Marketing RFP Issued By The University of Mississippi
The mission of the Institute of Child Nutrition (ICN) is to provide information and services that promote the continuous improvement of child nutrition programs. The Institute has four divisions that work hand in hand to accomplish this mission. Additionally, ICN often contracts with consultants who have an expertise in the successful operation of federally funded child nutrition programs. Contracting with consultants enables us to reach a wider range of child nutrition professionals. ICN offers all resources at no-cost to our audience and does not pay for advertising or to boost digital marketing and search engine optimization (SEO).
Target Audience: Child Nutrition Professionals – ICN’s clients represent the full spectrum of child nutrition professionals in all 50 states and US territories: anyone connected with the child nutrition programs school lunch, school breakfast, summer feeding, and Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP). ICN requests that individuals or companies interested in serving as a consultant submit a proposal for the project listed below
Purpose
The goal of this project is to develop a comprehensive strategic marketing plan that will increase brand recognition, create audience growth and engagement, and provide an analysis of the communication environment as it relates to child nutrition professionals in school and child care settings. In conjunction with the strategic plan, the project objective is to establish efficient workflows, develop project management processes, and develop and create promotional campaigns, including graphics/animations/videos, for specific projects as listed.
Scope of Work
Project Description
ICN is seeking a vendor who demonstrates a strong overall understanding for development of marketing workflow, project management, campaign development, content development, graphic design, video production, and identifying and engaging untapped target audiences in our industry. The selected vendorwill develop a comprehensive strategic marketing plan that will increase brand recognition and grow ICN’s audience and engagement.
The vendor will successfully develop innovative marketing campaigns over multiple platforms. These platforms include digital, print, face-to-face, and virtual. Marketing for the ICN is multi-faceted and requires that the vendor have skills in public relations, branding and brand development, social media, digital marketing, graphic design, video production, and integrated marketing communications. ICN is a non-profit, grant-funded entity and does not pay for any advertising. The current organization logo versions, color package, and brand standards guide will be provided to the vendor by ICN.
Project Requirements
• The vendor will make an initial visit to ICN in order to gain an understanding and knowledge about
our organization.
• The vendor will participate in conference calls as needed with the ICN project coordinators.
• Working with the ICN project coordinators, the vendor will develop and provide a Comprehensive
Strategic Marketing Plan that includes:
o An analysis of ICN’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) related to
marketing the organization. The analysis should include clearly defined objectives and the
means by which to achieve those objectives for increased brand recognition, audience
growth, and engagement.
o An analysis of the communication environment as it relates to child nutrition professionals
in school and child care settings, including how the target audience receives and dissects
ICN’s marketing messages. The analysis should include clearly defined objectives and
methods for adjustment(s) of ICN’s current communication processes, as needed, in order
to reach those objectives. ICN uses these platforms to reach the target audience:
- SproutSocial (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest)
- MailChimp
- Smartsheet
- Zoom
- ICN’s various websites
o Research and identify lead generation sources for ICN’s target audiences and stakeholders,
and compile and provide a list to ICN for evaluation. The list of sources should be prioritized
in order of likely best return on investment, provide the reason(s) for selection, target
audience(s) available for purchase, and contact information for the source(s).
• The vendor will establish an efficient workflow process. The process must be developed in a format
that can easily be merged and implemented within ICN’s established Smartsheet workflow and
include the following:
o Development of a creative campaign brief template(s) containing necessary details for successful campaigns for listed projects and initiatives. The campaigns will be implemented by ICN marketing staff using the creative campaign briefs provided by the vendor. Creative brief template(s) for ICN marketing campaigns should include:
- Key industry observation of ICN’s brand awareness
- Target audience
- Communication objectives and tasks
- Desired user response
- Creative guidelines
- Requirements/mandatory content/talking points
- Measurement and analysis of success
o Development of promotional content and graphics for digital marketing via social media,
emails, website(s), blogs, and newsletters that maintains consistency of tone and imagery
for listed projects and initiatives to increase our outreach and establish a relationship with
our followers,
• The vendor will utilize the workflow process identified in the above Project Requirements to
develop all elements for the Project List that follows.
• The vendor will use finalized concepts as provided by ICN for development of all projects as shown
in the Project List that follows.
Project List
1. Recruitment campaign(s) to increase engagement and grow our target audiences
a. Social Media
b. Email Subscribers
c. iLearn
d. Website Traffic
2. Develop and create digital and print-ready files for a series of printed marketing literature that
feature ICN’s specific areas of resources, training, and research.
a. ICN – composite overview of what is available from ICN
b. ICN Instructor-Led Training Opportunities (Face-to-Face and Virtual)
c. iLearn (ICN’s online course system)
d. Applied Research Division (ARD)
e. Child Nutrition Archives
f. School Nutrition Resources
g. Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) Resources
3. Promotional video(s) –
a. Short, upbeat hype video highlighting ICN’s overall mission and resources
b. Informational video featuring and promoting ICN’s training opportunities
c. Informational video featuring and promoting iLearn (ICN’s online course platform)
4. Monthly Webinars
a. STAR Webinar – last Thursday of each month
b. CICN Webinar – first Thursday of each month
5. Monthly Virtual Instructor-Led Training sessions
6. Monthly Podcasts
a. CICN’s The MixUp
b. iBites
7. Newsletters
a. Mealtime Memo (Monthly)
b. iBites Digest (Quarterly)
8. Websites
a. TheICN.org
iii. TheICN.org/Prevent
iv. TheICN.org/CACFP
vii. TheICN.org/CICN
b. TheICN.org/CNRB (USDA site hosted by ICN)
c. TheICN.org/CNSS (USDA site hosted by ICN)
9. Conferences – Virtual and/or In-person (including annual themes and booth planning)
a. SNA’s ANC
b. National Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) Annual Conference
c. National Restaurant Association
d. Minimum of 3 State Conferences
10. Ongoing Campaigns
a. Wellness Wednesday
b. Throwback Thursday
c. iLearn Tech Tip
d. Tasty Tuesday [Child Nutrition Recipe Box (CNRB)]
11. Annual Campaigns
a. National School Lunch Week (2nd Week in October)
b. National Farm to School Month (October)
c. National Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15 – October 15)
d. National Native American Heritage Month (November)
e. National Food Safety Education Month (September)
f. National School Breakfast Week (March 7-11, 2022)
g. School Lunch Hero Day (May 6, 2022)
h. National Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) Week (March 13-19, 2022)
Closing Date
before 1:00 PM CT on Thursday, January 27, 2022
Address
The University of Mississippi
Office of Procurement Services
Attn: Rachel Bost, Director – RFP # 688
P.O. Box 1848
164 Jeanette Phillips Drive
University, MS 38677
