CARY NORTH CAROLINA REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS Greenway Safety Campaign including Branding
Due Date: October 20, 2023, at 3:30 ET
REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS
1.1 Introduction
Cary is seeking a creative, full-service marketing firm to conduct a Greenway Safety Campaign including development of educational campaign strategy and materials; public engagement events strategy, staffing and implementation; design and implementation of a greenway user “census”; and identity/brand development for Cary greenways.
This campaign will include varying components addressing and assessing greenway safety in a number of ways. This will be an 11-month project with final report due in October 2024.
1.2 Purpose and Background
The purpose of this RFP is to solicit a professional marketing/communications firm to plan, develop and implement a comprehensive greenway safety campaign for Cary’s 90+ mile greenways network. Cary Town Council recently amended ordinances to allow electric-assisted bicycles to operate on Cary greenways. The introduction of new technology on the trails provides an opportunity to educate the public about greenway rules and etiquette that will keep these multi-purpose trails safe for all users. It’s also an opportunity to engage the community, to assess our existing facilities and design standards, and to make any recommendations for safety enhancement.
Overarching values to be instilled through this campaign include but aren’t limited to: greenways are “shared use” facilities; greenways are an amenity and resource for the whole community; and, respect among and for all users and purposes is paramount.
A three-pronged approach to the Campaign is proposed including education, engagement, and technical review. The selected marketing firm will develop and implement the educational and engagement pieces while coordinating at critical junctures with an on-call landscape architecture and engineering firm that will be conducting the technical review of existing facilities.
In addition to the elements of a safety campaign that may be considered typical, Cary proposes to also enhance positive user behaviors by developing an identity/brand for Cary greenways which will build community recognition and pride. Creating an identity will also benefit outdoor recreational tourism in Cary. Identity development will be in coordination with Cary staff and leadership and may include public involvement.
The selected firm will work with staff to develop and implement this campaign over the next 12 months, with a final report being due in October 2024 prior to Cary Town Council’s quarterly meeting in mid November. Ideally, greenway branding efforts will be completed with the final campaign report. Results and assessments will help inform Council’s decision on whether to extend the allowance of ebikes on Cary greenways as current ordinance language allowing their use sunsets on December 31, 2024. Development and implementation of educational materials should begin as soon as possible while engagement events should take advantage of those times of year with heaviest greenway user volumes.
3 SCOPE OF SERVICES
The Greenway Safety Campaign contract is intended to provide timely and professional services for a wide variety of tasks associated with enhancing safety on Cary Greenways and creating an identity for Cary Greenways. All work and resulting work elements associated with this contract shall be the property of Cary NC. Proposers must be able to provide all of the services and deliverables listed below within the timeframe provided and provide insight and recommendations for any related services that would be critical/beneficial to the goals of the project.
The project will begin immediately upon selection of firm and execution of contract. Project must be completed with final report delivered by October 15, 2024, in anticipation of staff presentation at Council Quarterly meeting on November 14, 2024. Firm should submit a tentative timeline for all elements of the scope and deliverables and shall consider heavy greenway user months for engagement timing.
The selected firm should be able to recommend strategies to expand the impact of the Safety Campaign allowing for the broadest exposure to the target audiences. The selected firm must provide creative briefs before each piece of the campaign or individual project outlining the goals(s), objectives, audience, strategies, budget and measurement. The selected firm must demonstrate ability to strategically plan, integrate, manage and execute an assortment of marketing projects.
Education
Anticipated educational assets for the safety campaign are listed below; however, Firm should use their expertise to help inform and develop strategy for a most effective campaign with Cary at a project kickoff meeting. Firm should anticipate an iterative process during development of graphics, slogan and other assets.
• Creation and production of full set of marketing and public education assets for implementation, including but not limited to printed promotional materials, digital materials, advertisements, public service announcements, etc.
