Cellular Operators Association of India

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

FOR
PUBLIC RELATIONS CONSULTANCY &
MEDIA MANAGEMENT SERVICES
IN
INDIA

About COAI
COAI is the definitive voice of the Telecommunications Industry and remains a thought leader
advancing industry positions. Constituted in 1995 as a registered, non-governmental society. COAIs
vision is to establish India as the global leader of innovative mobile communications infrastructure,
products and services and achieving a national teledensity of 100%, including broadband. The
association is also dedicated to the advancement of modern communication and towards delivering
the benefits of innovative and affordable mobile communication services to the people of India.

Objectives
COAI is inviting suitably qualified and experienced public relations agencies and consultancies to
submit proposals for engagement to develop and implement a comprehensive brand
communications plan to achieve the following broad objectives:

A. 5 Major Action Areas for PR Partner support

Strategic

Media Management,
Corporate Imagery &
driving PR messaging

Brand Building
Advocacy &
Industry Thought
Leadership

Communications
/ Crisis
Management

Media Intelligence,
Tracking and active
emergency
response support

Social Media
Management

Stakeholder
Engagement
Support

B.

Key Objectives of PR Practices

Continuous flow of positive coverage across all key media
for the relevant media - print, electronic and online
(including but not limited to bloggers) media.

Coverage

Media Relationships

User Interest

Brand Awareness

Content Planning

C.

To build manage and curate trusted and strong media

relationships for the association. Significant increase in the
brands relationship with the media pan India including
local and language press, foreign correspondents etc.
Sustainably and discernibly increase the brands Trends,
conversation, talk threads, quotes, citations, searches and
engagement from all relevant stakeholders via achieving
key headlines / blast of media coverage. Active value
creation,
whitepapers
and
thought
leadership
opportunities to be pursued with all relevant stakeholders,
creating value for COAI and advancing the brand.
Building the leadership, increasing share of voice,
producing whitepapers, op-eds and reports for media pegs
and cross industry seeding and rand consolidation. Active
identification and sourcing of speakership opportunity.

Generating story ideas for building and strengthening a

positive image of the association and the telecom industry.
Also being proactive cross various issues in the industry
such as but not limited to EMF, Net Neutrality, etc. To
actively monitor the editorial news pegs, geo-political
developments and national news and proactively build
stories for the industry and the association for maximising
share of voice and fitting in the current news cycle.

Activities : In addition to the above-mentioned, the selected agency may also be

required to perform work for the following activities:
Crisis
Communications
Market
Research

Integrated
PR
Structure

Press
Release
distribution

Media
Handling

Media
Relations
enhancement

Community
Relations

Event
Management &
Press event
support

Integrated COAI PR Structure

COAI to receive press and public relations support from PR agency on
communications strategy for promoting marketing efforts, key industry
developments, campaigns, etc.

Press Release distribution

Support COAI in developing and disseminating press releases pan India also covering
regional local media
Sharing press release best practices
Monitor and analyze media coverage

Media Handling
Executing story pitches to local news outlets
Assist in crafting communication messages as necessary, e.g. talking points for
media conference, responses to FAQs, holding statements, etc.
Assist with media familiarisation and relationship building programmes

Media Management and Relationship enhancement

Assist COAI with regular media engagement activities to build strong media
relationships
Media lunch/networking sessions
Seasonal gift distributions
Provide local media database of key media
Do a detailed media ecosystem familiarisation for the association with detailed
psycographic profiles of relevant journalists.
Constant and regular updation of the media database and an active tracking of
media movements across organisations and portfolios.

Community Relations
Provide advice and support on community relations
Actively map the relevant ecosystem and schedule meetings and facilitate
engagements (Missions, Trade Councils, Government Ministries, Chambers, Relevant
Government departments, IGOs, Intergovernmental Organisations, State
Governments
Assist to review partnerships with external organizations on projects that may be
mutually beneficial
Provide feedback and suggest sponsorship opportunities

Event Management/Press event support

Provide the necessary resources and support for media engagement and company
events e.g. press conferences, awareness campaigns, roundtables, forums, AGMs,
Quarterly meetings, etc.
Assist with preparations of collaterals and media kits
Provide necessary media intelligence and keep track of other competing events

Market Research
Market studies regarding competition activities, telecom and internet insights,
consumer trends, media trends, political-economic trends & other related-industry
developments

Crisis Communications
Provide instant alerts, extensive communications, holding statements and complete
media handling support during any crisis
Keep a high alert and intelligence monitoring on potential crisis/events
To remain in full preparation with the requisite collaterals
Resource bank

