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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda Statement 1979/09/04 Item 13CITY OF CHULA VISTA COUNCIL AGENDA STATEMENT Iteri No. 13 For meeting of 9/4/79 Resolution 9,V Z Approving Contract Between City of Chula Vista and Benedict Communications for ITEM TITLE Provision of Transit Marketing Services for FY 1979-80 Development Services Administrator ) ~ ;, ~~ SUBMITTED BY a`~'~ '- ~~ ITEM EXPLANATION (4/5TH'S VOTE REQUIRED YES NO x) The Transit Coordinator, Jack Bloom, has submitted a report recommending the award of r~larketing Service Contract to Benedict Communications. Council might recall that during the budget discussions I informed Council that it was our intention to hire a marketing specialist to promote Chula Vista Transit during this fiscal year. The need for improved marketing, in my opinion, is clear. Even though we have averaged a 15$ year ridership increase, the overwhelming majority of Chula Vista residents still have never ridden on a CVT bus. There is a need to inform the community in positive ways that CVT can perform a service for them and explain to the community how to ride the system (where to board, how much to pay, etc.) . We decided to go to a private firm due to two primary factors. First, there simply is not enough in-house staff time to do the job and, second, expertise for this is readily available in the private sector. Also, it might be noted that North County Transit has had extremely .good service from a private marketing expert. JAB:nr/DP005 (continued on ^'Pmpn~=~-n~cro~ -- EXHIBITS Agreement Resolution x Ordinance Plat _ Notification List Other ENVIRONMENTAL DOCUMENT: Attached Submitted on FINANCIAL IMPACT Council has budgeted $18,500 for marketing CVT in FY79-80. All of these marketing expenditures will come from LTF funds. There will be no cost to the City's general fund. STAFF RECOMMENDATION Approve agreement and authorize Mayor to execute City/Benedict Communications Agreement to provide marketing services. BOARD/COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION .APPRO V.~: COUNCIL ACTION b~ tha City (:oi?..-~ ., a.:. /~ of n~ Chula ~Tista, Ca1iy ornia C~ 1~ ~ _~ 9~ ~ 79 Agenda Item No. 13 For Meeting of 9/4/79 Supplemental Page Two Two firms in the San Diego region were found to be experienced in the area of transit marketing: Wilson Frank Company and Benedict Communications. Staff recommends awarding the contract to Benedict Communications in an amount not to exceed $18,000, which is the sum currently remaining in the transit marketing account. Please refer to the attached report from the Transit Coordinator for the justifications on staff recommendation of contract award to Benedict Communications. Benedict will be essentially responsible for developing a comprehensive marketing program, provision of marketing consulting services, and purchase of media buys on behalf of the City. Staff will essentially be responsible for all public relations activities associated with promotion of CVT. Among other obligations and responsibilities, the contract states that upon approval of contra:, t, Council will. also be authorizing assig nment of contract over to SCOOT. The Board of Directors of SCOOT will be reviewing this contract for their approval at the October t0, ]_979, Board meeting. ~~~ Agenda. Ite,~n 13 9/4/79 August 20, 1979 File DP005 To: W. J. Robens, Development Services Administrator From: Jack A. Bloom, Transit Coordinator n Subject: Award of Marketing Services Contract The Council approved in May of this year, during the FY 1979-80 budget sessions, $18,500 for marketing Chula Vista Transit. At that time we discussed the crucial need of marketing Chula Vista Transit in order to increase ridership and this need has become more apparent since then due to the combination of high gasoline costs and other auto related inflated costs. Staff also reported that the $18,500 figure for CVT marketing was about double that budgeted for FY 1978--79 but a good deal below most transit operators' expenditure on marketing (i.e. 1.5~ of CVT's total budget vs, a transit industry standard of 3~-4g). I believe that it is quite important to both inform the public of CVT's operations as well as to promote our local bus service (including regional coordination) as well. Both present and potential riders need to be informed of new service and capital improvements, fare changes, etc. The fact that more people are riding transit now makes informational advertising (i.e, ads informing people "how to ride the bus") just as important as promotional advertising. We also discussed at the FY 1980 budget sessions that one of_ the primary reasons for contracting with a professional advertising firm was the lack of adequate manpower to spend time on this important but time consuming task. In July, 1979, I sent out informal bids to contract with an experienced advertising firm to market Chula Vista Transit. Only two firms in the San Diego region