CONTRACT OPPORTUNITY ANNOUNCEMENT
Contract Opportunity AnnouncementProfessional Service Contract
Construction Contract
X / Service Contract
Material Requirement
Other
Contract Opportunity Title: / Agency of Record RFI/RFP
Estimated Contract Value (Range): / $40 - $50 million per year for multi-year opportunity (inclusive of agency fees, production, media)
Work Location: / Various
Deadline: / August 16, 2012
Background Information:
Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), incorporated in California in 1905, is one of the largest combination natural gas and electric utilities in the United States. Based in San Francisco, the company is a wholly owned subsidiary of PG&E Corporation.
There are approximately 20,000 employees who carry out PG&E’s primary business—the transmission and delivery of energy. The Company provides natural gas and electric service to approximately 14 million people throughout a 70,000-square-mile service area in northern and central California. Our customers include over 20,000 schools, 3,000 hospitals, 20,000 high-tech companies and 700 military facilities. As the primary gas and electric service provider for Central and Northern California, PG&E has impressive size and territory that stretches from Eureka in the north to Bakersfield in the south, and from the Pacific Ocean in the west to the Sierra Nevada in the east. PG&E provides electricity to over 4.9 million customers and gas to over 3.9 million customers.
PG&E is determined to expand opportunities which enhance our commitment to diversity, safety, environmental stewardship, and corporate integrity. We anticipate that this evaluation process will provide opportunities for successful firms to expand their business with PG&E and also allow PG&E to realize reductions in costs, both internal and external. We believe this will be an exciting opportunity for PG&E and its current and future suppliers to reshape the way we work together and to improve PG&E’s operations.
Contract Opportunity Description:
Pacific Gas and Electric Company (“PG&E”, the “Company”) has launched a comprehensive program to elevate its marketing and communications capabilities. The Company’s vision is to develop an intimate relationship with a cross functional agency team that can provide best-in-class capabilities across a number of disciplines by leveraging resources from different agencies (preferably, but not necessarily, from within the same holding company). The cross functional team is expected to operate seamlessly across agency lines and provide a single client interface or relationship owner to facilitate coordination with the Company’s marketing team.
The relationship is expected to be structured by establishing a contractual relationship between PG&E and a lead agency (“Lead Agency”) who will provide some of the desired agency services itself while subcontracting the remainder to the agreed-upon roster of supporting agencies. As a result, PG&E will have a single contract that will govern all in-scope services and work through a consolidated account service team representing all agency disciplines. Specifically, the team should have representation from agencies in the following disciplines:
Primary competencies (required for immediate activation)
· Account management: Serve as the primary interface for PG&E on behalf of all represented agency capabilities, manage overall service levels, and ensure all efforts are tightly coordinated and integrated across all channels and media.
· Strategic planning (brand, product/program activation, and sales marketing collateral): Design integrated campaigns according to Company-provided business objectives and robust customer insight. Perform market and competitive/comparative research to help steer the Company’s overall marketing efforts.
· Full service creative and production for all traditional and digital media: Creative design and production across all traditional and new/digital media. In the case of printed materials, the agency team is expected to develop the materials in mechanical form and is expected to coordinate print production efforts with PG&E’s vendor managed network of preferred print suppliers for printing.
· Direct Marketing: Design, execution, and tracking of direct mail/ database marketing campaigns (note printing and mailing is typically performed by the Company’s network of preferred providers).
· Collateral development: Design and development of sales collateral for use by the Company’s direct and in-direct sales resources, including alliance and channel partners. Print production will be coordinated with PG&E’s vendor managed network of preferred print suppliers.
· Media planning and buying: Develop cross-channel media plans, negotiate rates, purchase media, and perform post-placement monitoring and audits. Agency should regularly provide media performance reports and engage in media-mix optimization studies. In order to meet PG&E’s supplier diversity requirements (see section below), it is advised that the actual media purchases be performed by a CPUC certified Women, Minority or Disabled Veteran Business Enterprises (“WMDVBE’s”).
