Marshall Heritage Proposal

Marshall Heritage Proposal July 29, 2011

Prepared by BluFish Consulting, LLC 106 E. Michigan Ave. Marshall, MI 49068 269.781.5849 blufishconsulting.com

our intro - how we work for you

BluFish Consulting, LLC BluFish Consulting is pleased to respond to the Marshall Heritage Marketing RFQ. As you may be aware, we pride ourselves on outside the bowl thinking, no matter what the marketing challenge. Over the past decade, we have completed a wide-range of projects and have overcome countless brand challenges.

In fact, we have worked on various tourism projects within Calhoun County, including Marshall Chamber of Commerce, Marshall Downtown Development Authority, Marshall Historical Society, Marshall District Library, Marshall Economic Development, Calhoun County Fair, National Historic Landmark District, and Calhoun County Visitors Bureau. Each of these unique marketing projects were completed using the same disciplined marketing approach.

We are very confident in our ability to assist the City of Marshall in moving the awareness needle in the five recommended categories outlined in the 2009 strategy document, as well as other potential new opportunities. As lifelong Marshall residents, we feel we have our finger on the pulse of the City and are best equipped to reach and exceed the outlined goals of the project.

Creatively yours,

BluFish

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umbrella of services

What Services Do We Provide?

Strategy Strategy is the most important aspect that will direct all other marketing activities. Many clients begin with our strategic marketing plan that is based on extensive external and internal research. Since you are not asking for a complete strategic marketing plan, a scaled down approach to audience and competitive research will suit.

Creative Better ads work better. Everybody wants more impact for their money, and that’s exactly the mission of our creative product. For each new concept our creative team puts together, we provide three viable options for our clients to choose from. Your BluFish team will always make a recommendation based on research, experience, what your competition looks like and what we believe will make the biggest impact.

Advertising Planning and Research BluFish adheres to a disciplined planning process, which involves the client up front and throughout. The result is advertising that demands attention, increases audience involvement and, most importantly, effectively sells the client’s company and its product. This process is critical and BluFish will be sure it’s done efficiently because no client has budget to burn.

Media Planning and Buying A seasoned media specialist is responsible for strategy development, planning, media research, negotiating, buying and placement of all advertising.

Media Post-Analysis and Auditing The critical elements of monitoring and analyzing audience delivery, ad positioning and rotation, reproduction quality and reader inquiries are provided for every media plan. Cost depends on extent of measurments client desires.

Public Relations Our Public Relations specialists are well-versed in crafting and implementing a wide range of tactics that can be an integral ingredient in any marketing mix. Drawing on expertise in media relations; internal marketing activities; internal or external newsletters that relay corporate news; and communications audits that help define public relations challenges, goals and objectives.

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blufish team

Your BluFish Team You will primarily work and communicate with John Thompson of the BluFish team. He will be your main point of contact throughout the working relationship and will be available on a daily basis to answer questions, communicate progress of the campaign and meet for presentations as needed. Others listed will serve as support and will also be available as needed.

John Thompson, Principle Associate, is currently in his sixth year with BluFish. John is a graduate of Michigan State University with a bachelor’s degree in advertising. Before starting with BluFish, John worked in Scottsdale, Arizona, where he was an account representative for a national health care organization. His experience includes working with Osprey Recreational, Marshall Chamber of Commerce, Calhoun County Visitors Bureau, Marshall Community Credit Union, Calhoun County Fair, Oaklawn Hospital, Monarch Community Bank, Kellogg’s, Century Bank & Trust, and others.

Ryan Traver, Brand Manager/Partner, has been with BluFish since January of 2003. Ryan is a graduate of Western Michigan University with degrees in Marketing, General Business, and Textile/Apparel Studies.

His experience includes working with such companies as Cequent Performance Products, BDS Suspensions, Gerstacker Institute of Albion College, Starr Commonwealth, Arundale, Marshall Economic Development, The Medalist Golf Club, Eastman Outdoors, University of Michigan Gymnastics, Michigan Kitchen Distributors, Diekema l Hamann Architecture + Engineering, Arts & Industry Council of Calhoun County, The Mike Furrey Foundation, Muhammad Ali Enterprises, and Kellogg’s.

