Sedona advisory board backs stewardship‑focused summer campaign and urges targeted Phoenix messaging

The City of Sedona Tourism Advisory Board on Tuesday reviewed attribution results from a $50,000 winter campaign, considered two summer creative concepts and agreed broadly on a stewardship‑focused summer media plan the board will recommend to City Council.

Mary Angelo of DBA Advertising presented the winter results, saying the Datify programmatic campaign produced roughly 1,043 tracked visitors who stayed an average 1.7 nights—about 1,744 visitor‑days—and that the agency estimated an economic impact of about $200,000 from that buy. "With a $50,000 budget all in one channel we actually observed ... 1,043 individual people who ended up in Sedona who had seen the campaign," Angelo said, and added the winter calculation excluded tax receipts and short‑term rental attribution. The ROI presented by the agency was framed around hotel revenue and visitor spend (about a 4:1 return on that $50,000 spend) and was described as conservative.

DBA then walked the board through two summer concepts: a people‑focused campaign that leans on visitor storytelling, and an "in the moment" stewardship concept that emphasizes mindfulness and small responsible actions while visiting. After extended discussion about tone, imagery and audience, the board coalesced behind the stewardship concept but asked the agency to soften directive language and to ensure the creative still uses signature Sedona imagery and diverse talent. "If we simply change that, there's also no place more precious," one board member suggested about a recommended rewording to avoid absolute phrasing in the brand language.

On markets, staff and the agency presented booking‑pace data showing Phoenix accounts for a very large share of overnight lodging (cited as roughly 40% of in‑market, overnight stays in the materials shown). Board members debated political sensitivity around advertising in Phoenix given prior public reaction and a concurrent Chamber‑funded campaign. The board nevertheless reached a consensus recommendation that the city should be present in Phoenix, using a stewardship‑focused creative that is distinct from any Chamber business‑driven ads. "We know they're going to be there," a member said; "what we want to do is go in there with the sustainability message to help counter the people who come here and may act irresponsibly."

The proposed summer media plan would broaden channels beyond programmatic: paid social, native display, video retargeting and paid search were all discussed. Staff and the agency proposed an approximate summer budget of $100,000 and a campaign flight roughly May 1–Aug. 15, noting that programmatic buys still provide the clearest attribution (the agency targeted ~5x ROAS for the Datify/programmatic slice) while multi‑channel buys reduce single‑channel attribution precision.

Board requests and next steps: the board asked staff to incorporate several edits into the brand description and the council packet—explicit recognition of Native American heritage, references to dark skies and inclusion of businesses/shopping and economic language (phrases such as "a special place to live, work and visit"). Staff also committed to reconciling dataset sample‑size issues raised during the meeting and to provide corrected metrics for KPI planning. The board set a follow‑up session and staff will deliver a revised brand description and the recommended media plan for the council packet.

The board adjourned after agreeing the preferred creative direction and signaling it will recommend council approve a stewardship‑focused summer campaign that includes targeted Phoenix executions with a stewardship emphasis and in‑market educational placements.