Children and Families Commission of Fresno Issues Communications RFP

The Children and Families Commission of Fresno County has issued an advertising and communications RFP.

The Children and Families Commission of Fresno County (the Commission) is seeking services including concept and creative development, securing and oversight of media buys, overall project management and evaluation of a two year public education campaign. The Campaign goal is to increase awareness of early childhood education among Fresno County residents and emphasize the importance of positive parent and adult interactions in a child’s first five years.

First 5 Fresno County focuses on the first 5 years of life, and they want all children to have a strong foundation so they can reach their full potential. The Commission funds programs and invests in efforts that improve the lives of children ages 0 to 5 and their families. F5FC was created in 1998 when voters passed Proposition 10, which added a 50-cent sales tax to every pack of cigarettes or tobacco product sold in California. The State of California collects the money and distributes it to each county based on birthrate. F5FC is responsible for developing a strategic plan to guide local funding decisions consistent with the purpose of Proposition 10, which is to promote, support and improve the early development of children from the prenatal stage to five years of age.

In February 2016, F5FC updated its Communications Plan to be in congruence with its 2013- 2020 Strategic Plan. The Communications Plan identifies families and caregivers of children ages 0 to 5 as the priority target audience for F5FC’s communications work.

One of the three goals in the updated Communications Plan is to increase public education and awareness of early childhood development with clear and consistent messaging. Among other strategies and tactics, F5FC will utilize the Campaign to help accomplish this goal.

• The selected firm will be responsible for the concept and creative development, securing  and oversight of media buys, overall project management and evaluation of the Campaign. The  Campaign  focus  may  include information  about  early  brain development, parent and caregiver engagement, early learning and healthy development. Information on these topics can be found on our website (www.first5fresno.org) as well as First 5 California’s website (http://www.first5california.com/).
• The selected firm will be responsible for analyzing market and secondary research to influence the development and execution of the Campaign for all mediums, including, but  not limited to, television, radio, print, outdoor and other emerging new technologies as a means to reach audiences across Fresno County.
• The Campaign must target Fresno County’s diverse population of parents and caregivers of children ages 0 to 5. More specifically, the Campaign should be developed for the English- language, Spanish-language and Hmong-language markets, as well as rural communities and other geographic regions and ethnic communities1, as applicable, in Fresno County.  The selected firm will develop (either in-house or by subcontractor) language-specific, culturally sensitive messages for the aforementioned audiences.
• The Campaign must include concept, development, pre-test, production, implementation and evaluation components.

The selected firm must be able to meet and build the campaign around four key objectives:

1. Increase awareness of early childhood education among Fresno County residents and emphasize the importance of positive parent and adult interactions in a child’s first five years.
2. Use strategic communication methods to effectively target and reach Fresno County’s diverse population, geographic regions and ethnic communities. A recent market profile is available in the F5FC 2016-2020 Communications Plan.
3. Identify and implement a broad range of new and emerging media strategies and technology to reach and educate Fresno County residents about the importance of the first 5 years of  life.
4. Reinforce the brand of the Commission as a reliable source of information for children ages 0 to 5 and their families. (F5FC recently underwent a brand refresh and brand information documents are available upon request. Requests should be sent to funding@first5fresno.org.)

Proposal due by November 4^th, 2016 to:

Public Education Campaign RFP First 5 Fresno County

2405 Tulare Street, Suite 200

Fresno, CA 93721

Major PR firms in California include Edelman PR, Shift Communications and Porter Novelli.