Utah Office of Tourism Issues RFP For Branding Strategy

Purpose:

To create a branding strategy, branding message and create a branding action plan for the Utah Office of Tourism.

Background:

The Utah Office of Tourism promotes tourism into the state through advertising and media contacts. We are an office within the Governor’s Office of Economic Development. Our mission is “to improve the quality of life of Utah citizens through revenue and tax relief, by increasing the quality and quantity of tourism visits and spending.” We operate several programs to assist Utah’s tourism industry including marketing and advertising, research, publications, information services, media relations and cooperative marketing programs.

Scope of Work:

Offeror will be engaged with UOT to render branding strategy, brand messaging and create a branding action plan for participating partners.

1) Branding –

a.) Goal – Help rural gateway communities uniquely identify themselves as a destination and leverage their tourism development growth through a comprehensive branding strategy. The majority of our partners have developed/selected a brand to highlight their unique assets, we are looking for a vendor to deliver on execution and proper messaging of their brand, while presenting evaluation and insight on partner goals.

i.) Work with each partner to develop their unique brand/brand focus, define their goals and develop place-branding, (sense of place)

ii.) Develop a cohesive, long term branding strategy based on each community’s brand focus, story-line, brand identity & brand guidelines

iii.) Identify messaging for responsible tourism, economic and community development

iv.) Tactics for incorporating stakeholder engagement for their brand and utilizing their brand to cultivate new product development

v.) Concept advertising and ad placement strategies

vi.) Strategies for branding in a digital age

vii.) One initial in-market meeting, (4-6 hours), will be followed by monthly meetings, (virtual &/or in-market), to develop new branding strategies and execution of strategies as needed to complete the action plan

b.) Branding Action Plans-

i.) Create branding action plans, working with local DMO’s &/or Economic Development Directors to create step-by-step branding action plans to help them execute their destination brand and messaging

ii.) Integrated follow up and accountability for execution of action plan with partners

2) Reporting/Project Deliverables-

a.) Campaign details and partner progress will be compiled and reported back to UOT

i.) Partner progress will be tracked and reported back to UOT and partners

ii.) A comprehensive final report will be provided to UOT on all partner branding/re-branding campaigns, detailing brand guidelines and story, execution of branding and strategic next steps as outlined for each partner

3) Minimum Mandatory Requirements-

a.) Offeror must meet the below minimum requirements:

i.) A minimum of three years’ experience creating successful branding strategies and marketing plans for destinations’, lodging, and/or tourism attractions (provide an example)

ii.) Three letters of recommendation

iii.) Resume

iv.) Must agree to an established cost of $25,000 per partner opt-in

v.) Agree to an interview with the selection committee, (in person or via online video chat)

4) Technical Criteria-

vi.) Offeror will submit a sample branding action plan for Carbon County

vii.) Experience working with communities to develop branding/re-brand and improve tourism economic development (provide relevant examples)

viii.) Details regarding execution and implementation tactics

ix.) Have a general background/understanding of Utah as a destination, Utah’s brand and tourism assets/describe background

x.) Offeror must align dedicated staff to work with each partner throughout the process

xi.) Create a tiered rate plan to tailor to each partner’s needs, include any value adds or additional programs that can be extended

xii.) Submit any client initiated litigation, arbitration or legal proceedings

5) Project Timeline-

a.) Timeline is based on Cafeteria program opt-in periods:

i.) The offerings for partners will be presented in subsequent FY19 partner opt-in launch via webinars or other in market presentation

ii.) The first opt-in will close for partners July 18, 2018, UOT will advise of partner opt-in commitments at this time

iii.) The second opt-in will be January 2019, UOT will advise of partner opt-in commitments

iv.) The third opt-in will be July/August 2019, UOT will advise of partner opt-in commitments

v.) The fourth opt-in will be January 2020, UOT will advise of partner opt-in commitments

vi.) The fifth opt-in will be July/August 2020, UOT will advise of partner opt-in commitments

vii.) The sixth opt-in will be January 20, 2021, UOT will advise of partner opt-in commitments (All subsequent opt-in’s will follow a twice per year pattern)

viii.) All work will be completed in the calendar year, with reporting provided within 30 days of project completion

ix.) The contract period will be five years with the possibility of a renewal, (pending partner interest, work completed & Rourism objectives at the end of the contract period)

Due Date:

July 13th

Address:

Utah Office of Tourism

Council Hall/Capitol Hill

300 North State

Salt Lake City, UT 84114

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