Request for Qualifications RFQ-2023 Carbon County Office of Tourism Marketing/PR Campaign and Media Buys

RFQ Submittal DUE DATE: December 5, 2023 at 5:00 p.m. MST

Carbon County Office of Tourism is looking for vendor(s) to guide and implement a creativeprecise marketing and PR strategy, and oversee associated media buying and manage multiple

social media sites. Respondents may reply to all, or the creative portion, or the media portion of

this RFQ.

Carbon County aims to attract and support visitors who travel thoughtfully and engage with local

communities and businesses in order to create more memorable and connective experiences.

In most cases, this equates to longer visits and increased spending. In addition to improving the

quality of visitor experience, this approach will increase travelers’ economic impacts through

longer stays and additional services, including guided travel, workshops, and add-on options.

Carbon County is looking to make responsible incremental growth that will begin to expand our

economy and quality of life. Our residents are proud and protective of our beautiful assets and

while they are interested in growth, they want it to be conscientious thus preventing us from

becoming overgrown. However, tourism is the front-door to economic development in other

industries as our visitors sometimes become residents and business owners. It is important to

Carbon County to attract visitors that appreciate the culture, heritage, and values that are

part of the heart of Carbon County in order to ensure that the traditions live on as we

grow. We do not want to not mimic any other destination, but to maintain the uniqueness of our

own as we continue to welcome visitors from around the world. Many local communities have

expressed over the years that “we don’t want to become Moab or Park City.”

Carbon County has a total population of 24,418. It is lined in a “corridor like way” with several

small and unique communities including Price City, the county seat and the “hub” of the corridor;

Helper City, known as the “main street” of the corridor; Wellington City, a small community

located in the heart of the county; East Carbon City, the corridor’s hidden gem, and Scofield,

known best for their State Park. We are looking for ideas of how to creatively expand our

messaging to include all the towns and cities through media opportunities that will increase

bookings while continuing to grow awareness and momentum of our brand and tagline, Carbon

Corridor, Start Here.

About the Brand

Carbon Corridor was created in 2018 through a new destination development and

branding/marketing pilot program offered by the Utah Office of Tourism (UOT). We went through

an extensive branding process to create a brand that is inclusive county wide. Formerly known

as Castle Country, a regional brand that included both Carbon and Emery counties, that no

longer served us as Emery County underwent their own rebranding. After much consideration

and with the help of the Utah Office of Tourism, we arrived at the Carbon Corridor. We are

located halfway between Salt Lake City and Moab with easy access to the San Rafael Swell in

Emery County, which makes us an ideal home base or a convenient stop along the way. We

would like to capitalize on our own landscape where people can slow down, start here, and

adventure throughout the county. We have the beautiful Nine Mile Canyon, known as the world’s

largest outdoor art gallery. Our Wood Hill Trail System, designated back in 2017, provides

access to approximately 30 miles of single track trail for mountain biking and running. Our

assets also include Range Creek Canyon, Gordon Creek Falls, North Springs Shooting

Range, Carbon Event & Recreation Complex, Historic Coke Ovens, Energy (Scenic Byway)

Loop, Historic Helper Main Street, Helper Mining & Railroad Museum, USU Eastern

Prehistoric Museum, as well as over 250 miles of an OHV Trail System, to name a few.

After three years of focusing on brand awareness we are now ready to further develop the

dimension and depth of our creative identity to demonstrate the attractiveness of Carbon

County. We want to be known as a unique and connective experience rather than a pit stop

along HWY 6. We believe that part of that includes sharing the nature and character of the

people, our history, heritage, lifestyle, values, and activities meaningful to our locals.

Local Pride

We believe our locals are our first audience. We always take into consideration the impact of

our efforts on the quality of life for our locals. We don’t want mass numbers of visitors like many

destinations have sought. That is why we want to stay focused on quality tourists as opposed to quantity tourists.

Locals and alumni are some of our best ambassadors. We want our creativity to be backed by

and instill pride in our locals. We want to have some of our creative endeavors placed locally so

they will take pride in how we present ourselves to the visitors regionally, nationally, and

internationally.

