San Francisco Department Of Environment Issues PR & Marketing RFP

The San Francisco Department of the Environment (SF Environment), a department of the City and County of San Francisco, creates visionary policies and innovative programs that promote social equity, protect human health, and lead the way toward a sustainable future.  They have issued an RFP seeking a marketing, Advertising, Marketing Research and Community Relations agency.  Budgets are expected to be up to $6 Million for the assignments.

SF Environment develops innovative, practical and wide-ranging environmental programs, fostering groundbreaking legislation, and educating the public by providing comprehensive and easily accessible information on a wide range of sustainable practices. SF Environment has active programs in the areas of Climate, Renewable Energy, Energy Efficiency, Clean Transportation, Environmental Justice, Green Jobs (Environment Now), Zero Waste, Toxic Reduction, School Education, Green Building, Biodiversity, Urban Agriculture and Urban Forestry.

Scope of Work:

The agency hired will conduct market research, market segmentation studies, attitude and usage research, continuous brand and campaign tracking and qualitative and quantitative studies to identify stimuli, triggers, incentives and other elements in media to motivate consumers to participate in SF Environment’s programs.

Assignment includes:

• Script and conduct focus groups, surveys and phone interviews in English, Spanish, Chinese and other languages as needed;
• Gather or procure and analyze data from private and public sources;
• Conduct in-depth segmentation studies using both qualitative and quantitative means to identify key attributes about current, potential and non-program participants that can be used to create distinct target market groups for marketing. Segmentation studies may include but are not limited to analyzing attributes such as demographic, geographic, psychographic, socioeconomic, lifestyle, motivational, behavioral and program engagement;
• Present findings of segmentation studies and provide actionable recommendations on creative messaging and strategies to engage identified target market groups including multi-lingual groups;
• Test strategies, concepts and creative messaging;
• Conduct pre, post and ongoing campaign effectiveness studies to evaluate the impact of online and offline marketing and outreach campaigns and brand awareness and provide on- going recommendations to improve campaign performance and future campaigns.

Full Service Advertising

The agency shall develop, and implement outreach, marketing and advertising campaigns with frequently overlapping implementation schedules, design campaign specific creative and messaging, plan, purchase and execute traditional, non-traditional, and online media, track ongoing campaign progress, provide recommendations and report findings.

Assignment includes:

• Exhibit superior marketing campaign planning and implementation skills to achieve maximum impact from available resources;
• Using analysis of market research and client’s program/goals: design successful creative and collateral for all media types (including but not limited to traditional, non-traditional, online and mobile);
• Provide photography, video production and graphic design support and services as required;
• Provide proficiency in multi-lingual outreach, including but not limited to culturally sensitive creative strategy and execution, as well as accurate translation at minimum of English into Chinese, Spanish and Filipino;
• Exhibit superior media planning and negotiation skills to achieve maximum media impact from available resources/budget. Must be able to detail negotiations including but not limited to added value, CPM discounts etc.;

• Coordinate, place and purchase off-line media for SF Environment in traditional and non- traditional media vehicles including ethnic/in-language channels. Offline media vehicles include but not limited to print, outdoor (both traditional and non-traditional), radio, and spot TV;
• Coordinate, purchase, and traffic, online media including but not limited to search engine marketing, ad words, display advertising (both standard and rich media), social media marketing, cross-platform ads (mobile device ads, tablet ads, portable display ads, etc.), email marketing, and in-language media;
• Provide detailed plans and campaign reports including but not limited to situational analysis, strengths, weakness, opportunities, threats, market segmentation analysis and targeting, positioning, creative, budget, marketing goals, strategies and timeline, implementation schedule, results, return on investment, metrics, all raw data and recommendations for future campaigns;

Collateral Production and Distribution Including:

• Print collateral in traditional formats, including but not limited to postcards, flyers, business cards, mailers, letters, posters, brochures, door hangers, booklets, information packets and tear-away pads;
• Produce branded collateral in non-traditional formats including but not limited to coffee sleeves, reusable bags, apparel, giveaways, table cloths, banners, tents, event supplies and reusable kitchenware.

Public Relations work Including:

• Provide public relations support to SF Environment as needed to generate positive media attention surrounding SF Environment’s programs and overall mission. This can include but is not limited to producing and distributing press releases, organizing events, crisis communication, internal communications and organizing press conferences, including securing locations, drafting speaker talking points and providing logistical support;
• Provide culturally specific public relations support including but not limited to translation of press releases, connection to language specific press contacts, and culturally sensitive press events. At minimum Chinese, Spanish, and Filipino are required.
• Provide earned media tracking as requested by event and or for the brand as a whole;
• Assist in-house staff with writing and editing tasks using the brand voice;
• Assist in-house staff with drafting Op-Eds and working with them to publish content;
• Initiate and assist in implementing and promoting a variety of special events and sponsorships.

Community Outreach Including:

• Conduct door-to-door in-language (at minimum Chinese, Spanish, and Filipino; frequent need for Russian and Vietnamese is expected) outreach to promote and engage public in the SF Environment’s programs;
• Design and deliver culturally specific (at minimum Chinese, Spanish, and Filipino) community presentation and trainings;
• Plan, coordinate and facilitate community events and represent and promote SF Environment’s programs at public events;
• Identify key community stakeholders and foster community partnerships to promote SF Environment initiatives;
• Collect and report metrics from each outreach instance to provide SF Environment with real-time feedback and recommendations to maximize outreach efficiency and effectiveness.

Proposals due on September 7, 2016 to:

Rachel Buerkle
SF Environment Contracts Department of the Environment
1455 Market Street
San Francisco, CA 94103
rachel.buerkle@sfgov.org<mailto:rachel.buerkle@sfgov.org>

Major San Francisco PR firms include Lewis PR, Edelman PR, Finn Partners & Zeno Group.