Tourism RFP Issued
Due Date 10/03/2024 4:00 PM Eastern
Contact
Email us at hello@demandstar.com
OBJECTIVE
St. Johns County is seeking to establish a five-year agreement with a professional organization (“Consultant”) to oversee and facilitate destination marketing with the goal of increasing the local economic impact of tourism. The selected Consultant will be expected to (1) conduct a comprehensive search and competitively procure a high-quality destination marketing agency through a solicitation process, and (2) provide ongoing marketing management services in coordination with the St. Johns County Tourism Industry. The total annual budget for this contract, including both management services and marketing expenses, is approximately $4 million. B.
SCOPE OF SERVICES
The awarded Consultant must perform the following Tasks: Task 1 – Comprehensive Search and Solicitation of a Sub-Contracted Professional Marketing Agency
• Within seven (7) business days of contract execution, develop and submit a solicitation for a tourism destination marketing agency sub-contract to the St. John County Tourism Department for review and approval. The County shall take no more than five (5) business days to provide modifications and/or approve the solicitation.
• Within three (3) business days of receipt of the County’s approval of the solicitation, the Consultant shall broadcast the solicitation at a national and international level, to ensure the highest exposure to the marketing industry. Consultant must develop a list of leading destination marketing firms to include in the broadcast of the solicitation.
• The solicitation must provide a submittal deadline, location, and format for proposals, and must provide a structured process for receiving and answering questions, or providing clarifications, and must provide for a structured method for distributing answers and clarifications to all interested Proposers in a uniform manner. Solicitation must provide parameters by which the proposals shall be evaluated.
• Copies of all submitted proposals to the solicitation must be submitted to the St. Johns County Tourism Department within five (5) business days of the RFP closing. • The Consultant shall evaluate the proposals and select the proposer with the best proposal to perform tourism destination marketing services within 10 business days of the submittal deadline for proposals.
• The Consultant shall negotiate and draft a sub-contract for tourism destination marketing that mirrors the duration of the Consultant’s management contract.
• The Consultant shall provide a draft copy of the contract for tourism destination marketing to the County for review and approval prior to final execution. The County shall take no more than five (5) business days to provide modifications and/or approval of the contract.
• The Consultant shall have a fully executed tourism destination marketing subcontract in place within 45 days of the solicitation submittal deadline.
Task 2 – Coordination of Marketing Efforts with a Tourism Promotions Working Group
• The Consultant will meet monthly with a Tourism Promotions Working Group to provide updates on promotional efforts and gather input for future promotional efforts. The Tourism Promotions Working Group includes members of key tourism support agencies such as the Visitors and Convention Bureau, the Cultural Council, and the Chamber of Commerce, industry representatives from the local governments, including but not limited to St. Johns County, the City of St. Augustine, and the City of St. Augustine Beach, as well as representatives from the industry, including one member of the Tourist Development Council, or as otherwise determined by the County and/or Tourist Development Council.
• With input from the Tourism Promotions Working Group, the Consultant will develop the annual destination marketing plan. The Consultant will present the annual marketing plan to the Tourist Development Council (TDC) at the regularly scheduled June meeting. If necessary, the Consultant will revise the annual marketing plan based on comments/direction received from the TDC and present the revised marketing plan to the TDC at the subsequent regularly scheduled TDC meeting.
Task 3 – Attend Tourism Related Meetings In addition to attending the monthly Tourism Promotions Working Group meetings, Consultant must:
• Attend all regularly scheduled TDC meetings and be prepared to give a brief marketing update if requested (approximately five minutes in length). The TDC meets up to one time per month, with the meeting typically occurring on the third Monday of the month unless that Monday is a Federal Holiday observed by the County. In a typical year, the TDC meets 6 to 7 times.
• Present a marketing status update report to the TDC at up to two regularly scheduled TDC meetings per fiscal year, as requested. Presentations should be approximately 20 minutes in length. • Be available for meetings with County Officers and Staff regarding tourism initiatives, with notice of at least 2 business days.
