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Home My WebLink About21. 14-484 OCTOBER 28, 2014 14-484 RESOLUTION (CARRIED____7-0____LOST______LAID OVER______WITHDRAWN______) PURPOSE: APPROVE AGREEMENT WITH GO-EDC FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT MARKETING FUNDS ($25,000) INITIATED BY: DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT WHEREAS, the Greater Oshkosh Economic Development Corporation (GO- EDC) was created to promote comprehensive and integrated economic development for the Oshkosh area; and WHEREAS, one of GO-EDC's goals is to bring a one stop shopping to economic development as well as leverage the power of public-private partnerships; and WHEREAS, GO-EDC is requesting marketing funds previously set aside by the City for economic development marketing be provided to GO-EDC for development of brand marketing and website development. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Common Council hereby awards $25,000 to GO-EDC for brand marketing and website development and the proper City officials are authorized and directed to enter into an appropriate agreement for purposes of same. � 1HKOlH on n�e w�rEn TO: Honorable Mayor and Members of the Common Council FROM: Allen Davis Community Development Director DATE: October 23, 2014 RE: Res 14-484 Approve Funding for Marketing Program for GO-EDC ($25,000) BACKGROUND The City budgeted $25,000 for economic development marketing activities for 2013. These funds were carried over from 2013 into 2014 with the expectation that Opportunity Oshkosh program would continue. It appears that the program will not continue under the current conditions. In the meantime, GOEDC has been created and is developing an economic development marketing program. GOEDC has made the attached request for$25,000 for economic development brand development and website creation. ANALYSIS The City's interest and need in economic development marketing has been high, and the GOEDC proposal would meet that need. Based on the community's support for the establishment of GOEDC, the many volunteers working on multiple committees, and broad private and public sector Board representation, it appears that GOEDC is capable of creating and implementing an economic development marketing program that will meet the City's needs. GOEDC is an organization that has established key economic development performance measures, is leveraging public and private funding, and has developed an economic development strategy that is in alignment with City's economic development goals. It appears that the criteria that the City required for funding an economic development marketing program, including a marketing plan, performance metrics, and funding leverage, will be met by the GOEDC proposal. FISCAL IMPACT The City has reserved the funds in the Economic Development Budget account#100-0730-6466- 00000 for these services. RECOMMENDATION City Council approves GOEDC's request for$25,000 for economic development marketing and promotion Approved, '��-�'" � � �« City Manager Careat+�r Q�h�CC�sh „�w„ ' Ecar�omic Dev�lc�pment '�crrpora��c�n MEMO Date: October 17, 2014 To: City of Oshkosh Council Mark Rohloff, City Manager Allen Davis, Director, Community Development From: Bill Wyman, Chairman Re: Request for Marketing Support Greater Oshkosh Economic Development Corporation (GO-EDC) was created to promote comprehensive and integrated economic development for the Oshkosh area. With strong and renewed energy,this focused leadership and advocacy supports efforts to expand and diversify the regional economic base. Of utmost importance to GO-EDC is to bring a "one-stop-shopping" mentality to economic development as well as to leverage the power of public-private partnerships. Following these unique attributes, the GO-EDC Board of Directors, comprised of private business and public entities, expects economic development in the Oshkosh area to be straightforward and seamless. GO-EDC approved a strategic plan in August, compiling recommendations from various studies, reports, and collaborative committee efforts. The plan outlines five strategies for success as well as key metrics. Specifically, by the end of 2017 GO-EDC will— • Complete, either directly or with partners, 150 company visits and calls annually. • Assist existing businesses to increase capital investment by$75 million. • Assist businesses in creating 1,000 new jobs, matching the greater Oshkosh area's labor force and training capacity. • Create a balanced industry mix targeting identified industry clusters and companies in the greater Oshkosh area • GO-EDC will track key measurements to garner an overall sense of how the greater Oshkosh area is doing. More information about GO-EDC, including the entire strategic plan and a comprehensive roster of our governing board, committees and economic development partners is available at the GO-EDC website— www.