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Record of Proceedings

Committee of the Whole Meeting – March 3, 2026: AACVB Marketing Update

Village Board & Commissions — Tuesday, March 3, 2026
BodyOswego, Illinois
SessionVillage Board & Commissions
DateTuesday, March 3, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 39:19

Original source
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0:00

Roll call, please.

0:02

President Kaufman?

0:04

Here.

0:04

Trustee Cooper.

0:06

Here.

0:06

Trustee Hughes.

0:07

Here.

0:08

Trustee McCarthy Lang.

0:09

Here.

0:10

Trustee Novi.

0:12

I'm sorry.

0:13

Trusty Nobi is absent.

0:15

Trustee Torres absent and Trusty Koenig absent.

0:19

Trustee Karenovi would also like to electronically attend tonight's committee of the whole meeting, and she has submitted the necessary documents to the village clerk.

0:26

So I'll accept a motion to approve Trustee Karen Novi to electronically attend the March 3rd, 2026 Committee of the Hole Meeting.

0:33

So moved.

0:34

Second.

0:35

Roll call, please.

0:36

Trusted McCarthy Lang?

0:38

Yes.

0:38

Trustee Hughes.

0:39

Yes.

0:40

Trustee Cooper.

0:42

Yes.

0:43

President Kaufman.

0:44

Yes.

0:47

Thank you.

0:48

All right.

0:48

I was going to ask if you'd hear us.

0:50

So good deal.

0:51

Trustee Torres would also like to electronically attend tonight's committee.

0:55

Oh, I'm sorry.

0:56

All right.

0:59

All right.

1:00

Then we will open up the public forum.

1:02

So if there's anyone wishing to address the board, please feel free to come forward now.

1:14

Seeing nobody, we will close the public forum and move on to new business.

1:18

And under new business, we have item F1.

1:20

Kevin.

1:23

Come on down, sir.

1:26

Well, thank you.

1:27

I'd like to uh introduce AACBB tonight, Court Carlson and James Cartis uh from the Aurora Area Convention Visitors Bureau.

1:36

Uh they typically provide an annual update just to talk about uh some of the things that they've been uh working on in 2025 and their their big plans for 2026.

1:44

Uh we do have a um uh a board member on the representatives myself that uh serves uh as the appointee of the mayor on their board, so I try to keep you updated as things progress, but uh figure it'd be a good opportunity to have them speak uh on what's going on.

1:59

So without further ado, I'll I'll introduce our guests.

2:07

Welcome.

2:08

Thank you very much.

2:09

Thank you, Ryan, and and uh and counsel for letting us be here tonight and speak to you all.

2:14

Um we have a presentation.

2:15

I'm gonna go through kind of a quick presentation a little bit about maybe some bigger overall views of the destination and just some basic organizational information, and then I'll bring up uh James Cardis, who is our director of marketing, to talk more about the individualized marketing plan um for the village of Oswego, um last year's plan, and kind of where we're headed to um in the current fiscal year as well for for that plan.

2:39

But it's been an exciting year actually for um the AECVB and regional tourism.

2:45

Um just kind of going forward to let me go.

2:50

The overview of the presentation.

2:53

Um swigo is included in all of our marketing and sales initiatives, not just this marketing plan that you're gonna hear about tonight and we're gonna review.

3:03

So that's a portion of the support that we receive from the village and how we put it back into your efforts and to create a plan just for us, but that isn't exclusive.

3:14

Um we are doing on a daily basis marketing and sales for the entire region as a destination.

3:22

And Oswego is always part of those initiatives as well.

3:25

And that includes our sales in terms of uh group sales for sports meetings and the motor coach tour and travel markets that we work in heavily on a full-time basis, and then also our everyday destination marketing initiatives as well, um our 50 miles and greater um marketing efforts to bring those overnight visitors into into our region, into our region, and that's both our social tra our leisure travel um content and social marketing, our website, our visitor guide, all the leisure travel components that we put together, and then that then leads into the municipal marketing co-op plan as well, which is again a individualized plan just for just for the village.

4:11

Um this looks this is uh a quick slide that kind of just presents um where we are year to date as an overall destination uh for some of our marketing analytics.

4:21

Um this is from July 1 of last year, which is the first day of our fiscal year.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Business Retention█████████████████████████████████████████████61%
Tourism Promotion█████████████17%
Procedural█████7%
Economic Development████6%
Arts And Culture████6%
Technology and Innovation██3%
Summary of Proceedings

Committee of the Whole Meeting – March 3, 2026

The Oswego Village Board Committee of the Whole met on March 3, 2026 at 6:00 PM at Village Hall. The primary agenda item was an annual update from the Aurora Area Convention and Visitors Bureau (AACVB), covering 2025 results and plans for 2026. No public comments were received. The meeting adjourned at approximately 6:50 PM to reconvene for the regular Village Board meeting at 7:00 PM.

Consent Calendar

  • None. The only action taken was approval of Trustee Karen Novi’s request to electronically attend the meeting (motion carried unanimously).

Public Comments & Testimony

  • No members of the public addressed the board.