Task 4 – Management and Implementation of Tourism Destination Marketing With the assistance of the procured Sub-consultant, and with input from the Tourism Promotions Working Group, the Consultant shall provide the following deliverables:
• Development of Creative Concept The Consultant must guide the development of creative advertising programs, branding campaigns, television, magazine, newspaper, radio, digital and other forms of marketing. Additionally, the Consultant shall strategically plan, integrate, manage and execute an assortment of marketing projects. The Consultant shall ensure the subcontracted marketing firm uses various forms of media to create communications that convey the breadth and depth of the destination to target audiences for the purpose of increasing the economic impact of tourism in the County. The Consultant shall oversee the development of creative campaigns for implementation on a state, national and international level. The development of the creative concept will be guided and approved by the Tourism Promotions Working Group.
• Production/Design The Consultant shall provide the level of guidance and oversight to the sub-contracted marketing firm necessary to ensure the sub-contractor conforms to standard industry advertising practices to develop or produce the quality of artwork, digital advertising including online banners and pre-roll video, digital files, printed matter (including annual travel planner), radio and television commercials, specialty advertising items and other collateral materials as required by the Tourism Department and purchase them at advantageous rates. Oversight responsibilities may also include but are not limited to following tasks to be charged to the sub-contracted firm, including but not limited to:
o Engagement of talent; o Finished artwork; o Video/radio scripts;
o Dubs of broadcast materials;
o Digital files/disks of finished materials to the Tourism Department or designated recipient including pdf files, JPGs, Raw files, etc.
• Media Planning and Buying o The Consultant must be the principal advisor and provider to the Tourism Department on media buying services and shall work with the Tourism Promotions Working Group to develop an annual destination marketing plan that defines major goals, primary target markets, overall promotional strategy and key projects.
o The Consultant shall work with the Tourism Promotions Working Group to develop the annual destination marketing plan that focuses on delivering the most efficient and effective marketing for reaching the defined target audiences based on research and analytics.
o In coordination with the Tourism Department staff, the Consultant shall present the annual destination marketing plan to the TDC at the regularly scheduled June meeting. If necessary, the Consultant shall revise the annual destination marketing plan based on comments/direction received from the TDC.
o The Consultant shall negotiate and contract with advertising media and others at the most advantageous rates available in the commercial advertising market. Additional emphasis should be placed on obtaining added value elements to all media buys including additional space/time, online components and promotional programs.
o The Consultant shall monitor and review insertions of advertisements in publications, displays, broadcasts and other advertising media used to such a degree as is the custom by commercial advertising agencies and make adjustments as necessary to meet performance measures. The Consultant shall check such items as date of appearance, position of ad, size, mechanical reproduction and any other related factors and shall furnish the Tourism Promotion Working Group with samples of proof of placement and running of some of the said advertisements by providing tear sheets with date of insertion or other evidence of placement at monthly Working Group meetings. o The Consultant shall develop a quarterly report, table or flowchart of activity by month for each market and shall report on the number of impressions generated for the various markets.
Task 5 – Tracking and Reporting
• Consultant must track the effectiveness of advertising and marketing campaigns administered by the Sub-contractor, including return on investment when possible, and adjusting the campaigns as necessary when performance measures are not met.
• Consultant must provide a monthly report of the tracked data and performance improvement plans to the Tourism Department within the first seven (7) business days of each month for the previous month.
• Consultant must present the monthly tracking report to the Tourism Promotion Working Group and the TDC at regularly scheduled meetings.
Task 6 – Account Management Consultant’s account management responsibilities include but are not limited to:
• Retaining custody of digital copies and original artwork belonging to the County and supplying copies to third parties for marketing purposes, as requested by the County and/or the Tourism Promotions Working Group.
• Providing needed account service, consultation, and regular contact to ensure prompt completion of projects.
• Maintaining internal procedures which ensure budget control, prompt billing and quality control, including but not limited to auditing invoices for space, time, preparation and services and forwarding these invoices to the Tourism Department for payment.
• Providing monthly budget spreadsheets detailing all billing.
• Handling procurement and management of the Sub-contractor for County tourism destination promotions related to said contract, such as but not limited to, fulfilment, research, photography, videography and printing /binding functions.
• The Consultant’s main point of contact for this contract will be the Tourism Department
