STATE OF MAINE Department of Economic and Community Development RFP# 202402023 Workforce Attraction Marketing Services
RFP Coordinator
All communication regarding the RFP must be made through the RFP
Coordinator identified below.
Name: Phoenix McLaughlin Title: Director of Strategy Implementation
Contact Information: Phoenix.McLaughlin@maine.gov
Proposals must be received by the Division of Procurement Services by:
Submission Deadline: June 28, 2024, no later than 11:59 p.m., local time.
Proposals must be submitted electronically to: Proposals@maine.gov
INTRODUCTION
A. Purpose and Background
The State of Maine Department of Economic and Community Development (Department) is
seeking workforce attraction marketing, outreach and support services as defined in this
Request for Proposal (RFP) document. This document provides instructions for submitting
proposals, the procedure, and criteria by which the awarded Bidder will be selected, and the
contractual terms which will govern the relationship between the State of Maine (State) and the
awarded Bidder.
1. Overview
The Department is seeking proposals from full-service marketing, communications,
advertising, and public relations firms to develop and implement a 2-year, $2.5 million
campaign to brand and promote the State of Maine as a place to work and live.
The campaign will support the goals of the State’s 10-year Economic Development Plan
(2020-2029), particularly as it relates to attracting new talent to the Maine workforce and to
build upon the work done to date by various other State agencies, including the State of
Maine’s Office of Tourism, and other State agencies. (Bidders can learn more about Maine’s
10-Year Economic Development Plan at www.maine.gov/decd/strategic-plan).
The awarded Bidder will develop and execute a marketing campaign to brand and promote
Maine as a desirable place to work and live – from north to south, cities to rural parts of the
state – with national and regional outreach components. In addition, the campaign will
provide support through the development of tool kits for Chambers of Commerce, Maine
businesses and trade associations, individual businesses and nonprofits seeking employees,
educational districts and institutions, and other relevant stakeholders within Maine working to
promote and enhance Maine’s image as a great place to live and work as part of their ongoing efforts to attract job seekers.
2. Current Context
The median age in Maine is 44.6 years, compared to the national average of 38.1 years.
Among a variety of factors, most noticeably, the aging of Maine’s population may result in the
loss of an estimated 65,000 from our workforce over the next 10 years. Maine has
committed resources and initiatives to address this in a myriad of ways within two of the most
prominent strategies in Maine’s 10 Year Economic Plan: Grow Local Talent and Attract New
Talent. In Grow Local Talent, Maine is committed to tackling this issue through internal efforts
to better engage with Maine residents of working age but not currently in the labor pool.
Attract New Talent Maine is focusing its efforts to capitalize on the positive net-domestic “inmigration” of workers of the recent years.
As outlined in our 10-Year Economic Development Plan, the goal is to attract 75,000 people
to Maine’s talent pool between 2020 and 2029. At the end of 2022, the “in-migration” number
was 11,600 people aged 25-54, and Maine attracted ~13,000 to Maine’s total talent pool
through our Grow Local Talent and Talent Attraction efforts.
While there are several outreach efforts to increase labor force participation among existing
residents, this RFP focuses on attracting talent, retaining students, and the relocation of
individuals and families currently working and residing in other States to Maine. The Federal
ARP funds made available for this program are provided to reinforce the state’s workforce by
attracting workers into Maine to fill critical positions in the State’s key industries most
impacted by the pandemic including healthcare and social assistance, construction,
transportation/warehousing, manufacturing, education, information, clean energy and
agriculture, fishing and forestry.
SCOPE OF SERVICES TO BE PROVIDED
A. Objectives
The awarded Bidder will recommend and include reasonable, attainable, and measurable
objectives of the campaign which will result in higher domestic migration numbers into Maine
and joining Maine’s talent pool. The awarded Bidder will be designated as subrecipient of
funding pursuant to Federal ARPA guidelines.
