Due: Wednesday, February 24th, 2023 at 5PM PST
D. BACKGROUND
The Governor’s Office of Planning and Research (OPR) is an office of the Executive Branch which serves as the State’s comprehensive planning agency, with statutory responsibilities for formulating long-range goals for land-use, environmental impact, climate change, policies, plans, and guidelines.
The Office of Community Partnerships and Strategic Communications (OCPSC) is an office under OPR that is tasked with managing the State’s highest priority community engagement and public awareness efforts striving to improve the quality of lives of Californians experiencing the greatest health and social inequities.
As California’s climate becomes drier and hotter, extreme heat ranks amongst the deadliest of all climate change hazards, with structural inequities playing a significant role in the capacity of individuals, workers, and communities to protect and adapt to its effects. This project will support a public awareness campaign that can coordinate with other state agencies and build upon current efforts to
bolster extreme heat event preparedness actions and adaptation strategies. This project aims to also
work in partnership with trusted partners in communities most impacted by extreme heat.
The state has released an Extreme Heat Action Plan (April 2022) outlining a strategic and
comprehensive set of state actions to adapt and strengthen resilience to extreme heat. This project will
directly support the objectives of Action Track A: Build Public Awareness and Notification, while also
indirectly supporting all over Action Tracks as part of the state’s comprehensive response to Extreme
Heat events and supporting tailored approaches across California’s diverse microclimates.
E. PURPOSE AND GOALS
The State seeks a qualified Contractor with strong project management skills and extensive knowledge
of reaching targeted audiences through various communications channels, who will assist in the design,
development and implementation of targeted outreach efforts and provide marketing and
communications support through an advertising campaign, earned media strategy, content
development, social media, and stakeholder engagement.
● Provide strategy, planning and management for a project that must be responsive to unpredictable weather patterns, and reach targeted audiences in California in at least 14 languages
● Develop and manage an effective paid media plan that can be scaled up and down within 24-72
hours in at least 14 languages (both written, oral and American Sign language).
● Develop a messaging strategy that is culturally responsive and incorporates ongoing feedback from trusted messengers within communities.
● Oversee a rapid response earned media campaign that can address crisis situations statewide.
● Develop and manage a plan for community events, sponsorships, and partnerships
● Engage trusted messengers from communities most likely to be adversely affected by extreme heat events.
● Design and launch a statewide landing page that meets the State of California Accessibility Guidelines and shares critical resources with communities in about 14 languages.
● Maintain an ongoing reporting schedule that shares updates on the project including metrics and deliverables timelines weekly and monthly, culminating in a final report for the project.
The goal of the project is to: Implement a public awareness campaign to bolster preparedness of
vulnerable Californians before and during extreme heat events. This is based on the Extreme Heat
Action Plan, Public Awareness Track Goal 1.
This project aims to support these goals through the following deliverables:
● A robust paid media campaign that is responsive to weather forecasts throughout the state and allows for rapid deployment of assets within 24-48 hours in any media market in California using the most effective media platforms, including digital, social and radio. .
● Develop creative and collateral materials that are culturally responsive to the communities most
vulnerable to an extreme heat event. Materials should be available in about 14 languages,
including oral languages and American Sign Language.
● Prepare a rapid response earned media strategy that works closely with Earned Media to ensure Californians are aware of impending extreme heat events and the best safety measures they can take and resources available to them to avoid adverse health outcomes.
● Deliver a strong, ongoing social media presence on state owned channels to ensure up-to-date and accurate information is always available and establishes the state as a trusted messenger on the topic of extreme heat.
● Identify community events where information about extreme heat resources can be shared with intended audiences.
This project is intended to save the lives of Californians by ensuring the latest information on resources and safety tips are available when needed, untimely preventing unnecessary illness and death in the state due to Extreme Heat.
The objective of this solicitation is to establish a competitive process for selecting an experienced
Contractor who can provide the services described in the Scope of Work section below.
The term of this agreement will begin on April 1, 2023 when the agreement has been executed by all
parties and has been approved from the Department of General Services, if required, and will continue
through October 31, 2023.
The maximum amount for this project is not to exceed $4,000,000.00 [ Four Million Dollars and No
Cents].
F. SCOPE OF WORK
California’s climate is becoming hotter and drier. Every corner of the state is being hit by more frequent and severe extreme heat – now and in the years to come. As extreme weather conditions become more severe, Californians need to learn how to adjust to hotter days and minimize the health consequences of extreme heat – especially in the state’s most vulnerable communities.
