Branding RFP Issued By The City of Puyallup, Washington (City)

The City of Puyallup, Washington (City) is requesting proposals for the following project: Branding and Destination Marketing Campaign Puyallup is a dynamic community that is ideally suited for young families, young professionals and active retirees, and is rich with amenities for visitors. It has all the assets of a larger city while retaining the charm of a small town. The community has changed significantly over the past two decades, improving livability and increasing the number of jobs, amenities and housing options that young professionals and active retirees are seeking.

For this reason, the city would like to develop a marketing campaign that communicates these changes, especially to residents of the greater Puget Sound area. This campaign should: 1. Create a “brand” for Puyallup that revolves around one central theme for the entire city. 2. Define key messaging that aligns with the new brand. 3. Identify advertising and public relations strategies and tactics for three distinct groups: a. Consumer/Residential Audiences: encourage young professionals, families, and active retirees to move to Puyallup and shop local. b. Tourism/Destination Traveler Audiences: daytrip and overnight travelers, outdoor recreation enthusiasts/travelers to Mt Rainier, convention travelers, visitors to the WA State Fair and Events Center, and others. c. Business/Economic Development Audiences: residential and commercial developers, retailers (attract and retain unique/desirable retailers), existing businesses, target industries, workforce training providers/partners. 4. Incorporate this new brand into marketing promotions and campaigns. 5. Align brand messaging about Puyallup with the other marketing partners such as the Washington State Fair and Events Center, Puyallup/Sumner Chamber of Commerce, the Puyallup Main Street Association, South Hill Mall, Pierce College, Good Samaritan Hospital, and others. Services requested for this campaign may include strategic, research-based creative concepts, multimedia creative asset production, media planning and buying, and integration of data-based approach to measure success.

Background:

The City of Puyallup is the third-largest city in Pierce County with a population of 41,570. It is home to the South Hill Mall, the Washington State Fairgrounds and Events Center, Good Samaritan Hospital, Pierce College, and the Benaroya South Hill Business + Technology Center. The City has two Regional Growth Centers (Downtown and South Hill), as designated by the Puget Sound Regional Council. Downtown Puyallup is the city’s historic downtown district, which is a mixed-use, highly walkable place that takes advantage of being within a five-minute walk of major transit. Downtown’s assets include a strong retail and restaurant core of unique locally owned options, the existing stock of smaller-scale buildings, high-quality public open spaces, and a robust public art program. Shifting demographics, household structures, and housing preferences are driving higher demand across the region for housing page 3 in areas that are transit-served, have a mix of uses, are walkable, and are amenity-rich. Downtown Puyallup is well-positioned to take advantage of this trend. South Hill is the heart of Puyallup’s rapidly growing South Hill Subarea and includes the South Hill Mall, several large retail shopping developments, big box stores, auto-oriented retail businesses, Pierce College, and the South Hill Business & Technology Center. South Hill contains a mix of single and multifamily residential development and is seeing a lot of growth in senior living developments, multifamily developments, and medical office buildings that serve the growing medical district Retail, hospitality (food and hotel accommodations) and tourism are critical to the livelihood of Puyallup, Pierce County, and Washington State, bringing billions of dollars into the local economy and employing tens of thousands of workers. Spending by locals and tourists has a real and measurable relief on local household tax burdens. COVID-19 has had a devastating impact on retail, hospitality, and tourism in the City of Puyallup, with a 25 percent decline in food and hotel accommodation spending at the start of the pandemic, and a slow crawl back to normal numbers. Puyallup is home to the Washington State Fairgrounds, and the historic cancellation of the Washington State Fair in fall 2020, along with cancellation of numerous associated events such as the popular summer concert series, led to a loss of over $1 million in ticket sales taxes alone. The Washington State Fair, Spring Fair and year-round events draw 1.7 million visitors annually to our city, with about $50 million of indirect spending at local businesses.

Scope of Work:

A final scope of work will be developed by the City and the selected agency. Desired services are anticipated to include but not be limited to: • Project Coordination & Management: The agency shall coordinate with City staff regarding schedule, deliverables, and the scope of work and will host a stakeholder advisory meeting with community business partners identified by the City. • Campaign Creative Development and Production: The selected agency will compose a Destination Marketing Plan, which outlines specific strategies, objectives, and tactics to achieve its intended goals. Within the Plan, the agency must demonstrate, through industry best practices, these goals to be specific, measurable and attainable. The agency will incorporate stakeholder feedback and their expertise into the Plan. In addition to the Plan, the agency will include a proposed Brand Style Guide, which will be used by City staff and community stakeholders. • Tourism Recovery: Within destination marketing plan, include specific strategies (development and implementation) for travel, tourism and hospitality pandemic recovery. • Campaign Implementation: This will depend on the direction selected, and could include video preroll, print and/or digital advertisements, including search, display, and social media post creation. • Prepare Presentation to City Council: Prepare a brief report of the campaign to the City Council upon completion. Be prepared to answer questions and provide clarification to Council. page 4 • Ongoing services: An estimate for ongoing/on-call services to support implementation should be part of the response, and it will be at the city’s discretion whether to include in the final contract. The plan shall include, but not be limited to: A. An outline describing how the campaign will result in identifying desired outcomes to benefit businesses and destinations in Puyallup B. A list of the types of anticipated campaign expenditures and how the expenditures will contribute to meeting the desired outcomes; C. A timeline for the anticipated campaign expenditures; and D. A description of how the campaign will consult with marketing partners such as the Washington State Fair & Events Center, Puyallup/Sumner Chamber of Commerce, the Puyallup Main Street Association, South Hill Mall, Pierce College, Good Samaritan Hospital, Travel Tacoma and others.

Due Date: Wednesday Sept 29, 2021 at 4:00 p.m.

Address:

Responses shall be submitted as follows:

1) Provide electronic submittal no later than 4:00 p.m. on September 29, 2021;

2) Submit electronically to: Attn: Meredith Neal mneal@puyallupwa.gov

City of Puyallup

333 S. Meridian

Puyallup, WA 98371

Relevant agencies to consider include Prosek Partners and Hunter pr.