HomeMy WebLinkAbout09/21/1999, C2 - REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS FOR CITY ADVERTISING EFFECTIVENESS STUDY CONSULTANT council
j ac En as Report It.N.C2
C I T Y OF S AN L U IS O B 1 S P 0
FROM: Ken Hampian, Assistant City Administrative Officer
Prepared By: Wendy George,Assistant to the City Administrative Officer 111
SUBJECT: REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS FOR CITY ADVERTISING
EFFECTIVENESS STUDY CONSULTANT
CAO RECOMMENDATION
1. Approve the Request for Proposals (RFP) prepared by the Promotional Coordinating
Committee (PCC) for a tourism advertising conversion study and authorize soliciting of
proposals.
2. Authorize contract award by the CAO if selected proposal is within the available budget of
$15,000.
DISCUSSION
The PCC currently advises the Council on the City's tourism promotion program, including making
recommendations for the expenditure of about $383,000 for advertising and other promotional
activities. As part of the 1999-01 Financial Plan, the Council approved the PCC's request for
$15,000 to fund an advertising conversion study. The PCC has recognized for a number of years
that the City spends a significant amount of money on advertising, without any measurement of its
results. The purpose of the study is to determine the effectiveness of the City's advertising program
in converting interested parties to actual visitors.
The PCC has met with its promotional contractors, the Chamber of Commerce, the San Luis
Obispo County Visitors and Conference Bureau and Barnett Cox & Associates, and with their help
has developed an.RFP for the advertising conversion study. Major objectives of the work scope are
as follows:
• To allow the City to estimate accurately the number of people who visit as a result of its paid
advertising and "fulfillment" program. ("Fulfillment" is the term used for materials sent back
by the City in response to inquiries generated by advertising.)
• For those individuals who have not visited the City after receiving "fulfillment" materials, to
determine: (1)Do they plan to visit in the next twelve months? and(2) If not, why?
• To determine the relative effectiveness of individual advertising campaigns by measuring their
actual conversion to visitors.
• To determine the relative conversion effectiveness of different "fulfillment" materials, e.g., the
San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce Visitors Guide, the Visitors and Conference Bureau
Visitors Guide and the City tourism brochure.
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Council Agenda Report-RFP for Advertising Effectiveness Study
Page 2
• To determine the relative effectiveness of conversion based on different methods of responding
to City advertisements, e.g.,telephone responses versus e-mail responses.
In addition to these major objectives, the study will provide information on where visitors stayed,
which cities in the County were visited, how many visitors were in each party, how long they
stayed and how much money they spent during their visit.
It should be noted that a conversion study is directed only toward those people who actually request
information in response to the City's paid advertising. The City has a data bank of information
from such contacts which can be used for the survey. However, there are other components to the
City's promotional program besides advertising, such as press releases and working with outside
newspaper and magazine writers. The Chamber of Commerce is currently conducting a survey of
visitors which will help the PCC to make a broader assessment of the City's promotional program.
The Chamber will also be performing some surveys out of the area to determine the level of
knowledge about San Luis Obispo generated by its promotional program.
The results of the advertising conversion study, coupled with the Chamber's surveys, should allow
the City to adjust its promotional program in the future to increase its effectiveness at tourism
attraction. The 2000-01 budget contains an additional $15,000 of promotional funding to be used
to implement recommended changes to the promotional program resulting from the research being
performed this year.
CONCURRENCES
The San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce,the San Luis Obispo County Visitors and Conference
Bureau and Barnett Cox&Associates all concur with the work scope of the RFP.
FISCAL UMPACT
$15,000 for the study has been included in the 1999-01 Financial Plan(Page D-122).
Attachment
Description of Work from RFP
Complete RFP is available in Council Reading File
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Section A - ATTACHMENT 1
DESCRIPTION OF WORK
r
The City of San Luis Obispo is a city of about 43,000 located on the Central California Coast. Because
of its proximity to the ocean,its historical mission and other natural assets, it benefits significantly from
tourism. Income from the Transient Occupancy Tax, or bed tax, is the City's third largest source of
revenue-and amounts to about$3.3.million dollars per year. Accordingly,the City spends approximately
$383,000 per year on tourism promotion. Of that; approximately $200,000 is spent directly for paid
advertising through an advertising agency, Barnett Cox & Associates, and the San Luis Obispo County
Visitors and Conference Bureau. The City normally advertises during the months of October-April. A
citizens advisory committee to the City Council, the Promotional Coordinating Committee (PCC),
oversees the City's promotional program and makes recommendations to the City Council on
expenditures and program changes.
All City advertisements provide an 800 telephone number which interested parties can use to request
information on visiting the City.. In some cases, an e=mail address is also provided. When phone calls
are made by prospective visitors in response to an advertisement, a "fulfillment" package of information
is sent to them. "Fulfillment"packages are sent out by both the San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce,
under contract.to Barnett Cox & Associates, and by the Visitors and Conference Bureau, depending on
the source of the advertisement. Additional "fulfillment" packages are sent out in response to "bingo"
cards or labels from.certain magazine advertising.
The Visitors and Conference Bureau has non-integrated data bases of phone numbers and names and
addresses from the various types of advertising sources. Barnett Cox& Associates has an integrated data
base of names, addresses organized by advertising source. The Visitors and Conference Bureau receives
approximately 700 requests for materials per month. Barnett Cox & Associates generate approximately
1,045 requests per month.
The City of San Luis Obispo would like to determine the impact of its tourism advertising and
"fulfillment" expenditures by measuring their effectiveness in converting interested parties into actual
visitors. The prospective proposer would be expected to provide a plan for, and implement a study
which will accomplish the following primary objectives:.
1. Allow the City to estimate accurately the number of people who visit as a result of its advertising and
"fulfillment" program.
2. For those individuals who have not visited the City after receiving "fulfillment" materials determine:
(1)Do they plan to visit in the next twelve months?and(2)If not,why?
3. Determine the relative effectiveness of individual advertising campaigns by measuring their actual
conversion to visitors.
4. Determine the relative conversion effectiveness of different"fulfillment"materials,e.g.,the San Luis
Obispo Chamber of Commerce Visitors Guide, the Visitors and Conference Bureau's Visitors Guide
and the City's tourism brochure.
5. Determine the relative effectiveness of conversion based on different methods of responding to City
advertisements, e.g.,telephone response,e-mail response and mailed requests. ,
In addition, the following secondaryinformation would be of great interest to the City:
1. Did the visitor stay in a hotel/motel, campground'or private home?
2. Which cities were visited in addition to San Luis Obispo?
3. How many visitors were in the party?
4. How many nights did the visitor stay?
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5. How much money did the visitor spend for lodging and-in total while in San Luis Obispo?
At-a_minimum,the results of the study should be summarized in the following manner:
1. Separate:.results for advertising by Barnett Cox and Associates and by the San Luis Obispo County
Visitors and Conference Bureau.
2. Separate totals by month of the year.
The proposer will be expected both to provide the methodology for performing the advertising
conversion study and to.perform the study itself. The budget currently availklile.for the Addy is$15,000.
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