The City of Mill Valley, California is seeking a marketing and communications firm which will work with the City across a variety of communications and marketing areas related to the Miller Avenue Streetscape Project.
After years of planning, budgeting and engineering, the City of Mill Valley is set to embark in 2016 on the Miller Avenue Streetscape Project, a complete overhaul of one of the City’s two primary arteries. This major project is far and away the biggest road renovation the City has undertaken in decades. The City of Mill Valley is 14 miles north of San Francisco and 40 miles from California’s famous wine country. Mill Valley is a town with a rich and eclectic cultural history and a lively and engaged citizenry.
With an 18 month anticipated construction period, the City can expect that the project will interrupt the normal course of business and residential living in the area. Key issues such as changes in traffic flow, congestion, noise, debris, and accessibility are all matters of concern. Businesses in the area will experience interruptions in their regular daily operations; deliveries, utilities, and access for residents, employees and customers will be impacted.
To handle the disruption, the city plans to hire a PR firm to assist with the challenges. Responsibilities to include:
Before Construction:
- Assist the City in enhancing the current Communications Plan
- Create and distribute a media kit
- Maintain social media sites and update on regular basis with pre-construction updates and
- Notify media of upcoming public meetings and ongoing media alerts
- Send mailings to businesses and residents in immediate vicinity regarding project (upcoming meetings, news, updates, timeline, important steps)
- Send regular email updates to all interested parties, businesses and residents in area
- Host groundbreaking event
- Provide information at May Community Meeting
- Make short videos on pre-construction updates and post to website, social media, YouTube
- Place ads in local papers with project info, logo, key message, and hotline
- Design and install “Status Board” with preliminary information and space for regular updates.
- Populate email list of all residents and businesses on Miller Avenue
- Prepare “Open for Business During Construction” signs and deliver to businesses
- Prepare signs related to the parking management plan – Parking Signs, Shuttle Stop Signs, etc.
- Print business cards that construction team can hand out on-site with the project hotline and name and title of spokesperson.
- Plan “Miller Up” marketing campaign – advertising and retail promotions, special events, signage, etc.
- Prepare vendor delivery letter that businesses can use with their vendors regarding construction and delivery rerouting/detours where applicable.
- Establish a robocall or text messaging system for urgent alerts
- Pre-write templates for daily communications, weekly communications, and emergency alerts (i.e. gas line break, night work, etc)
During Construction:
- Send and deliver weekly progress report eNews blasts, and print outs for distribution at the Status Board
- Daily and weekly updates to social media sites and City website
- Work with media on story placement including business highlights
- Continuously update Status board with maps, detours, hours, general info, website url and contact info
- Parking Management Plan implementation (signage, shuttle, shuttle parking, etc)
- Implement “Miller Up” marketing promotion program with assistance from Chamber of Commerce
- Identify additional public relations opportunities within the designated budget
- Other communications duties as requested
Proposals are due by April 25th and should be submitted to: lwalsh@cityofmillvalley.org