DATE:
February 20, 2024
TO:
Paul Buddenhagen, City Manager
FROM:
Chadrick Smalley, Community Development Director
SUBJECT:
Resolution Of The City Council Of The City Of Emeryville Authorizing The City Manager To Execute A Professional Services Contract With 510 Media, LLC For Marketing Program Implementation For An Amount Not To Exceed $357,000 Over A Three-Year Term.
Recommendation
Staff recommends that the City Council adopt the attached resolution authorizing the City Manager to execute a Professional Services Contract with 510 Media, LLC (“510 Media”) to support the implementation of a marketing program in an amount not to exceed $357,000 over three years.
Background
The City’s Economic Development Strategy, adopted in October 2017, includes a section focused on marketing that enumerates actions including the production of targeted video and print content. Additionally, the Economic Development Advisory Committee’s (EDAC) top priorities identified for 2023 included “…work to develop a marketing program that capitalizes on the City’s strengths. Specifically, the program will seek to develop tools to engage visitors to the City through highlighting the City’s culture of art and innovation.” At the March 17, 2021 meeting of the EDAC, during a discussion of future agenda items, Chair Mary Lou Thiercof suggested a future item to discuss marketing, and the potential establishment of an ad-hoc subcommittee to work with staff on development of a marketing program. The ad-hoc subcommittee was established, changes in membership were made as some of the original members departed, and staff worked with the ad-hoc subcommittee to develop the marketing program, which was informed by survey results, one-to-one meetings with businesses, and industry roundtable discussions with the EDAC.
On September 21, 2022, the EDAC reviewed a Marketing Program Outline comprised of two parts: 1) an outline of the marketing activities and tasks, including the division of responsibilities between City staff and outside consultant support; and 2) a listing of audiences and messaging themes, which represents the distillation of the outreach activities outlined above.
Based on the Marketing Program Outline, staff developed a draft Request for Proposals (“RFP”) for implementation of the program. The ad-hoc subcommittee reviewed the RFP and provided input at its meeting of March 27, 2023, and the EDAC provided feedback on May 17, 2023.
The RFP was released on August 4, 2023, through posting on the City’s website and email to interested parties with a due date of September 7, 2023.
Discussion
As articulated in the RFP, the objective of the marketing program is to advance the City’s image as a center of Art and Innovation to the audiences identified in the Marketing Program Outline. This is to be accomplished through the development of content that will be hosted on a purpose-built website, and through social media posts that further amplify the City’s messaging and drive traffic to the website. Additionally, the RFP requested that proposers address the following tasks:
Identify key target audiences
Assist with establishing multiyear performance benchmarks Identify tools to measure social media performance
Develop a mission-specific website including sections for stories that highlight the City’s creative and innovative culture, short news items, and statistical information that reinforces messaging Develop user-friendly, high quality content templates for the City’s use on various platforms/media types Develop narrative, photographic and video content for the website Recommend relevant content topics
Recommend specific tactics across social media channels Provide recommendations on paid social media strategies and campaigns Assist with social media advertising campaigns as needed Provide support and recommendations for in-house content marketing Provide feedback on content calendar optimized for social media campaigns, and Propose additional strategies to increase traffic to project website Eight proposals were received in response to the RFP by the September 7, 2023 deadline, as follows (in alphabetical order):
Firm
Location
510 Media
Oakland, CA
Bobby Lee and Rob Arias
Emeryville, CA
Chen Design Associates
Oakland, CA
Citizen Group
San Francisco, CA
Farinella w/ Atomic Productions
Emeryville, CA
Isadora Agency
Manhattan Beach, CA
The Marketing Method Group
San Francisco, CA
Tripepi Smith
Irvine, CA
An evaluation panel comprised of City staff from various departments evaluated the proposals against the criteria articulated in the RFP and assigned scores to each proposal. The criteria identified in the RFP were as follows:
Criteria
Points
Complete and responsive proposal
10 Firm’s experience with similar work
20 Qualifications of individual staff assigned to project 10 Quality/thoughtfulness of scope of work
30 Creativity and innovation/special strengths
10 Design quality of work samples
10 Budget/value
10 Total
100
After an initial review of submittals, the evaluation panel identified a “short list” of four firms for interviews and further evaluation. The short list included 510 Media, Chen Design Associates, Citizen Group and Farinella w/ Atomic Productions. The panel conducted interviews with the short-listed firms on October 30 and 31, 2023. After the interviews, staff conducted reference checks for two top-ranked firms (510 Media and Chen Design) to further evaluate experience and suitability for this project. The panel met on November 20, 2023 to review this information and concluded that staff recommends award of the contract to 510 Media.
The evaluation panel cited 510 Media’s unique, behavioral science-driven approach as a particular strength, as well as the quality of their work samples and the value proposition presented by their proposed budget. In addition, the relevant and excellent performance reported by other professionals and experience working with multiple public and private agencies in this capacity informed the panel’s recommendation.
The proposed contract with 510 Media includes the following components:
Brand Understanding and Discovery (brand audit, stakeholder conversations, market research, data and analytics, identification of gaps, opportunities and insights) Brand Strategy (identification of key target audiences, specific social media goals and tracking methodologies, expand the City’s marketing and communications capacity related to economic development marketing, propose strategies to increase traffic to website) Implementation (develop website content, structure and design, launch website, evaluate advertising and earned media methods, continuous improvement, ongoing management and strategy) The proposed contract is for a three-year term commencing in March 2024 and ending in February 2027. The annual budget is $119,000, for a total amount not-to-exceed $357,000. Continued work under the contract is subject to satisfactory performance by the contractor, and under the terms of the City’s standard Professional Services Contract, the City has the right to terminate the contract for any reason subject to five days’ notice to contractor.
The proposed contract is a major milestone in the implementation of the City’s Economic Development Strategy, and the culmination of three years of work by the EDAC and staff. The marketing program represents a significant opportunity to amplify the City’s brand in the region and beyond as a center of Art and Innovation and, is also timely, as the programs of the Rotten City Cultural District will be leveraged to develop positive content to the mutual benefit of the City’s reputation and its cultural programs.
Fiscal Impact
The proposed contract amount is not-to-exceed $357,000 over three calendar years (four fiscal years). The amount per Fiscal Year (FY) is proposed as follows:
FY24 $80,500
FY25 $78,167
FY26 $119,000
FY27 $79,333
Total $357,000
The necessary funds have been appropriated in the FY 2023-2024 Operating Budget in the Economic Development Fund (Fund 202) for Professional Services (Account 80050).
Staff Communication with the Public
As noted above, staff engaged with EDAC and its ad-hoc subcommittee on the marketing program on several occasions in the development of the program, RFP, and contract. On January 17, 2024 the EDAC recommended the City Council authorize the City Manager to execute the proposed contract with 510 Media.
Conclusion
Staff recommends that the City Council adopt the attached resolution authorizing the City Manager to execute a contract with 510 Media for marketing program implementation in an amount not-to-exceed $357,000 for a three-year term.
PREPARED BY: April Shabazz, Management Analyst
Approved and Forwarded to the
City Council of the City of Emeryville:
Paul Buddenhagen, City Manager
Attachments
Draft Resolution, including Exhibit A: Professional Services Contract with 510 Media, LLC Marketing Program Implementation Contract
| February 20, 2024
City of Emeryville
CALIFORNIA
MEMORANDUM