Below is the list of questions and answers about this request for proposals.
ETC will have published the answers to all received questions on this website by 14 July 2020 at 6:00 pm (CEST) at the latest.
The project has a global scope, with primary and secondary target long-haul markets as listed in the tender specifications. ETC expects the contractor to be able to reach all key target long-haul markets.
Tenderers are asked to develop their proposal from the existing “Experience Europe” brand concept. The essence, values and tone of voice defined in the Experience Europe brand strategy document must be well understood and applied in the elaboration of the proposal.
Tenderers are asked to interpret all aspects of the Experience Europe brand strategy carefully yet creatively, using their business intelligence, market experience and expertise to propose the best possible solution for the project. Additional ideas and suggestions that contribute to achieving the objectives of the project are welcome and should be clearly outlined in the proposal.
ETC will provide guidance to the awarded contractor about the key experiences and places to be featured in the content. Notwithstanding this, the contractor will be required to proactively suggest potential experiences, stories and places to be featured in the content, in particular when no guidance can be provided by either ETC or its partner destinations.
Micro-influencers do not need to be residents of the markets mentioned in the brief. However, they do need to showcase a certain level of influence within the target market(s) they are meant to cater to.
More details on the content strategy can be found in the technical specifications under 4.1 Lot 1, as well as in the description of the Case Study Exercises in Annex 2. The technical specifications serve as a guideline for the definition of deliverables.
The tenderer is expected to come up with a list of content deliverables that are fit for the purpose of the campaign, based on the information provided in the technical specifications. That may include, inter alia, crafting an editorial calendar and content to cover specific topics related to the destination according to the target groups as well as crafting some examples related to the creative concept to show the idea and its flexibility.
The format of the proposal is open but must include all information relevant to its assessment by elaborating on each of the award criteria described in section 6. Awarding.
The contractor is expected to conceive, develop and implement a content marketing strategy to communicate to consumers from niche global communities of travellers. The exact number of deliverables will depend on the contractor’s approach to deliver the project and will, therefore, be determined during project planning.
We kindly suggest taking the budget of Lot 1 as a reference, as it defines the maximum value in which ETC will be able to place content orders.
The number of orders will depend on the creative offer of the tenderer and the estimated costs of the proposed activities. Although the number of orders is currently undefined, we kindly suggest taking the budget of Lot 1 as a reference, as it defines the maximum value in which ETC will be able to place orders.
The above formula will be used by ETC to calculate a total reference price for the purpose of evaluating and comparing the economic offers. ETC will apply the formula based on the values of these variables provided by the tenderer in its economic offer, most importantly the variable “f” and, if applicable, variables “c” and “d”.
The economic offer should estimate the number of hours needed to carry out the entirety of the project within a period of 8 months.
The creative landing pages for this campaign will be determined during project planning as it depends on the content marketing strategy developed as part of the scope of work of Lot 1.
ETC envisages that different calls to action and landing pages will be used throughout the campaign. The website visiteurope.com and its associated social media accounts are likely to be part of the mix.
The list of ETC’s consumer channels is included in the footnote on page 15 of the technical specifications. Links can be found here: https://etc-corporate.org/digital-channels/
The contractor is expected to conceive, develop and implement a strategy for digital distribution of content to niche global communities of travellers. Additionally, the strategy must contribute to reach the target values for the KPIs mentioned in table 4 on page 16 of the technical specifications.
The format of the proposal is open but must include all information relevant to its assessment by elaborating on each of the award criteria described in section 6. Awarding.
The contractor is expected to the minimum results listed in table 4 on page 16.
Conversion refers to the Click-through rate (CTR) and the number of leads generated.
For the purpose of this project, leads are defined as opt-in email subscribers and/or new followers on social media platforms.
For the purpose of this project, the recollection rate is defined as the percentage of the audience reached that recalls having been exposed to the campaign content (either an ad, video or any other asset).
The recollection and sentiment rate will be calculated by ETC. The information about these particular goals is provided so that the contractor can have a better understanding of ETC’s expectations and define the best distribution strategy to achieve these goals.
The variable “n” refers to the estimated total value of the orders placed by ETC within the scope of the framework agreement.
The variable “c” includes any other related costs or fees from the contractor for delivering the project, different from the fixed unit fee per order placed by ETC (variable “f”). The contractor must describe these fees, if any, in their economic offer.
Yes, UK-based companies are qualified to submit a proposal.
The compliance with the selection criteria in 3.2 should be declared in the ESPD at the time of submission of the proposal. Only the awarded contractor will be required to also submit the supporting documents regarding its compliance with the selection criteria. Contractors are advised to prepare this documentation in advance so that it can be submitted to ETC immediately after receiving the award contract notice.
The economic and financial capacity is demonstrated by an average yearly turnover in the past three years of at least 1.5 times the maximum total contract value of the lot(s) the tenderer is applying for.
A certificate of good execution is a document signed by the client in which he confirms the correct delivery of the project.
References to relevant past comparable works must be included in the submission. For each reference, the contractor uses the model reference form provided in Annex 3 which must be filled in and submitted together with the ESPD and the other documents of the proposal.
There is no specific limit in the number of pages allocated to the company profile overview, but it must be brief and concise as stated in the technical specifications.
The contractor, not ETC, is expected to provide at least three case studies of relevant past comparable works.
The maximum of 10 pages applies to one case study.
The awarded contractor is expected to work on all three passion points. However, for the purpose of responding to this RFP and assessing the contractor’s ability to deliver the requested services, only the two case study exercises described in Annex 2 must be submitted as part of the contractor’s proposal.
That is correct. For avoidance of doubt, case study exercise 1 refers to the passion point Nature and the Outdoors. Case study exercise 2 refers to the passion point Creative Cities.
ETC envisages that the selection procedure will take approximately 2 weeks after the submission deadline to complete.
It is up to the tenderer to select and submit any credentials that demonstrate the degree of specialism and expertise of the proposed project team. For example, this could include a brief professional biography, number of years of experience, references to past works carried out by each member of the project team, clients within the same industry, etc.
This criterion will be assessed on the basis of the demonstrated level of expertise of the project team (see question above) and its importance for the successful delivery of the project.
The tenderer is expected to define in its proposal how project success will be measured and reported based on the objectives described in the technical specifications.
In addition, specific tasks of the project require to achieve the minimum results listed in table 3 on page 13 and table 4 on page 16 of the technical specifications).