West Virginia Department of Commerce Important MAPP Notifications

ADDITIONAL PRIOR MAPP NOTIFICATIONS!

January 2013

MATCHING ADVERTISING PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM (MAPP) APPLICANTS

As you are probably aware, and as stated in our E-Notes in early January, the MAPProgram is currently experiencing a critical funding shortage. 

The shortage of funding has made it necessary for MAPP applications to be awarded as specified in the legislative rule governing the program when funding shortages occur.

The rule states that, in the event of a shortage, the Commission will issue awards based on how successfully the application meets the evaluation criteria (4.4).  As a result, the MAPP Committee of the Tourism Commission will now be evaluating and prioritizing all applications, including $7,500 and $5,000 Fair and Festival levels.  New forms have been posted on-line, in order to accommodate the required criteria.  The Division of Tourism will continue to receive all applications, review them for completeness, and also administer the programs.

In order to assist the MAPP Committee evaluation of all applications, specific deadlines for review of Small MAPP and Fair and Festival applications need to be established.  Also, just as with Large applications, it is mandatory for applicants who are seeking funding for $7,500 projects as well as $5,000 Fair and Festivals to attend MAPP Committee and Tourism Commission meetings in order to represent their projects and answer questions. 

Below are the NEW deadlines for Small $7,500 MAPP applications and $5,000 Fair and Festival applications ONLY.  All applications must be received by 5:00 p.m. at the Division of Tourism on the following deadline dates: 

Should we receive your application after the deadline date, your proposal will be returned to you for submission on the next available deadline.

Notifications of the locations for the meetings will be sent to applicants as soon as determined, so representatives of the applicant organization may make arrangements to attend. 

Deadlines for submission of Large MAPP applications will be on the 1^st of the above deadline months, with review by the MAPP Committee and Tourism Commission on the same dates as above.

Should you have any questions, please contact Anna Plantz at the Division of Tourism at 304-558-2200 or Anna.M.Plantz@wv.gov. 

January 4, 2013
 
IMPORTANT NOTIFICATION FOR APPLICANTS TO THE MATCHING ADVERTISING PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM (MAPP)

The Tourism Commission will not be meeting in January, 2013.
The MAPProgram is currently experiencing a critical funding shortage. As a result, please note the following:

LARGE MAPP SUBMISSIONS:
The Jan. 1, 2013 deadline for submission of Large MAPP applications has been changed. The new deadline is Feb. 1, 2013 by 5 p.m.
These applications will be reviewed at the April 11, 2013 meeting of the Tourism Commission.The earliest beginning date for these projects is April 12, 2013.

SMALL MAPP AND FAIR AND FESTIVAL SUBMISSIONS:
There is currently a 60-day moratorium on the approval of all Small ($7,500) MAPP applications and Fair and Festival applications, during which time the Tourism Commission will review and recommend future updates for these programs. During this time, the Division of Tourism will be accepting applications for these categories, to be reviewed following the moratorium.

Should you have any questions, please contact Anna Plantz at the Division of Tourism at 304-558-2200 or Anna.M.Plantz@wv.gov. We will keep you updated with any additional details.

March 2012
Canceled Commission Meetings - Please Note: The April, May and June Commission meetings have been canceled.

The June MAPP grants will be reviewed on the morning of the July 11th meeting at the Division of Tourism office with the Commission meeting being in the afternoon. Times of each meeting will be forthcoming.

June 17, 2011
The Tourism Commission voted to add the following revision (underlined) to the Destination Marketing Organization form required by CVB’s only, when submitting MAPP applications:

Question #9:  Does your organization have an office established on its own or in conjunction with another organization accessible to the public during normal business hours?  This includes having an office accessible to the public with a dedicated telephone number and address for the CVB in order to respond to written or telephone requests for information or assistance from the general public, the travel industry, and the media.

The Tourism Commission approved the following at their May 19, 2011 meeting:

New Reimbursement Requirements:

Electronic Tear Sheets:

When Submitting Electronic Tear Sheets for Reimbursement of Approved Print Media Expenses -
In order for the Reimbursement Section to process electronic tear sheets, the applicant must include, on each tear sheet, the percentage by which the original publication has been reduced.  

Logo Standards (new portions underlined):

1) Addition to Co-op and State Guide Advertisements:

This requirement is for ads that are a part of the Division of Tourism's Co-op Plan and tourism industry member co-ops utilizing the MAPProgram. The Logo is not required in individual ads as long as those ads are on a page where The Logo already appears. This logo must be no smaller than 1.25" (1 1/4").

Ads that are a part of the Division of Tourism’s Co-op plan only, may contain the version of the logo being utilized by the Division.

For double truck ads (both pages side-by-side, facing front), the logo is required once in the bottom 1/3 of the ad. If one page follows another (front/back), the logo is required on both pages.

These standards apply to magazine or tabloid sizes of approximately 8 1/2" x 11". Refer to "Guidelines for Correct Usage" for logo size limits for all other publications of different dimensions, i.e., newspaper, TV Guide, Reader's Digest.

All tourism industry co-ops must have creative approval PRIOR to publication of the ad (See Creative Approval Form).

March 2011
MAPP Applicants! – The Tourism Commission has reviewed the Logo Standards and is issuing the following reminder – Any WV logo utilized in connection with MAPP funding that is below minimum standards for the size ad in which it is being used will be automatically denied for reimbursement unless prior approval is received from Anna Plantz and a Tourism Commissioner.  All creative approvals requesting use of the logo below minimum size requirements must be approved in advance and include a copy of the ad, along with the Creative Approval Form.   Please email requests to Anna Plantz.

