WYE 3 Marketing Steering Group

WYE 3 Marketing Steering Group

NOTES

Meeting held on Monday 27th June 2011

Ashford Borough Council Offices

3.00pm

1.Notes from the previous meeting

1.1Amended notes of the meeting held on 10th May had been circulated and were taken as agreed subject to the view of the one member of the Steering Group not present.

2.Independent review of the marketing strategy for the FormerWyeCollege

2.1The draft final report from DTZ had been circulated prior to the meeting. DTZ was appointed by Ashford Borough Council on behalf of the WYE3 Steering Group to provide an independent assessment of the marketing strategy and marketing documents prepared by Savills, on behalf of Imperial College London.

2.2A representative of DTZ introduced the draft report. DTZ has reached the view that the marketing strategy is well-conceived, comprehensive and appropriate. It has two substantive suggestions for improving the strategy, thereby strengthening the marketing campaign and the likelihood of a successful outcome.

a) A key change is to amend the definition of ‘To Let’ to make it clear that the property is available for let or sale on a long lease.

b) Some changes to strengthen the listed market targets should be made to include some additional organizations and market platforms.

2.3There was some discussion and differing views about the need for definitions of ‘active’, ‘comprehensive’ and ‘marketing’ against which to compare the present marketing strategy and campaign: DTZ needs to demonstrate that it has challenged the strategy sufficiently. An alternative view was that the DTZ review focuses on the marketing exercise at one particular point in time: the current marketing campaign has not started from scratch as the Main Campus North has been on the market since 2008.

3.Comments on the draft review

3.1The main sections of the report were discussed, namely sections 2 (Target Market), 4 (Traditional Marketing Methods) and 5 (Additional Marketing Methods). Sections 6-8 were not discussed.

3.2Section 2 of the report concentrates on the key issue of the tenure as this influences the way in which the property is perceived by the target market. DTZ considers that advertising the property as ‘To Let on FRI Terms for an indicative period of 10years or more by agreement’ generates two potential limitations on the marketing as it could deter

• interest on the part of those parties who may want a shorter term letting of less than ten years (e.g., to enable them to test the viability of a particular educational use);
• interest on the part of those parties who may consider a freehold or long leasehold purchase.
• It was pointed out that the issue of tenure is not a new one, but has been raised on numerous occasions in the course of Steering Group discussions. However, now that DTZ has expressed concern the key question requiring an answer is what needs to be done to remedy the situation and what will be the likely cost. DTZ considers that a revised description of the tenure is appropriate. This could be done by reprinting the marketing brochure and revising future advertising.

3.4During the ensuing discussion various points were made:

1. To what extent might the current inadequate description of the tenure affect the marketing process?
2. How difficult is it for Savills to communicate any change in the description of the terms of the tenure to individuals and organisations that have already been contacted?
3. The views of the owner (Imperial College London) and those of the community are both important.The community may find it difficult to accept a marketing process in which the property concerned is being offered on the basis of a tenure that is not adequately described. DTZ’s report makes it clear that the current basis on which the property is being advertised implies lease lengths of only up to about 25 years. DTZ is of the opinion that there are institutions with perhaps specialist interests that could be interested in much longer.

3.5 It was suggested that a short erratum in the marketing brochure could clarify the position, rather than a complete reprint of the brochure. Future advertising could be adjusted. Emails could be sent to all those already contacted explaining that though originally marketed as ‘To Let on FRI Terms for an indicative period of 10 years or more by agreement’ Imperial College London wants to make it clear that the long leasehold is for sale. DTZ was asked to recommend appropriate wording.

3.6 Section 3 of the report comments on Savills Marketing Capabilities. It mentions the low level of overseas interest to date. A suggestion was made that China, India, South Korea, the USA and Brazil should be the main geographical areas targeted.

3.7 With regard to Section 4 of the report (Traditional Marketing Methods), there was some discussion about the provision of marketing boards (4.4). DTZ does not consider the use of boards to be essential to ensure a comprehensive marketing campaign has been undertaken. The new Parish Council, however, has expressed the view that absolutely everything should be done to ensure that the marketing campaign is active and comprehensive and that boards should therefore be installed. It was agreed that some sort of information board could be put up in the College forecourt to update villagers as to marketing progress, and the matter of marketing boards should be raised again at the next Parish Council meeting.

3.8The advertising campaign is regarded by DTZ as comprehensive. A query was raised about the small size of an advertisement Savills placed in the Saturday Telegraph. There has, however, been a full-page advert in the Estates Gazette. DTZ’s representative made it clear that advert size and associated resources are not the overriding consideration, but rather what matters is the placing of adverts in those publications that are appropriate for reaching the various market sectors that have been identified. DTZ was asked to make this clear in the final report and to give examples of publications they have in mind.

3.9There is no dedicated marketing website for the property for holding brochures, plans and other information, although this is usual practice. Instead, all detailed information is provided on CD. This is because Savills likes to operate on a personal basis.

3.10Section 5 of the report deals with additional marketing methods. It makes the following recommendations:

• the listed educational market targets can be strengthened by contacting some additional organisations and market platforms (examples of which are provided in 5.1.1).
• Sector driven targeting of companies should be more focused as explained in 5.1.2.

There should be no inherent difficulties in adopting these suggestions.

3.11A further suggestion arising from the discussion was the targeting of professional organisations and chartered institutes, as well as the head offices of major companies that might be interested in moving out of London. Tourism-related training operations (e.g., in the hospitality industry) are another possible source of interest. Savills was asked at least to hit a sample of professional organisations to see if there is any interest.

3.12Section 5.1.3 of the report comments on the need to cover facilitators other than just Locate in Kent (such as UKSPA and UK Trade and Investment). These need to be followed up.

3.13Section 5.1.4: The Secretary of the College Alumni association has been in touch with Savills. He has the marketing particulars and can pass them out, simply informing Savills to whom they have been sent.

3.14With regard to additional actions (5.2) brainstorming has not brought forward any additional suggestions. Colleagues in Savills have been given the list of marketing ideas discussed by the Steering Group and asked to comment. Nothing new has emerged.

4.Length of marketing campaign

4.1There was discussion about when the marketing campaign should be deemed to have started and when the minimum six month period should finish. In February 2011 e-mails were sent to contacts made during the course of the earlier marketing exercise. The Estates Gazette advert appeared on 16 April and the first international advert was placed on 6 May. The most recent draft of the marketing strategy suggested mid-October as the end date for the marketing campaign. However, Ashford Borough Council wrote in January that the marketing campaign should only be deemed to have begun once the marketing strategy had been agreed. This has taken much longer than expected and in the meantime a significant amount of advertising and a number of open days have been held. It would be inappropriate to ignore this. It was, therefore, suggested that the marketing campaign should run from 1st June to 1st December. Otherwise the marketing process could be regarded as less than robust.

1. Action list

5.1Savills to meet with Imperial College London on Thursday 30 June.

5.2The DTZ report should be available within a week .

5.3Assuming there are no objections to the recommendations made by DTZ and the revisions to the marketing strategy discussed by the Steering Group, the marketing strategy should be finalised in two weeks (ie by Monday 11 July). It should be possible to sign it off by email. Thereafter, ABC and the Parish Council will agree a date when the strategy and any accompanying information can be made public.

5.4The Steering Group will next meet in September to review the progress of the marketing exercise and to decide how information and feedback will be shared later in the process.

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