were found to have experience in provision of marketing services to transit operators: Wilson Frank Co, of San Diego and Benedict Communications of Del Mar. RECOMMENDATION I recommend awarding the contract, effective Septem ber 4, 1979, and terminating on ,.7une 30, 1980, to Benedict Communications based on the following justifications: 1. Benedict offered to administer the Wilson Frank. ~~ a lower minimum monthly retainer fee contract ($100 vs. $2.50) than did W. J. Robens -2- August 20, 1979 2. Benedict's and Wilson Frank's actual costs of provision of marketing services were approximately the same. Thus my recommendation to award the contract to Benedict is primarily based upon recent actual performance of similar work in the transit field. Benedict has extensive knowledge of marketing transit due to his contracts to provide outside bus ac~.vertising with six Southern California transit operators. Benedict also currently maintains an excellent working relationship with North County Transit District (NCTD) vis-a-vis the provision of marketing services to them over the last few years. Benedict's accomplishments in terms of his firm's services and the estimated impact on NCTD ridership are listed below. San Diego Transit (SD"I'C) contracted with Wilson Frank to provide marketing services for more than five years, ending in mid-1978. The SDTC Marketing Manager stated that Wilson Frank had performed well but tYie SDTC Board had decided to have most of their marketing services provided in-house. Wilson Frank stated that they have not provided marketing services to SDTC or any other transit operator over the past couple of years. DISCUSSION From my investigations it appears that Benedict Communications has done an excellent job in informing North County residents of NCTD operations as well as promoting this bus service. Some of Benedict's accomplishments for NCTD include the following: 1. As reported by NCTD's Manager of Marketing and Planning, NCTD ridership in 1979 increased 250-~30~ over that of 1.977 and 1978 without major service improvements. He believed this wa.s largely due to increased awareness of the system as well as the creation of a positive image which were largely the results of Benedict's marketing services. 2. Benedict's NCTD informational ads were reported to have done much to effect a 35~ ridership increase on NCTD since the recent energy crises. 3. NCTD's Director of Planning and Marketing also stated that Benedict was of great assistance in getting media contracts and in achieving maximum media exposure and thus name recognition. This has the effect of NCTD reaching an ever expanding audience for the limited dollars it spends on marketing its system. ~v ~~ W. J. Robens -3- August 20, 1979 4. Benedict's specific promotions (e.g. "Ride On" button campaigns, sponsorship of "Run Your Bus Of_f" half marathon, and "Take NCTD to the Beach" ads) have often resulted in 30~-40a one day ridership gains, as reported by NCTD staff. Thus I believe that Benedict Communications has done a more than adequate job of marketing NCTD and has the capability to promote CVT in a manner which is anticipated to result in similar ridership gains. Under this contract, the City will pay a retainer fee of $1,000 to Benedict for administering this contract f_or the last 10 months of FY 1979-80. This retainer fee will be credited against all consultation fees charged. Benedict will provide the following services to the City: 1. Development of a Comprehensive Marketing Program for FY 19~n. a. Define activities to promote CVT. b. Assist City in establishing an estimated monthly marketing budget, within the transit marketing budget previously approved by Council. 2. Provide consulting services to staff as regards: a. CVT marketing, promotional, and public relations projects; b. Design and production of route maps, schedules, and other informational aids; 3. Obtaining cost estimates and comparative benefits of various alternatives in promotional projects and media buys. 4. Purchase of media buys on behalf of City. The proposed contract states that the total cost of Agency's services for FY 1979-80 cannot exceed 518,000 which is the amount currently remaining in the transit marketing account. All invoices for appropriate marketing expenditures from Benedict will be subject to prior approval by the Transit Coordinator. It will be my role to handle all public relations activities associated with promotion of CVT such as speaking bE~fore various groups/agencies and organizing forums to discuss the benefits of transit throughout the community. I also will primarily be responsible for pi acement of most public service ad s/announcements with appropriate media in the ~~ ~~ W. J. Robens -4- August 20, 1979 South Bay, as well as prepare all CVT route maps and the system map. As stated in this agreement, the contract will be assigned over to SCOOT, which is allowed to enter into appropriate contracts to provide transit related services. JAB:nr ti ~~~