WSROC / Promoting the City - 18/2014

Blacktown City is home to 318,000 people spanned across 48 suburbs. The City comprises of many different physical landscapes and is the largest local government area by population in New South Wales.

Blacktown City 2030 is a Community Strategic Plan which Council has formulated to guide the future of Blacktown City. It identifies the main priorities of our community and aspirations for the City over the next 16 years and beyond. Its directions and objectives are comprehensive and are based on principles of sustainability and social equity. It is also reflective of the plans, including the need for strong advocacy for our City to partner in those plans.

Blacktown City 2030 identifies eight Trigger Projects that complete the vision for the City, ensuring that Blacktown City 2030 is delivered.

The Trigger Projects identify key priorities for the community, including ‘breakthrough’ areas to advance the long term strategy.

In mid-2013, Blacktown City Council invited organisations to submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) and develop a Scoping Plan aimed at guiding Council to achieve one of its Trigger Projects outlined within Council’s new Vision- Blacktown City 2030 called- Promoting the City: Marketing, Branding and Community Engagement.

This Trigger Project identifies to promote Blacktown City as an emerging Regional City with unique attributes and to engage the Blacktown Community and stakeholders in a shared vision – a city of excellence which is dynamic, diverse and progressive.

Some of the significant aims Council hopes to achieve include defining and articulating the positive qualities of Blacktown City and develop a marketing and branding campaign to communicate its achievements. This is seen as important in order to strengthen existing networks and build new relationships to foster the future prosperity of Blacktown City.

Another significant aim of Council is to strategically engage and build partnerships with our community and the wide range of City stakeholders, in order to further the shared vision and pursue the interests of Blacktown and its broader region.

Following the above-mentioned invitation for EOI, Council worked closely with an external organisation and developed a Scoping Plan and Situation Analysis. It is now time to implement and deliver the Trigger Project.

While the major focus of this project will be on the creation of a place brand, this project will also provide a convenient opportunity to address some areas relating to Council’s own brand, including its name and logo, as requested by several Councillors.

This project is for the development and implementation of a brand. The brand will be for Blacktown City – the focus should not be on developing a Blacktown City Council brand.

Blacktown City Council engaged a consultant to develop a Scoping Plan and Situation Analysis for the Blacktown City brand development process. These documents will guide the Council during the brand development process.

The Scoping Plan and Situation Analysis have identified a number of key features for consideration through the development of the Blacktown City brand.

These include:

• The brand refers to the Blacktown City brand (and its relationship to Blacktown City Council)

• Brand implementation and activation is a long term process – the Blacktown City brand should have a 10 – 15 year focus

• The results of this process will align with the long term strategic goals and vision of Council to support the development of Blacktown City

The Scoping Plan and Situation Analysis have also identified the main drivers for competition for Blacktown City in Greater Western Sydney as:

• Profile and recognition

• Residents

• Talent in key skill areas

• Investment from outside Blacktown

• Business partnerships

• New developments

• Government funding

• Sport, community and arts events

• Tourists and visitors

• Educational funding, infrastructure and opportunities

See Appendix 1 for information from the Scoping Plan and Situation Analysis on Blacktown City Council’s expected outcomes and Blacktown City brand objectives.

Tenders are to be submitted electronically only. Tenderers can download the RFT, complete information in required schedules fields and scan and upload the completed document to the WSROC eTendering website.