Update 2:30 p.m. Tuesday
The audio recording embedded above is Town Councilman Cristina A. Ross speaking in favor of the “Live New Canaan” effort during a joint meeting of Town Council and Board of Finance committees held via Zoom on Dec. 14, 2021.
Ross called the article below “a disparaging attempt” from this news outlet because “more and more people are getting the word out” through “Live New Canaan” and so the marketing effort is “competition.”
Original Article
Town officials on Tuesday will meet to consider recommendations on allocating more than $2 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds, including $60,000 for a little-known marketing effort launched three years ago.
The “Live New Canaan” initiative, launched by a Darien-based marketing company hired by the Board of Realtors, appears to include a website promoting the town, as well as social media channels and email campaigns.
Though the effort’s website appears to garner little traffic and its marketing campaigns have had low open and click-thru rates (more below), “Live New Canaan” has become “sort of the go-to resource now for just knowing what is happening and what is going on,” according to Tucker Murphy, a staffer in First Selectman Kevin Moynihan’s office.
“They’re constantly getting content from us, from the Chamber, from anywhere that they can get it,” Murphy told members of the Board of Selectmen at their Nov. 30 meeting.
It wasn’t clear what content Murphy referred to. For example, the website’s “News” section has had nine total posts since Nov. 1—eight event listings and a Daylight Savings reminder. At the top of the section is a “pinned” post from April 2020.
The selectmen, in voting 3-0 in favor of the overall recommendations (see table at the bottom of this article), did not ask for data. In response to NewCanaanite.com‘s request for data, the town forwarded a presentation deck from a Sept. 30 meeting of the town’s “Tourism and Economic Development Advisory Committee,” or “TEDAC.”
Asked for clarification on her comments during the public meeting and whether they were grounded in data, Murphy said in an email response: “I was merely sharing the feedback I have received in speaking with local merchants and businesses since the LiveNewCanaan campaign began. During my time at the Chamber I had received many proposals to market the Town using a myriad of platforms and strategies and in my opinion, the LiveNewCanaan campaign has been a standout in promoting the Town of New Canaan as a shopping, dining and cultural destination and as a welcoming community to anyone considering moving to New Canaan thus, worth the allocation in my opinion.”
NewCanaanite.com on Nov. 30 requested data related to “Live New Canaan,” of the Board of Realtors and the Darien marketing company that runs it, Noble House Media. A representative of the Board of Realtors said Nov. 30 that the marketing company’s business development director, Timothy McDermott, would have the data “in the near future.” Nearly two weeks later, McDermott said wouldn’t have the data until Tuesday. Asked why he couldn’t retrieve the data immediately, McDermott on Monday afternoon sent information that already had been shared at a Sept. 23 TEDAC meeting.
A joint committee meeting of the Board of Finance and Town Council is scheduled to meet at 2 p.m. Tuesday to discuss the selectmen’s recommendations. The full finance board is then scheduled to meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday, and the Town Council at 6 p.m. Wednesday.
It isn’t clear how quickly the Board of Finance is expected to vote on the recommendations. Moynihan said during the Nov. 30 selectmen meeting that the finance board would review the first round of ARPA funding allocations at least through “mid-December.”
“The Board of Finance is going to take a good amount of time on these items,” he said.
Moynihan described the recommended $60,000 allocation for “Live New Canaan” as “non-controversial” and “unobjectionable.”
Members of a Board of Finance-Town Council joint committee formed to review ARPA funding requests have laid out several criteria for which ones would be fulfilled, including that they not come as recurring expenses.
A Board of Realtors representative at the Sept. 23 TEDAC meeting, Nancy Greenspon, said that keeping the “Live New Canaan” initiative going is not feasible for the organization, as it’s the Board of Realtors’ largest budget item outside of salaries and rent.
“I’m not sure it’s something that can continue indefinitely,” Greenspon said. She said the Board of Realtors has spent more than $200,000 on the “Live New Canaan” campaign in three years.
McDermott during the meeting gave what he called a ““high-level report,”saying the “Live New Canaan” initiative includes social media management, email marketing, online advertising, public relations, SEO and websites.
McDermott said a website connected to the marketing effort gets just 50-plus visits per day.
