Tarrant County College District Issues Advertising and Marketing RFP
Tarrant County College District seeks to engage a marketing, advertising or communications firm to help develop and execute a multi-faceted marketing campaign to include market research, direct mail marketing, SEO/SEM, media buying and strategic community outreach activities that will heighten the awareness and perception of TCCD’s vast technical and academic programs among the constituents of Tarrant and surrounding counties.
Background:
The Tarrant County College District is a public institution of higher education that provides academic, occupational, general, and continuing education opportunities, as well as lifelong learning for all people in its District and contiguous service area. The College is committed to provide a high quality learning experience for its students at a reasonable cost and to serve as a good steward of public funds. Tarrant County College District is comprised of six campuses and numerous education centers located throughout Tarrant County that are dedicated to the mission of providing affordable and open access to quality teaching and learning with a goal of improving overall student success.
TCCD offers (4) four degrees for students whose goal is to transfer to an upper-level college university to complete a baccalaureate or higher degree. In addition, TCCD offers 62 Associate of Applied Science Degrees, many different occupational/technical programs, and 121 Certificates of Completion. The Continuing Education Services Department provides a wide range of basic skills, technical, career, and community service programs and courses for the general public and working professionals.
Total Student Enrollment for 09/01/2016 – 08/31/2017 was 98,799 students for both credit and non-credit continuing education students. TCC is the sixth largest college or university in the State of Texas. Approximately 1 in every 22 Tarrant County residents takes a class at TCCD each year.
TCCD employs over 5,000 employees, 2,200 full-time faculty and staff and more than 2,300 parttime faculty and staff. A seven member governing board governs TCCD, elected from geographical districts in Tarrant County. The chief executive officer of TCCD is the chancellor; and a president heads each of the campuses. Funding comes from property taxes, state aid appropriations, student tuition, and federal, state and private grants.
In the Fall 2013, TCC launched an integrated marketing campaign based on its new tagline, “Success Within Reach,” to reinforce the College’s value propositions: Affordability, Quality, Convenience, Variety and Accessibility. The multi-faceted campaign sought to raise awareness of the College’s technical programs, which help students acquire the skills and credentials they move on to meaningful jobs that will allow them to be self-sufficient. The idea was to reinforce that “everyone is college material” and to create aspirations to attend and complete college among target audiences who may not have considered college as a viable life path. Since then, TCC has developed and launched additional campaigns focused, respectively, on how the College can help students overcome any and all real, or perceived, barriers to a college education, and how the College’s quality and affordability constitute the smartest possible higher education investment in the area. TCC needs to build on this positioning with more targeted marketing efforts that will drive awareness and enrollment primarily in the technical programs that lead to “new collar” jobs, while sustaining awareness of our academic programs that prepare students to transfer to four-year institutions.
Scope of Work:
The firm awarded this contract will be expected to deliver and implement a two-year plan that utilizes both traditional and non-traditional marketing media and tools to increase awareness and perception of TCCD. The firm also should also have the demonstrated ability to produce creative assets in-house – specifically, for broadcast (radio and TV) and digital channels. The District desires to measure the effectiveness of these efforts, and the supplier is expected to demonstrate the measurability of the marketing efforts it executes, as well as to assist the College’s marketing team with appropriately defining such metrics. Campaign tactics may include advertising, content marketing, interactive, or any other marketing tools the supplier suggests and that TCCD approves. Sponsorships should not be included in the scope of work as TCCD manages those in-house.
Due Date:
September 6th
Address:
Tarrant County College District
Attn: Christine East, Senior Buyer
300 Trinity Campus Circle TREF 3rd Floor Room 3217A
Fort Worth, TX 76102
Agencies worth considering for this assignment includes Edelman PR and W2O Group.