• Development of safety campaign slogan or tailoring of national campaign slogan(s) and associated graphics to Cary’s purposes
• Program development for campaign materials including writing copy, creating graphics, printing and deployment plan for printed materials (posters, trail-side &/or on-pavement stickers, etc)
• Writing and graphics for webpages
• Development of social media strategy to include a variety of platforms with posts and graphics
• Creative strategy, concept development and production of 3 educational videos
o Video Goals: instill values / key messages to positively influence behavior on greenways
o Target audience: all greenway users which may include residents and visitors
o Creativity: videos should be unique and memorable; avoid traditional format of greenway footage with voiceover explaining rules
o Distribution channels: social media, webpages, big screens at Cary venues (Koka Booth Amphitheatre, WakeMed Soccer Park, USA Baseball, etc), online media buys
o Length: complementary to the identified distribution channels
o Talent and footage to be obtained by firm
o Concepts: 2-3 concepts for each video to be presented and discussed
Engagement
Engagement with the community will play a key role in the campaign. Engagement strategy around educational messages (including speed) will be important as will engaging in some form the community business partners such as bike shops. Another key piece of engagement will involve assessing Cary greenway users and purposes.
• Development of on-trail engagement strategies and program around key messages
• Create strategy for informing and engaging local bike shops and other key industries about Cary
Greenways and the safety campaign
• Work closely with staff and technical review consultant to develop criteria and strategy for a greenway user “census” using intercept surveys, Streetlight data, greenway counter data and any others to provide a picture of greenway user volumes, purpose, geographic base and trip length, and personal demographics (Streetlight and counter data to be analyzed by technical consultant)
• Technical review consultant will inventory greenway running slopes and identify accessibility categories (e.g., easy, medium, difficult) based on those slopes; Firm to then develop graphics and deployment strategy (digital, on-trail) for this greenway accessibility information; coordination with technical review consultant will be required
• Development and execution of promotional materials and/or engagement program for Cary events including Spring Daze (April 2024), Bike Month (May 2024), National Trails Day (June 2024) and Lazy Daze (August 2024).
• Monitor and compile public commentary from social media and Cary 311 regarding greenways and ebikes; review any Police Department incident reports for greenways
• Consider and develop potential public survey or other input method regarding perceived safety on Cary greenways; compile data from all sources
• Identify educational and engagement campaign success measures
• Provide staffing for engagement events
Greenway Identity/Brand/Logo Development
Cary has a significant paved greenways network, the second largest municipal network in NC. Creating an identity for Cary greenways will help build recognition, ownership and pride among residents which will contribute to compliance with rules and respect for the network as an amenity for the whole community.
Branding will also help in marketing the greenways and building name-recognition outside of Cary; Cary welcomes recreational tourism.
Vendor should anticipate that brand development will be an iterative process with review by multiple departments including the Town Manager’s office and potential approval by Cary Town Council.
• Research and development of identity and branding strategy for Cary’s greenways system that builds community recognition and pride, and enhances potential for outdoor recreational/greenway tourism
o Work within the overall Cary brand guidelines and brand architecture
o Plan for potential public engagement which could include work with steering committee comprised of staff, Greenway Committee, and PRCR Advisory Board; firm to suggest and implement public involvement strategy
o Develop brand/logo that is unique, representative and memorable
o Consider and complement overall Cary branding as well as current parks and recreation sign package colors and graphics
o Develop method for incorporating brand into existing signage and sign package
o Create brand/logo style guide addressing fonts, color palette, and other critical considerations; associated visual elements and brand voice to be developed
o Potential consultation with Parks and Open Space Plan consultant
o Cary Council may decide on final brand/identity/logo; plan to propose at least 3 concepts for review and anticipate an iterative process to reach final consensus
• Creation and production of full set of assets for implementation, including but not limited to printed promotional materials, merchandise, digital materials, advertisements, etc.
Final Report
A final report for the Greenway Safety Campaign will be required. It should include summary of all processes, results and recommendations, and must incorporate summaries from the technical review consultant. Include results of success measurements, and any recommendations for ongoing evaluations.
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