Marketing Strategy, Marketing Management RFP
Destination BC is a provincially funded, industry-led Crown corporation that supports a strong and competitive future for BC’s tourism industry through a combination of global marketing, destination development, industry learning, cooperative community-based programs, and visitor servicing. These investments help to improve the visitor experience, support businesses and communities, and strengthen BC’s worldwide reputation as a destination of choice. For more information about Destination BC’s programs and services, please visit: http://www.DestinationBC.ca/.
Pre-pandemic, tourism was one of the largest global industries, having grown from 650 million world travellers in 2000 to nearly 1.5 billion world travellers in 2019. While the Covid-19 pandemic has drastically impacted tourism operations and traveller behaviours, Destination BC projects traveller visits will return to pre-Covid levels in the coming 3-5 years. Prior to 2020, British Columbia’s tourism industry has benefited from global tourism growth, outperforming forecasts for North America, and enjoying four consecutive years of increases in both overnight travellers and expenditures to BC, contributing over $22.3 billion in revenue (2019) to the provincial economy.
As an industry-led Crown corporation, Destination BC works collaboratively with tourism stakeholders across the province to coordinate marketing at the international, provincial, regional, and local levels. Destination BC is mandated to fulfil several key marketing and leadership responsibilities critical to the long-term, sustainable growth of the provincial tourism industry.
Destination BC’s Corporate Strategy identifies the following key aspirations for BC’s tourism industry:
● Share the transformative power of BC with the world.
● Grow sustainable social, cultural, environmental, and economic benefits for all British Columbians.
Destination BC’s marketing strategy focuses on a consumer-centric, data-driven approach to attract high potential domestic and international travellers. Our programs and activities are structured around three strategic pillars to drive increased revenue and visitation through all seasons and all areas of British Columbia:
Powerful Destination Brand: Rebuild and market a globally compelling destination brand that motivates the world’s travellers to visit when travel is allowed.
Seamless Visitor Experience: Connect the marketing funnel to move people from inspiration to conversion using data and signals of intent to drive personalized content through fully integrated media activities.
Powerful Marketing Network: The systems, processes, and partnerships that power a shared approach to marketing in BC’s tourism ecosystem.
The foundation of Destination BC’s strategy requires that we continue to work hand-in-hand with our strategic partners:
● Tourism Businesses, destination marketing organizations (DMOs), sectors, Indigenous Tourism BC (ITBC);
● Channels – digital platforms, travel media, travel trade;
● Data-partnerships and premium publishers;
● Destination Canada, cross-Canada provincial partners, airlines;
● Governments (municipal, provincial, federal, Indigenous).
Destination BC works closely with these partners across the tourism ecosystem in developing collaborative marketing activities, and also works closely with agency partners for branding, creative development, and traditional media planning. Respondent applications should exemplify strong collaboration with agency partners, industry partners and stakeholders.
Destination BC’s global marketing team continues to push the boundaries of digital marketing and innovation in the Destination Management Organization tourism sector. Respondents should be comfortable providing services within a fast-paced environment, where agility, innovation, data fluency and the adoption and use of new marketing technologies are the norm.
SCOPE OF WORK
Service Areas:
A. MARKETING STRATEGY
B. MARKETING MANAGEMENT
C. MARKETING PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Qualified Suppliers will be expected to have proven experience and capabilities to provide the following services to the extent that all or some of these are required to meet the marketing objectives of Destination British Columbia. The selected Respondents must be willing to work within an ecosystem of collaboration with other Destination BC (“DBC”) marketing agencies, partners, stakeholders, suppliers and contractors.
MARKETING STRATEGY
• Strategy Development: end-to-end marketing strategy development, including but not limited to:
o Competitive Review: researching, reviewing, and analysing competitive and competitor marketing activities;
o Opportunity Analysis: researching and evaluating niche subjects (e.g., cannabis tourism), market opportunities, and target geographic markets and audience segments;
o Stakeholder Consultation: gathering input and feedback from DBC leadership and/or external industry partners and stakeholders;
o Tactical recommendations: development of tactical plan to deliver on strategy.
• Marketing and Campaign Planning: planning, implementing, monitoring, optimizing and evaluating niche, small and large integrated marketing programs and advertising campaigns (all media types) including but not limited to writing and presenting marketing strategies and plans for specific programs, writing and presenting agency marketing briefs to internal and external stakeholders and agencies, managing internal/external partners and stakeholders including the marketing agency;
• Media planning: providing strategic oversight to integrated media planning activities including owned, earned, and paid (traditional/offline, digital and social media).
• Project management: providing oversight for the following types of projects, including but not limited to: market research, procurement of marketing sub-contractors, procurement and management of marketing technology projects.
• Focus on Results: Collaborating with Destination BC and its partners and stakeholders to achieve Destination BC’s marketing objectives. Developing marketing performance measures. Using data to inform recommendations. Using data, visuals and narratives to communicate data insights to inform marketing strategies.
MARKETING MANAGEMENT
Provide consulting, coaching and/or development and delivery in the following areas:
• Marketing change management;
• Operationalizing marketing strategy;
• Marketing organizational design;
• Marketing education, training and/or workshop facilitation;
• Marketing technology vision and selection;
• Marketing digital readiness; and
• General marketing coaching.
MARKETING PROJEC MANAGEMENT
Project management: provide project management for marketing activities which may include the following:
· advertising campaigns (production management, performance management, agency management, budget management, stakeholder relations);
· advertising asset production related to campaigns (e.g., digital display, video, paid social, native, OOH, TV, print, etc.);
· marketing communications/creative asset development (e.g., promotional videos, web pages/forms, content updates, email creative);
· brand asset planning and production (e.g., photo/video shoots) and brand development projects;
· content marketing projects, including content partnerships and social media;
· traditional/non-traditional partnership commitments;
· assisting with the development of industry communications plans;
· managing internal/external partners and stakeholders including the marketing agency; and
· project logistics including organizing meetings, file management, implementation and management of projects and project management tools.
Closing time: Proposals must be received before 2:00 pm Pacific time on June 14, 2021
Hunter PR and Alison Brod PR are agencies worth considering for this assignment.