B. Target Audiences
While virtually any worker in the United States could potentially move to Maine, in this effort,
the focus is on the following target audiences:
1. Workers and Families with Existing Ties to Maine: Whether they have vacationed or
visited Maine before, attended college at one Maine’s higher education institutions, know
other friends and/or families living in Maine, those with prior or existing ties to Maine are a
likely target to return as workers.
2. Young Families: Families with young children may be attracted to Maine’s sound school
systems; its Alfond 529 grant, which provides $500 to every baby born in Maine; its low
crime levels; and the possibility of remote work within a state that has so much to offer.
3. Remote Workers: In today’s mobile society, remote workers can choose to live in one
state while working for an organization in another state. With all Maine has to offer, it is an
attractive option for remote workers, who may move here while working for an out-of-state
firm but may ultimately seek employment with a Maine-based company.
4. New Americans, Skilled Workers, and International Trained Professionals living in
other U.S. States: Growing Maine’s racial, ethnic, and multilingual workforce is key to
achieve our overarching talent attraction goal, particularly among workers with easily
transferrable skills. Furthermore, this campaign seeks to pay special attention to the twoplus million college-educated (or beyond) immigrants in the United States who underemployed and are not able to optimize their academic and professional background with
their current occupations in states outside of Maine. Maine is putting forth an array of
coordinated initiatives to ensure internationally trained workers and professionals are able
to reach their optimal career potential in Maine.
5. Recent College Graduates: Maine has several programs, such as the Student Loan
Repayment Tax Credit, which reimburse college debt for recent college graduates living
and working in Maine. College graduates in and around New England are likely targets for
Maine’s workforce, especially in the bioscience and technology sectors.
6. Transitioning Military personnel and their Families: Every year, approximately
200,000 men and women leave U.S. Military service and return to life as civilians. Efforts
over the past several years have proven that Maine is a great location for transitioning
military members and their families.
C. Geography
The awarded Bidder will provide grounded, clear recommendations on reaching the most
likely prospects within the Department’s six target audience groups – whether within other
New England States, key metropolitan areas/states in other parts of the country, or via
recommendations other than geographic location.
D. Strategies
The awarded Bidder will assist the Department in achieving its objectives by:
State of Maine RFP# 202402023
1. Creating a Brand that is flexible enough to stand on its own in national/regional
education, outreach, and promotion efforts as well as be used by in-State organizations,
businesses, institutions, and State agencies in their workforce recruitment efforts.
2. Creating a Campaign that supports or can be layered thematically with other current
workforce attraction campaigns conducted by organizations within the state. This new
campaign must also leverage the Office of Tourism campaign, which will run concurrently.
3. Using Highly-Targeted Paid Advertising to reach those easiest to reach low-hanging
fruit in our target audiences. Given the budget for this project, the Department believes
exploring digital re-targeting ads, other forms of digital advertising (YouTube,
apps/games, podcasts), as well as appropriate and targeted sponsorships will prove most
effective. However, the Department is open to all suggested approaches.
4. Maximizing Public Relations efforts to effectively reach these audiences, including
traditional print and broadcast outlets, social media outlets, websites, blogs, podcasts,
and other online outlets.
5. Creating a Tool Kit of materials that make it easy for Maine businesses, educational
institutions, nonprofits, trade and professional associations, State agencies, and other
groups interested in hiring employees/expanding workforce capacity to help spread a
consistent message about the advantages of living and working in Maine. The contents of
this kit shall support the effective recruitment of out-of-state workers to work and live in
Maine – all parts of Maine, particularly to rural areas.
6. Designing a Website to maximize the connection with other campaign elements. The
successful Bidder will ensure that all messages and materials are available via a
standalone website specific to this effort. The website shall feature highly interactive
features and functionality to facilitate connections with other related campaigns; act as
one stop shop for interested parties seeking to move to Maine and a virtual resource hub
or portal for Maine employers to retrieve resources as needed.
7. Creating, Leveraging and Attending Events to generate interest in relocating to Maine.
Transitioning Military and graduating students are examples of audiences where creating
events or attending specific events could generate interest in the opportunities Maine has
to offer.