Re-sized ads or Remnant Space
If the applicant or the applicant’s representative is supplying artwork to publications or media where the original size of the ad may be reduced or shrunk to fit a lesser-sized space requirement, or otherwise purchasing remnant space, it is the applicant’s responsibility to make sure the WV logo is large enough in the original artwork for the ad to measure the minimum width when reduced.  Please remember to double-check the minimum logo sizes for your size ad, and  that, avoiding automatically using the minimum width may alleviate loss of reimbursement due to not meeting minimum standards.

New logo standards have been approved for Mobile Banner advertising and Mobile Apps.  These logos are for Mobile use only and not to be used in standard advertising.  If the landing page for your mobile banner is a full-sized website.  The Mobile Web Site logo must be displayed, even if the WV standard oval logo is already being displayed. For the new Mobile Logos Click here. 

12/16/10– The following recommendation was approved by vote of the Tourism Commission:

The Best Practices Committee of the Tourism Commission reviewed web trends for the tourism industry and recommended that minimum criteria be established from time to time for funding requests involving web development. The Best Practices Committee further recommended that future applications seeking funding for web development must include development of a mobile version of the applicant’s website, if this component has not already been developed.

CVB REQUIREMENTS – 4/15/10

In recognition of the stringent standards of admission to the West Virginia Association of Convention and Visitors Bureaus as well as the oversight attendant to those standards, the West Virginia Tourism Commission has reviewed the process for accreditation.

In its findings, the Commission has determined that it places a certain value on accreditation that permits it to infer that project applications from accredited CVBs have a greater probability of meeting the criteria as set forth in W.Va. Code R. 144-1-4.3.

Non-accredited CVBs shall not be automatically disqualified from consideration for matching advertising funds. However, they will not benefit from the inference created by accreditation and shall be expected to provide information to the Commission to demonstrate that the non-accredited CVBs meet or exceed the criteria as required by the WVACVB’s membership standards for all Matching Advertising Partnership Program award levels.

This is in no way to be considered an endorsement for membership with the WVACVBs, but applicants to MAPP will be expected to provide information to demonstrate that they meet or exceed the basic criteria used by the WVACVBs to evaluate membership into that organization. These criteria include: 

• Be registered with the West Virginia Secretary of State as a nonprofit West Virginia corporation
• Have a 501(c)(3) or 501(c)(6) designation from the Internal Revenue Service
• Have its own board of directors that meets on a regular basis
• Have on the CVB a full-time chief executive officer. If the CEO is part-time, then the CVB must have other staff working exclusively to promote tourism and to attract conventions and visitors to the city, county or region in which the bureau serves operating during normal business hours.
• Have established an office on its own or in conjunction with another organization. This includes having a dedicated telephone number and address for the CVB in order to respond to written or telephone requests for information or assistance from the general public, the travel industry, and the media.
• Have a system in place to ensure response (even if only partial or acknowledgment) to requests for information from the media and members of the travel trade industry within three business days. Requests for information from the general public should be answered within as reasonable a period of time as the situation dictates.
• Have a comprehensive marketing plan that includes the marketing functions normally associated with a CVB such as publishing a fulfillment piece on the area served, responding to inquiries, attracting visitors to their area, etc.
• Have its own website that contains information similar to that included in the visitors guide.

ADDITIONAL MAPP FUNDING REDUCTIONS – 10/09

Due to an immediate shortfall of funding and pursuant to the provisions of W.Va. Code R. § 144-1-3.5, the Tourism Commission voted on October 15, 2009 to limit the maximum amount of funding requested through the Matching Advertising Partnership Program to $400,000 per applicant, per year, the year commencing with project approval date, and effective for all applications approved after October 15, 2009.  Applicants that represent parent companies with affiliates may not exceed a total of $400,000 per year in combined funding requests.  Funds matched by individual tourism destinations that are dedicated to statewide organizations representing industry segments as a whole will not be counted towards the individual destinations' $400,000 funding cap.  Destinations specifically restricted by the Tourism Commission to utilize funding caps not to exceed 30% of total revenue contributed into the Cooperative Tourism Promotion Fund are excluded from the above $400,000 cap.

2009
In an effort to sustain funding for future projects and ensure the state and tourism industry members get the greatest return on investment with the funds available, the Tourism Commission has approved the following revisions for all MAPP applications.

1. A reduction in eligible postage, allowing for direct mail at the standard bulk rate only.  Fulfillment postage for leads generated by direct advertising will now be the applicant responsibility.
2. A provision that all allowable printing costs be accompanied by three written bids to be provided by the applicant to the Division of Tourism at the time of reimbursement with written justification included, should the lowest bid not be selected.
3. A clarification that real estate advertising is for vacation rentals only with no pro-ration provision for any real estate sales.
4. A reduction of allowable production expenses from a total cap of $22,500 per media category to $10,000 per media category.
5. Clarification that Web design, development and upgrades are for the applicant's Web site only and accessible once per year, per applicant.
6. The addition of Destination Campgrounds as an eligible applicant category.

In addition to the above rule amendments, the Tourism Commission also has approved the following recommendations: 

• A stipulation that, if an approved applicant does not utilize all funding in past applications, current allowable funding will be reduced accordingly, with a provision for Tourism Commission appeal citing extraordinary circumstance.
• A provision that all MAPP applications must include at least three partners (including the applicant organization).