�o-edc.com. Speaking of the website, the current GO-EDC logo and website were developed strictly as placeholders with the intent of developing a comprehensive website specific to economic development. GO-EDC issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) on September 4, 2014 for brand and website development. GO-EDC received proposals from eight firms and a review committee met to review the proposals on September 30th. The review focused on several key factors including agency background/capability, length of time in business and experience with economic development marketing; depth of research recommended (i.e. community engagement, external perception/perspective, stakeholders involved); covered full scope of requirements (brand and/or web) within timeline requested; samples of work- case studies were thorough and relevant to the requested work and showed experience in the full depth/breadth of the project; and cost. Following significant discussion,the committee recommended a presentation and discussion with three of the candidates. Foltowing the presentations and discussion,the committee unanimously recommended Nelson Schmidt. Nelson Schmidt is a privately-owned, full-service marketing communications agency with offices in Milwaukee and Madison. Their core competencies include brand consulting, strategic planning, research, creative, production, media, public relations, interactive and direct marketing. Recent and/or current economic development clients include the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, MadREP, and Downtown Madison. The proposed budget is$55,000. This represent $35,000 for the brand development package which includes a significant discovery/stakeholder input phase, 2 concepts for brand platform and the brand toolkit design which will provide visual identity guidelines, messaging platform by audience, sell sheet template, marketing folder design, PowerPoint template, E-newsletter template, letterhead and #10 envelope, and signage template. The website package is$20,000 which includes content development; visual design; responsive design; flexible CMS that allows for modifications by GO-EDC personnel; search engine optimization; site compatibility with current versions of Chrome, Opera, Safari and Firefox as well as IE9; maintenance and annual hosting; and the hosting of a photo library. Additional site specifications, according to the RFP, are included as well. In addition to the comprehensive approach at a reasonable cost, the committee and GO-EDC Board of Directors feels Nelson Schmidt brings a lot of valuable experience and knowledge to the project allowing Oshkosh to leverage the work already done by the firm for the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation. GO-EDC views the brand and website development as a small component of a much larger marketing strategy. Funds have been incorporated into GO-EDC's FY15 and preliminary FY16 operating budgets to support implementation of a comprehensive marketing and communications plan, both of which will be developed when the Chief Executive Officer is on board, which is anticipated in early 2015. This effort will be further supported by a Communications Manager, also anticipated to join GO-EDC in early 2015, and a Research Manager, anticipated to join the organization in mid- 2015. GO-EDC also has an established Marketing Committee comprised of local marketing professionals. In addition to developing and implementing a marketing and communications plan,the GO-EDC strategic plan requires that GO-EDC generate return on investment measures for all marketing campaigns. The strategic plan, and adopted initial communications plan, requires that GO-EDC develop on-going reporting mechanisms to inform stakeholders. Such activities include, but are not limited to, quarterly newsletter, quarterly updates regarding metrics, semi-annual dashboard report, as well as other on-going outreach efforts. Only with strong partnerships and financial support from organizations such as yours can GO-EDC achieve both the short- and long-term objectives as outlined. As such, GO-EDC is asking that the City of www.go-edc.com Oshkosh consider designating funds previously identified for economic development-related marketing efforts to GO-EDC for the branding and website development initiative. Specifically, GO-EDC is seeking $25,000 toward the brand and website development efforts. This $25,000 will be matched by private sector funds. Specifically,the GO-EDC operations budget, once fully operational will be approximately$700,000 annually. It is anticipated that$200,000 will come from public sector partners while $500,000 will come from private sector investors. Efforts are currently under way to obtain three-year commitments from those private sector investors. Please let me know if I can provide further information about GO—EDC to support this request. Thank you in advance for your commitment to economic development in the Oshkosh area. The City of Oshkosh has been, and will continue to be, an integral part of economic development in our community. The time is now for Oshkosh to build upon past successes, and we're proud and determined to develop our own success through the GO-EDC philosophy. Thank you. www.go-edc.com