,000 to 6,000 square foot building in the north end of town. They will employ S to 8 people. • The 1201 West Mansfield building has undergone a renovation . Ski Country Imports dba Ouray Sports are located there . There is still 50,000 to 60,000 square feet available for lease. • Ultimate Motion held a grand opening last week. They offer high-end motorcy cles for sale and are located at 2880 S Broadway. Bear Frame and Axel is moving south on Broadway, but Mr. Hollingsworth did not ha ve a timeframe . Mr. Panetta asked if there was a tenant for the former Big 0 Tire space on Broadway . Mr. Hollingsworth said he did not know of anyone at this time. No further business was brought forth for consideration. The meeting was adjourned at 1: 1 S p .m . The next meeting is scheduled for July 10, 2008 . 9