Bill Traver, Founder and President of BluFish. This marks his 41st year in the advertising business. Bill’s background includes hands-on experience in every aspect of the business. After founding Traver and Associates, Inc. in 1980 and building financial equity, a loyal client base and a reputation for fair and responsible business practices, he purchased the Kalamazoo office of Earle Palmer Brown, and formed TraverRohrback in 1993. His agency achieved capitalized billings of $26 million. In November 2000, Bill Traver sold majority interest in Traver-Rohrback, retired as CEO Emeritus, and has since formed BluFish Consulting, LLC.

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blufish team cont.

Brenden Jones, Web Developer, works with clients to create persuasive and original solutions that help businesses stand out within their marketplace. He designs and provides creative direction for compelling print & web solutions. Brenden is a graduate of Judson University with a degree in Visual Communication. His experience includes working with such companies as Motorola, Osprey Recreational Properties, Crossway Publishing and Judson University.

Karl Bastian, Co-Director, Creative Services, Runner, Writer, Thinker.

When he’s not running, Karl is writing. Or thinking about writing. Or thinking about running. In any case, Karl is responsible for much of the creative product. Karl has been in the advertising business for over 20 years and has gained a wide range of consumer and business-to-business experience. He has produced everything from award-winning print and broadcast work to marketing support and interactive materials.

Karl started his career in Detroit at Campbell-Mithun-Esty as a copywriter on the Chrysler Jeep Eagle account. Since then, he has worked at agencies in the Midwest and Texas and has developed a portfolio of strong creative work. And while he’s proud of the award-winning work he’s produced, Karl is most proud of founding the annual Run For Shelter a 5K Run/Walk that benefits the Goodwill Inn. Whitney Thompson, Brand Manager, has over 8 years in the industry.

Whitney is a graduate of Michigan State University with a bachelor’s degree in advertising. Her experience includes working with companies including Star Commonwealth, Oaklawn Hospital, Osprey Recreational Properties, Johnson System, NeoMatrix, PacfiCare Health Insurance, Greater Baltimore Medical Center, Clarian Health Partners, Community Cancer Care of Indiana, Haworth and others.

Your BluFish Support Team As needed, we will bring in additional support to make sure we are tapping into all of our resources when it comes to your marketing strategy, creative, photography and more.

BluFish Fees BluFish Consulting agrees to work within the defined budget parameters set forth in the strategy document. Additional requests above and beyond will be billed at the rate of $100 per hour.

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estimate of services

Marshall Heritage Tourism Print/Collateral Estimates A-1 Tourism Brochure – 4 x 9 Rack Card $2,700* Quad-fold (8 panels folds down to 4 x 9). Includes concept, layout, copywriting, and final files ready for printing.

A-2 Marshall Visitor Map $5,000* Format (12 x 18 – 12 panels folds down to 4 x 9). Includes concept, layout, map illlustration, copywriting, and preparation of files for printing.

The map illustration would be a created in Adobe illustrator. The final result will be a vector Ai file. This style can be fun, customizable, and scaleable.

We can update within the illustration... info, roads, locations, businesses, etc... in case anything changes in the future.

Web use: We can isolate, extract or highlight certain areas within the map to showcase landmarks, houses etc. There should be no issues on the style for the map for web use.

A-3 Historic Marshall Walking Tour Brochures $9,540* 4 brochures, 5.5 x 8.5 – 12 pages each, including: Historic Marshall, Oakridge Cemetery, Marshall Tree and Riverwalk Tour. Includes text heavy copywriting, design & layout, final files ready for printing.

A-4 Marshall Museum Brochure $3,240* 4 x 9 format, quad fold (8 panels). Includes concept, layout, copywriting, and final files ready for printing.

A-5 Michigan Avenue Maps for Kiosks (2) $1,800* Includes concept, layout, and copywriting. Based on picking up existing map from Marshall Visitor Map above (A-2) and adapting to size requirements (TBD).

B-5 Historic Marshall Tourism Newsletter $3,600* 8 x 10 – 4 page, 4-color. Includes concept, layout, and copywriting and files ready for printing. PDF of newsletter will be made available online and virtual turnpage software is an option for viewing online or the PDF may be downloaded. An eblast is also recommended for announcing each new addition of the newsletter available on the website.

