Visit Florida Issues Digital & Social Media RFP

VISIT FLORIDA (“VF”) is seeking agency services for digital and social media buying services (China social media is not within the scope of this RFP). Interested agencies may submit proposals addressing digital media services, social media services, or both in a combined proposal. The digital media and social media business may be awarded separately. The resulting agency relationship is expected to last three to five years.

Only U.S. agencies will be considered and it is strongly preferred that the selected agency have an office in Florida and perform the majority of account services from the Florida office. The selected agency must have the capability to carry approximately ten million dollars of media for VF’s account at one time and must be able to service all aspects of the business with in-house capabilities (e.g., the agency must have its own ad server (preferred) or a dedicated third-party ad server).

VF’s objective is to hire an agency (or agencies) that will seamlessly integrate with VF’s current team and campaign building process and provide strategic leadership that maximizes the effectiveness of VF’s digital and social media buys and partner placements.

The RFP process shall consist of two phases. Phase one consists of written proposals in response to this RFP detailing agency capabilities and experience. Phase two will consist of more detailed submissions and in-person presentations by selected agencies.

Background:

VF is a public-private partnership established by the State of Florida that provides services to more than 12,000 Florida tourism industry partners (“partners”). It receives funding from the state each year which is matched dollar-for-dollar by partners through a combination of contributions, membership and service fees, and cooperative advertising participation. The state has invested $76 million in VF in each of the past two fiscal years. The digital and social media budget (including fees and partner placements) for the current year is approximately $20,000,000. Approximately $16,000,000 is budgeted for digital and approximately $4,000,000 is budgeted for social.

VF’s priorities include:

VISIT FLORIDA Digital and Social Media Buying 4

·         Keeping Florida top of mind among target audiences;

·         Protecting and growing visitor volume to Florida; 

·         Extending visitor length of stay and increasing visitor spend;

·         Increasing visit frequency and visitor retention; 

·         Increasing travel to emerging Florida destinations;

·         Growing brand awareness and engagement; and 

·         Promoting Florida tourism industry alignment.

Scope of Work:

The agency relationship is expected to last three to five years but the contract will be renewed on an annual basis. The scope will include:

                1. Media Planning Services. Development of an annual strategic plan as well as a specific media             plan for each of VF’s six major campaigns. Plans address:

                                a. Digital and social buys for VF and its partners;

                                b. Pitching and planning innovative channel, publisher, platform, device, and                                                  programmatic buying initiatives;

                                c. Cost allocations and flight dates by advertising type by publisher; and

                                d. Targeting information and key performance indicators.

                2. Media Buying Services. Execute the plan. Purchase social, display, native, video, mobile, and             other media as necessary. Aggressively negotiate rates and secure added value. Track all     insertion orders and manage deadlines. Communicate publisher asset specifications to VF and                 participating partners as soon as possible.

                Collect assets from VF and participating partners and verify assets conform to publisher             specifications. Tag, traffic and place all assets. Optimize media buys throughout the campaign.

                3. Reporting Requirements. Provide bi-weekly performance and analytics reports for all ongoing           media activity. Provide campaign wrap-up reports demonstrating results against KPIs and       campaign learnings. Provide VF access to any available real-time reporting tools, dashboards, etc. Performance reporting should provide the deepest level of detail and insight into travel     intent possible and should go beyond basic metrics such as views/engagements, click-through-   rates, bounce rates, time on site, screenshots, etc., wherever possible.

                4. Account and Project Management. General business oversight and project management       services. Lead project kick-off meetings and communication efforts. Coordinate resources and             manage the project budget, timelines and milestone delivery. Participate in conference calls,          planning and status meetings, Brand Camp and agency summits. Work directly with VF partners              and agencies to execute campaigns. Attend and present at VF’s annual tourism conference and                board meetings, if requested.

Due Date:

February 20^th, 2019. 

Address:

All proposals should be submitted electronically via Box submission folder:

https://visitflorida.app.box.com/upload-widget/preview?folderID=60903046702&height=480&isDescriptionFieldShown=1&isEmailRequired=1&title=Submit%20File(s)%20to%20Digital%20and%20Social%20Media%20Buying%20Services%20Proposals&token=pwrrpig8qs6lfiqybr4xei43m0rebzmd&width=385

Zimmerman PR is a strong Florida based agency.