Berkeley Police Department Issues Advertising and Marketing RFP

The Berkeley Police Department (BPD) is soliciting proposals to partner with the most capable marketing firm to enhance the department’s recruiting efforts. The Department is looking to create a digital marketing campaign, strong web presence and recruiting video production that truly embodies the values and rich history that make the Department unique from any other. The firm should have experience in marketing research, message/positioning development, including development of brand values statement; logo development and graphic standards; recommendations for brand rollout and implementation to include interactive and social media marketing as well as traditional marketing, media and promotions; and recommendations for results tracking/measurement.

Background:

The City of Berkeley (the “City”) is located just 10 miles to the east of San Francisco and encompasses 17.7 square miles with a population of approximately 122,324 residents. Berkeley has the highest population density of any city in the East Bay region. The City is perhaps best known for being the home to the University of California at Berkeley, which is one of the best public universities in the nation and the birthplace of the 1960’s Free Speech Movement. Both the City and the University are famous for a tradition of free thinking, cultural diversity and activism. Berkeley is known for being a politically active city, socially conscious, with a young, diverse population. Berkeley is home to the Cal Bears football team, arts and music theatre, numerous recreational parks, culinary delights, and upbeat nightlife.

The Berkeley Police Department, like many other law enforcement agencies around the nation, has struggled in recent years to attract an abundance of qualified applicants. One of the most challenging internal issues facing agencies is recruiting, selecting, and retaining both sworn and professional staff. Given the current climate of the law enforcement profession, recruiting the next generation of police officers has proven to be more difficult than ever. Bay Area law enforcement agencies are competing for the same diminishing pool of applicants.

The City’s current hiring process consists of posting job announcements on the City of Berkeley website, and other local media outlets. Career and job fairs have been the cornerstone of police recruiting efforts. The Department has continued to use these and other outreach strategies to attract candidates, such as advertising in magazines, professional social networking, traditional job fairs, and proactive community partnerships. The fact remains that the Berkeley Police Department continues to struggle with losing police officers either to other agencies or due to retirement. Recruiting and retaining quality officers and professional staff is an issue that needs to be solved by creative solutions. We must expand our recruitment efforts to hire qualified personnel who are diverse and reflective of our community.

Scope of Work:

The Berkeley Police Department anticipates that the contract will commence in early 2019. The duration of the contract will be dependent on the services selected, and a mutually agreed upon time for completion. The firm selected must be available to commence work on or before March 1, 2019.

The scope of services is a general guide to the work the Department expects to be performed, and is not a complete listing of all services that may be required or desired. The selected firm will work closely with the Berkeley Police Department’s Recruitment and Retention Team.

The following work tasks are assumed necessary to provide the advertising and marketing services. Proposing firms may suggest a modified scope as part of their proposal.

                1. Create an outreach strategy and collaborate with the BPD Recruitment and Retention Team to develop the concepts for the recruitment advertising campaigns;

                2. Research current trends and analysis of our employee attrition rate and provide a metric to evaluate the effectiveness of the campaign. Have the capacity to identify gaps in the existing strategy and assist the BPD with new and measureable alternative strategies to achieve the hiring goals;

                3. Develop creative marketing elements that include design concepts, logos, messages, tagline,  and other products that uniquely represent the BPD;

                4. Provide all required creative artwork design, including print, storyboards, posters, banners, table covers, and special event promotions to be used as recruitment tools. Creation of art, copy, printing, etc., shall be performed in a timely manner to provide for completion in accord with anticipated deadlines. The firm shall understand and agree that all artwork, copy, etc., created as part of performance under this proposed contract, shall become the property of the BPD and may be used by the BPD for any purpose without approval or payment by the BPD to the firm. Firm shall make available all proofs for review and approval by the BPD Recruitment and Retention Team;

                5. Develop an advertising plan to include, but not limited to, web, video, and social media. The BPD will make officers and equipment available for the photo/video shoot at a mutually agreed upon time. Any video production shall be suitable for multiple social media platforms such as, but not limited to, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter;

                6. Conduct focus groups and market research to determine the most effective messaging and advertising platforms and placements. Further, assist the BPD by placing advertisements in print, on the internet and other media sources which may include, but is not limited to, billboards and posters on AC Transit buses and BART stations;

                7. Create a website specifically geared towards recruitment, and assist with any necessary updates. The website should have the ability to launch 15 and 30 second videos from a landing page.

Due Date:

January 10^th, 2019

Address:

City of Berkeley

Finance Department/General Services Division

2180 Milvia Street, 3rd Floor

Berkeley, CA 94704

Agencies worth considering includes Zeno Group & Edelman PR.