RFP Title: Marketing Agency for Workforce Recruitment and Talent Attraction
Deadline: 9/29/2023 by 12:00 PM CT
2.1 BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The North Dakota Department of Commerce is the state’s lead agency for image building, travel promotion, business development, job opportunity awareness and community development with the focus on leading efforts to attract, retain and expand wealth and talent.
One of the key initiatives of the Department of Commerce is to develop the state’s talent strategy. As such, the Find the Good Life in North Dakota workforce recruitment campaign was created in 2014.
This national workforce campaign targeted under- and unemployed workers in careers aligned with North Dakota’s high-demand industries. This national talent attraction campaign will build on existing results and marketing personas.
In 2021, the Find the Good Life campaign and talent initiative evolved, in partnership with talent attraction firm RoleCall. And in 2023, the 68th legislative assembly of North Dakota dedicated funding for the growth of the workforce talent attraction initiative.
SCOPE OF WORK
The Department of Commerce seeks to work on retainer with a vendor as agency of record. Vendor will be responsible for creative advertising strategy and production, as well as media evaluation and purchase functions. Perform account planning and account management to fulfill these functions.
A. Creative development, production and implementation of a comprehensive, research-based marketing, media and communications plan/campaign strategically designed to achieve the objectives of workforce and talent recruitment and retention.
a. Plan shall integrate advertising, public and media relations, internet-based marketing, promotions, and any other approved tactics.
b. Turnkey creative services, designs, artwork, layout, illustrations, photography (including the direction of photo/video shoots and image selection), and other related elements that present brand consistency. Production services necessary to create promotional materials from concept to final format.
B. Develop marketing strategies with the use of existing media and talent acquisition data and results.
C. Support current marketing targets and identify opportunities through the use of existing research or conducting research.
D. Assist in development, implementation, and evaluation of successful marketing strategies with measurable objectives, specifically for recruiting and retaining workforce.
a. Targeted personas
b. Targeted industries
c. Targeted geographic locations both origin (communities to target advertising) and
destinations (cities or regions in ND who need workers and want to cooperate with state)
d. Cross-sell to tourism audiences
E. Perform media buying services to purchase advertising across all types of media, including but not limited to, pre-buy analysis, media planning, negotiation, trafficking, and post-buy analysis.
Media targets may include in-state, regional and national audiences.
F. Provide dashboard or regular reports on marketing results.
G. Provide a day-to-day contact responsible for overall account management, project coordination, strategic planning, budgeting, and billing.
H. Work in collaboration with all vendors and partners of the North Dakota Department of Commerce.
3.2 REQUIREMENTS
A. DELIVERABLES
The contractor will be required to provide the following to achieve the objective of this project:
1. Brand development. The successful bidder should possess a vast understanding of workforce and talent recruitment. Vendor will be expected to provide recommendations on marketing activities, including but not limited to, advertising, promotions, social media and public and media relations.
2. Creative services. The successful bidder shall develop comprehensive advertising concepts and turnkey deliverables meeting all key performance metrics.
3. Media buying and management. The successful bidder is expected to manage a mix of media buying strategies meeting the overall project goals. Bidder will manage all transactions with media partners and is expected to negotiate competitive rates/terms and added value.
4. Collaboration. The successful bidder shall collaborate as appropriate with other agencies working on the Department of Commerce and State of North Dakota talent recruitment initiatives.
