Mobile Response and Stabilization Services Marketing (MRSS) Campaign for Statewide Expansion for HAS

MISSION & GUIDING PRINCIPLES
The mission of the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (OhioMHAS) is to provide statewide leadership of a high-quality mental health and addiction prevention, treatment and recovery system that is effective and valued by all Ohioans. OhioMHAS strives to be a national leader in implementing a comprehensive, accessible, and quality-focused system of addiction and mental health care and wellness for all Ohio citizens.   PURPOSE
The Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (OhioMHAS) is seeking proposals from qualified contractors to The goal of the statewide public awareness campaign(s) and educational resources is to increase awareness of the availability and usage of the service statewide. The selected vendor will develop educational resources that can be used by regional MRSS providers. There are 12 regional MRSS providers that must use the marketing collateral developed by the selected vendor to effectively market the program. The resources should be easily adapted to include logos from the 12 regional MRSS providers. The marketing materials developed must be available to all regional MRSS providers, relevant and adaptable.     BACKGROUND
Under the leadership of Governor Mike DeWine, OhioMHAS and partners at the Ohio Departments of Medicaid (ODM) and Children and Youth (DCY) are working to develop a supported, quality crisis response system to serve as a timely and appropriate alternative to unnecessary hospitalization, arrest, incarceration, or displacement from home. OhioMHAS is striving to create statewide capacity and access to youth-focused, high-quality mental health crisis response. Behavioral health crisis response addresses the sense of urgency of families and caregivers experience while preserving the dignity of those receiving services by keeping them in their homes and communities. Mobile Response and Stabilization Services (MRSS) is one portion of the whole crisis response system.MRSS, a key service in Ohio’s System of Care, was built on the values of serving children and young adults with behavioral health crisis needs; maintaining children in their homes and communities; leveraging resources across systems to be more effective in meeting youth and families’ needs; and institutionalizing shared governance. Operating within Ohio’s crisis continuum, MRSS works to keep a child, youth, or young adult safe at home, in the community, and in school whenever possible while reducing overall system costs.In 2017, OhioMHAS received a four-year SAMHSA System of Care Grant to build and demonstrate MRSS in Ohio and pilot MRSS in 13 counties in the northwest and southwest regions of the state. SAMHSA ENGAGE grants provided two rounds of start-up funding to ADAMH board areas and providers. In 2023, Ohio was awarded a System of Care grant, ENGAGE 3.0, that is further helping to expand MRSS in additional counties. OhioMHAS and ODM made additional funds available in 2022, 2023, and 2024 for new and existing providers across the state to implement and sustain MRSS care. As of May 2024, there are 20 organizations providing MRSS in 45 counties. Nine of these providers are operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In April 2025, Governor DeWine announced that 12 Regional MRSS Providers would provide statewide coverage no later than June 30, 2025. When the service is available in July 2025, there must be marketing and advertising support to increase awareness.IV.        SCOPE OF WORK AND DELIVERABLESOis seeking to achieve broad awareness and understanding of the MRSS program among all Ohioans as the program expands statewide. The success of MRSS depends upon Ohioans making adequate and appropriate use of the service. This, in turn, is predicated upon Ohioans knowing about the service and understanding how and when to use it. Until now, OhioMHAS has not engaged in a statewide effort to raise awareness about MRSS because the program has been limited to specific locations. Feedback and information garnered from the initial MRSS areas of operation can now be leveraged to help explain the program and its benefits to a broader, statewide audience.• The vendor will be expected to collaborate with OhioMHAS in identifying and working with statewide MRSS partners to collect data needed to identify the unique marketing needs of the various communities and demographic groups across the state.The vendor will perform media-buying services such as: media planning, prioritizing audiences/markets, media buying (negotiating best rates and placement as well as added value), tracking, optimizing, and post-buy analysis and reporting.• The vendor will be accountable for planning, negotiating, and buying paid media throughout all of Ohio to support the developed statewide campaign.• The vendor will be expected to partner with statewide MRSS stakeholders and partners to ensure that all aspects of the campaign(s) are culturally appropriate and relevant for diverse audiences.