Canada - Creative agency and media placement services

Description

L'ÉCOLE DE TECHNOLOGIE SUPÉRIEURE
École de technologie supérieure (hereinafter the "Owner") specializes in teaching and applied research in engineering and technology transfer. It trains engineers and researchers renowned for their innovative, practical approach. Since its creation in 1974, it has maintained a unique partnership with business and industry, both large corporations and SMEs. It is one of the ten (10) components of the Université du Québec network.
The École de technologie supérieure is looking for a Supplier to provide creative services in marketing and communications and media placement under an On-Demand Contract for a three-year term, with two one-year extension options.
Responsibility for the mandate at ÉTS and scope of services required
The Direction Exécutive des Relations Institutionnelles (DÉRI) is responsible for ÉTS's institutional communications and marketing, its brand image, government relations, as well as recruitment and outreach campaigns in Quebec, Canada and internationally.
His role is to implement various strategic initiatives with internal and external audiences to achieve the expected results of the five-year strategic plans.
The chosen agency will liaise with one or more communications and/or marketing consultants, who will draw up briefs for each project.
Historically, the Direction Exécutives des Relation Institutionnelles (DÉRI) has been responsible for managing the media placement supplier. It is important to note that ÉTS Formation - a component of ÉTS - already works closely with DÉRI, managing its own campaigns and branding. Although the mandate is the responsibility of DÉRI, ÉTS Formation is an integral part of the media placement and creative services and requirements defined in this quote.
When creative marketing services were required, DÉRI entrusted mandates to various creative marketing agencies. Other administrative units also use various marketing agencies for their own needs.
The aim of the call for tenders is therefore to centralize media placement and creative services requirements for DÉRI (and ÉTS Formation) with the same Supplier, and to offer other ÉTS administrative units who so wish the possibility of using the same Supplier.
Other administrative units likely to use the services :

Academic affairs (departments);
Research and partnerships (internships, CERIEC);
Strategic development and resources (Centech, real estate projects);
Institutional relations (international relations, communications and student recruitment);
Organizational commitment (human resources, philanthropy);
Built environment and circular economy (AdapT);
Sports Center.

Estimated demand :
The estimated investment in media buying, excluding management costs (professional fees), is between $500,000 and $750,000 per year, or between $2,500,000 and approximately $3,750,000 over a 5-year period. Approximately 95% of media buy investments are paid directly to the various advertisers/media outlets.
The estimated cost of media management services in professional fees is $425,000 over 5 years.
The estimated expenditure on creative services is $675,000 over 5 years.
Envisaged timeline

Contract award: May 1, 2024;
Kick-off meeting and knowledge transfer: Early May 2024;
Sharing of mandate and initial briefs to Supplier for annual planning: mid-May 2024;
Delivery of annual media plan: July 2024;
Start of media placements: September 2024;
Related projects: ongoing.

These dates will be confirmed when the Contract is awarded.
Contract objectives
The mandates to be carried out by the agency must meet various strategic organizational objectives related to the various internal clients. At a high level, the agency's role will be to meet the following objectives (conversion funnel):

Brand awareness :

Increase spontaneous and assisted awareness of the Owner;
Improve the reputation and perception of the Owner;
Support the growth of ÉTS and promote new programs, institutes, departments, human resources, ÉTS Formation;


Commitment :

Generate traffic and shares on the Owner's website and social platforms;
Promote and generate interest in programs and research areas;
Promote and generate interest in events;
Work on student and employee retention;
Consider the impact on user experience (customer service, navigation);


Conversion :

Generate leads from future students;
Generate registrations for various events organized by the Owner (e.g. Open House);
Generate applications for admission;
Generate training registrations (ÉTS Formation);
Contribute to human resources recruitment activities (employer branding);
Contribute to fundraising activities;



Implementation structure

Media placement

Media placement is carried out by the Supplier. He collaborates in the planning, designs the media plans, sees to the negotiation and reservation of space and time in the selected media and, finally, proposes the recommendations and follow-ups required for media placement.
Historical background :

Approximately 75% of media purchases are made from local, traditional media such as La Presse, Québecor, Radio-Canada, Bell Media, Le Devoir, Rogers Media, etc.
Around 25% of digital media purchases are made from international companies such as Google, Meta, Twitch, Spotify, etc.

Creation and production.
The Supplier will also be called upon for projects requiring creation, design, branding and production (branding, advertising campaigns, etc.).
Examples of mandates awarded to the Supplier
The Supplier may be called upon to work on mandates such as the launch of a new brand image, the development of creative in connection with media buying (advertising campaigns), new service or product offerings in education and training, the production of promotional material, the creation of concepts for events, the promotion of strategic partnerships, and so on.
C.1) Concrete examples :

Request for a proposal for an integrated marketing campaign strategy for the launch of a new Institute;
Open days;
Admissions periods;
Recruitment of local and international students;
Creation of new departments,
ÉTS awareness campaign;
Anniversary publicity (e.g. 50th anniversary);
Professional training;
Fundraising campaigns;


DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF SERVICES TO BE PROVIDED

The Supplier shall provide all required services in strategic planning, media buying planning, data and audience management, design and branding, production services and media campaign performance analysis and reporting.
The Supplier shall provide the following services:

