Travel Northwest Wisconsin Tourism Agenda

MARK D. O’C ONNELL , PRESIDENT & CEO TRAVEL NORTHWEST WISCONSIN TOURISM COMMITTEE Thursday, April 10, 2025 10:00 a.m. Northwest Regional Planning Commission Conference Room 1400 S River Street Spooner, Wisconsin or Join Zoom Meeting https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84283538507?pwd=66IeT8uS1Sy08KBbk07X48e0xs83sz.1 Join by Phone 312-626-6799 Meeting ID: 842 8353 8507 Passcode: 512792 AGENDA 1. Call to Order 2. Roll Call 3. Approval of Minutes of the March 6, 2025 Meeting 4. Financial Report 5. 2025 Governor’s Fishing Opener a. Warren Knowles Award Nomination b. Sponsorships c. RSVPs d. Showcase Tours e. Social Media Influencers f. Friday Night Banquet g. Giveaways Travel Northwest Wisconsin Tourism Committee Agenda Page 2 April 10, 2025 h. Fishing Hosts i. Family Fishing Day j. Saturday Breakfast k. Other 6. 2025 Marketing Plan/Marketing Subcommittee Report a. Outdoor & Travel Guide b. Corridor Map c. Facebook Posts d. Invoices 7. Wisconsin Department of Tourism/Travel Wisconsin Report 8. Review Homework Assignments 9. Discussion of Future Agenda Items 10. Next Meeting Dates: a. April 28: Fishing Opener Bag Stuffing – Noon in Rice Lake b. May 1: Regularly Scheduled Meeting – Spooner and Zoom c. May 2-3: Governor’s Fishing Opener 11. Adjourn MARK D. O’C ONNELL , PRESIDENT & CEO TRAVEL NORTHWEST WISCONSIN TOURISM COMMITTEE March 6, 2025 Zoom Meeting MINUTES CALL TO ORDER: Chair Mary McPhetridge called the meeting to order at 10:00 a.m. ROLL CALL: VOTING MEMBERS PRESENT: Mary McPhetridge, Ashland Chamber; Jim Crandall, Bayfield County; Mindy Simons, Hayward Lakes VCB; Nick Trimner, Price County; Kaitlin Horsch, Washburn County Tourism; Lindsey Conley, Douglas County; Sue Leonard, Chippewa Chamber; Brad Bearson, Polk County; Brandi Nelson, Barron County; Chuck Anderson, Burnett County; and Mary Motiff, Bayfield County. VOTING MEMBERS ABSENT: Melissa Copp, Mercer Chamber and Suzanne Vohs, Rusk County. OTHERS PRESENT: Christopher Jennings, Travel Wisconsin and Corrie Wheland, Phillips Chamber. WCA STAFF: Sarah Diedrick-Kasdorf. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Motion by Simons, second by Motiff, to approve the minutes of the February 6, 2025 meeting. Motion carried. FINANCIAL REPORT: The financial report, dated March 4, 2025, was emailed out to committee members. REVIEW HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS FROM PREVIOUS MEETING: Homework assignments were discussed under their corresponding agenda items. 2025 GOVERNOR’S FISHING OPENER: Warren Knowles Award Nomination: Two nominations were submitted for the Warren Knowles award. A final decision will be made at the April 3 meeting. Giveaways: Brandi indicated that there will be a t-shirt and hat as giveaways. Brandi will also look into Bimbo Skunk lures as an additional giveaway. Sponsorships: Enbridge is in for $2,000 – Family Fishing Day sponsor. Xcel Energy is the banquet sponsor. Still working to get a title sponsor for $7,500 (Molson-Coors has previously Travel Northwest Wisconsin Tourism Committee Minutes Page 2 March 6, 2025 been the title sponsor). Dave Armstrong is working on local sponsorships. Rice Lake Tourism will sponsor at the Muskie level. Christopher Jennings indicated he has several contacts for potential sponsorships and silent auction items. He will touch base with Kaitlin after the meeting. Invites: Brandi and Kaitlin will work on event invites. Brandi is working on final confirmations for the Friday showcase tours – will be complete in the next couple of days. Saturday’s tours will be informal – an opportunity to explore the county on your own. Family Fishing Day: Barron County is putting together a subcommittee. Will be asking Golden K for a food truck. Banquet: The Elks Lodge has been booked for the Friday night banquet. Mary McPhetridge has spoken with Barb Carey about the keynote for the banquet. Barb asked if we could pay for her expenses for the fishing opener in exchange for the keynote address. At this time the tourism committee agreed to offer her two nights of lodging for free – most of her meals are already covered. Any remaining funding will depend on the amount of sponsorship dollars raised. Brandi and Chuck will discuss food and beverage. Chuck has yet to hear back from IFD. Barron County started collecting items for the silent auction. Every county needs to bring an item from their county for the silent auction – minimum $300 in value. Fishing Hosts: Barron County is working on securing fishing hosts – spoke with the local lake association. Last year there were 19 boats plus a pontoon boat for the media. Barb Carey will take the governor. Event Insurance: Sarah reminded everyone of the event insurance policy and that the event insurance must list WCA as an insured. Saturday Breakfast: Planning an on-the-go breakfast at the park. Other: Brandi is working on PR for the event. Barron County has not discussed a fishing contest. Committee is working on securing travel writers for the event. 