State of Ohio Department of Administrative Services – Marketing Services RFP

RFP#: SRC0000022122

RFP Issued: November 15, 2024

Deadline: January 10, 2025 1:00pm ET

Submission: Electronically via https://ohiobuys.ohio.gov/page.aspx/en/bpm/process_manage_extranet/33872

Overview of Work

Term of Contract Once awarded, the term of the Contract will be from the effective date stated in the Contract through June 30, 2029. The State may solely renew this Contract at its discretion for a period of one month. Any further renewals will be by mutual agreement between the Contractor and the State. The cumulative time of all mutual renewals may not exceed four years, and each renewal is subject to and contingent upon the discretionary decision of the Ohio General Assembly to appropriate funds for this Contract in each new biennium. The State may renew all or part of this Contract subject to the satisfactory performance of the Contractor and the needs of the Agency.

Purpose and Background

The purpose of this RFP is to solicit proposals from Offerors to provide statewide marketing services for the Ohio Lottery Commission (Agency).

The Agency was created in May 1973 by a voter-approved constitutional amendment. The first tickets went on sale in August 1974. There have been many changes and advancements in the years that followed and today the Agency offers players a wide variety of products including traditional lottery draw-based games, scratch-off tickets, EZPLAY Games®, terminal-based games, and monitor games like KENO™. The Agency also regulates the Video Lottery Terminal games at Ohio’s seven Racinos and type C sports gaming found at select lottery retailers throughout the State.

The primary mission of the Agency is to support education by offering entertaining gaming experiences. The Agency generates profits in support of primary, secondary, vocational, and special education programs through transfers to the Lottery Profits Education Fund (LPEF). In Fiscal Year 2024, the Agency’s traditional sales exceeded $4.5 billion which generated over $1.5 billion in transfers to the LPEF. Over its 50-year history, the Agency has generated profits of more than $32 billion for the State of Ohio.

Critical to the structure and organization of the Agency are over 10,500 retailers that are the distributors of its products. These retailers are compensated based on their game sales. In Fiscal Year 2024, retailers earned over $305 million in commissions, incentives, and bonuses. The Agency also has nearly 9,000 selfservice machines, cashless payment readers on all sales terminals, and an online players club that has over 1.4 million members.

A detailed look at the Agency’s current products, promotions and services can be reviewed at www.ohiolottery.com.

The Agency supports responsible gambling through annual programs; financial support for a statewide consortium – Ohio for Responsible Gambling (ORG); funding for treatment providers and services; paid media awareness and prevention campaigns which include its microsite www.KeepitFunOhio.com, and he Ohio Voluntary Exclusion Program found at www.TimeOutOhio.com.

The Agency’s advertising messages should conform to the guidelines established by the North American Association of State and Provincial Lotteries. Those guidelines can be found at www.naspl.org.

The Agency’s headquarters are in Cleveland, Ohio and it has nine regional offices throughout the State. The regional offices are in Athens, Canton, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, Lorain, Toledo, and Youngstown.

Scope of Work Overview

An overview of the Work is provided below. The scope of work and requirements are provided in greater detail within Part 1, Scope of Work.

This is a high volume, high production account and Contractors must be flexible, efficient, innovative and willing to complete the Work under tight deadlines. Upon Agency’s request, Contractors must deliver completed campaigns, programs, and projects to the Agency. Each Contractor must catalog completed campaigns, programs and projects on a singular digital storage device.

Objectives, Goal, and Intent

The State has the following objectives that it wants this Work to fulfill, and it will be the Contractor’s obligation to ensure that the personnel the Contractor provides are qualified to perform their portions of the Work:

1. The Agency is seeking qualified, full-service marketing agency(s) or joint ventures to provide statewide marketing services that ensure the Agency meets its annual strategic business goals.
2. The goal of this RFP is to provide the Agency continuity and flexibility in its marketing services and related costs throughout the life of this Contract.
3. It is the intent of the Agency to award up to three Contracts as a result of this RFP. The Agency will award the Contract to the highest scoring Offeror that meets the requirements of the RFP. The Agency may also award this solicitation to up to two additional Offerors with the next highest scores

Scope of Work

The Contractor(s) must provide marketing services that will enable the Agency to meet its annual strategic business objectives. Exhibit 4 includes the Agency’s current strategic business objectives, segmentation player profiles, and game sales by category.

The Agency had a record-breaking profit transfer exceeding $1.5 billion last fiscal year. In addition to selling a variety of daily draw games, jackpot games, instant games, monitor games (KENO, The Lucky One) and EZPLAY Games®, the Agency has an online loyalty club, accepts cashless payments on all sales devices, and offers nearly 9,000 self-service machines to its customers. Other products, services and equipment upgrades are currently under consideration. This is a high volume, high production account and the awarded Contractor(s) must be flexible, efficient, innovative and able to complete the Work under tight deadlines. Upon request of the Agency, the Contractors must catalogue on a singular storage device, and must deliver to the Agency all completed campaigns, programs and projects. The Contractor(s) must be well-versed in all areas of marketing communications. Required services include: creation and execution of annual marketing and media plans to promote Agency products, services and any other current or new revenue streams; strategic planning; creative development, direction, management, supervision and production for campaigns and annual programs; copywriting; proofing; talent selection and renewal; project coordination and any other related tasks to deliver audio, video and digital assets across selected media platforms; media planning, negotiating, buying, analysis and reporting; trafficking, coding, monitoring and troubleshooting of asset use and performance; sponsorship procurement, negotiation, management and monitoring; interactive, web and social media planning and execution; digital and web development, programming, project management and maintenance; primary and secondary research, development and usage of analytics and related tools, and all other reasonable activities necessary to advertise and promote the Agency, including any emerging technologies not described herein.

