REQUEST FOR QUOTATION PROJECT TITLE:
PR support for autumn tourism marketing campaign HBPRAUT09
REFERENCE NUMBER: ISSUED BY: DATE OF ISSUE: CONTACT DETAILS:
Helen Batte Friday 31st July 2009 Northwest Regional Development Agency Renaissance House Centre Park Warrington WA1 1QN 01925 400235 Helen.Batte@nwda.co.uk
QUOTATION RETURN DATE:
12 noon on Friday 21st August 2009
DOCUMENTATION REQUIRED:
We require 2 hard copies and an electronic version of your submission, emailed to Helen.Batte@nwda.co.uk
PANEL DETAILS:
N/A
TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF CONTRACT
The Northwest Development Agency’s Standard Terms and Conditions of Contract for Services shall apply.
PROJECT DETAILS 1
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Agency is seeking quotes for the provision of public relations services to support a short, targeted tourism marketing campaign during the autumn. Over the past 12 months the Agency has delivered a national media advertising campaign, ‘Stuart’s Short Stories for Short Breaks’, to promote England’s Northwest as a short break destination.
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The campaign was led by a series of travel-diary style pieces written by broadcaster Stuart Maconie. These appeared as advertorials in national magazines and glossy newspaper supplements. The campaign was backed by a website, www.stuartsstories.com, (which included a series of podcasts narrated by Stuart) and a book of all the short stories. Campaign activity focused on city culture in the autumn and the region’s outstanding natural environment in the spring (key periods for UK short breaks). A recent evaluation estimates that between £5.5 and £7.5 million was generated by the first phase of the campaign, which had an audience reach of 15 million. As a result, the campaign has been extended into the autumn of 2009 and we will be placing both new, updated and existing short stories in a selection of publications this autumn. This tender seeks to extend this activity with two more high-profile faces supporting a short, intensive PR campaign to promote the Northwest as a short break destination.
2.
AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
We are looking to extend the PR element of this campaign during the Autumn burst of activity, in order to promote the Northwest as a short break destination. The PR campaign will retain the honest, down-to-earth feel of the existing campaign. The PR campaign should be led by two or more viable, relevant famous faces who will complement Stuart’s style and approach. Any PR activity needs to breakthrough ingrained negative associations that still persist around the Northwest and reflect the overall theme and feel of the Short Stories campaign. Creative challenge The creative solution needs to: • contain core messages, firmly based on the region’s brand values • Work across the region on a thematic basis, focusing on the city/culture/arts theme and the outdoor/natural/environment theme. • Refer to the region’s ’attack brands’ (Blackpool, Chester, Manchester, Lake District, Liverpool) as appropriate • Help create an emotional connection to the Northwest brand, possibly via a more experience-led route • Convey the diversity of the sub-regions, the wide variety of activities and the undiscovered areas of the Northwest. • Include the use of two or more high profile brand advocates to create interest and credibility – tenders must name the suggested celebrity advocates and should indicate their willingness to be involved with the campaign. Messages The current activity will challenge negative perceptions of the Northwest, based on the strength of the region’s city/culture/arts products. The aim is to inspire the audience to consider Northwest destinations as possible locations for future short
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breaks. They should also be made to feel like they are getting the inside track/lowdown on what there is to see and do. The call to action is to visit the regional tourism website for further information – www.visitenglandsnorthwest.com.
3.
CRITICAL ISSUES
Target Audience We have identified several key Mosaic groups that form our core target audience: Nest Builders, Unconstrained Couples and Empty Nesters. Broadly they are ABC1s, couples, have no kids in the household, aged 35+, living in Yorkshire, the Midlands, London and the South East. They are positively disposed to taking UK short breaks and have an interest in city/culture/arts and/or outdoors/nature/countryside. Existing Campaign Working with our media buying agency, PHD North, we have a media plan for activity throughout Autumn 2009 which focuses on the ‘culture’ message. Advertorial will be placed in quality press weekend supplements and general interest magazines during this time. Vivid have been retained to provide the creative / designs for these advertorials and the new stories will be added to the campaign website and new podcasts will be uploaded onto the site. Stuart will be engaged in some PR activity to promote the campaign including interviews and travel writing for specific publications. Parameters The solution should be based on, or a development of, the current brand positioning. It should support the existing activity and add value to it. Activity needs to take place during September, October and November. Weblinks The current campaign can be seen at www.stuartsstories.com The regional tourism website is www.visitenglandsnorthwest.com
4.
