Advertising Agency RFP Issued by the City Of Toronto

The City of Toronto (City), invites submissions from qualified Proponents for the purpose of securing a strategic, issues-oriented, full-service advertising and marketing agency for a one-year period starting January 1, 2020 with the option to extend the contract for a further four (4) one-year periods. The Vendor will, working with City staff, design and implement a broad range of advertising/marketing campaigns dealing with high profile, public and/or politically-sensitive subjects. These will include public education/issues campaigns to drive behavior change, promotional campaigns to increase participation at cultural institutions/events, place branding, and business-to-business marketing for some or all of the following, but not limited to: waste reduction and recycling, basement flooding prevention, road safety, climate change engagement, home energy retrofits, sustainable commuting, health promotion, cultural venue and event marketing, economic development programs, and other issues and initiatives within the City of Toronto.

Scope of Work:

The Vendor will, working with City staff, design and implement a broad range of advertising/marketing campaigns dealing with high profile, public and/or politically-sensitive subjects. These will include public education/issues campaigns to drive behavior change, promotional campaigns to increase participation at cultural institutions/events, place branding, and business-to-business marketing for some or all of the following, but not limited to: waste reduction and recycling, basement flooding prevention, road safety, climate change engagement, home energy retrofits, sustainable commuting, health promotion, cultural venue and event marketing, economic development programs, and other issues and initiatives within the City of Toronto. Each campaign is examined in terms of both output and outcome.

For each campaign, the Vendor will:

                1. Liaise with Strategic Communications and/or divisional staff regarding the public  education/advertising/marketing campaign to the City’s general population or a specific subset;

                2. Prepare three different, viable creative concepts to present to City staff;

                3. Take one concept approved by City staff, finalize it, and develop and coordinate the production of campaign materials including photography, design, production, and distribution of   these materials by the City’s specified deadline(s);

                4. Occasionally, a second creative concept may also be used for a specific medium, e.g. for          guerilla marketing;

                5. Research, prepare and co-ordinate media buys, which may include print, out-of-home, radio,               online advertising, and occasionally television; and

                6. Provide the City measurement and evaluation reports of campaign performance based on     media data, as applicable.

Post-campaign reports should include:

                a. purpose of the campaign;

                b. background information;

                c. campaign tactics used;

                d. performance metrics (including impressions, clickthrough, rates for online, etc.); and

                e. recommendations for future campaign(s). Outcome is measured in different ways and based               on the goals of the individual campaigns. We work with our vendor to determine what and how         outcome(s) can be measured at the outset of each campaign. For example, when measuring              outcome we may look at website hits, conversation tracking and program participation. In     addition to this type of measurement, we also, from time to time, carry out quantitative and/or qualitative research to determine the public’s knowledge of a particular initiative and their          participation in a program.

Proponent must submit a written statement confirming the ability to currently provide full-service advertising capabilities including:

• strategy;
• creative;
• production;
• account management;
• media buying services;
• collateral, signage, display and print, radio, TV, community, out of home, digital and social media advertising expertise;
• expertise developing/servicing multi-lingual and accessible campaigns that reach the City of Toronto’s many diverse audiences; and formal measurement and evaluation of campaigns

Due Date:

October 25, 2019

Address:

citybids@toronto.ca

Relevant agencies include Hunter PR and Kite Hill PR.