Discussion Items

  • AACVB Presentation (Kevin, Court Carlson, James Cardis):
    • Organizational Overview: AACVB serves 11 communities and all of Kendall County. In 2025, they added Elburn and Geneva to the destination footprint. A destination plan and organizational strategic plan are underway, including a hotel visibility study to address a regional shortage of hotel rooms. Three vendors have submitted proposals for the study.
    • Marketing Analytics (July 1, 2025 – January 13, 2026):
      • Nearly 320,000 visits to the AACVB website, with 70% from outside Illinois (drive market over 50 miles).
      • Estimated $2 million economic impact from sales efforts (sports, groups, meetings).
      • 3.2 million visitors arrived to the region (50+ miles) in six months; average length of stay was 2.7 days.
    • Oswego Municipal Marketing Co-op Plan (2024-2025):
      • Budget: $26,000 (40% of hotel tax revenue), but AACVB overspent by $14,000 (total ~$40,000) from general funds.
      • Campaign results: 3.8 million impressions, 91,000 clicks via social media, digital ads, and DataFi analytics.
      • DataFi campaign: $8,000 ad spend generated an estimated 230:1 return on ad spend ($1.8 million estimated economic impact). 10,000 visits from exposed audience, 31,300 estimated room nights, average length of stay 1.9 days (2.2 days for hotel stays). Top feeder markets identified.
      • Social media: 2.8 million impressions, reached 1.2 million people, 49,000 clicks to venue1012.com, 22,000 clicks to wineonthefox.com.
    • 2026-2027 Plan: Provisioned $37,000. Focus will shift from venue 1012 to downtown brand building and “down-funnel” hotel booking engagement. Also planning a leisure travel and economic development branding video for Oswego.
    • Q&A:
      • Trustee asked about top Oswego attractions: Downtown as a whole, Fox Valley Winery (Illinois Made program), Sawiki Park/Fox River recreation, and events (Wine on the Fox, Christmas Walk).
      • Trustee inquired about changes in travel marketing over 30 years: James noted tactics and trackability have changed (mobile data, card swipe data, AI), but core principles remain. AACVB is adapting to AI by positioning as the best source of local event and attraction content.
      • Trustee asked about YouTube content for Kendall County: AACVB is building a video library and hopes to encourage more user-generated content; currently focused on sports, weddings, and group tours rather than leisure travel like Pigeon Forge.
      • Trustee commented on the importance of marketing to residents as well as visitors.
      • Trustee questioned how communities without hotels (e.g., Montgomery) contribute: Court explained that while they don’t pay hotel tax, their assets (like Stuart Sports Complex) drive hotel occupancy in neighboring communities, justifying their inclusion.
      • Trustee asked about the “Aurora Area” name: It has existed for nearly 40 years, but AACVB is considering a regional brand to reflect the expanded footprint. Currently using “Chicago Land’s Fox River Valley” in leisure advertising to avoid confusion with Aurora, Colorado.

Key Outcomes

  • No formal votes or decisions were taken on the presentation. The AACVB will continue its marketing efforts under the 2026-2027 co-op plan, with a $37,000 provisioned budget.
  • The hotel visibility study will proceed, with vendor proposals under review.
  • AACVB will continue to develop a destination brand and video assets for Oswego.
  • The Committee of the Whole adjourned at approximately 6:50 PM.

Meeting Transcript

Roll call, please. President Kaufman? Here. Trustee Cooper. Here. Trustee Hughes. Here. Trustee McCarthy Lang. Here. Trustee Novi. I'm sorry. Trusty Nobi is absent. Trustee Torres absent and Trusty Koenig absent. Trustee Karenovi would also like to electronically attend tonight's committee of the whole meeting, and she has submitted the necessary documents to the village clerk. So I'll accept a motion to approve Trustee Karen Novi to electronically attend the March 3rd, 2026 Committee of the Hole Meeting. So moved. Second. Roll call, please. Trusted McCarthy Lang? Yes. Trustee Hughes. Yes. Trustee Cooper. Yes. President Kaufman. Yes. Thank you. All right. I was going to ask if you'd hear us. So good deal. Trustee Torres would also like to electronically attend tonight's committee. Oh, I'm sorry. All right. All right. Then we will open up the public forum. So if there's anyone wishing to address the board, please feel free to come forward now. Seeing nobody, we will close the public forum and move on to new business. And under new business, we have item F1. Kevin. Come on down, sir. Well, thank you. I'd like to uh introduce AACBB tonight, Court Carlson and James Cartis uh from the Aurora Area Convention Visitors Bureau. Uh they typically provide an annual update just to talk about uh some of the things that they've been uh working on in 2025 and their their big plans for 2026. Uh we do have a um uh a board member on the representatives myself that uh serves uh as the appointee of the mayor on their board, so I try to keep you updated as things progress, but uh figure it'd be a good opportunity to have them speak uh on what's going on. So without further ado, I'll I'll introduce our guests. Welcome. Thank you very much. Thank you, Ryan, and and uh and counsel for letting us be here tonight and speak to you all. Um we have a presentation. I'm gonna go through kind of a quick presentation a little bit about maybe some bigger overall views of the destination and just some basic organizational information, and then I'll bring up uh James Cardis, who is our director of marketing, to talk more about the individualized marketing plan um for the village of Oswego, um last year's plan, and kind of where we're headed to um in the current fiscal year as well for for that plan.

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