Fort Bragg, California Seeks Tourism Marketing Agency

The City of Fort Bragg, California is seeking proposals from qualified marketing and creative professionals and teams interested in contracting with the City of Fort Bragg to develop a brand for Visit Fort Bragg.

Background & Project Understanding

The City of Fort Bragg has been transitioning from a lumber town to a tourism destination for the past 17 years. This community of 7,000 residents is perched on the bluff tops overlooking the ocean in Mendocino County. The community offers many interesting visitor-serving activities and facilities including:

• Beachcombing, bicycling, walking, hiking, fishing, horseback riding, ocean and river kayaking, beer and wine tasting;
• Visitor attractions include: the world-renowned Glass Beach, Skunk Train, Coastal Trail & Noyo Headland Park, MacKerricher State Park, Noyo Harbor, the Mendocino Botanical Gardens, North Coast Brewery and more;
• A quaint downtown with a variety of specialty shops located in historic buildings;
• Excellent selection of mid-priced restaurants; and
• Hotels, motels and bed and breakfasts for visitors with a variety of price points.

Year-round tourism is part of Fort Bragg’s economy; however tourism peaks from June through September with many visitors from the Central Valley and the Bay Area. The branding effort will be managed on a day-to-day basis by the Community Development Department within the City of Fort Bragg. The Visit Fort Bragg Committee (composed of volunteers in the tourism sector representing hotel owners, retail, attractions and dining) will serve as an advisory committee for the branding effort.

Scope of Work:

The primary objectives of this destination brand initiative are to:

1. Develop a brand concept that is versatile and differentiates Fort Bragg. A minimum of three draft distinct creative options should be presented for review and selection by the Visit Fort Bragg Committee.
2. The branding effort should define the vision, story, and look and feel for all marketing materials and technologies.  It should include:
3. A definition of the Fort Bragg brand experience;
4. Creation of a tag line that is identifiable, memorable and in line with the goals of Visit Fort Bragg;
5. Creation of logos, messaging, and story that define Fort Bragg’s brand;
6. Creation of a Visit Fort Bragg Style Guide which shall include color palettes, icon systems, fonts, graphics, textures, and other brand imagery that will work with:
7. Print and electronic advertising
8. Web site design

iii.            Media placement

1. Public Relations
2. Events
3. Templates;
4. Define and design templates based on the brand for the Visit Fort Bragg website front page,  e-newsletter, PowerPoint, and Facebook cover design;
5. All art and materials must be provided in high-resolution .jpg and vector formats.

Attend to how the brand fits in with other regional branding (Ukiah, Mendocino County, Sonoma County) and competitive visitor markets (Mendocino, Sea Ranch, Bodega Bay, Half Moon Bay, Santa Cruz). Innovation is a part of the Visit Fort Bragg DNA. We are seeking new opportunities to connect with our target audiences and to build and leverage the power of the Fort Bragg brand. Identify a branding quality or technique (Blue Sky it!) that will push our brand beyond the norm for the industry to achieve success.

• Provide a definitive plan for brand introduction and management beyond the initial branding process.
• Provide art/creative direction as part of the management of all other promotional activities (website, advertisements, PR, collateral, etc.) so that all efforts follow the brand on a year-to- year basis;
• Work with tourism-related businesses to integrate the brand into their websites and printed materials.

Due Date:

July 14 to:

City of Fort Bragg

Attention: June Lemos, CMC, City Clerk

416 North Franklin Street

Fort Bragg, CA 95437

Strong tourism PR firms include Coyne PR and 5WPR.