Propose an integrated annual media placement strategy that will be broken down into sub-campaigns for the Institutional Relations Executive Management and for ÉTS Formation based on the marketing plan and briefs specific to each campaign and conversion funnel objectives;
Design consistent media plans across all Owner business units in line with Owner strategies and objectives to reach various target audiences;
Plan multi-platform campaigns and execute the plan by bringing advertising campaigns online;
Produce integrated campaigns (copywriting and creative) that respect the Owner's brand image and graphic signature;
Propose and select contextual media placements (media creativity, special sections, content strategy) when relevant;
Negotiate and book media space with the various suppliers available: mainly in Quebec, in the rest of Canada and internationally. Any form of rebate (volume discount, discount, etc.) obtained from advertisers must be reflected in the bids submitted to the Owner.
Respect industry-standard guarantees when purchasing media (expected exposure);
Measure campaigns: Analyze, evaluate and optimize results during the campaign (mid-campaign reports) and ensure that advertising executions appear in accordance with the media plan approved by the Owner. This includes tracking traffic, setting up dashboards and post-mortems;
Optimize reach and frequency, CPM, CPC, click-through rates, delivery and visibility indices, targeting strategy, contact points, data capture;
Parameterize advertising platforms potentially connected to our CRM platform (if applicable) and ensure that data management complies with applicable laws (e.g. law C25);
Provide consulting services for Google Analytics to implement new parameters or develop dashboards;
Develop strategies and new branding for new products or services;
Support production needs not supported in-house by adapting concepts to multiple advertising formats: retouching, computer graphics, programming, animation or editing;
In general, provide administrative services related to placement and account management (billing follow-up, signing of quotes, preparation of bids for various requests, etc.);
Recruit the necessary human resources and monitor operations to ensure compliance with minimum contract requirements;
Collaborate with the Owner's project manager(s) at all times, and in particular with the Owner's designated person(s) to validate certain orientations of the promotional campaign;
Carry out its obligations in order to enable the Owner to achieve its objectives regarding the promotional campaign and the management of related media placements;
Respect the Owner's budgets and the deadlines established between the Parties to the Contract, in particular the dates for delivery of deliverables;
Depending on the mandate, and to be validated in advance, carry out prior research and monitoring to understand the complex business sector in which the promotional campaign is being carried out (context, competition, trends, market analysis);
When relevant and/or requested, provide production files for subsequent adaptations and transfer presentations to the Owner's file managers.
Apply rigorous quality control methods before delivering services to the Owner;
Any other tasks that may be expected of the Supplier, taking into account industry best practices.

Description of resources required
The Supplier must be able to perform all the tasks expected of a media placement and creative agency, and must be able to provide the strategic resources required to meet deadlines and schedules.
The Supplier must not systematically use freelancers for the strategic resources identified in the Price Schedule, but must assign permanent resources that cannot be changed without a valid reason;
The Supplier may use subcontractors for production and post-production. In the event that Supplier uses (1) a subcontractor for creative services, the subcontractor must be the same throughout the term of the Contract;
Remuneration of resources :
The Supplier will be paid according to the tasks to be performed as categorized in the Price Schedule according to the established profiles (resources 1 to 5) and not according to the Supplier's resource title.
For invoicing purposes, the Supplier must indicate the resource's role with its hourly rate and/or the percentage of management fees when applicable.
In the event that the description of the tasks assigned to the resources differs or that certain tasks are missing, the Tenderer must contact the Procurement Officer at the coordinates indicated in the tender documents during the tender publication period in order to avoid problematic situations.
List of required resources :
Resource 1 - Account Manager, Senior Strategist or Media Planner or equivalent: Two (2) resources capable of fulfilling the tasks described are required. Each resource has sufficient delegated authority to deal with the Owner's account manager(s) regarding contractual and service management aspects of the execution of the Contract. He/she has a senior role in the agency and must be present at all key stages of projects (briefs, assessments, customer presentations). This includes respecting budgets and deadlines, setting up working groups, liaising between project team members, setting up and presenting strategies, including digital strategy, planning media buys, producing media plans, analysis reports and monitoring mandates. He provides synergy and strategic advice on integrated branding and media planning for advertising campaigns and other marketing projects entrusted to the Supplier.
He/she must have a minimum of 5 years' experience as an Account Manager, Senior Strategist or Media Planner or equivalent in a media placement and/or creative services agency.

Resource 2 - Project Manager, Assistant Media Planner or equivalent: The Project Manager is the main contact for operational and logistical aspects of campaigns, such as media buying, placement management including transmission of advertising material, contractual and service management aspects of contract execution, and performance measurement and optimization.
He/she must hold a college or university degree and have a minimum of 3 years' experience as an agency project manager.
Resource 3 - Design/graphic specialists or equivalent: Responsible for the production of communication or advertising material, graphic design, computer graphics and layout for all media required by the marketing strategy.
They must hold a college or university diploma and have at least 3 years' experience as a designer or graphic artist in an agency.

Resource 4 - Art director or equivalent: Responsible for creative direction and art direction.
He or she must have a university degree and a minimum of 5 years' experience as an art director with a creative agency.
Resource 5 - Data analysis specialist or equivalent (performance): Responsible for data management and analysis, technology and analytics (e.g., Google Analytics support, tracking, etc.), dashboard production, media optimization on platforms requiring bids (e.g., Google Ads), and provides monitoring and recommendations in relation to user experience and new technologies available in connection with marketing-related artificial intelligence.
He/she must hold a college or university degree and have at least 3 years' experience as a data analysis specialist.
The resources submitted for evaluation as part of a qualitative assessment must be those assigned to the Contract.

Exclusivity of services
Throughout the term of the Contract, including any renewals, the Supplier shall not have as a client any of the following universities: Université Laval, McGill University, Université de Montréal, Polytechnique Montréal, Université de Sherbrooke or Concordia University.

Opportunity closing date

22 March 2024

Value of contract

to be confirmed