• The vendor will be expected to collaborate, cooperate, innovate, and partner with other OhioMHAS vendors if applicable. Travel to Columbus, Ohio, and throughout the state for face-to-face meetings, at the vendors’ expense, may also be required. Travel expenses are not provided by OhioMHAS.• The vendor must act as an extension of OhioMHAS’ internal resources. To this end, exceptional levels of accounting service are expected. The vendor is accountable for timely and efficient turn-around of deliverables with keen awareness of HAS deadlines and the necessity to proactively plan vendor resources to meet timelines.Capabilities and RequirementsThe selected vendor:Audience Strategy• Has proven experience identifying and segmenting appropriate target audiences for public health messaging.• Utilizes data-driven tools to understand how target audiences consume media and determine the most effective channels and tactics for engagement.Creative Development• Has experience developing creative content for public awareness or public health campaigns.• Incorporates stakeholder and community feedback into design concepts.• Can integrate existing campaign materials with new creative elements to produce a cohesive, unified campaign.• Applies innovative thinking, strong design skills, and cost-effective production strategies to maximize campaign impact.Media Planning & Buying• Has experience in media planning, buying, and placement across appropriate channels for each creative asset.• Possesses a strong understanding of a full range of media channels, including but not limited to:         o Broadcast (radio, TV, cable)         o Streaming platforms (TV, audio)         o Paid digital (search, display, social)         o Print and experiential media• Evaluates and recommends paid advertising opportunities based on media value and alignment with campaign goals.Campaign Optimization & Reporting• Demonstrates the ability to manage and optimize digital campaigns for performance and efficiency.• Implements tagging and tracking for digital media to enable real-time analytics and timely optimization.• Tracks and reports key performance metrics for digital and broadcast media, including reach, frequency, impressions, and engagement.• Provides regular performance reports at minimum on a monthly and quarterly basis.Proven Experience & Planning• Can provide at least two examples of successful statewide public awareness campaigns.• Submit a proposed timeline for launching and managing the statewide MRSS campaignExpectations and Deliverables• The vendor will develop creative concepts for a thorough and effective MRSS marketing campaign. The vendor will work with OhioMHAS to identify and refine creative concepts that will best serve this campaign and reach target audiences.• Once the concept has been identified and refined, the vendor will work to develop a cohesive set of campaign assets that may include but are not limited to; video and audio ads/PSAs, digital ads, print ads, fliers, social media posts, and other educational resources, many of which must be able to be accessed, localized, and utilized by the Regional MRSS Providers. All materials developed will be made available at no additional cost and will be customizable for state and local organizations.  •  If the budget allows, vendor will develop TV and radio plans to include information such as market and station demographics, buy detail by market including proposed placements, reach and frequency and cost per point/gross rate point (CPPs/GRPs).• The vendor will create print media plans to include information such as placement dates, readership demographics, circulation, etc. The vendor will develop a media planning and buying strategy related to TV/radio, print media, digital technologies (such as internet marketing), Search Engine Promotion, Google AdWords, mobile marketing, and social media messaging (e.g., Facebook, Instagram, X, YouTube, streaming service advertising, etc.).• The vendor will perform timely post-buy analysis of media plans to measure return on investment and other marketing metrics that quantify campaign effectiveness.• The vendor must do concept testing to determine what type of ad is the effective for the target audience.• The vendor will staff the account to provide timeline development, project management, weekly status updates, ongoing follow-up and follow-through, budget management, forecasting, and billing.• The vendor will provide a timeline and plan for the launch of each campaign and statewide dissemination.• The vendor will be responsible for providing monthly reporting on progress, and once launched, reports related to reach, access, and utilization of campaign products.V.         MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS OF CONTRACTORVendor must be a multi-media marketing and branding, creative development and production agency with media buying capabilities and with expertise in public education media messaging is preferred.  Contractor shall not be subject to an “unresolved” finding for recovery under Section 9.24 of Ohio Revised Code.