Interesting stuff here;
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MOTION X: Moved by M. Smith (EVP) and seconded by J. Wallen (IX) to allocate $10,000.00 initially to enable the Museum Steering Committee to begin the RFQ process and secure a consultant. Funding for the consultant will be from the Museum Patron Fund.
MOTION passed unanimously</p><blockquote dir="ltr" style="margin-right: 0px"><p dir="ltr" style="margin-right: 0px">
e. Park Pilot Program
The staff was charged with creating an exit strategy (if needed) from the program. Internal discussion with the staff proposed the program be retired and the exit strategy would be: for the 2011 year AMA would give the Park Pilot member, at dues of $29.95, four issue of Park Pilot and 12 issues of Model Aviation; they would receive the regular card and would be recognized as a Full Open member. In 2012, the PP member would be a regular member at $58/year if they chose to be and could subscribe to the PP magazine for $9.95/year. AMA is not retiring their definition of a Park Flyer aircraft (not exceed 2 lbs, not exceed 60 mph and may not be powered with an internal combustion engine).
The program shows good growth recently, but has not performed to the level it was hoped it would. The subscription rate to the magazine has increased; advertisers are anxious to unload the 2 lb/60 mph cap, so they can review more and larger airplanes. The cannibalization rate from Open to PP was 30% in the first year, the second year it was considerably less and the third year it was negligible.
Bills/ballots are getting ready to be sent and a letter will be included in each explaining what will be done. A follow up will be done in Model Aviation and AMA Today about the change.
The President, along with others, was of the opinion that the PPP was unsalvageable but he shared the following numbers with Council: the first year the program lost $164,682 (a lot of that was due to the start up costs and advertising); last year the loss on the program was $68,631; this past May it showed at $77 profit and at the
end of July it showed a $5,678 profit. As of August 7, 2010 there are 2,275 park pilot members. Nance discovered during a meeting with Horizon and Hobby Lobby that they support the magazine but are allocating limited advertising dollars to it because it is a niche publication. The indication Nance got from them was they would allocate more dollars if the magazine was targeting a greater number of electric type models.
The President asked Council if they were ready to sunset a program that is in essence self-supporting. We can do better if the scope of the magazine was expanded; which would open the door to additional advertising dollars and additional subscription dollars.
In the meantime the President thinks there is something in the whole PP package that is missing. Bauer says the PP membership and PP magazine are two separate things, just because we do away with the membership doesn’t mean we get rid of the magazine. Argenio was not sure that broadening the scope of the magazine would make a positive change. Mark Smith asked whether J. Nance and his staff could tweak the existing program to eliminate some of the barriers to entry we have now.
By consensus,
Council agreed to do nothing and let the program go for another year (knowing it is being sustained by the magazine); Nance and the Marketing Committee were charged with trying to determine what is missing in the program. If the committee reports they can’t find/do anything, there will still be time for Council to decide what to do next year. The committee will report to Council at the November meeting.
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