The Board is interested in retaining a PR firm who will design, develop and implement strategic advertising and public relations campaigns that, in collaboration with PFRSNJ, will:
1.) Promote awareness of PFRSNJ programs throughout the State of New Jersey which includes:
Ø Community outreach
Ø Communications campaigns
Ø Identification of key target audiences and tactics for each
2.) Increase PFRSNJ membership awareness of the program.
3.) Increase local awareness of the PFRSNJ programs with Employers
4.) Increase PFRSNJ outreach.
5.) Support a comprehensive brand strategy for PFRSNJ across key stakeholders including membership, and local and state employers.
6.) Support PFRSNJ website maintenance and enhance/re-design PFRSNJ website.
The Board of Trustees (“Board”) for the Police and Firemen’s Retirement System (the System) is issuing this Request for Proposal (RFP) with the intent to select and hiring a Communications specialty firm (“Firm”). The Firm is to perform the following: (1) assist the Board with its public outreach and community involvement; (2) help develop the PFRS website. The Board expects to enter into a Master Services Agreement (“MSA”) with the selected Firm to last for two years.
Background:
The PFRS is a public retirement system that provides retirement benefits and administration for the approximately 80,000 active and retired police and firemen in the State of New Jersey. In 2019, the PFRS was separated from the other state Pension Funds, under Chapter 55 of Public Law 2018. The mission of the PFRS is provide stable and secure retirements for the police and firemen who serve the public in the State of New Jersey
Scope of Work:
The selected Firm(s) will be expected to service the marketing (advertising, public relations, etc.) needs of the PFRSNJ. The list below includes a sample of the required services.
Advertising/Marketing:
· Strategic research and plan development for various programs/services.
· Create coordinated advertising campaigns (print, broadcast, digital, online, email, etc.) to include written plan, including objectives, audience description, strategies, tactics and budgets.
· Creative strategy and design (collaterals, reports, advertising and visual display, broadcast or social media materials).
· Concept development, including quality graphic design.
· Develop original copy (text), copywriting and editing. This may also include Spanish marketing collateral.
· Media planning & buying: media negotiations, client meetings, phone calls and correspondence related to specific media plans.
Public Relations:
· Strategic planning.
· Build messaging that can be used in various channels including earned media, social media and paid traditional media to geo-target key audiences through timely/relevant channels to drive awareness, create an emotional connection and educate on key actions, and drive traffic to the website.
· Create messaging to drive interaction and build excitement through sharing relevant content and providing opportunities to interact with the programs/services.
· Develop a concrete social media strategy using tools like: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram.
· Develop and pitch storylines and press releases, fact sheets and industry highlights to the media; coordinate media interviews & press conferences.
· Identify and submit the PFRS, its board of directors and/or employees for industry award opportunities.
· Support communication efforts (i.e. blog posts, monthly eNewsletters, etc.) as needed.
· Develop and maintain targeted media lists (local, trade, national and international).
· Strengthen relationships with community partners.
· Share the PFRSNJ’s goals, aspirations and available programs with the public at large.
· Propose and develop database of users and providers for the public relations campaign.
Website development and maintenance:
· Maintain website for PFRSNJ to include enhancements and modifications.
· Build and design the PFRSNJ website to be engaging and unique, allow for more robust data analytics, and matching capabilities.
· PFRSNJ website requirements:
Ø Develop and design a website to incorporate and refine the substantial amounts of existing content from old Division of Pensions and Benefits website to allow for an easily integrated, seamless transition to an enhanced web site to include increasing website speed and capacity to allow for concurrent users. Ø Confirm audiences, objectives, graphic look and feel, navigation, site marketing, technology issues and assumptions, required functionality, phasing, and budgetary constraints, resulting in a creative brief.
Ø Fully integrate the content, collection, service, education and needs of our various stakeholders including membership industry/business partners, state and local governments, and the community at-large.
Ø Disclosure of web site information architecture, graphic look and feel, user navigation, home page and main navigation templates for each of the main navigation links.
Ø Include the functionality to build forms (contact us, event registration, internship/apprenticeship application, etc.)
Ø Use responsive design with the latest technologies to provide a consistent user interface across all devices, including App development – both Android and IOS.
Ø Reporting capabilities
– site visitor interaction and engagement.
Ø Integration with SurveyMonkey for feedback forms.
Ø Allow visitors to sign up for email newsletters, using opt-in and opt out procedures.
Ø Ability to have intake of questions that can be answered by Division of Pensions and Benefits staff or PFRSNJ staff as needed.
· Support internal staff in use of web-based content management system (CMS) to update content using tools and templates.
· Provide site log reports to help measure and understand visitor behavior in order to improve web site performance and availability; including, but not limited to:
Ø Web traffic analysis
Ø Path analysis
Ø Visitor trends
Ø Page views Account Management & Reporting:
· Meet with PFRSNJ staff as needed for the purposes of carrying out initiatives.
· Maintain internal procedures that ensure budget control, prompt billing and quality control, including but not limited to auditing invoices for space, time, preparation and services.
· Prepare cost schedules and project sheets for advertising expenditures and other related costs and secure PFRSNJ’s approval of all expenditures with regard to authorized advertising by submitting preproduction estimates.
· Assign and aid in the prosecution, application, registration, and defense of all applicable intellectual property.
· Provide weekly status reports, or as otherwise requested, to the PFRSNJ updating the progress of all projects.
· Provide monthly, quarterly and annual performance cost analysis for investment.
· Develop analytical data reports in collaboration with PFRSNJ leadership to measure overall effectiveness and performance, and provide detailed reports monthly.
It should be noted that strategic plans, creative strategies and other strategic input will come in large part from the PFRSNJ in coordination with the selected Firm(s). In addition, the Firm(s) should be able to recommend strategies to expand the impact of advertising/marketing campaigns allowing for the broadest possible exposure to the target audiences within the available budget. The selected Firm(s) must provide creative briefs before each campaign or individual project outlining the goals(s), objectives, audience, strategies, budget and measurement.
The selected Firm(s) must demonstrate ability to strategically plan, integrate, manage and execute an assortment of marketing projects. New and emerging technology opportunities are consistently being introduced and the selected Firm(s) must be able to identify, evaluate, recommend, develop and execute, and/or manage the execution of these opportunities.
Due Date:
5:00 p.m. on June 12, 2020
Address:
State of New Jersey 50 West State Street – 9th Floor P.O. Box 297 Trenton, NJ 08625-0297
New Jersey pr firms include Dukas Linden and MWWPR.