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HomeMy WebLinkAbout04/07/1992, C-12 - ADVERTISING SERVICES REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL (RFP) IIII�►INII�IIII��III�IIpp� � r M NDATE: c� I��uil o san �.Ais oBispo • . v COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT ITRA NUMB"/ FROM: Ken Hampian, Assistant City Administrative Officer Prepared By: Deb Hossli, Administrative Analyst,( SUBJECT: Advertising Services Request for Proposal (RFP) CAO RECOMMENDATION: Approve and authorize distribution of the Advertising Services RFP. DISCUSSION: Background Each year, the Promotional Coordinating Committee (PCC) , on behalf of the City, solicits proposals for advertising services. The contractor ultimately selected through the solicitation process is responsible for creating a comprehensive advertising campaign that uses a combination of direct advertising and promotional strategies to effectively market the City as an overnight tourist destination. The City currently holds a contract with S.J. Francis and Associates for these services. Ms. -Francis' contract is set to expire on June 30, 1992 . When Ms. Francis ' existing contract was considered by the Council in June of last year, several members expressed concerns regarding the quality and cost-effectiveness of the current campaign and, consequently, only approved the contract for a one year period (as opposed to the two year period recommended by staff and the PCC) . The Council then directed staff and the PCC to refine the coming year's RFP process to encourage greater competition and more quality proposals. 1992-93 RFP Process Given this direction, the PCC has developed a revised RFP for the 1992-93 solicitation process. It is important to emphasize that with respect to purpose and responsibilities, the recommended RFP is very similar to the prior year proposal. For example, the contract continues to emphasize overnight travel because of its relationship to Transient Occupancy Tax revenues. The contract will still focus on using a combination of direct advertising and promotional strategies to market San Luis Obispo as an overnight tourist destination. Finally, the contract will continue to be structured to ensure coordination of promotional activities between the Chamber of Commerce and Visitors and Conference Bureau. What is different about the RFP, however, relates to the PCC' s proposal to improve the quality of future promotional campaigns. The PCC has modified the RFP to include a provision that requires the contractor to work closely with an Advertising Subcommittee of the PCC. This Subcommittee would be charged with closely monitoring the advertising contract and providing the contractor with specific direction on a routine basis. This would help to C�a-I ���� uuI�II1lIIp i �l city of san tins ompo Me j11 COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT Page 2 insure that the promotional campaign is more closely aligned with the goals of the PCC and City as a whole. (It should be noted that the PCC feels additional contract oversight is so important that they have already established an Advertising Subcommittee to monitor the current advertising contract. ) The PCC found it was more difficult to respond to the Council 's concerns regarding the need to encourage greater competition in the 1992-93 RFP process. The PCC discussed several options to accomplish this - the most common relating to soliciting for advertising contractors from outside of the County. In the final analysis, however, the Committee felt that there are an adequate number of qualified local firms available to insure a competitive process. In addition, the group felt the benefits to using a local contractor (familiarity with the community, easy access, keeping City dollars in the community, etc. ) outweighed any potential disadvantages. As such, the PCC has determined that it would be their preference to focus solicitation on public relations and promotional firms from within the County. Research Component In negotiating the 1991-92 advertising contract, the PCC allocated $1, 000 for research. It was the PCC's intention to use these monies to conduct a conversion study (with the aide of Cal Poly students) to measure the effectiveness of the City's advertising campaign. Conversion studies are conducted by randomly polling a statistically significant sample of advertising respondents to determine how many actually visited San Luis Obispo after requesting tourist information. In setting these monies aside for research, the PCC was not questioning the effectiveness of the City's advertising campaign. Rather, the group felt that it would be beneficial to have formal data available to document the campaign's success and justify its continuation. The PCC has since discovered, however, that the minimum costs of conducting a study of this magnitude is approximately $3 ,300. Given budgetary limitations, the PCC has opted to forego a formal study during the 1991-92 contract and continue to rely on Transient Occupancy Tax revenue statistics and the monthly reports prepared by our contractor as a basis for measuring contract effectiveness. The monthly reports show the number of respondents that request information on San Luis Obispo after