City Of Brigantine, Tourism & Marketing Plan:
Purpose:
The City of Brigantine is issuing this request for proposal to hire a professional marketing consultant to create and implement a tourism & marketing plan.
Background:
The City of Brigantine is a seasonal community that relies on tourism for its sustainability and economic stability. The island has a year round population of approximately 9,000 and a seasonal population that is approximately 43,000. The market area for the City of Brigantine includes the entire Delaware Valley, Pennsylvania, Delaware, North Jersey and New York.
To address the need to stimulate economic development and tourism City Council established an Economic Development/Tourism/Special Events Committee in 2015. This committee includes business leaders, representatives of the Chamber of Commerce, realtors, the Mayor, City Manager and other City Officials.
The goal of this Committee is to create economic development opportunities and expand tourism beyond the traditional summer season. This initiative includes working with “Choose: New jersey” and the Atlantic County Improvement Authority to attract businesses to vacant buildings and collaboration among the City, Brigantine Chamber of Commerce, other local businesses and organizations and concerned citizens.
To kick off this effort the Economic Development/Tourism/Special Events Committee attracted a Post Sandy Planning Grant that funded an Economic Development Plan to guide the future effort from growth and expansion in the City of Brigantine. This Plan considers ways to make the tourism efforts in Brigantine sustainable by establishing a stable funding source for tourism marketing. A rental fee for tourism was established which will result in revenues for tourism up to $80,000 annually.
Although Brigantine is a small community, it offered many amenities that larger community’s lack. Brigantine has its own 18-hole golf course, open to the public. In addition to its fine beaches (surfing classes are available), the back bays offer fishing, boating, jet skiing, paddle boarding and kayaking. The City hosts the Marine Mammal Stranding Center which is open to the public year round and a wonderful museum created by the Brigantine Historical Society, showcasing pictures and artifacts detailing the island’s history.
The City of Brigantine experience in producing effective marketing programs and events is supported by the many successful programs and events that the City hosts. Such events include a summer concert series, where visitors can enjoy outdoor jazz and swing concerts, block parties, with multitude of family attractions. The City also host one of the largest Triathlons at the South Jersey Shore. The Brigantine Triathlon has grown from approximately two hundred participants to over six hundred presently with over 1,500 attendees. Other events and programs also include: lifeguard races, annual Surf Jam contest, Hooked on Fishing not Drugs (which is an event coordinated through our Municipal Alliance to teach children how to fish for sport), and numerous other events.
The Chamber of Commerce hosts various events to add to the excitement of the island. Each May the Chamber hosts the Marine Mammal Stranding Center 5k run. In June, it provides a Golf Tournament at the Brigantine Links. Movie Nights on the Beach are provided weekly in July and August.
Although the above initiatives are a good start to attract tourism the City needs a formal marketing strategy created by a professional Marketing Team to move forward successfully. The purpose of this RFP is to retain a marketing consultant to produce a marketing strategy. This plan would guide the City on promoting the Brigantine Beach area as a tourist destination. If marketed correctly Brigantine Beach would attract new tourists to the area by communicating the experience of beauty, natural resources, relaxation, and water activities for couples and families while being able to tap into the fun and excitement of the casino life, less than 5 minutes away.
Brigantine Beach is flanked by the Atlantic City Marina District and the Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge. Atlantic City’s marina district includes the casinos: Borgata, Harrah’s and Golden Nugget. Although of Brigantine Beach’s location provides a much different environment and different amenities than Atlantic City. Brigantine Beach is an island surrounded by pristine beaches and bay areas. It offers a relaxing beach atmosphere with sun bathing, 4 X 4 riding, fishing, boating, year round bird watching and surf. Brigantine Beach is an eco-friendly environment that hosts an array of wildlife, including year round bird migrations, foxes, marine mammals, piping plovers, and other beach area life forms. The City’s geographic location and beautiful beaches also allow visitors’ great viewing space for Atlantic City Fireworks displays on this weekend as well.
Scope of Work:
The City of Brigantine, NJ wishes to engage the services of a professional communications agency to provide branding, targeted marketing, promotional and public relations strategies and campaigns for the City.
The experienced marketing firm will partner with the City to provide consultation and guidance for the development and execution of a well-strategized, integrated Branding, PR and Marketing campaign – utilizing public relations, marketing strategies as well as digital/social media. The proposed scope of work will include:
Communications Consulting – up to $5,000:
- Draft a communications plan
- Execution of public relations campaign
- Create and distribute news releases, pitch media and place news stories in relevant local, regional and national publications
- Develop feature story ideas
- Develop targeted editorial media list public relations outreach and advertising media list for ad placements in key target markets
- Hold regular agency communications to evaluate progress, strategize, set goals and assign tasks
- Place advertising strategically to promote the City’s tourism events and activities
Social Media Campaign – up to $8,250:
- Evaluate existing Facebook page and implement updates to encourage Likes and improve overall Page performance
- Draft posting campaign for Facebook
Brand Discovery – up to $4,000:
- Define brand, messaging through two brand discovery sessions,
- Create communications goals, objectives targets and tactics
- Draft a branding memo; outline marketing strategies
Logo/Tagline Creation – up to $4,000:
- Design new logo that will enable the client to establish a Brand
- Identity; Stationery Package (business cards, letterhead, envelopes)
Tourism Website – up to $10,000:
The selected marketing expert will create a fully customized, dynamic and user-friendly website with eye-catching graphics on the homepage and secondary pages; and will fully incorporate new City Branding. The web site will permit the City full access to the site’s administration to create navigation and make updates with ease. The site will be a custom interactive, engaging, tech-savvy website that will showcase the City brand online with polish and sophistication
The web site will be user-friendly and built with SEO expertise. Search Engine Optimization is the foundation to the success of any website to make every effort to ensure that the City’s present and potential customers will find your site with ease.
To develop a dynamic on-line presence the selected consultant will:
Understanding City’s goals through Communication:
The first step in the website development process is to conduct project meetings to discuss strategy for incorporating branding into the website. Decisions are made collaboratively in the development of the final approach. Timelines and stages are set, and a City approval process is agreed upon.
Flow Chart & Creative Brief:
After a specific strategy has been agreed upon, the design process begins with a creative brief and a navigational flow chart that completely outlines the project. These documents serve as a blueprint for the project – frame working all relevant information, challenges, resources and objectives.
Design and Approvals:
Scheduled meetings/conference calls are held during the website design process (in addition to necessary daily communication), to ensure that the City and the Marketing Team is completely up to-date on all aspects of the project. After the creative brief and flow chart are approved, the homepage and one secondary page are designed and presented for approval.
Materials/Collection:
The City provides the Marketing Team with all related materials as needed in the appropriate formats requested (i.e. Jpegs, Word documents), along with proper photo credits/information.
Due Date:
April 3rd 2018 at 2:00pm EST
Contact:
City Clerk
City of Brigantine
1417 W Brigantine Avenue
Brigantine, NJ 08203