Government of Canada Issues Communication Marketing RFP

As the communications environment becomes more complex (e.g. instant and constantly “on”), the GC becomes more open and transparent, and citizens become more demanding of immediate responses from their governments, the importance of marketing is increasing to expand and extend the impact of communications activities. The GC is looking for integrated solutions for maximum return of investment. The Marketing Supplier should have the ability to forecast trends alongside research and data points to gather insights that create more effective experiences and deliver the greatest return. The Marketing Supplier must also be able to produce work in both of Canada’s official languages. The GC requires innovative and interactive approaches that go beyond traditional business logic and marketing tactics – approaches that provide relevant concepts and tangible solutions that meet real audience needs. With the understanding that the nature of interactions varies between online, social, print, live events, broadcast, media trips and word-of-mouth marketing, the GC needs Marketing Suppliers who know what is available and which approaches work in the different markets. These Suppliers must also continually review performance data to inform and adapt strategies and plans.

Most requirements competed under the resulting Supply Arrangement will consist of, at a minimum, the development of a marketing strategy or plan. It is expected that resulting contracts would also include options that Canada can exercise for the implementation of this strategy or plan, and also for the subsequent measuring of the effectiveness of the implementation of the marketing strategy. Less frequently, requirements could also compete exclusively for a single one of these three phases without any options to expand the scope of the services provided.

Background:

The Government of Canada (GC) has identified a need to establish a Supply Arrangement for marketing services. Broadly defined, Marketing Services consist of the development of a marketing strategy aiming to enable the promotion of goods and services to a targeted audience to achieve a greater level of awareness or to get the audience to take action to achieve measurable objectives. There are however many differences between private sector marketing and public sector marketing. There are five types of marketing approaches that the GC could undertake:

• Marketing of programs, products or services: to better inform and engage the audience, to help drive results in uptake and impact;
• Social marketing: to change attitudes and behaviors;
• Engagement marketing: to promote engagements with stakeholders, consultations, events, etc.;
• Experiential marketing: to market a product or a service through experiences that directly engage the audience; and
• Recruitment marketing: to find, attract and engage job seekers.

 

Paid advertising, public opinion research, audiovisual production, and professional services are excluded from this tool.

Scope of Work:

The Statement of Work (SOW) for a Request for Proposal conducted under the Supply Arrangement could encompass strategic services in the development, execution of subsequent measuring of the success of marketing strategies/plans for a variety of initiatives ranging from departmental strategies to specific services or programs.

Plans may include details for and support of activities ranging from:

• Account Management and Coordination Services

o Account management

o Account coordination

• Strategic services

o Strategic planning and development of a marketing plan

o Synthesis of existing research

• Outreach services*

o Planning of outreach activities

o Implementation of outreach activities

o Tracking and evaluation of outreach activities

• Experiential services

o Planning of experiential activities

o Implementation of experiential activities

o Tracking and evaluation of experiential activities

• Creative and production services in the context of a marketing strategy (e.g. marketing collaterals [digital or hard copy], Web content, etc.)

o Creative direction

o Graphic design

o Copywriting and copy editing (English and French)

o Translation, adaptation and proofreading/quality control for:

• English or French
• Indigenous languages
• Other languages

o Production management and production services for required marketing materials

o Preparation and distribution of promotional e-newsletters

• Social media services

o Planning of social media activities

o Implementation of social media activities (excluding paid placement)

o Tracking and evaluation of social media activities

• Partnership services**

o Identification of potential partners

o Planning of partnership activities

o Implementation/execution of partnership activities

o Tracking and evaluation of partnership activities

• Planning and implementation of promotional contests

o Drafting rules and regulations

o Offering turnkey services and administration of the promotional contest

Due Date:

December 4

Address:

11 Laurier St. / 11, rue Laurier

Place du Portage, Phase III

Core 0B2 / Noyau 0B2

Gatineau

Québec

K1A 0S5

ZENO Group and Edelman PR are good candidates for this assignment.