RFP# MV10212024OTT - Addendum# 1.pdf

Addendum# 1 for RFP# MV10212024OTT

Answers to Questions Submitted by Prospective Bidders – 10/28/2024

I. Questions submitted by prospective bidders:

1. Question: One of the evaluation prompts in the RFP asks: "Describe a successful marketing campaign in Southwest Washington that your organization had a role in; describe your role, what the objective was, and what the outcome was." Would the evaluation committee accept and consider a campaign my firm has run in the eastern part of the state or if it is imperative that we only discuss media activities in the southwest region?

Answer: No, we will consider only companies with experience in the Southwest Washington market.

2. Question: Advertising laws do not allow for targeting under 18 so the demo targeting couldn't be 17-34 but rather 18-34. Will you accept a proposal with a revised demo targeting?

Answer: Yes.

3. Question: What zip codes will be used for geotargeting? Would (you) like (us) to put into our forecasting tool to provide detailed audience estimates?

Answer: Zip codes 980**, 983**, 985**, and 986**. Yes.

4. Question: Brief just mentions OTT; did you not want to include CTV inventory as well?

Answer: If you mean CTV advertising is digital advertising that involves running ads on internet-enabled television sets or devices, then yes.

5. Question: Brief doesn't mention any KPIs: how are you planning to grade the effectiveness of the campaign? With OTT we look at Video Completion Rate (VCR) usually.

Answer: Using completed views, click-through rates and/or site visits resulting from viewer retargeting.

6. Question: I see the contractor will be responsible for "retargeting those who receive WSU Vancouver's OTT advertisement and/or show interest in WSU Vancouver"; we can easily run OTT Retargeting (RTG) but to RTG the WSU Vancouver site will require pixels. Is your team able to work with us to get a RTG pixel placed on the site?

Answer: Yes, but only if the RTG pixel passes the university's security risk assessment.

7. Question: If we do have pixels to run site RTG, do you have Display assets for this campaign? If not, no worries. We can build them as added-value (AV) since the brief meets our creative studio minimums for AV.

Answer: We can provide assets

8. Question: We conduct business nationwide. Are you only looking for an agency based in

Washington? I would love to submit a proposal if possible.

Answer: No.

9. Question: We will be targeting 18-34 instead of 17-34 as we are not allowed to target minors. OK Just wanted you to know that.

Answer: OK.

10. Question: I didn’t see a link on the site to respond (our company) will be presenting a proposal. Am I missing something?

Answer: All proposals will need to be submitted as required in the RFP to be considered “responsive” and to be considered; the only place and email to submit proposals to is mike.appel@wsu.edu; submission to anywhere else will not be accepted.

11. Question: Are there specific CTV channels—such as Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, or others—that you feel would most effectively reach your target audience? Insight into your preferences can help us prioritize inventory selection for optimal engagement with prospective students and their families.

Answer: Channels watched by viewers aged 18 to 34 who are interested in higher education.

12. Question: What KPIs will be most critical for your team in evaluating campaign success?

For instance, do you prioritize completed views, click-through rates, or site visits resulting from viewer retargeting?

Answer: All three.

13. Question: RFP just mentions OTT and Retargeting as tactics needed for this campaign, is the University interested in any other recommendations or even a separate media plan with suggestions for target audience reach?

Answer: No, not at this time.

14. Question: Has there been previous campaigns like this run for the University in the past? If so, are you comfortable in sharing its successes or mishaps?

Answer: Information will be shared with the company whose proposal is selected.

15. Question: Is there an incumbent vendor and are they submitting a proposal for this RFP?

Answer: No.

16. Question: What is the age demographic breakdown (by percentage) of your campus?

Answer: Students, fall 2024; Enrollment: 2,700; Average age of student: 25; Female-to-male ratio: 53:47; 6% of students are veterans; Average new transfer GPA: 3.2; Average new freshman GPA: 3.42; 39% first generation students; 35% students of color.

mailto:mike.appel@wsu.edu

17. Question: Would you like the media buy to reflect this same percentage distribution by age?

Answer: Not necessarily. Media buy age range is 18 - 34.

18. Question: Do you want to use only traditional OTT, or are you open to a broader strategy that includes YouTube TV and video ads on other platforms?

Answer: Traditional OTT.

19. Question: Is CPM the top priority, or will inventory quality also be an important factor? If so, how will you assess inventory quality in this proposal?

Answer: Yes, quality is an important factor. The type of channels our commercial would appear on. Our RFP specifically requires fraud-free inventory.

20. Question: Since OTT ads are non-clickable, how will you measure success for this campaign? Would it be possible to place a pixel on your site to attribute site visits from ad viewers?

Answer: Increase in prospective student engagement. Yes, if the pixel placement passes the university's security risk assessment.

21. Question: Do you have any specific preferences for the times of day or days of the week when your ads should run? Are there any times or days when you would prefer not to run ads?

Answer: Ads should run when viewers, ages 18 to 34, are most likely to watch.

22. Question: Could you clarify what you mean by “channels”? Are you asking about the specific inventory sources where your ads might appear, or are you referring to the platforms we use to purchase ads?

Answer: Specific inventory sources where ads might appear.