seeing our advertisements. These reports provide excellent information, however, they are limited from the perspective that the City cannot measure whether the respondent actually visited San Luis Obispo after receiving tourist information. �-ta- city of son Luis OBISPO COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT Page 3 The Committee continues to feel that a conversion study would be worthwhile, however, not at the expense of reducing direct advertising dollars. Therefore, unless the Council concurs with adding a research component (at a cost of $3, 300) to the contract, the PCC recommends that the City continue to rely on the Transient Occupancy Tax revenue statistics, the monthly reports provided by the contractor and other cost-effective measures that become available to assess the effectiveness of our campaign. CONCURRENCES: The PCC and 1991 Council Liasions to the PCC (Roalman and Reiss) have reviewed and approved the Advertising Services RFP. FISCAL IMPACT: The City has set aside $89, 000 in the 1992-93 Financial Plan for Advertising Services. ATTACHMENTS: RFP Mailing list for RFP e:promol I REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS FOR ADVERTISING SERVICES FOR THE CITY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO The City of San Luis Obispo has traditionally conducted an advertising campaign to promote San Luis Obispo as a visitor destination to enhance the economic well-being of City residents and businesses. The primary thrust of the campaign is to.encourage overnight travel to San Luis Obispo from other parts of California. The promotional efforts are coordinated by the Promotional Coordinating Committee(PCC), an advisory body to the City Council. In addition to the advertising campaign, the City currently contracts with the San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce for visitor services and additional non-advertising promotional and public relations services. The City also contributes to the San Luis Obispo Visitors and Conference Bureau. Coordination with these programs will be essential for an advertising campaign. The City has found that the public interest and welfare will be served by the solitication for advertising services to conduct a comprehensive campaign that includes direct advertising to targeted California markets, as well as alternative advertising methods, and which provides a means to clearly evaluate the effectiveness of the campaign. It is the intention of the City of San Luis Obispo on the 6th day of May, 1992 at 5:00 p.m.', in the City Clerks Office, 990 Palm Street, San Luis Obispo, CA 93401, to receive proposals for the specific advertising services described in the following paragraphs. Mailed proposals should be posted to the City of San Luis Obispo, P.O. Box 8100, San Luis Obispo, CA 93403- 8100, and be received in the City Clerks Office prior to the date and hour noted above. All proposals should be clearly marked "ADVERTISING SERVICES PROPOSAL" in the lower left comer of the mailing or delivery envelope. Late proposals or oral proposals will not be considered. The City reserves the right to reject any and all proposals. Selection of any proposer for such advertising services shall be the exclusive judgement of the City Council. If the City accepts a proposal, a professional services contract will be awarded to the proposer selected by the City. The term of the advertising contract is one year, running from July 1992 through June 1993. The budget for direct advertising and marketing services is Eighty-Nine Thousand Dollars ($89,000). THE CONTRACTOR WILL BE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE FOLLOWING 1. Planning, preparing and implementing a promotional advertising campaign, on the City's behalf, subject to PCC direction and City Council approval. 2. Providing account services such as, but not limited to ad concept, design and production, media buys and placement, and additional services as needed. Also, checking, paying invoices, and accounting for all such activity conducted on the City's behalf in any media. Page 2 RFP - Advertising Services 3. Designing and conducting a program to monitor effectiveness of the advertising campaign, including but not limited to advertising responses. 4. Establishing and maintaining an effective working relationship with the PCC. Liaison between the PCC and Contractor will be with the PCC Advertising Sub-Committee. Scheduled meetings will be on an "as needed" basis with PCC Advertising Sub- Committee and Contractor to refine and adjust campaign objectives as directed by the PCC. 5. Providing the PCC with timely, written monthly reports on the status of all aspects of the advertising campaign, including market response results. Attending monthly PCC meetings to discuss campaign activities. 6. Planning and commissioning any research activity that the PCC/City Council may require. This includes suggestions for and methods of continuing evaluation of the effectiveness of advertising campaigns. 