Contract Design and Budget

The Agency’s marketing plan changes annually due to the constant evolution of its products, promotions, programs, and offerings. The Agency will utilize the following steps to provide each Contractor a very clear understanding of the potential annual workload for each 12-month Agency marketing plan.

1. The highest scoring will initially earn at least 50% of the annual billings. The Agency may reduce this Contractor’s percentage of the annual billings if the Contractor’s performance fails to meet the Agency’s expectations for the Work.
2. Up to two additional Contractor(s) will initially be guaranteed at least 10% of the annual billings. The Agency may reduce the percentage of annual billings if a Contractor’s performance does not meet the Agency’s expectations for the Work.
3. The current annual marketing budget is $25 million. The Agency expects this to remain consistent.
4. The Agency will assign all Contractors the projects and budgets prior to the start of each fiscal year.
5. All Contractors will earn a mix of annual programs and individual projects throughout each fiscal year.
6. The Agency or a third party on behalf of the Agency will review each Contractor’s performance every six months.
7. The Agency will use the performance review as the primary determinant for annual project retention and new project and budget assignments. A performance document sample is available for review in Exhibit 3.

The Agency’s Office of Marketing works closely with each Contractor and expects on-location primary production to take place within Ohio. Contractor travel for primary production is not reimbursable. B.

Offeror Requirements

In order to meet the needs of the Agency, an Offeror must describe in narrative and visual form how it will accomplish the Work listed below. Each category is designed to measure an Offeror’s skill and ability to provide the marketing and communication services in this RFP. An Offeror must include samples of supporting strategies, tools, processes, reports, consumer research and resources that it would use to complete the Work in each category.

Strategy and Research

Offeror must describe, in detail, the strategic approach it will use to fulfill the need of this RFP. The approach should include the internal processes the Offeror will use to identify opportunities and determine objectives that will assist the Agency to achieve its annual goals. Provide detailed examples of research projects completed for existing clients and share software, tools and subcontractors used to enhance your planning. Demonstrate proven success in the retail environment. Offerors may include examples it previously used for the Agency, if they are current or previous partners.

Sponsorship Approach, Experience and Branding Tactics

Offeror must describe the approach it will use to select, secure, evaluate and measure sponsorships for the Agency. Offeror must provide an overview of how it used this approach for up to five current and previous sponsorships. Explain how it would apply this approach to the Agency. The Contractor(s) is to maintain competency in all marketing disciplines, including social media, influencer marketing, public relations, business-to-business, retail, sponsorship management, and responsible gambling.

Media Approach and Application

Offeror must describe the approach it will use to select, purchase and measure all media types, including broadcast, digital and social, for the Agency. The approach must demonstrate the Offeror has a clear understanding of markets, behaviors, mediums, channels, audiences and trends both regionally and nationally. Offeror must include examples of how it uses the approach for existing clients. Provide strategies, sample briefs, summaries, media plans, spending estimates and any other related reports and processes that support the approach. Provide an overview of how it would use this approach to prepare an annual media plan for the Agency.

Digital Approach and Expertise

Offeror must provide an overview of its digital expertise, including a detailed outline of its internal structure; programs and programming capabilities; planning; design and development experience, including microsites, mobile applications, and interactive games; security and maintenance. Contractor(s) is to be aware of and when applicable, use all emerging technologies for the required Work. Offeror must identify which services it performs in-house and which services it completes using subcontractors. Provide the name(s) of the subcontractor(s) and the services performed. The Agency currently uses multiple sources to host, maintain and program its website and support digital touch points. The Agency’s gaming systems vendor and another third-party entity are the primary administrators of an Agency online loyalty program that includes e-commerce, hosting, maintenance, testing functionality, promotional programming and other technical tasks necessary to keep the Agency up to date in the digital environment. The Contractor(s) will work in conjunction with these vendors on strategy, design and any other tasks, when necessary and at the request of the Agency, to ensure the Agency has continuity across all marketing platforms and meet the Agency’s annual goals.

Creative Approach, Capabilities, and Video Showcase of Services

Agency must describe, in writing, the general creative approach it will use to fulfill the need of this RFP. The approach must include the internal process the Offeror plans to use from assignment through execution to promote and enhance a product, a service or an entire brand. The Offeror must include examples of how it uses this approach for existing clients and how it plans to use it for the Agency. Offerors may include production samples, such as TV, radio, print and digital assets, that have been used for existing clients. An Offeror may submit Agency samples if it is a current or previous partner.

Analytics

Describe experience in the use and application of analytics to deliver measurable results. Provide any in-house capabilities, software, and other tools to achieve desired outcomes. 7. Responsible Gambling Describe the approach that would be used to keep responsible gambling efforts top-of-mind. The approach should show that the Offeror has a clear understanding of the Agency’s entire responsible gambling portfolio and needs to provide a detailed strategy and plan to further its reach as gambling continues to grow in Ohio. A Contractor will work directly with the Agency’s Office of Responsible Gambling to create, edit, update, and manage the entire program. The Agency’s Office of Marketing personnel will serve in an advisory and processing capacity for this work. 8. Public Relations The Offeror must describe its expertise in public relations and influencer marketing and present strategies on how it will apply its expertise to assist the Agency.

Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) If the Offeror partners or will partner with an MBE, the Offeror must describe the following: (1) the competitive process to be conducted for potential partners to which only Ohio certified MBE partners may respond; (2) a measurable scoring system it will use to evaluate potential partners; and (3) a process the Offeror will use to ensure selected MBE partners maintain certification throughout the term of this Contract. The plan is to include the types of services and percentage of work that could be assigned to these partners. Use of potential partners with digital, creative and media experience is strongly encouraged.