E. Brand and Campaign Theme Creation
The awarded Bidder will create a brand, brand persona, and campaign theme for Maine’s
campaign to attract workers to the State based on career options and lifestyle choices. This
brand must be developed within the context of how it is integrated into national and regional
(external) promotions as well as used by Maine businesses, organizations, cities, and
geographic regions for their workforce attraction campaigns within their own unique needs at
the local, regional, or state level. All areas of the state must be represented. The State of
Maine and the Department are specifically interested in focusing on Maine’s more rural
areas, particularly the least populated counties.
Creative concepts and creative messaging for positioning Maine authentically and
compellingly are encouraged. The awarded Bidder will be responsible for conducting all
necessary research critical to developing their concepts and creative messaging materials.
F. Market Analysis and Recommendations
The awarded Bidder will identify target groups from within the Department’s requested target
audience categories, and conduct primary research as needed, such as segmentation
research, analysis of market trends, analysis of website trends, ad testing, web user
experience testing, capturing, and understanding target audience insights and data. This
information will be used to develop targeted, effective, measurable outreach.
The Department is currently conducting research to better understand the domestic migration
patterns that emerged post pandemic and the year 2020. In 2021, Maine jumped from 42nd to
the 14th State in overall net-domestic migration. Additionally, it was 7th in the nation in
domestic net migration in 2021 and 10th in 2022. The awarded Bidder will be supplied with a
copy of the research results to aid in developing this stage.
G. Workforce Attraction Tactical Campaign Plan
The awarded Bidder will develop and implement a 2-year workforce attraction plan.
H. To accomplish the outcomes described above, the awarded Bidder must provide the
following services:
1. Creative Services
For all recommended tactics, provide creative services including but not limited to
graphic design, copywriting, advertising development – print (including
printing)/broadcast/digital – video production, photography, stock photography,
illustrations.
All original advertising material, layouts, copy, photography, illustrations, sketches, and
storyboards created by the awarded Bidder will become the property of the State of
Maine/Department once contractor charges are fully paid. If necessary, the awarded
Bidder will negotiate the transfer of rights from any subcontractor to the Department.
should a subcontractor be used to provide any creative services.
2. Media Services
For planning, negotiating, purchasing, and placing all media. Including tracking and
reporting on campaign performance, evaluating analytics, checking all media for
accuracy, appearance, and quality, and verifying all paid media ran as scheduled.
3. Public Relations Services
For implementing all recommended public relations tactics, including article writing,
pitching, placement, scheduling of appearances for the Department staff on podcasts,
TV, broadcast opportunities, scheduling of Department staff to speak at national,
regional, and/or statewide meetings and conferences.
4. Web Services
For creation of a standalone website with linkable elements to the Department’s
Maine.gov site and other sites/portals in the workforce attraction space as appropriate.
This website must include a level of functionality to support what is described under
Strategies in Part II D of this RFP.
5. Account Management Services
For a day-to-day point of contact for Department staff and overall account
management, including contracts, budgets, billing, quality control, and project
management to ensure projects are delivered on time and on budget. Attend and
present at Department steering committees, related conferences, and events as
needed. Work with any business or trade associations, as directed by the Department,
to co-present on the use of tool kits.
6. Event Management and Attendance
Identify, create and/or attend hiring events or specific target audience events.
Providing workforce attraction campaign materials.
While the awarded Bidder is not required to have an office in Maine, it is very likely
that the Department will require the awarded Bidder to attend in-person meetings and
hiring events in Maine and the New England region to conduct presentations or meet
with stakeholders. Therefore, the Bidder shall be prepared to travel to Maine and the
surrounded New England region as needed.
7. Reporting
The awarded Bidder will provide a monthly report on key performance indicators
(KPIs) for review by the Department.
I. I.T. Policies
1. Digital Accessibility
2. Social Media for State Business
3. Domain Name Policy and Procedure
A waiver for domain naming is possible but will need to have a request submitted to
the MaineIT Enterprise Architecture Team once the proposed domain name has been
selected.
