WYE VALLEY AND FOREST OF DEAN – PR tender TENDER ...

WYE VALLEY AND FOREST OF DEAN – PR tender TENDER OVERVIEW The Forest of Dean and Wye Valley Tourism Association (WVFDTA) is tendering for a PR agency or freelance PR consultant to lead its PR effort for a period of 12 months from 1 June 2015 to 31 May 2016. The contract value is £18,000, inclusive of expenses, plus VAT. There may be additional funds for specific projects TBC. The successful agency or individual will ideally be travel/tourism specialist with a proven track record in destination PR and social media activity. About Wye Valley and Forest of Dean Tourism Association The Wye Valley and Forest of Dean Tourism Association was formed in 2006 and is the official Destination Management Organisation representing the interests of over 300 members. Managed by an 11-stong voluntary board, supported by professional advisors, the Forestry Commission and the AONB, it is funded by member subscriptions, the Forest of Dean District Council, Monmouthshire Council (via VisitWales), the Forestry Commission, and grant funding for specific projects. Tourism in the Forest of Dean and Monmouthshire contributes £141.5 million and £158.1 respectively to the local economies. WVFDTA members include tourist attractions, accommodation providers, outdoor activities, food producers, events and services. The Association delivers four key functions: 1. 2. 3. 4.

To represent the local tourism industry at local and national level To promote and raise the profile of Wye Valley and Forest of Dean To support members to improve and market their businesses To enable member businesses to work together

EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST (deadline 17 APRIL 2015) We are current seeking expressions of interest and credentials from suppliers. Following a review of the expressions of interest we will invite a shortlist of three agencies to submit an outline of their approach, creative ideas, team and bid to deliver the contract. In the first instance, please send your expressions of interest, credentials, team details and experience [email protected].

Our timetable is such that expressions of interest must be received by 17th April. We will notify shortlisted agencies by 20th April and request that final proposals are received by 30th April. Presentations to the Association’s Marketing Committee will take place in the first week of May.

WHAT WVFDTA WANTS FROM A SUCCESSFUL APPLICANT A pro-active, creative, connected, social media savvy PR agent who can maximise the potential of the destination and its members. Overview of the requirement Develop our story Review and evolve current destination positioning, messaging, tone of voice, destination facts, and image library to produce an updated media kit to be available online for media and for use by members. Activity overview  Produce a calendar of ideas aligned to the travel media agenda. Prepare a library of tactical, event, anniversary and seasonal stories or information based on the Associations four pillars: nature and outdoors, activities and attractions, culture and heritage, local food and artisans.  Maximise the opportunity for the region and its members before, during and after the Rugby World Cup in the early autumn 2015.  Maximise the opportunity for the launch of the region’s TV and Movie Trail, particularly on the back of the premier of Star Wars in the late autumn 2015.  Demonstrate experience of identifying hero images to align with stories to ensure ‘packages’ of stories are created for placement in influential traditional and online media.  Demonstrate experience and an approach to work with members directly and via our social media and direct communications channels to extract and develop stories  Prepare a series of ‘top ten’ stories aligned to our key themes and media agenda.  Work with the Association Board’s PR representative to prepare one or more Business of Tourism story/briefing per month targeting regional and local consumer and trade media.  Develop competitions and reader offers, with support from the Association, and promote via national, regional and local media, the blog and via our in-house newsletter.  Raise our profile in the regions (primarily Gloucestershire, Monmouthshire). Craft and sell-in stories to regional and local media.  Association representation. Keep up to date with national travel innovations and plans by attending an agreed number of press conferences, travel exhibitions and events to ensure association representation. Develop press packs for key events, be responsible for uploading key stories and images to an event’s dedicated website or media USB. Member PR training

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The successful applicant will agree to deliver one training event to Association members within the contract period. To ensure that members understand the role they play in the association’s PR activities, both for the profile of their own businesses and the Association’s goals.

Press Office  Manage day to day relationships with key international, national, regional and local traditional and online media to ensure the Association’s members and the destination are represented at every opportunity.  Pro-active: Identify and seek out opportunities to ensure the Association’s members and the region are represented in the long lead media.  Reactive: react to the news agenda to tactically place the destination and Association members in traditional and social media.  Manage press contacts via the Association’s Google Drive. Manage and develop the online press office  Manage online picture library  Ensure press releases/briefings/information updates are available online  Post relevant cuttings Managed visits  Set up and coordinate group visits for international media  Applicants to suggest minimum number of group visits they feel reasonable Social media  Create social media posts and relevant hashtags for every story  Ensure all coverage links are posted via Association business accounts  Share all relevant images from picture library or shared by members  Actively work with bloggers and seek out blog stories about the area, which can be reblogged or shared by social media.  Invite influential bloggers to visit the region.  Encourage members to blog about their experiences and their favourite places to visit – these can be combined into a number of stories – what the experts say, or our recommendations. Share the content from local bloggers (such as Wye Confidential) Reporting and measurement  Set up media monitoring service and ensure cuttings forwarded to Association in a timely manner  Prepare monthly PR report  Add links press coverage links to the Association website media centre  Ensure press cuttings kept up to date in Google Drive, are shared on social media and with members (via B2B emails and Member Facebook group) in a timely fashion.  WVFDTA does not use AVE as a form of measurement. All coverage by:  Reach e.g. how many people saw or heard about our PR campaigns whether on or

offline. Reach will include circulation, follower numbers online.  Influence e.g. there are a number of third party systems that will give you a score based on media influence. Klout for example will rank websites between 1100, with 40 being seen as average and 60 good. Further measurement will be via social media and the extent to which people have taken some kind of action online as a result of the content you put out on our behalf. For example, retweeting, sharing Facebook posts, referencing WVFDTA in online discussions or reposting your content on a blog.  Behaviour. We believe any campaign should have some kind of actionable behaviour at the end of it that people should take. What impact did your coverage have on e.g. bookings, visits to the Association website or social media platforms, downloading a piece of content or watching a video, it varies depending on the objectives we agree together in the statement of work. Team It is critical to the tender that the successful applicant submits details of the team that will work on the account and their experience. We also advise that the supplier details how it will work with the Association. Suppliers that do not submit team details at the expression of interest stage will be discounted. To submit questions and expressions of interest contact Mark Terry-Lush, board director at Wye Valley and Forest of Dean Tourism Association, on [email protected].

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