*Photography to be provided by Dennis Craft or pulled from BluFish library of city images. Any new illustrations, photography or Photoshop work necessary on photos provided to BluFish will be an additional expense.

Does not include cost of printing, production, or placement.

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estimate of services

Marshall Heritage Tourism Website Estimates B-1, B-2 & B-3 HistoricMarshall.org Web Pages

$8,450

Discovery Phase Sitemap presented and discussed for approval.

Functional online Wireframe (All pages listed on Wireframe)

- 2 Rounds of revisions Design

- 2 Concepts which will each include 1 Home Page, 1 Tourism Page,

and 1 Residents Page.

- 2 Rounds of revisions to the selected design (Includes all pages

listed on the Wireframe).

Development Features to include: Marshall in the Media (news feed/blog posts) Contest Page (Facebook only with Feed into webpages) Web Cam Feed (external link) Photo Galleries (pull content from Flickr or host internally) RSS Content Management System (allowing Chamber to edit daily) Additional Expenses (optional) Events Calendar - $2,500 + Online registration (Paypal) - $725

- www.eventespresso.com Videos - Pull content from History Marshall YouTube page - $450 Live Chat, built into site as seen on www.hospiceanswers.org - $750

- livechatsoftware.com/live-chat-pricing.html

- Monthly subscription $24.99 Hosting TBD Relevant Sample Work www.esv.org www.perfectlittlehouse.com http://cl.ly/2E0q1n1D1417443Y3f3D - this site is still being built, but we believe it’s relevant

*Photography to be provided by Dennis Craft or pulled from BluFish library of city images. Any new illustrations, photography or Photoshop work necessary on photos provided to BluFish will be an additional expense.

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estimate of services

Marshall Heritage Tourism Website Estimates B-4 Marshall Historical Society Website

$6,000

Discovery Phase Sitemap presented and discussed for approval.

Functional online Wireframe (All pages listed on Wireframe)

- 2 Rounds of revisions Design

- 2 Concepts (Includes 2 home page & interior page concepts)

- 2 Rounds of revisions to the selected design (Includes all pages

listed on Wireframe) Development Features to include: Historical Tour information - Included Museum information - Included Slideshow with Rotating Photos – Included Archive & Research Tool Information - Included Additional Expenses (optional) Events Calendar - $2,500 + Online registration (Paypal) - $725

- eventespresso.com Donation capability - $550

- Paypal payment collected through form Online Gift Shop - $3,600

- Paypal

- Shopp Plugin (shopplugin.net) Hosting TBD

*Photography to be provided by Dennis Craft or pulled from BluFish library of city images. Any new illustrations, photography or Photoshop work necessary on photos provided to BluFish will be an additional expense.

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estimate of services

Brand Management Fee

$7,500 Fee inlcudes cost for BluFish account managers to oversee all projects and be involved in meetings with various committees and groups involved to make all of these projects a reality. Cost would include any travel expenses, meals, etc., that may be incurred from meetings related to any projects.

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references

Please feel free to contact the references below who can comment on our relevant work and answer any questions.

Web Marketing Client Contacts: Heather Luciani Chief Executing Officer Marshall Community Credit Union 269.781.9885 www.marshallcommunitycu.com Keith Crowell Director of Development Oaklawn Hospital 269.789.3942 www.oaklawnhospital.org Marty Mitchell CEO/President Starr Commonwealth 800.837.5591 www.starr.org Other Web Projects include: www.gtindependence.com www.steelproducts-mcs.com www.hbc-contracting.com www.starr.org

www.centurybankandtrust.com www.blufishconsulting.com www.ericdaleheatingac.com www.oaklawnhospital.org www.ccvb.mytrainsite.com

Professional References: Bill Biebuyck Vice President for Institutional Advancement Clarke University 888.825.2753 ext. 8147 Monica Anderson President/CEO Marshall Chamber of Commerce 269.781.5163 Mike Hindenach Manager Marshall Economic Development 269.781.3835

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cost of services

Cost of all services offered in this estimate A-1, A-2, A-3, A-4 & B-5

$25,020

B-1, B-2, B-3 $8,450 additional options $5,285 B-4 $6,000 additional options $7,375 Brand Management Fee

$7,500

Total Cost without optional items: Total Cost with optional items:

$46,970 $59,630

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