Central Oregon Local Food Marketing Campaign – RFP from Marketing Agencies

High Desert Food & Farm Alliance
Request for Proposals from Marketing Agencies
for High Desert Food System Strategic Marketing Campaign

The High Desert Food & Farm Alliance (HDFFA) is a nonprofit 501c3 organization whose mission is to support a healthy and thriving food & farm network in Central Oregon through education, collaboration and inclusivity. HDFFA is invested in supporting regional farmers and ranchers and improving the purchasing and consumption of Central Oregon grown food crops.

Overview of Farm Support Program
HDFFA’s farmer support program provides educational workshops, networking events, training opportunities, infrastructure grants and promotion of small to mid-sized family farmers to improve the vitality of our food and farm community. As part of our farmer support program and specific to this RFP, HDFFA is the principal organization implementing a Oregon Department of Agriculture grant-funded project called Enhancing the Value and Supply Chain of High Desert Specialty Crops. The overall project goal is provide strategic marketing exposure, promotional opportunities, and technical support to improve farm viability and job growth, foster connections between specialty crop producers and their buyers, and increase the purchasing of specialty crop products by consumers. Though HDFFA supports and promotes all of our region’s farmers and ranchers, for the purposes of this grant funding the focus is on promoting specialty crops defined as vegetables and fruits, culinary herbs, flowers, and tree nuts.

Overview of Existing Statewide Messaging Platform
The Oregon Community Food Systems Network (OCFSN) is a statewide member organization that works with regional organizations to support the development and coordination of teams which address member-identified food system issues and document and support replication and scaling of successful initiatives. HDFFA is a member organization of OCFSN and HDFFA’s Executive Director sits on the OCFSN leadership team. In 2017 OCFSN hired a marketing agency to design a messaging strategy to build a foundation for successful statewide food system campaign. The goal of this RFP is to build on that 2017 messaging foundation to create a region-specific campaign.

Purpose of Proposal
Through this request for proposals we will select marketing agency partner(s) that will contract to design and implement a four phase marketing campaign for the purpose of promoting local food on behalf of regional farmers and ranchers.

The four phase campaign will include (1) the assessment of existing communications and Central Oregon promotional landscape; (2) interviews to build upon research; (3) development of communications strategy to raise awareness of local food system; and (4) implementation to ensure communication strategy execution.

This campaign will result in two outcomes:

1. A messaging and marketing strategy will be designed for a regional audience and implemented throughout the Central Oregon region using methods identified in the strategy.
2. This campaign will improve knowledge about and access to Central Oregon produced food information (as measured by HDFFA in conversations with farmers regarding perceived increase in demand and estimated increase in sales, number of materials created and used, how the materials are utilized).

Scope of Work The four phase campaign will consist of:

1. [June-Aug 2019] Assessment of the Oregon Community Food System Network messaging platform developed originally by Full Focus in 2017 (see the attached messaging platform).

HDFFA would like to be the first region to build on and implement the food system messages developed by Full Focus to increase the purchasing of specialty crops produced by 30 farmers through a targeted Local Food, Locally Grown messaging/marketing campaign.

2. [Sept 2019] Prepare for and conduct research in Central Oregon to identify opportunities to engage partners as well as shed light on communication challenges and opportunities to inform region-specific messaging campaign strategy.

Research will involve conducting interviews with HDFFA and four focus groups: with (1) farmers, (2) food businesses, (3) individual consumers/community at large regarding their preference for how they access information about local foods and in what ways they would like to engage with and support Central Oregon specialty crop producers; and (4) a  follow up with consumers to assess campaign efficacy.

3. [Sept-Dec 2019] Develop a campaign strategy based on research conducted in phase 2.

Campaign will be specific to Central Oregon and reflective of producer promotional needs and consumer receptivity discovered through research.  Campaign implementation strategy will be realistic given the available time and funding. The marketing agency partner will work with HDFFA Farmer Support Program Coordinator and the Food & Farm Director to finalize messaging and implementation strategy.

4. [Jan-Oct 2020] In coordination with HDFFA, implement the campaign.

The campaign will be implemented through the 2020 Food & Farm Directory and more broadly through earned media, community partnerships, and digital and print strategies using new marketing materials and messaging developed in campaign strategy.

Contract Awards:  Proposals are not to exceed $10,000.  We welcome joint contract proposals from multiple partnering agencies or individuals provided the parties provide a memorandum of understanding with their application materials.

Submission:
Email proposals in pdf format (file labeled with your agency name) to laurie@hdffa.org
Due May 15, 2019 at 5pm

Proposal Requirements:
In no more than 5 pages (excluding budget and references):

• Provide background information on your company
  • agency ethos and alignment with HDFFA values and work
  • relevant experience and/or qualifications
  • 1-3 examples of your work
• Outline your proposed scope of work, timeline, and details on what you can provide with the funds (including hours of consulting, conducting focus groups, proposed deliverables as they align with our project deliverables)
• Describe project management and implementation strategies or steps
• Describe your approach to working with HDFFA
• Budget (not to exceed $10,000)
• Provide 2 professional references

Criteria:  Contract awards will be prioritized based on:

• Prior experience and performance
• Communications acumen
• Skills and competencies related to regional campaign creation
• Budget
• Oregon-based business/agency
• Knowledge of Central Oregon
• Knowledge of high desert food system
• Alignment with HDFFA mission and values

Click here for a PDF of the RFP