He said the click-through rate on two social advertising campaigns run through Noble House were just 4.32% and 4.66%. McDermott also said Noble House has a list of 10,000 New Canaan email addresses for email campaigns.
TEDAC member B.J. Flagg, a digital media professional, said, “If there’s a list of 10,000 New Canaanites—we only have 20,000 people who live in our town—so that’s clearly the largest list available. I would do something and leverage that. Even the other ones that we handle I don’t have a list of 10,000. So that is a huge list.”
McDermott said that digital ads promoting “Live New Canaan” have been placed on websites such as FOX News and CNN, and that public relations efforts have seen write-ups placed on websites such as Patch.com and ctpost.
Describing Noble House’s efforts to improve the SEO of New Canaan businesses by having them appear on page one of Internet search returns, McDermott said, “This has performed phenomenally.” One of the businesses listed as benefitting from the effort was Ally-Bally-Bee, which hasn’t existed in New Canaan since the early weeks of the pandemic (a successor retailer, The Artful Mix, closed in January).
McDermott said the number of people visiting the “Live New Canaan” website as a result of searching for New Canaan-based terms compares favorably to nonprofit organizations such as the Newcomers Club (“four times” greater, he said) and New Canaan Museum & Historical Society (“three times greater”). The “Live New Canaan” website doesn’t show up on Google until page four for the search term “New Canaan CT.”
McDermott said the “Live New Canaan” website is “increasingly seen as the resource for all things New Canaan.”
Murphy said it was “clearly a success story.”
TEDAC member Rita Bettino said, “I’m in marketing so I have looked at this very critically,” adding that she’s “very impressed with what you guys have achieved.”
Moynihan said he is seeking to hire Noble House “to work with the town.”
Murphy said, “It sounds to me like, with this platform taking off the way it has, that I think what Kevin is saying is that there is maybe some sort of an opportunity to leverage it. As you said, shared funding, there are so many aspects of it that could be you know could be successful initiatives with several different partners.”
Throughout the process, the town has kept an updated spreadsheet or “matrix” of funding requests. The “Live New Canaan” line item didn’t appear on that spreadsheet in September or October, then showed up on a public packet for the selectmen’s Nov. 16 meeting with the $60,000 earmark and a note that called it a “fully integrated marketing and promotional digital platform for the town.”
The note continued: “Past funding includes Board of Realtors ($200k+) and TEDAC ($10K). Provides social media content, email marketing, Google ads, PR, Search Engine Optimization and Website enhancement focusing on local businesses, organizations and events. Two annual campaigns have generated 73,000 impressions.”
Town officials have discussed the allocation of $6 million in ARPA funds for New Canaan since June.
In the intervening months, the town has kept an updated spreadsheet or “matrix” of funding requests—some items, such as $100,000 for an ice rink, have appeared in the past and been removed or demoted within the document. Nonprofit groups such as VFW Post 653 and the New Canaan Nature Center have presented their cases for funding at public hearings before members of the Board of Finance and Town Council. The “Live New Canaan” line item didn’t appear on the spreadsheet in September or October, then showed up on a public packet for the selectmen’s Nov. 16 meeting with the $60,000 earmark and a note that called it a “fully integrated marketing and promotional digital platform for the town.”
The note continued: “Past funding includes Board of Realtors ($200k+) and TEDAC ($10K). Provides social media content, email marketing, Google ads, PR, Search Engine Optimization and Website enhancement focusing on local businesses, organizations and events. Two annual campaigns have generated 73,000 impressions.”
Here are the selectmen recommendations:
Selectmen ARPA Funding Recommendations
| Project | Purpose | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Premium pay | Town and Board of Ed workers | $725,050 |
| NCTV79 | Modernization of equipment | $70,000 |
| Waveny Park Conservancy | Matching funds for projects | $250,000 |
| Parking fund | Replenish lost revenue | $150,000 |
| Emergency generator | Backup generator for critical facilities | $250,000 |
| Live New Canaan | Marketing project support | $60,000 |
| Outdoor bathrooms at Waveny | Renovate for all-season use | $250,000 |
| Greenlink sidewalks | Completion of greenlinks | $300,000 |
| Sub Total | $2,055,050 | |
| Total ARPA Allocation | $6 million | |
| Remaining ARPA Funds | $3,944,950 |
If a privately funded professional board wants to buy a couple gallons of snake oil, that’s one thing.
