NRA Seeks Marketing and Design Agency

Purpose:

The District of Columbia Office of Contracting and Procurement, on behalf of the District Department of Energy and Environment (DOEE) (the “District”) is seeking an agency to provide a marketing strategy that has creative design and messaging to drive and increase engagement of multiple programs within the Natural Resources Administration (NRA) for diverse audiences across all eight wards.

Background:

The Natural Resources Administration (NRA) is one of five administrations through which the Department of Energy and Environment carries out its mission. NRA’s core functions are to conserve, protect, and improve the soil, water, and living resources of the District of Columbia, and to protect its aquatic resources from pollution and degradation. NRA achieves its objectives by using a combination of Federal and District authorities, including: strategic planning; setting and enforcing water quality standards; and monitoring and assessing the quality of the aquatic and wildlife resources. NRA is comprised of five divisions: Fisheries and Wildlife, Water Quality, Regulatory Review, Inspection and Enforcement, and Watershed Protection.

Each of these five divisions has a number of programs which generally operate within the following categories:

• Litter removal and pollution prevention
• Economic incentives
• Outreach and education
• Ecosystem preservation and restoration.

Scope of Work:

District Department of Energy and Environment (DOEE) (“District”), is seeking an established marketing and design firm to conduct comprehensive marketing research, and develop creative advertising and media inventory tool to drive and increase engagement of multiple programs within the Natural Resources Administration (NRA) for diverse audiences across all eight wards. This RFP  is only for creating design and messaging for NRA programs, and does not include any services related to purchasing or implementing the developed products.

• The Contractor shall conduct market and engagement research and analysis that includes identification, detailed demographics and background of target markets.
• The Contractor shall create topline messaging for the outlined programs in C.4.2 as correlated to recommended target audiences with detailed reasons why.
• The Contractor shall develop a mix and match media inventory tool of traditional outreach (e.g., outdoor advertising, broadcast, social media, digital, etc.).
• The Contractor shall provide recommendations of non-traditional, more guerilla-type approaches such as tree tag messaging, native pollinator seed giveaways and others.
• The Contractor shall have all deliverables approved by DOEE.

Marketing and Engagement Research and Analysis:

• The Contractor shall develop one (1) plan for District-wide research and evaluation of target audiences as related to the programs outlined in C.4.2. The research should involve stakeholder, community, and program staff input. All survey and interview questions shall be approved by DOEE.
• Stakeholder Input – The Contractor shall conduct group interviews and/or surveys with identified DOEE/NRA stakeholders addressing program goals, outreach impact, business incentives, as well as a survey of their sphere of influence that can be leveraged for DOEE advertising needs and how and to who.
• Community Survey – The Contractor shall conduct group surveys and/or meetings in all eight wards determining environmental needs of the community, individual incentives and belief in power to help, and general attitudes of residents towards pollution prevention, tree and ecosystem conservation, etc.
• Program Staff Input – The Contractor shall conduct interviews with DOEE program staff to obtain detailed background on programs and outcomes.
• The Contractor shall produce a full report on the findings of the market research and assessment of stakeholder, community and program staff input.
• Findings should be data-driven and capture behavioral insights in order to set benchmarks for future use.
• Report should include a target audience inventory which segments by highest impact areas and subsequent demographics. E.g. – Pragmatic Homeowners (Age, gender, race, income, languages spoken at home)

Creative Messaging Development:

• Based on market research and assessment results (Section C.5.5) and in coordination with the Contract Administrator, the Contractor shall develop topline creative messaging appropriate to target audiences, with the ultimate goal to grow NRA programs across all eight wards.
• The Contractor shall ensure that messaging is culturally-competent and meets relevant literacy levels for diverse audiences.
• The Contractor shall meet with the Contract Administrator to discuss the messaging. The Contract Administrator will provide the Contractor with written comments on the messaging within three (3) weeks of the meeting.
• The Contractor shall revise messages based on feedback from the Contract Administrator.
• The Contractor shall prepare translations of approved messaging into languages identified in the research conducted.

Mixed-Media Inventory Tool and Non-Traditional Advertising Approaches:

• The Contractor shall develop a detailed inventory tool of media approaches cross comparing estimated costs, minimum/maximum reach, frequency, and target demographics for each.

Due Date:

April 26th, 2018

Address:

Office of Contracting and Procurement

441 – 4th Street, N.W., Suite 700

South Washington, D.C. 20001

Agencies with strong government experience includes APCO Worldwide and Edelman PR.