Agenda - 03-21-2006-5i - Laserfiche WebLink

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REVISED 3/21/06 Addition in Bold ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT Meeting Date: March 21, 2006 Action Agenda Item No. 5 - ~ SUBJECT: RFP Award: Visitors Profile Su DEPARTMENT: Purchasing, Chapel Hill/ PUBLIC HEARING: (Y/N) Orange County Visitors Bureau, EDC No ATTACHMENT(S): INFORMATION CONTACT: Pam Jones, 245-2652 Dianne Reid, 245-2327 Laurie Paolicelli, 968-2060 PURPOSE: To consider awarding .a contract for a Visitors Profile Survey from Equation Research of Charleston, South Carolina. BACKGROUND: Funds were allocated in the Chapel Hill/Orange County Visitors Bureau's budget to conduct a survey of visitors to Orange County. The goal of a Chapel Hill/Orange County Visitor Study is to reveal who the visitor to Orange County is and is not, and what type of marketing strategy the Bureau must embark on to better build and maintain the visitor and conference market to Orange County. The assessment will determine what is required to make visitors journey to Orange County more frequently, stay longer, and spend more while visiting. This information will help the Chapel Hill/Orange County Visitors Bureau evaluate current marketing strategies and identify opportunities to optimize marketing messages. Research by staff indicates that this is the first time a study of this nature would be conducted for the Bureau. A Request for Proposals (RFP) was developed by Purchasing, the Visitors Bureau and Economic Development. The RFP was sent to ten vendors as well as advertised on the County's website. The following companies responded to the RFP: • Equation Research, Charleston, SC • Breehl, Traynor & Zehe and The Prism Partnership, Cleveland, Ohio After a review of the proposals, an Interview was conducted with Equation Research by the Chapel Hill/Orange County Visitors Bureau's Board. Equation is the unanimous choice to conduct the study. The general goal will be to determine the following • How non-visitors perceive Orange County.