· Digital communications: Design and execution of SEO/SEM programs, website development, email, banner and affiliate digital advertising campaigns (design, development, and placement).
· Engagement marketing (promotions) for residential consumers and business customers: End-to-end design, execution and monitoring of engagement marketing programs that are well integrated with the Company’s brand advertising and product marketing campaigns.
· Performance analytics: Design, implement, and operate a performance analytics program in conjunction with PG&E’s marketing function to help the Company measure, benchmark, and optimize the performance of its marketing investment.
· Ability to direct and subcontract other agencies: In an effort to get closer to its customers, PG&E anticipates it will increasingly leverage smaller local/ in-market agencies to support the execution of its events and campaigns. The selected agency team will be expected to effectively collaborate with and direct the efforts of these groups.
Secondary competencies (desired – may be activated according to different timeline)
· Media barter: Support PG&E with the liquidation of selected assets into media credits for the purpose of (1) reducing the potential loss PG&E might realize by selling the asset for cash, and/or (2) reducing the Company’s cash outlay for media placement.
· Social media: Support the Company’s marketing team with the design and implementation of an integrated social media strategy based on PG&E-provided business objectives. This includes formulation of the strategy, guiding the deployment of tools and communities, and providing content for or moderating online communities.
· Sponsorship management: Assist PG&E with the identification and activation of appropriate sponsorship opportunities based on the Company’s business objectives.
· Sports and entertainment marketing: Assist PG&E with the identification and activation of appropriate sports and entertainment marketing opportunities based on the Company’s business objectives.
· Event and grass roots management: Assist PG&E with the identification and activation of event and grass roots opportunities based on the Company’s business objectives. This will likely involve significant collaboration with local, in-market agencies.
· Promotional materials: Design and overseeing fulfillment of promotional materials to support major campaigns.
· Loyalty program: Assist PG&E with the formulation and subsequent phased roll-out of a customer loyalty program.
· Multi-Cultural marketing (Hispanic, African American, Asian): Comprehensive account management, planning, creative, and media support for identified diversity segments, covering both traditional advertising and engagement marketing. Agency role may include translation and adaptation of general market campaigns, joint development with general market teams, or sole responsibility for campaign design and development.
The combined budget encompassing the above disciplines is estimated at $40 - $50 million per year; inclusive of agency fees, production, and media spend. PG&E’s marketing communication efforts include brand advertising across traditional broadcast and digital media, digital communications, development of print collateral, and program activation through direct marketing and engagement marketing (promotions).
Supplier Diversity Requirements
The selected team will be responsible for complying with PG&E Supplier Diversity policies and procedures. The Lead Agency must agree to subcontract a designated amount of total annual spend to CPUC Supplier Clearinghouse-certified Disadvantaged business Enterprises (“DBE”) diverse suppliers. The Lead Agency will also provide a detailed description of their internal, specific, supplier diversity program and practices.
Other Requirements
· Compliance with PG&E Contractor, Consultant, and Supplier code of business which can be reviewed at http://www.pgecorp.com/aboutus/ethics_compliance/con_con_ven/index.shtml
· Refrain from directly supporting or collaborating with any PG&E competitors. A ”PG&E Competitor” means any public and private entity (including but not limited to state and local agencies) that alone or in association with others, delivers, distributes, sells and/or transmits electricity and/or gas products or other energy services within PG&E’s service area (Exhibit 1).
· Representation from agencies with ample cross-industry big-brand experience, yet serviced by an office that is small enough to dedicate its key resources to PG&E and treat the Company as one of its most important clients; recommended annual agency billings (or equivalent budget managed on behalf of clients) should be at least $50 million, and/or staff of 30+ FTE’s for the agency locations that will be dedicated to the account.
Required steps to be considered for participation
Suppliers interested in pre-qualifying for this work should complete and submit the following materials to the PG&E Representative , Tony Abdulla, at by August 16, 2012.
· Signed NDA (PG&E will countersign and return a copy upon receipt of your complete submission)
· Contract Opportunity Announcement Response Template
REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (”RFI”) WILL BE BY INVITATION ONLY.
Exhibit 1