METHODOLOGY
The tenderer is required to provide the following services
• •
• •
PR support for the existing marketing campaign A PR plan for the life of the project Engagement and management of any celebrity / well known characters involved in the campaign Regular updates to the NWDA project team, including attendance at progress meetings
Any subcontractors to be used must be stated in the contractor’s bid and cannot be changed without the prior written permission of the Agency.
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5.
OUTPUTS
A minimum of four stand-out, destination-led pieces of media coverage in national media plus four regional pieces of coverage Additional coverage which could be news or travel focused. Coverage will be provided to the NWDA electronically, as it is picked up. Coverage should be evaluated and presented to the NWDA in hard copy at the end of the project.
6.
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
The project will be managed at the Agency by Helen Batte, Tourism Press Officer. There should be one allocated point of contact for day-to-day communication with the Agency, however all staff involved in the project will be requires to attend set-up, update and de-brief sessions.
7.
TIMESCALES
It is anticipated that the contract will commence on 1st September and be for a period of 3 months, terminating on 1st December, subject to satisfactory performance and pricing. Should the project be a success, there is scope for extending the contract into the first half of 2010.
CONTRACTOR RESPONSE 8.
FORMAT OF PROPOSAL Your proposal should be structured as follows:
• •
Introduction and Organisational background Project Appreciation – a clear understanding of what is required in terms of the delivery of the services to be provided • The suppliers proposals for meeting the specified requirements, and a method statement outlining “how” they propose to meet the requirements. The suppliers method statements should include as a minimum: o Work plan and proposed resource (including a full schedule and milestone delivery) o details of any proposed subcontractors to be used in the delivery of the services, outlining their relevant experience in such service delivery and their roles and responsibilities and elements of the service that it is proposed is delivered by subcontractors • Demonstration of experience of providing similar services (A4 page summary of experience) including CVs of key personnel to be attached to the account (one A4 page summary per person) • References of 3 major contracts awarded within the last 2 years for services similar to those required by the Agency.
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• 9.
Financial proposal (see below)
FINANCIAL PROPOSAL Please breakdown the project costs as follows: • • • • •
Project management fees for the service to be delivered (daily rate – based on an 8 hour day) Schedule of rates for personnel proposed to deliver the services on an hourly or (8hr) daily rate Fixed price for whole project Fixed price for outputs or stages of the project Additional costs such as Administration costs; Travel and subsistence; Publication costs; Overheads; Other costs (to be specified);
NB. All costs should be quoted exclusive of VAT
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1.
CRITERIA FOR ASSESSMENT
The evaluation criteria described in this RFQ will be used to inform the final decision as to which tenderer(s) will be awarded a contract. Each criteria within this PQQ will be weighted as follows: Criteria for assessment Knowledge and expertise of the subject area
Weighting 20%
Suppliers proposals in meeting the requirements of the service
30%
The degree to which the outputs will be achieved in the required timescales as given in their proposals
10%
Costs and subsequent value for money offered.
40%
TOTAL
100%
Scoring Mechanism The following scoring methodology will be adopted in scoring the tenderers responses to the information requested within this Request for Quote (RFQ) and provided within the tenderers response to this RFQ
Scoring methodology
Score
Supplier does not meet the minimum requirement as specified or has not responded to the specific criteria. Suppliers response partially meets the minimum specified requirements and hence there are reservations Suppliers response fully meets the minimum requirement as specified Supplier response usefully exceeds the minimum specified requirement and offers improved value for money (VFM) For information only and does not attract a score Perceived as mission critical requirements and thus will not attract a score or weighting but will determine whether or not a supplier remains in the process
0
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0.5 0.9 1 FI IN/OUT
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