In support of the state’s Extreme Heat Action Plan, the Office of Community Partnerships and Strategic
Communications (OCPSC) is working with multiple state agencies to coordinate public awareness efforts to help Californians understand what an extreme heat event is, how to protect themselves, and how to reduce stress on the power grid. This contract shall serve as the primary state public awareness and education vehicle to educate Californians on best practices and resources during an Extreme Heat
event.
This project shall require a contractor with extensive experience executing flexible media campaigns that allow the state to quickly prepare Californians for an extreme heat event when they occur. The contractor shall be required to provide the following services:
1. Strategy and Project Management
Provide overarching strategic support for a duration of this project, identifying the most effective communications channels to reach Californians when an extreme heat event is occurring, and ensure Californians, especially those in vulnerable communities, are prepared for an extreme heat event. Contractor shall be responsible for developing a timeline and work plan that can be scaled up and down within 24 hours, depending on weather patterns throughout the state, ensuring the budget is being used as strategically as possible.
Contractor shall be responsible for establishing, scheduling and managing a regular meeting schedule with OCPSC to check-in on progress of deliverables and ensure work is progressing as scheduled and delivering desired results. Contractor shall be responsible for taking notes at the meetings and circulating after the fact with any action items that were discussed.
2. Marketing and Advertising Campaign
A multilingual marketing and advertising strategy and campaign that can quickly be deployed to reach California’s most vulnerable communities. Tactics should include, but are not limited to, digital, earned, ethnic media, paid social, search and radio. All tactics will need to be nimble, allowing the state to deploy regionally or scale up efforts significantly when an extreme heat event is about to occur, and scale back when the event has concluded. Advertising campaigns must be able to launch within 24-72 hours depending on a heat event. Additionally, all need to prioritize reaching California’s most vulnerable communities to ensure they have the most awareness of resources and support available to avoid adverse health outcomes.
Potential contractor should provide a plan for negotiating with media entities to deliver, at minimum, a 1:1 value of added value through a combination of bonus spots, earned media and other creative added value opportunities.
An advertising strategy, with sample schedules and detailed plans demonstrating how the contractor would structure a flexible advertising campaign and added value proposals, must be submitted with this RFP response. Once awarded, the contractor must be prepared to launch the marketing and advertising campaign as early as May 14, 2023.
3. Content Development and Branding
New content, in multiple languages, will need to be developed for this project. Content will need to include advertising content including but not limited to, digital ads, social ads, radio spots, search ads and print ads. Other advertisement content will need to be developed to meet the needs of the advertising campaign. Collateral for use by trusted messengers will also need to be developed, including, but not limited to, flyers, door hangers and posters.
There is currently no central brand for extreme heat so the contractor will be responsible for coordinating all materials around the California For All branding.
Contractor shall need to put in place a plan to evaluate the effectiveness of messaging and content in-real time, ensuring for quick messaging pivots to ensure all efforts are being as effective as possible.
Any creative assets developed will need to be owned by the state in perpetuity, ensuring the state can continue to use these materials moving forwards.
4. Website Development
A landing page will need to be developed as a central hub for extreme heat resources and information. Contractor shall be responsible for drafting and maintaining content, ensuring up-to date information is always reflected on the site. The website will need to have the ability to be translated into numerous languages.
The website will remain the property of the state, so when being built, ownership and long term sustainability needs to be managed appropriately.
5. Media Engagement
In the lead up to an extreme heat event, and during the event itself, media can serve as a trusted source of information for the public. Contractor shall be required to show how it will work with the media to ensure timely information is being shared with the public. Since extreme heat events are crises, it will be critical for contractors to demonstrate a strategy for working with trusted messengers to engage media in meaningful ways to support other communications efforts in the lead up to, and during extreme heat events.
6. Social Media Engagement
Contractor must provide an outline of how the state can effectively use owned social media channels, in coordination with any paid social media efforts, to increase awareness of extreme heat events.
Additionally, contractors need to demonstrate a plan for engaging social media influencers when appropriate to amplify messaging and the campaign.
7. Community Events/Sponsorships
In coordination with the Project Team, the Contractor shall develop a plan that supports community outreach throughout the state to help inform Californians of safety tips and resources available during an extreme heat event. This includes, but is not limited to, developing a list of events, securing event and or sponsorship opportunities, managing logistics and securing event teams to staff event opportunities. Contractor will also be responsible for providing a recap after each event.