FLORIDA TOURISM INDUSTRY MARKETING CORPORATION DOING BUSINESS AS VISIT FLORIDA REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL: Paid Media Buying, Paid Social Media Buying and Co-op Program services
Due date: September 5th, 2023
VISIT FLORIDA (“VF”) is seeking an agency for media strategy development, planning, buying, trafficking, optimization, and reporting services for all of its media needs. This includes:
● paid social media;
● paid non-social media (display, native, OLV, CTV, traditional offline, ect.); and
● cooperative media program development and execution.
Interested agencies may submit proposals addressing non-social paid media services, paid social media services, co-op services or all in a combined proposal. These services may be awarded separately. The selected agency (or agencies) will provide services for the next three (3) to five (5) years. The projected (though subject to change) year 1 budget for this RFP, inclusive of all fees and pass through costs is $46,000,000 (Paid non-social media $22,000,000;
Paid social media $12,000,000; Co-op campaigns $12,000,000). The actual budget for each fiscal year will be determined based on VISIT FLORIDA’s funding allocation, priorities, and marketing strategies.
Only U.S. agencies will be considered, and it is strongly preferred that the selected agency have an office in Florida and perform the majority of account services from the Florida office. The selected agency must have the capability to carry approximately ten million dollars of media for VF’s account at one time and must be able to service all aspects of the business with in-house capabilities (e.g.,the agency must have its own ad server (preferred) or a dedicated third-party ad server).
VF’s objective is to hire an agency (or agencies) that will seamlessly integrate with VF’s current team, campaign building process and provide strategic leadership that maximizes the effectiveness of VF’s media buys and partner placements.
In the event that negotiations fail to result in a binding contract, VISIT FLORIDA retains the right to re-open negotiations with other ranking proposer(s) until a mutually beneficial relationship is secured. VISIT FLORIDA reserves the right to partially award the RFP to more than one agency.
The RFP process shall consist of two phases. Phase one consists of written proposals in response to this RFP detailing agency capabilities and experience. Phase two will consist of more detailed submissions and in-person presentations by selected agencies.
2.0 VISIT FLORIDA Overview
VISIT FLORIDA is the State of Florida’s official tourism marketing corporation. VISIT FLORIDA has been repeatedly recognized as one of the leading destination marketing organizations (“DMOs”) in the United States.
To review our 2023 – 2024 Marketing Plan, please click here.
VISIT FLORIDA RFP PAID MEDIA BUYING AND CO-OP PROGRAM SERVICES 4
● Keeping Florida top of mind among target audiences;
● Protecting and growing visitor volume to Florida;
● Increasing Florida’s overall market share from key markets, both domestic and international;
● Extending visitor length of stay and increasing visitor spend;
● Increasing visit frequency and visitor retention;
● Increasing travel to emerging Florida destinations;
● Growing brand awareness and engagement; and
● Promoting Florida tourism industry alignment.
2.1 VISIT FLORIDA’s Major Campaigns
VF’s major campaigns are:
1. Winter – Travelers who come to Florida to escape the oppressive cold during the winter season. They come to warm up both physically and emotionally.
2. Families – Busy families (with kids living in the household) tend to take vacation when they can (spring and summer).
3. Outdoor Adventure – Travelers who love nature and outdoor experiences.
4. Arts and Culture– Young travelers who are seeking local and cultural experiences.
5. International – Campaigns for audiences within our major international markets – Canada, United Kingdom, Brazil, Germany, Mexico and other LATAM countries.
6. In-state – Efforts targeting residents for travel within our state.
2.2 VISIT FLORIDA’s Cooperative Programs
VF places media for itself and for its Partners. The agency will be expected to provide services for partner co-op participation and placement, including: recommendation and development of annual “always-on” digital cooperative program menu, training VF sales team on program offerings, developing sales materials, collecting partner assets for programming, placing media and providing reporting. In addition to “always-on” cooperative programming, agency will assist with recommendations for Strategic Alliance Partnership custom programming as well as asset collection, media placement and reporting for these efforts.
For more information on VF’s cooperative programs please visit the Marketing Planner.
Scope of Work
The agency relationship is expected to last three to five years but the contract will be renewed on an annual basis. The scope will include:
1. Media Planning Services. Development of an annual strategic plan as well as a specific strategic and media plans for each of VF’s major campaigns and co-op. Plans address:
VISIT FLORIDA RFP PAID MEDIA BUYING AND CO-OP PROGRAM SERVICES 6
a. Media buys for VF and potentially its Partners;
b. Pitching and planning innovative channel, publisher, platform, device, and programmatic buying initiatives;
c. Cost allocations and flight dates by advertising type by publisher; and
d. Targeting information, testing and optimization plan and key performance
indicators.
2. Media Buying and Placement Services. Execute the plan. Purchase social, display, native, video, out of home, mobile, and other media as necessary. Aggressively negotiate rates and secure added value. Track all insertion orders and manage deadlines. Communicate publisher asset specifications to VF, its agencies, and participating partners as soon as possible. Tag, traffic and place all assets. Optimize media buys throughout the campaign.
3. Co-Op Fulfillment Services. Collect assets directly from VF’s participating co-op partners and verify assets conform to publisher specifications.
4. Reporting Requirements. Provide bi-weekly performance and analytics reports for all ongoing media activity. Provide campaign wrap-up reports demonstrating results against
KPIs and campaign learnings. Provide VF access to real-time reporting tools, dashboards, etc. Performance reporting should provide the deepest level of detail and insight into travel intent possible and should go beyond basic metrics such as views/engagements, click-through-rates, time on site, screenshots, etc., wherever possible.
5. Account and Project Management. General business oversight and project management services. Lead project kick-off meetings and communication efforts.
Coordinate resources and manage the project budget, timelines, and milestone delivery.
Participate in conference calls, planning and status meetings, Annual planning meeting and agency summits. Work directly with VF Partners and agencies to execute campaigns. Attend and present at VF’s annual tourism conference and board meetings, if requested.
