Call for Expression of Interest: Integrated Communication Agency

Background

European Alternatives is a transnational citizens’ organisation active throughout Europe to promote democracy, equality and culture beyond the nation state.

European Alternatives, together with the Alliance Internationale de Journalistes, has launched a European Citizens Initiative (ECI) on media pluralism. The ECI is a new tool of transnational participatory democracy allowing a group of citizens from at least seven member states to present a legislative proposal directly to the European Commission by gathering the support of 1 million signatures online or offline.
Our ECI demands an EU Directive on Media Pluralism to safeguard the right to a free and pluralistic information throughout Europe. The transnational campaign will start at the beginning of 2013 and  finish in November 2013. It will take place throughout Europe, with a focus on *Italy, France, the UK, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, the Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, Spain, Austria, and Germany.

This campaign will be conducted through the participation of a wide number of partners in all participating member states, ranging from NGOs to professional bodies, from citizens’ groups to the media, often gathered in country committees. 
We are looking for an integrated communication agency to lead the definition, design, and implementation of a comprehensive, online-and-offline, transnational communication campaign to help us achieve the required 1-million signatures to make the campaign a success.

Basic roles

The agency would be expected to perform one or both of the following (2) elements – with a budget that is calculated according to the scope of work.  To be clear, we invite submissions from agencies interested in one or both of these elements.

Element (1) – Design and Online Tool Development

• Design and implement a visual identity for the campaign including the primary website, subsidiary websites of the country teams, print materials, and social media properties;
• Design and implement online tools to support the campaign, including web video, podcasts, social media integration, as well as the infrastructure for mass email distribution to update citizens participating in the campaign;
• Restructure and refine the website as necessary and improve its effectiveness as the campaign’s online hub (WordPress platform).

Element (2) – Campaign Strategy and Communications

• Define, in cooperation with ECI staff and country teams, an integrated communication strategy. Particular emphasis will be placed on: a) the development of high-impact, coordinated strategies for both online and offline campaigning (with a focus on web-based resources); b) a comprehensive social media strategy; c) the framework for an outreach strategy segmented to the different national contexts, linking the campaign’s message with trending current-affairs topics in the different European local and national public spheres;
• Develop a plan to support and empower the ECI’s wide network of country teams and individual activists, coordinating with them to take ownership of local communications operations and relay central communication messages in their local language / context;
• Help organise and run communication training workshops with selected country teams members.

Transnational Dimension

European Alternatives is a transnational actor active throughout Europe and operating in a multiplicity of languages. The ECI campaign will be conducted at the transnational level with a focus on nine European member states. While we recognise that no agency or expert will be able to master a majority of European languages, we are looking for an agency or expert capable of speaking multiple languages fluently, understanding the European political context, and adjusting communication messages to national specificities.
Because this transnational dimension is so essential, we would like to receive expressions of interest from communication companies with (at least) one major office or affiliates based in one of the ECI participating countries (listed above*).

Budget

The budget available will vary depending on the expertise of the agency, the elements of the project in the scope of work, and the specific roles and tasks finally allocated, but it is estimated at between €10.000 and €40.000 for the duration of the campaign. Exact budget figures will be decided during the second step of the selection process.

Selection process: first step

Agencies interested in applying are invited to send:

• A presentation of the company and CVs of staff planned to be assigned to the action;
• A portfolio of previous work conducted / clients;
• A concept note of maximum 1-2 pages in length outlining the direction a communication plan for the ECI should take;
• An indicative financial request for the implementation of a strategy based on such concept note. This may be formulated either in modules (with different communication elements/tools assigned to a cost) or as an indicative cost-bracket. 

Documentation should be sent by January 20th to: info@euroalter.com and info@mediainitiative.eu with “ECI Communication Agency” in the message subject line.

One or two agencies will be selected to undergo a period of consultation with key stakeholders, ECI staff members, and some members of the country teams in order to understand the make-up and needs of the campaign. Following this consultation, each agency will present a fully detailed proposal for the elements of the campaign for which it has applied.
This procedure will be conducted with agencies in which we have full confidence, and we foresee it leading to commissioning the implementation of the plan presented. Should the proposal not be deemed satisfactory and rejected, however, the agency will receive €500 in reimbursement for the work put in during the consultation and plan-development phase.
European Alternatives expects all interested companies / individual experts to take all these requirements into account but also feel free to provide any supporting documentation or other additional proposals that will allow the ECI Initiators and Partners to implement the transnational online and off-line campaign.

For questions and any further information about this call, you can write to: info@mediainitiative.eu
We kindly ask you to be as precise and brief as possible.

Thank you in advance for your interest and participation!