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CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION <br />Topic Report Discuss CGI Communications' Video <br />Tour Book <br />By: Jessica L. Hendricks, Management Intern <br />Background: <br />.. <br />i, <br />1 <br />G <br />J <br />i <br />CGI Communications, Inc. has entered into a partnership with the National League of Cities (NLC) to offer <br />streaming video tour books, through its eLocalLink division. This program offers enhancements to a City <br />website that are paid for by sponsorship from area businesses. CGI Communications is proposing to create <br />a community video showcase for the City of Ramsey at no cost to the City. The videos are funded by <br />allowing local businesses to advertise on the video tour. The community videos are hosted on an outside <br />website that is reached through a link on the City's website. Local businesses are offered the opportunity to <br />place their logo on the video tour book. Visitors who click on a business logo are then taken to a separate <br />video tour of that business. The City of Ramsey is expected to provide a letter of introduction to local <br />businesses, but is otherwise not responsible for the relationship between CGI Communications and Ramsey <br />businesses.. <br />Below is a list of Minnesota cities that have already instituted the Video Tour Book, along with their <br />websites. <br />• City of Duluth - http://www.duluthmn.gov <br />• City of Crystal - httpa/www.ci.crystaLmn.us <br />• City of Coon Rapids - http://www.ci.coon-rapids.mn.us <br />• City of Elk River - http://www.ci.elk-river.mn.us <br />• City of Robbinsdale - http://www.ci.robbinsdale.mn.us <br />Staff has contacted a number of Minnesota cities for feedback on the service that CGI Communications is <br />offering. The feedback has been mixed. One city stated that the experience was trouble free for the city, <br />but that local businesses were frustrated with the sales tactics of CGI. Another city that was contacted <br />stated they did not have a good experience with CGI. Part of the CGI agreement is to put a "Coming Soon" <br />link on the city's website. The city experienced frustration at the amount of time it took to create the video <br />tour book. In the meantime, they were expected to post a dead link on the homepage of their website.. <br />Concern was also raised about the HTML code that was used to create the link. The city does not. retain <br />control of the code once it is posted on the website. This allows CGI Communications to update the videos <br />and ads as needed, but in one instance allowed them to change the size of the link graphic to overshadow <br />other items on the city's website. Without control of the code, the City's website may also become <br />susceptible to viruses, similar to the banner virus that attacked the Star Tribune's website. This also means <br />that the cities that were contacted had no way of tracking traffic to the videos. An additional city stated that <br />they did not have the resources to create this type of video tour, so they appreciated the program. However, <br />of the cities contacted, there were no concrete benefits to the cities that were identified, and many cities <br />identified the sales tactics of the CGI representatives astoo aggressive or stating that the cities themselves <br />wanted businesses to purchase ads from CGI. Once city recommended that we add language to the contract <br />covering how CGI sales representatives approach local businesses. Businesses in that city were approached <br />by CGI representatives who implied that participation and sponsorship of the video project was mandated <br />by the city. <br />