But for the town to use taxpayer dollars– specifically those earmarked for post-pandemic economic and public health recovery, to pay a snake oil salesman from Darien to lazily co-opt a campaign initially designed for the Board of Realtors is beyond reproach.
The creative is lackluster to begin with: a handle nobody knows how to pronounce, a generic social media calendar that’s redundant with (but remarkably less informative than) the Chamber of Commerce’s content, and no unifying aesthetic or conceptual principle. Is this for people considering moving to New Canaan? Or people who already live here? Nobody knows, because nobody ever bothered to write a clear brief.
However, what is clear is that the Selectmen and TEDAC don’t have much of an instinct for marketing. They aren’t holding this idea to any form of traditional success measurement. Without defined goals, key performance indicators, and direct responsibility to the taxpayers funding this limitless folly, they look like a bunch of rubes who fell for the shiny jargon and bewitching man bun of a traveling salesman.
It was COVID that solved our real estate inventory problem. Not digital marketing. And if you don’t believe me, boy, do I have a bridge to sell you.
I think VFW post 653 asked for consideration. Are they getting the support they need? If they’re based In darien shouldn’t they apply for support there?
Thanks Margaret.
To answer your first question, the VFW is not in line to receive ARPA funding as described in this particular table. You are correct that the organization asked for help at a public hearing. Here’s a bookmark from the Oct. 5 Town Council meeting where John McLane, a U.S. Army captain in Vietnam and member of VFW Post 653, requests funding so that the organization can continue to place flags and wreaths on the gravestones of military veterans interred in New Canaan. It’s only five minutes long and worth watching. Please note especially the 1:07:40 mark, where Mr. McLane says rather humbly, “Whatever you can do we would appreciate, because it’s been kind of tough the last couple of years.” In reply, the Town Council chair (at the time) makes what appears to be a joke about how donations for the VFW surely will “double” because Mr. McLane is appearing on a local cable access channel, and Mr. McLane responds flatly, “I’m not laughing.”
The town appears to be trying to cover itself somewhat with respect to meeting requests from nonprofit organizations by announcing that it’s working with the Community Foundation (which of course has a far longer track record with respect to funding than the town itself), to vet such requests. Importantly, the CF has a time-tested and effective system already in place for fielding and studying such grant requests. Town Hall put out a “press release” on Monday on what the town is calling the “unique partnership.” How much ARPA funding will be available through that channel isn’t clear because it wasn’t in the PR. I’m not sure how the town plans to explain its decision to pull out some nonprofit organizations for the type of standalone consideration that’s described in this article. That would be a good question to ask the first selectman and his staff.
There is, perhaps, also an open question as to why the town is issuing a press release about its partnership with the Community Foundation, but is not directing the Board of Realtors toward that same application process along with the other venerable nonprofit organizations in New Canaan that are seeking ARPA support.
In response to your second question, the New Canaan Board of Realtors is based in New Canaan, I believe their office is on Grove Street near the park. What is based in Darien is the marketing company they hired to take over this marketing campaign. While the causes, projects and organizations that are seeking a part of New Canaan’s taxpayer funding through ARPA are based in town, in many cases I would imagine that the vendors who will be paid for the various work they want to get done will not necessarily be located/based/headquartered here.
I agree with Laura Ault’s comments. Note to the First Selectman: More than a few New Canaan taxpayers find the recommended $60,000 allocation to Live New Canaan to be both “controversial” and “objectionable.”
While a larger topic, I think the propriety of the appropriation list should be reassessed, starting with this $60K item.
On the surface, some of the items make complete sense, such as the hazard bonus pay and the parking fund reimbursement. Others do not, including the aforementioned $60K.
BTW, I went to the website in question. Clearly a real estate slant, though some very useful general content, like the event/happenings cal. However, more private industry than public interest site. Some parts could easily be replicated by a trusted, objective private source, such as Newcanaanite or NC Advertiser, the latter even under its current ownership.
I agree with you, Peter. The town doesn’t need another calendar aggregator. What we *actually* need is to provide hazard/ thank you/ bonus pay to the people who kept us going for the past 22 months. Really disappointed in anyone who promoted this idea.