2025 MARKETING PLAN/MARKETING SUBCOMMITTEE REPORT: Outdoor & Trails Guide: For the most part, the spreadsheet was filled in. Any questions were sent back to individual counties. Each county was asked to confirm with Kaitlin that all changes were made. If the guide is to be completed by the fishing opener, all information needs to be updated/completed by March 7. When the guide is ready for proofing, each county needs to review their county’s information. Individual county ads should be placed in the folder in the Google drive. Travel Northwest Wisconsin Tourism Committee Minutes Page 3 March 6, 2025 Facebook Posts: Some counties have requested access to schedule individual county posts on the Travel Northwest Wisconsin Facebook page. If other counties would like access they should contact Mary Motiff. Counties can schedule an individual county post once a month but posts should not be double-scheduled. Corridor Maps: Updates and a reprinting of the corridor maps has not started yet. Not many changes are anticipated. North of Eight Facebook Posts: If you have not already done so, please review the posts created for your county. TRAVEL WISCONSIN REPORT: Christopher Jennings reported on the following: Wisconsin Governor’s Conference on Tourism is next week; Governor’s budget contains increased funding for tourism – make Office of Outdoor Recreation permanent, creation of the Office of Film and Creative Industries; next grant due April 1; state contract with CrowdRiff; Do It Yourself Economic Impact Report (value of public lands); “What New?” running survey. FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS: Fishing Opener. NEXT MEETING DATE: The next meeting date was changed from April 3 to April 10. ADJOURN: Chair McPhetridge adjourned the meeting at 11:43 a.m. TRAVEL NORTHWEST WISCONSIN 2025 UPDATED BUDGET 12-5-24Total Board Approved Spending Amount: $62,177.20REVENUE Dues $36,000Fishing Opener $2,000Interest2024 BALANCE - UNALLOCATED REVENUE$25,000.002024 UNDERSPENDING $12,000 TOTAL PROJECTED REVENUE $75,000 EXPENDITURES Marketing PlanPerson AssignedProject Billing Entity Revised 2025 BudgetAmt. ExpendedDate PaidBalance Remaining PRINT PUBLICATIONS (ITBEC)DISTRIBUTION OF PUBLICATIONSMary MotiffDistribution (external) $5,000.00$0.00 $5,000.00Corridor Map Distribution/Trail Guide Distribution 5 Star Marketing, LLC Mary McPBrochure Distributiion (internal)Ashland Area Chamber$1,500.00$0.00 $1,500.00PostageSuppliesTracPhone (or other digital voice mail) ITBEC PUBLICATION PRINTING KaitlinOutdoor and Trail Guide Advanced Printing$13,233.00$0.00 $13,233.0025,000 guides for $13,233; 40,000 guides is $19,070 - Advanced Printing Brandi/Mary MoCorridor Maps Johnson Litho $9,000.00$0.00 $9,000.00 Johnson Litho quote to print 60,000 maps - $7,260 plus a one-time set up/design fee ($45/hr at 30-60 hours) - $1350-$2700 2021 -55,000 maps $7440 - UPDATE AND REPRINT TO NWRPC PRINT PUBLICATIONS (PURCHASED) MelissaMN SnoMo MagazineDECEMBER PAYMENT $1,846.00$0.00 $1,846.00 MelissaWI SnoMo MagazineDEC 25/JAN 26MSPN $2,104.20$0.00 $2,104.20 MelissaMidwest RiderMAY/JUNE 25 - AUG/SEPT 25MSPN $2,940.00$0.00 $2,940.00 Mary McPOn Wisconsin Outdoors On Wisconsin Outdoors$2,880.00$1,440.00$1,440.00March/April 2025 $1,440.003/20/25November/December25??? KaitlinWisconsin Travel Guide2026 Guide (OCTOBER PAYMENT)Madden Media$3,500.00$0.00 $3,500.00 Print Ad Design WEB PUBLICATIONS (PURCHASED)Web PublicationsSue (Kaitlin)Snowtracks.comBanner ad headerJRVBR, Inc./Outdoor Network (July)$1,000.00$0.00 $1,000.00 Sue (Kaitlin)WATVA WATVA Trail Ad Fall /Website BannerNational Motorsports$0.00$0.00 $0.00 WEBSITE Mary MotiffWebsiteWebsite Updates North of Eight Design$500.00$0.00 $500.00ISSUU Bayfield County Tourism$600.00$0.00 $600.00Web Hosting/MaintenceApril - March contractNorth of Eight $700.00$0.00 $700.00 SOCIAL MEDIA MelissaFacebook Advertising (internal) $800.00$0.00 $800.00 Marketing CeeContracted Services $5,300.00$1,949.00$3,351.00Social media contract - N of 8 $1949North of Eight $1,949.001/9/25 Mary McPBlogging ContractSeptember - AugustNorth of Eight Mary McPAd Words (SEO) North of Eight /APG MindyDepartment of Tourism Co-op $1,050.00$0.00 $1,050.00Footer Ad: $6002/10-23/2025Traveler Email - first row: $450Week of 8/7/2025 FISHING OPENERGovernor's Fishing Opener SponsorshipNWRPC - WI Gov's Fishing Opener$1,000.00$1,000.003/20/25$0.00ITBEC Booth $500.00$0.00 $500.00 SUBSCRIPTIONSMary McPConstant ContactPREPAYS SEPTEMBERAshland Chamber$600.00$0.00 $600.00CANVA JULY BILLING Ashland Chamber$150.00$0.00 $150.00JotForm FEBRUARY RENEWALAshland Chamber$325.00$288.003/20/25$37.00 Total Marketing Plan $54,528.20$4,677.00$49,851.20 Other Expenses Travel Overage $0.00Planning Commission Expenses $0.00Chair's Account $0.00Add'l Approved Marketing Plan $$ $7,249.00$0.00 $7,249.00 Bank Charges $400.00$43.231/2025-2/2025$356.77 Total Other Expenses $7,649.00$43.23 $7,605.77 Total Budget $62,177.20$4,720.23$57,456.97