For example, Carbon Corridor as a new brand has been met with some resistance as some

locals find it hard to move away from the old brand. However, we agree that some work needs

to be done on the local level to change how locals feel about the needed change by helping

them embrace it.

Measures and Metrics

Carbon County is committed to campaigning using measurables. We desire to have more

sustainable, year-round tourism and extend the average length of stay. We are also sensitive to

representing the objective of controlled and responsible growth. For example, we may identify a

goal of increasing our visitation by 30%. Monitoring a goal like this could come from a

qualitative and quantitative analysis that shows a 30% maximum increase allowed. That way

we’re not compromising the quality of the experience for both the visitors and the residents.

The work considered under this RFQ would include a strategy to help prevent surpassing that

threshold.

Markets

The top domestic markets for Carbon County are Salt Lake City, Utah, Denver, Colorado, and

Los Angeles, California.

We also get day-trippers from all over who are commonly known to visit Emery County (east

and west) for outdoor recreational activities. We have marketed these areas for events and

believe there are more opportunities in these communities, including ours, for more day-trippers

and perhaps weekenders to experience our growing need for a “less crowds” visitation

experience.

Tourism Operation

Carbon County Office of Tourism is currently structured by a Director of Economic Development

& Tourism, a Tourism Specialist, a part-time Administrative Assistant, and a part-time contracted

Content Creator. Our current Tax Advisory Board is managed by the Tourism Office and

consists of 9 members with the majority being from the hotel and/or restaurant industry.

Carbon County Office of Tourism operates solely on Transient Room Tax (TRT), which is

collected from short-term rentals/lodging in Carbon County.

Expectation for Deliverable by Carbon County

The chosen vendor is expected to provide these deliverables as part of this contract, though

specific details and expectations will be outlined and agreed upon as part of the final collaborative process of building a scope of work.

A. Creative Agency

Strategy:

● Develop a high-level, integrated marketing and PR strategy for Carbon County

Office of Tourism for the next 2 years that builds on the brand and approaches

the items that are shared in the narrative.

● Use of data sources available through Carbon County, UOT, and additional

research to optimize the marketing strategy.

● Bring expertise to managing and advancing the brand.

Campaign Development and Execution:

● Craft and present creative approaches to marketing campaigns in line with the

overall marketing and PR strategy.

● Produce all creative and accompanying campaign assets including maps, visitor

guide design, billboards, and out-of-home advertising.

Reporting:

● Set and measure success metrics related to advertising, marketing, and PR that

map back to the objectives and concerns listed in the narrative.

● Define key performance indicators (KPIs) and detailed campaign measurements

metrics for annual integrated marketing plans.

● Create a shareable grant tracking system and track all grant funding and

spending.

Website:

● Provide art production and web ready assets to assist the County in updating and

maintaining the Carbon Corridor website.

● Assist in the copyright and copy editing of content required to keep the site.

● Review and track analytics around site traffic, visitation, and dwell times on the

tourism portion of the website (www.carboncorridor.com).

Social Media:

● Conduct social media efforts by designing creative assets, providing strategic

campaign concepts, writing and posting content across active social channels

including Facebook, Instagram, and Tik Tok.

● Follow, comment, like, and share content from the community to ensure the

account is engaged in topical posts.

B. Media Buying Agency

● Solicit, secure, and monitor paid and non-paid social media time and/or space in

various domestic and international media outlets, including broadcast, print,

digital/social, radio, out-of-home, direct mail, etc. The vendor shall secure media

placements and rates most advantageous and economical to Carbon County.

● Seek out and recommend partnerships and media placement opportunities that

will help Carbon County to achieve the goals listed in the narrative.

● Constantly track placement performance and optimize for best results,

particularly the metrics on trackable bookings.

● Use of data sources available through Carbon County, UOT, and additional

research to optimize media placements.

● Set, monitor, and regularly report out on ROI benchmarks and data sharing.

● Present the client with new options for placement and tracking methods as they

become available.

C. Value Add

● Please list anything else that your experienced agency does that isn’t listed in

this RFQ that would be of value to Carbon County’s marketing and PR efforts.

Please include the additional proposal and cost.

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