South Carolina Issues Marketing RFP
The South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism (SCPRT) is seeking the professional services of a qualified full service marketing and advertising agency to work with SCPRT in the development, implementation and evaluation of the State’s strategic, integrated marketing programs to promote the State of South Carolina as a travel destination to state, regional, national and international markets. SCPRT seeks a partner that can help develop and deliver an integrated program that maximizes paid, earned, owned, and shared media strategies.
Background:
The mission of SCPRT is to grow South Carolina’s economy by fostering sustainable tourism, economic development and effectively market the state to increase visitation and improve the quality of life for all South Carolinians. The agency’s vision is to grow the state, to enhance authentic experiences, to sustain the resources and to lead the South Carolina tourism industry. SCPRT’s goals, stated in the broadest form, are to “put heads in beds, feet on fairways and people in parks”. Additionally, the State Park system strives to become operationally self-sufficient.
The contract resulting from this solicitation has a maximum potential value of up to $75 million over the life of the contract. The contract term is from July 1, 2019 through two fiscal years, ending June 30, 2021, with three (3) additional one-year renewals. Fully executed, the contract would end June 30, 2024.
The specific annual value of the contract is directly tied to the state’s annual budget cycle and will fluctuate from year to year based on the budget allocated to SCPRT by the S.C. Legislature each year and based on SCPRT’s marketing priorities in any given year.
The South Carolina Legislature provides matching funds to the state’s largest destination marketing organizations (Myrtle Beach, Charleston, Hilton Head, Columbia, and Greenville) through Destination-Specific Funding. For FY 2018-19, Destination-Specific Funding is expected to total $14 Million. With the required twoto- one match, these five destinations will themselves spend a combined $42 million marketing their respective destinations in FY 2018-19. While as part of this contract SCPRT will continue to market the state’s primary destinations and tourism products, SCPRT also recognizes the need to more aggressively spread the benefits of tourism across the state by promoting and marketing “undiscovered” South Carolina.
“Undiscovered” South Carolina is comprised of destinations – coastal and inland, rural and urban – that lack the individual resources to create widespread (significant) exposure for their respective tourism attractions, events, and amenities. To accomplish this, SCPRT will continue with a marketing strategy to promote the “undiscovered” areas of South Carolina.
The strategy for promoting “undiscovered” South Carolina should be designed to highlight those destinations and niche product categories that will most directly benefit from awareness generated through SCPRT’s marketing program. In addition to spreading the benefits of tourism across the state, the “undiscovered” South Carolina strategy should help these destinations, product niches and their business communities better realize their full tourism potential. Clearly, there exists a heightened familiarity of South Carolina’s coastal destinations and tourism assets both in and out-of-state. SCPRT’s expanded goal is to significantly raise awareness of the state’s lesser-known tourism assets to out-of-state and in-state visitor prospects – increasing occupancy levels and visitor spending throughout the state.
Scope of Work:
SCPRT seeks a firm or joint venture with the ability to provide a broad range of marketing services, including:
- Research and strategic planning
- Account Services
- Media planning, evaluation, negotiation, and purchasing
- Ad trafficking across all types of media
- Creative and production services for traditional and digital mediums and emerging mediums
- Cooperative advertising programs
- Interactive media
- Digital marketing
- Search Engine Optimization
- Search Engine Marketing
- Collateral
- Industry relations
- Web development and maintenance
- Web tracking/reporting
- Mobile and mobile application development and maintenance
- Mobile tracking and reporting
- Public Relations Services
- Social media, analytics tracking and reporting
- Social media advertising
- Photography services and video production
- SC Chef Ambassador Program
- Produce collateral materials and videos for the South Carolina State House tour desk
- Produce materials for the South Carolina Governors Conference on Tourism and Travel
- Measurement/Tracking and Reporting
- Subcontracting for goods and services as necessary to execute SCPRT marketing programs
- Accounting, billing, invoice reconciliation
Due Date:
November 6th
Address:
SFAA, Div. of Procurement Services, MMO
PO Box 101103
Columbia SC 29211
