Maui, Hawaii Issues Marketing RFP for Economic Development

The County of Maui, Hawaii Mayor’s Office of Economic Development (OED) has issued an RFP for a marketing firm for an event – Maui County Small Business Saturday which will take place on November 26th, 2016.

Small Business Saturday is the Saturday after Thanksgiving in the U.S. The day is intended to encourage American shoppers to consider small retailers and merchants as they think of their holiday shopping. It comes as an answer to the Friday after the U.S. Thanksgiving Day (4th Thursday of November) called Black Friday and the following Monday called Cyber Monday. Both of those days have come to be associated with discounts and promotions at large retail chains and ecommerce businesses. Small Business Saturday is a promotional effort intended to encourage consumers to support local businesses that create jobs, boost the economy and preserve neighborhoods around the country.

In 2010, the Small Business Saturday promotion was created and sponsored by American Express, who registered the URL SmallBusinessSaturday.com and registered the trademark for the term Small Business Saturday. The company also created a Facebook page supporting the event and promoted the event with national television advertising and a broad array of public relations activities. The event is now recognized and supported by many local and federal governmental agencies as well as local organizations such as chambers of commerce.

Scope of Work Includes:

• Work with OED to recruit local small businesses to participate in the Small Business Saturday campaign.
• Create and/or provide the participants with marketing tools such as SBA Small Business Saturday PR materials, brochures for them to hand out to customers, e- mail template etc.
• Provide the participating businesses with proper marketing ideas and trainings leading up to the day of the event. ( For example, how to best utilize e-mail, promotions and accommodations for kids, discounts, coupons, give aways, free services such as gift wrapping / shipping, joint-business promotions, events, etc.)
• Plan advertising campaigns to educate the public about Small Business Saturday and publicize store info and special offers (Newspaper, social media, TV, radio, brochures, etc.).
• Create free social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, for example) and regularly update the postings with attractive contents.
• Offer ideas for on-location promotion campaigns on the day of the event in areas with many small businesses

Proposal due by June 16, 2016 to:

Teena M. Rasmussen
Director Office of Economic Development County of Maui
2200 Main Street
Wailuku, Hawaii 96793