7. Coordinating activities of advertising campaign with promotional services provided by the San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce and the San Luis Obispo Visitors and Conference Bureau (See copies of current contracts attached). Establishing effective working relationships with staff of the organizations referenced above, and other City bodies to achieve unified, efficient use of all available resources with a minimum of duplication of efforts. EACH PROPOSAL PACKAGE MUST CONTAIN THE FOLLOWING STATEMENTS AND INFORMATION TO BE CONSIDERED FOR SELECTION: 1. Statement of proposed workscope. The workscope should: * cover one fiscal year (July 1992 through June 1993) * summarize the advertising campaign * include a general schedule of media placement and other activities * identify the project manager and key personnel responsible for the campaign such as copy and design/production personnel, and any subcontractors. * state the objectives of and general approach (philosophy) toward the advertising campaign * state the specific strategy of achieving those goals * include a budget for the campaign and a fee schedule for services to be provided C�a 5 Page 3 RFP - Advertising Services 2. Resume of professional experience and samples of previous work (presentation of portfolio, including work for existing clients and evidence of strategic thinking and problem solving ability will be requested of those proposers who are selected for interviews). These materials will be returned upon request. 3. A list of professional references, including names and telephone numbers. The filing of such statements as described above shall constitute permission by the proposer for the City to verify information contained .in such statements. Additional information may be requested from the proposer. Failure to comply with any such request may disqualify a proposer from further consideration. Proposals may be subject to review and discussion in public session to the City Council and the PCC. SELECTION PROCEDURES The PCC will review all proposals. In addition, the PCC may request interviews with each proposer. Selection of the proposal which meets the needs of the City of San Luis Obispo will be accomplished by the City Council. SELECTION OF THE BEST RESPONSIBLE PROPOSALS WILL BE BASED UPON THE FOLLOWING CRITERIA: 1. Proposer's experience in advertising services, which may include services to public agencies. 2. The quality and nature of proposed programs to be implemented for advertising services. (Innovative concepts and alternative approaches, in addition to direct advertising campaigns are desireable). The PCC will review, evaluate and rank the proposals. The City Council will make the final decision to award a contract. ADVERTISING SERVICE AS INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR: In the event the City accepts a given proposal, the successful proposer shall agree that, at all times covered by the agreement, the proposer is acting as an independent contractor, not as an employee of the City, and as such, shall not accrue or be eligible for vacation, sick leave, workers' compensation, unemployment insurance benefits, medical insurance, or other similar benefits available to City employees. Any promotional service agreement with the City to provide the services referenced shall not be assignable without prior written consent of the City. e\pcc.rfp ADVERTISING LIST FOR PROMOTIONAL COORDINATING COMMITTEE RFP MAILING Advertising Agencies and Counselors 1830 Santa Rita Creek Road Templeton, CA 93465 Barnett Cox & Associates 992 Monterey Street, #B San Luis Obispo, CA 93401 Brown & Clarkson Advertising 8437 Empresa Drive, Suite D San Luis Obispo, CA 93401 CN Signs & Graphics, Inc. 1390 Walker Street San Luis Obispo, CA 93401 Catalyst Communication Arts 2241 Boulevard Del Campo San Luis Obispo, CA 93401 Coast and County Graphic Services 3436 Sacramento Drive San Luis Obispo, CA 93401 Connections 846 Higuera Street San Luis Obispo, CA 93401 DCO Graphic Design 793 Higuera Street San Luis Obispo, CA 93401 Dealers Network Exchange Magazine 470 Price Street Pismo Beach, CA 93449 Design, ETC. 738 Higuera Street San Luis Obispo, CA 93401 High Technology International 895 Napa Avenue Mono Bay, CA 93442 C-0-7 Image Design Graphics 738 Higuera Street San Luis Obispo, CA 93401 Ipekjian Design Verbatim 1012 Pacific Street San Luis Obispo, CA 93401 Karlene Design P.O. Box 12238 San Luis Obispo, cA 93401 Kornreich Gleason Design 385 Higuera Street San Luis Obispo, CA 93401 LK Enterprises P.O. Box 362 Cayucos, CA 93430 The Media Store 1464 Auto-Park Way San Luis Obispo, CA 93401 Pandora & Co. 350 Mitchell Drive Los Osos, CA 93402 Pointline Media 5690 West Mall Atascadero, CA 93422 Porter Design 846 Higuera Street San Luis Obispo, CA 93401 Rob's House of Marketing 3580 Sacramento Drive San Luis Obispo, CA 93401 Rocglo Promotions P.O. Box 619 Arroyo Grande, CA 93420 S.J. Francis & Associates 1137 Vista Lago San Luis Obispo, CA 93401 Studio Works in Original Design 1331 Archer San Luis Obispo, CA 93401 Studio 101 3485 Sacramento Drive San Luis Obispo, CA 39401 Suggs Lombardi Advertising 1329 Chorro Street San Luis Obispo, CA 93401 Swanson Design 3485 Sacramento Drive San Luis Obispo, CA 93401 Tom Jones Advertising 11555 Los Osos Valley Road San Luis Obispo, CA 93401 Genesport Marketing SLO 11295 Los Osos Valley Road, Suite 23 San Luis Obispo, CA 93401 Gregory Gray P.O. Box 3146 Shell Beach, CA 93448 MBW Advertising Design P.O. Box 4828 San Luis Obispo, CA 93406 \pccrfp.lst