Description
PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT U.S. Armys High School Dropout Prevention Campaign 1.0 SCOPE 1.1 Background The U.S. Army is an integral part of the countrys defense forces and one of the nations largest educators and employers. In keeping with its longstanding commitment to the education of our nations youth, the United States Army is seeking to continue its public service initiative, Boost (formerly called Operation Graduation), designed to improve the educational achievement of children in America who are the most at-risk of dropping out of school by developing a support community for students. The goal of Boost is to raise awareness of the importance of a high school diploma in an effort to reduce the high school drop-out rate and increase the number of American students who will be prepared to lead productive lives. We will achieve this goal through a national media campaign that will help motivate young people to stay in school, and motivate their peers, and parents and other adults to encourage at-risk students to stay in school. 1.2 Purpose Improving the educational achievement of Americas youth is important to our nations ability to recruit, train and retain the highly skilled soldiers we need today. It is also important to our nations prosperity and well-being. Boost is the U.S. Armys initiative to encourage Americas students to obtain a good education and earn their high school diploma. The campaigns purpose is to raise awareness about the high school dropout rate and the negative consequences of dropping out. The campaign will also increase the publics perception of the Army as an institution dedicated to education and positive social change. 1.3 Objective This Performance Work Statement is for the acquisition of the services and products required by the U.S. Army to field a successful and effective campaign: refinement of a campaign strategy and focus, creation of multimedia advertising products to carry out the strategy, dissemination of multimedia products to national media outlets, development and placement of in-school products and monitoring and reporting the results of media placement efforts. 2.0 SPECIFIC TASKS The contractor is required to assist the U.S. Army in the following tasks: (1) develop a donated public service campaign strategy to include a theme message, target audience definition and recommended media placement in a donated media environment: (2) create and produce appropriate multimedia products supporting the strategy; (3) disseminate these products to national media outlets and use best efforts to encourage their use as Public Service Announcements (PSAs); (4) pursue other opportunities to raise awareness, developing products as needed; and (5) monitor and periodically report on the results of the dissemination effort. Task 1- Develop a Public Service Campaign Strategy. The objective of this task is to assist the U.S. Army in developing a campaign theme message that will encourage Americas youth to graduate from high school. In considering this strategy, the Advertising Council will utilize existing market data and conduct market research to determine appropriate campaign strategy. A primary consideration in the creation of an energizing theme is the definition of the target audience, including whether to target any particular ethnic groups. While the scope of the campaign needs to include youth, consideration will also be given to those who influence youth (i.e., teachers, parents and community leaders). The media placement plan, along with the message content and presentation, is another key element in putting together an effective campaign. The contractor will recommend a media placement strategy that will support any special target focus that may be selected. The contractor shall conduct focus group research to test the theme message and presentation strategy prior to the start of multimedia production. Task 2 Create and Produce Appropriate Multimedia Products to Support the Campaign Strategy. Media products shall include a mix of television, the Boost web site, web banners and alternative media in a variety of lengths and sizes. The number of new spots is subject to review prior to beginning production. Consideration shall be given to producing some materials in both English and Spanish, and to developing products targeted to particular ethnic groups. The contractor shall conduct usability testing on the Boost website. Task 3 Disseminate Media Products to National Media Outlets. The contractor will prepare distribution kits of media materials for dissemination to all appropriate commercial media outlets to promote the Public Service Announcements. In addition, the Advertising Council will provide broadcast quality copies of broadcast and electronic media and mechanicals for print media to the Armed Forces Radio and Television Service and the American Forces Information Service for distribution within the Department of Defense. The U.S. Army will provide current points of contact for these organizations. The contractor will use their best efforts to promote the use of the PSAs by the various media outlets. They will work with the U.S. Army, as required, to disseminate these materials to other government organizations as well as citizen groups abroad subject to talent clearance. Distribution to commercial media outlets will be timed to coincide with critical points during the school year. Task 4 -- Pursue Other Opportunities to Raise Awareness, Developing Products as Needed. The contractor will seek other opportunities to raise the visibility of the campaign and the issue with the target markets students, parents and other influencers. This shall include piloting an in-school web game in which students will guide virtual teens through a series of personal, social and academic challenges, and make decisions on behalf of the teen while trying to balance the various areas of a teenagers daily life. The goal of the game will be to make the best decisions and, subsequently, reach graduation, while also boosting their virtual peers along the way. Other opportunities may include the use of new media, in-school placements, celebrities to participate in facets of the campaign, etc. Task 5 Monitor and Report on the Results of the Media Dissemination Effort. The contractor shall monitor and periodically report on the results of the media dissemination effort to provide a measure of the effectiveness of the campaign. Contributed time and space will be tracked by media type, geographic area, and the extent possible, estimates made of the age groups and the size of audience based on media outlet profiles of audience demographics. 3.0 DELIVERABLES Along with media monitoring and reporting, the following deliverables are required: A. MONTHLY PROGRESS REPORTS: Two copies of monthly progress reports shall be submitted by the contractor to the COR by the 15th of the month reported on. Reports will be in accordance with guidance in G.12 of this PWS. B. ANNUAL REPORT: Two copies due annually covering at least one wave of information from the following list. 1) Broadcast, outdoor, radio, Internet and alternative media PSAs 2) Media outreach 3) Public relations 4) Distribution kit design and mailing C. PUBLIC SERVICE ADVERTISING BULLETIN: Nationwide mailing every two months to Public Service Directors. D. BOOST CAMPAIGN MATERIALS: The following types of domestic media outlets will receive the Boost campaign materials: 1) Broadcast and cable television 2) Radio 3) Out-of-home 4) Alternative media 5) Worldwide Web