TORONTO ZOO REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL RFP 03 (2023-01) CREATIVE AGENCY OF RECORD

Due Date: Monday 2023-02-02 1200 hours (noon) local time

Toronto Zoo Organizational Background:

The Toronto Zoo opened August 15, 1974 Home to more than 3,500 animals representing the world’s biomes, the Zoo is situated on 500 acres of land in the picturesque Rouge Valley. The Zoo attracts approximately 1.2 million visitors annually. The Toronto Zoo’s mission is to connect people, animals, and conservation science to fight extinction and our vision is a world where wildlife and wild spaces thrive. An iconic tourist attraction and Conservation organization, the Toronto Zoo boasts several leading programs for helping wildlife and their natural habitats – from species reintroduction to reproductive research. A world class educational center for people of all ages, the Toronto Zoo is accredited by Canada’s Accredited Zoos and Aquariums (CAZA) and the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA). The Zoo has also achieved the Canadian Council on Animal Care (CCAC) Certificate of Good Animal Practice® and is inspected by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA). The Toronto Zoo has changed considerably and continues to evolve as we move forward with a new organizational structure, a new Master Plan and creation of a Conservation Campus – we continue to be fluid and creative in ensuring we meet the changing needs our guests, members and our diverse community. Today, there is great emphasis on wildlife conservation and scientific research, and the public programs and offerings have changed to satisfy the higher expectations of the public, including interactive exhibits, face to face encounters, enhanced educational content, virtual offerings, tours and content, facility designs that improve animal enrichment, reproduction capability, sustainability and support external conservation activities.

Toronto Zoo – Marketing and Promotional Support Background: Historically the Toronto Zoo supported one primary marketing campaign for the signature opening/launch experience of the peak season, however with several new year-round offerings, promotions, and many competing messages to amplify, there is an emerging need to support many different campaigns throughout the year. Year-round campaign support could be required for any or all of the following types of content: – Animal birth – new exhibit opening – Special Events – Brand awareness campaign – Focused content (i.e. promoting research and science activities at the Zoo) The first marketing campaign that will require creative agency support will be the new outdoor orangutan habitat that will be opening in May 2023. This is a state-of-the-art habitat that will showcase the Sumatran orangutans in a beautiful, natural outdoor setting with climbing structures, hills, streams and towers. At three times the size of their current indoor space, the new habitat will be designed to stimulate their physical, social, and intellectual needs, and enrich their daily lives. Our orangutans will be able to climb high and feel the breeze on their faces as they look out over the treetops of the Rouge Valley. 

The theme of this habitat is “Guardians of the Rainforest”, as orangutans serve as a keystone species of their ecosystems. As orangutans disappear, it signals the disappearance of thousands of other animals and plant species in fragile tropical rain forest habitats. Conversely, by saving orangutans and their habitats, we can save those same species. By focusing our messaging on the “Guardians of the Rainforest” we will be shining a light on both orangutans in the wild acting as guardians over the other animals in their shared space, orangutans in our Zoo acting as Guardians of their wild counterparts and their habitats and of course showing how anyone can act as a “Guardian” of wild animals and wild spaces by making smart choices and helping to protect our natural world. 

3.0 PROJECT DESCRIPTION AND DELIVERABLES The Toronto Zoo is seeking qualified and experienced creative marketing agency to provide advertising and promotional support to the internal Strategic Communications department for scalable campaigns year-round as required. 

3.1 Deliverables As the sole creative agency supporting the creative design support and production, the successful proponent will be expected to provide support to the internal strategic communications team in year-round campaigns as required to promote possible new exhibits, animal births/activities, events, and more. The scope and requirements for each campaign will differ substantially, sometimes requiring only a creative concept, versus everything from creative design to full production of TV, radio, digital and out-of-home assets to support the campaign. The selected agency shall be the principal creative/concept provider to the Zoo for marketing/advertising to a variety of target audiences including families in mainstream, cultural markets, and leisure travel. T

he selected agency will help provide the following advertising services that include but are not limited to:

a) Develop and produce strategic and integrated advertising assets to achieve the Zoo’s marketing and communication objectives with all identified markets;

b) Recommendation of creative strategies, with creation and production of consumer advertising elements across all platforms to support the mainstream and leisure travel advertising plans;

c) Assist in obtaining no cost, lowest cost and added/or value for all production expenses;

d) Itemized weekly budget control, tracking and reporting during production periods if required;

e) Pre-press production of all advertising as deemed necessary by Zoo;

f) Attend and participate in meetings, presentations to Zoo management, Zoo committees and Board meetings as required.

The agency should demonstrate a high inclination to use research in the development of strategic platforms for the basis of campaigns and have a strong methodology for measuring effectiveness of agency advertising programs and integrated marketing efforts. The agency should also demonstrate the ability to communicate effectively and in a timely manner with the Toronto Zoo.

Please provide the following (consistent with Submission Format in section 6.0): 1) Company Overview/Executive Summary of the organization and key team members who would be assigned to the Toronto Zoo account.

2) Key team players/account managers who would be assigned to the Zoo projects on a consistent basis.

3) An outline of the process/timeline that would be required to support the delivery of a creative campaign from start to finish for various sizes and complexities of campaigns (from concept to finalizing production if needed). PLEASE INCLUDE a specific example of the proposed timeline/workback required of the orangutan habitat launch proposed timing if we wanted to have advertising deliverables in market by week of May 15th, 2023.

4) Describe how/why your company fits with the mission of the Toronto Zoo to connect people, animals and conservation science to fight extinction. This could be in your company’s values, culture, best practices that align with our goal to protect our natural world, or in examples of how you have supported similar messaging in past campaigns.