Request for Proposals: New Generic Top-Level Domain (New gTLD) Program Advertising Campaign
Thanks for your interest in helping us launch the New gTLD Program. If you would like to bid on the project but have not received our RFP, you’ll find it below:
Timeline
22 April 2011: All inquiries regarding the RFP must be received by michele.jourdan@icann.org
26 April 2011: Response to inquiries posted below
02 May 2011: All proposals due
13 May 2011: Selection made - posted on this site
Responses to Inquiries
Q: What business assumptions are you making about your markets and audiences and where will the majority of your signups come from?
A: Our audiences are broken into two different categories - those who could potentially take advantage of the program opportunity such as the business community, corporate marketers, investors, local municipalities, non-profits, NGOs, etc…and then those who need to know about the program such as trademark holders, IP attorneys, advertising agencies, etc... This program will ultimately affect anyone who currently uses the Internet and hopefully provide a way for the next billion users to come online.
As for potential signups, there are sites such as http://www.dot-nxt.com/applicants/all and http://www.newdomains.org/new-tlds that list potential applicants.
Q: Is the entire budget $500K? Or, is $500K the budget for media placement only? If $500K is total budget and assumes inclusion of media placement and production, based on your stated goals and objectives for a global campaign which includes TV, display and billboard advertising in any capacity, $500K represents a very limited budget for any vendor/partner to work with and be able to fairly balance with other integrated marketing functions and deliverables on the basis of out of pocket costs alone. Please confirm, thanks.
A: $500K is the entire budget. We realize its limitations, and look to you for creative solutions on how to raise awareness using such a shoestring amount.
Q: Should we assume that audiences will be "directed" to the ICANN web site (www.icann.org) as part of all call-to-action initiatives, or does the RFP and plan of action allow for a newly created web presence for the campaign? If the assumption is necessity to use ICANN.org, there are numerous technical/architecture questions we'd have in order to define approaches and respond to specific questions in the RFP regarding tracking, metrics and measurement, but also raise questions regarding digital implementation which in some cases would inherently influence results. For example, does ICANN currently utilize things like Google Analytics, DART, or already subscribe to social monitoring services (e.g., Radian)? What content management system is used? Does ICANN already have a subscription for an online survey platform?
A: The campaign should drive audiences to http://icann.org/newgtlds as the website for further information. This micro-site is currently being redesigned to accommodate the needs of anticipated applicants.
Q: Although the evaluation metrics in the RFP are helpful, has ICANN defined any more "rigorous" assumptions or key performance indicators (KPI) that would be utilized to ultimately satisfy its objectives and evaluate its return on investment for the campaign? For example, # of inquiries or applications from any one of the target segmentations in particular or in total for that matter?
A: We have not set the kind of goals you are inquiring about; for example, there are no KPIs hoping for a specific number of applications from a specific sector. Note that the goal of the entire campaign is not to get everyone to apply for a TLD, as that is inappropriate for many entities. Rather, our goal is to make potential applicants aware of the opportunity and evaluating it to see whether it is appropriate for their organization.
Q: As part of evaluating web site statistics and specifically with respect "demographics," could you please provide a deeper description of demographics you want or at minimum need to capture? The primary reason and concern for this question/issue is that as part of measuring inquiries and/or applicants from the "applicant" segmentation, as you can likely appreciate, while many applicants have publicly announced their intentions to apply, there are numerous applicants (some of which we are working with) who are very "guarded" about their specific plans. We, ourselves, do not reveal the specific string we're applying for in selected types of dialogues or forums. I've also seen a lot of concerns and banter in the media and on blogs about the "early warning" GAC revisions in the guidebook which validates these concerns and issues, which we believe could have a material influence on the level of transparency contemplated within things like web site forms and data elements when put into practice in the campaign.
A: The main demographic I’d like to capture is the geographic location – where in the world are these people located who are clicking on our online advertising – needing to communicate this program globally, I’d like to use this as one indication of the global reach.
Please note that ICANN will always be aware when an organization applies for a TLD string. They can keep their plans secret from competitors initially, but they cannot keep their applications secret from us. Every string that passes initial evaluation will end up posted publicly, because part of the process is to enable other parties to object to your string if they feel it violates their intellectual property.
Q: If in fact the total budget is indeed $500K, on the surface, it would seem that that various types of trade and business media, as well as social media would play a very key role in accomplishing your objectives and provide for the most influential and cost-efficient vehicles to ensure "buzz." We noticed that ICANN currently engages Edelman Public Relations…should vendor/partner applicants assume that for PR functions, there will need to be coordination through Edelman, or would the selected vendor/partner retain primary responsibility for all media relations?
A: Currently, we use an Edelman rep to help us with routine PR in Europe; and we have no formal interaction with Edelman in the Americas. In short, it is not necessary to assume Edelman would coordinate all media relations.
Q: Is it possible that ICANN will award components of the engagement to multiple vendor/partners, or is the assumption that one vendor will be awarded the entire campaign and deliverables?
A: While ICANN has not made a firm decision on this issue, our bias would be to have one entity coordinate. Rolling out a message world-wide is complicated enough without also adding multiple alliances on the back end.