Issue and Campaign Management

The agency will be required to provide end to end campaign and communication
solutions for issue management and mitigation.
Issues may include but not be limited to (Net Neutrality & Zero rating, Call Drops,
EMF, etc.)
To create innovative, strategic and impactful campaigns for COAI brand building and
thought leadership
To create counter campaigns to mitigate and field communication and advocacy
challenges for the association

Key Deliverables on-going/retainer service

The Agency should provide the following services on a retainer basis.
Perception Audit
o To undertake a baseline survey and a thorough, scientifically designed rigorous
media perception audit
COAI (Association)
Telecommunications (industry)
Message Development
Assist COAI in developing and review of appropriate messages catered to target
audiences in India.

Review the appropriateness / relevance of COAIs existing collaterals and messaging for
India.

Strategic counsel

Provide counsel to COAI to address key issues and build appropriate core messages.
Advise COAI on major in-market trends and announcements that are likely to impact
COAI outreach efforts in India;
Identify channels / ways that COAI can reach out to target audience;
Identify and alert COAI on special in-market events that COAI could participate in;
Identify and alert COAI on sponsorship opportunities;
Make recommendations on initiatives that will meet COAIs objectives;
In curation of messages.

Media monitoring
Provide a daily report on media reportage and market intelligence related and key
market players, as well as monthly clipping report before the fifth of each month.
Reports should be both qualitative and quantitative. The agency must have requisite
licenses and tool subscriptions and logins of the latest software.
Media engagement and outreach: Schedule an editorial calendar for news pitching / pitch
news releases to the media and secure coverage. In the absence of significant news angles,
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the Agency should advise and propose possible topics / tactics to continuously engage the
media.
Contribute editorial pieces / advertorials to be placed in targeted media

Pitch for interview slots or arrange for COAI senior management / staff in-market

Scan local media and provide relevant reports generated by activities on a monthly
basis. Summaries should be provided in English. The Agency should also submit monthly
activity reports and quarterly progress reports according to COAIs requirements. Hard
copy articles should be mailed to COAI on a monthly basis, where possible. Media
includes but is not limited to: general and trade media, online media, social networking
platforms, blogs, travel and leisure, lifestyle and business publications.

Immediately flag contentious issues and propose follow-up plans, where relevant.

Management of social networking platforms and blogs.

Assist COAI to extend its outreach to target audience through social media platforms
and assistance in all activities related to propagating the brand and any relevant news
through this social media channel.
Proofreading of Translated Texts
Have the capability to translate and proofread texts (press releases, fact sheets, media
reports and other collaterals) translated from English to all regional Indian languages
and vice versa.

Scope of Work
Essential centres for daily servicing:
1. Delhi NCR
2. Mumbai
3. Bangalore
4. Chennai
5. Jaipur
6. Kolkata
7. Indore
8. Hyderabad
9. Ahmedabad
10. Kochi
11. Pune
12. Lucknow

Centres to be covered under a need basis:

1. Guwahati/Shillong
2. Chandigarh
3. Vijayawada
4. Patna
5. Bhubaneshwar
6. Dehradun
7. Raipur
8. Bhopal

Activity

Details

Annual Volume/
Frequency

Planning, programming and review

Perception Base line survey of all relevant stakeholders
Media perception audit
o To be undertaken for both the association(COAI) and
the industry (Telecommunications)
Media
database Daily media monitoring, electronic tracking and report
management, media
compilation.
intelligence
and
Media coverage grid-direct, competition & industry. Media
maintaining resource
movements and intelligence
bank
Activity based coverage dossier
Media database
Creating and updating national and city-specific lists
Vertical specific lists- policy, financial, environment, media
analysts etc.
Resource bank
Basic information drafting and updating- Corporate
factsheet, corporate profile, spokespersons profiles, PR
plans, reports, media coverage dockets, FAQs documents
related to Corporate, Operations, Issue-based etc.
Message
Drafting press releases, statements, responses to media
Development
queries as and when required
Briefing documents, media approach and recommend
communication strategy
Messaging workshop (Annual)
Message house development (Annual)
Strategic advisory and Recommended course of action with respect to a
advocacy
communications
for
any
announcements,
issues,
achievements, milestones etc.
Media approach, identifying messages to be delivered for a
particular announcement or development
Media dipsticks to be undertaken as when required
Competition
and Team to share this on weekly basis (every Monday). Any
industry landscape
critical/important competition or industry news to be shared as it
happens
PR campaign Review
Finalize the PR campaign measurement metrics
Monthly analysis, Weekly, Monthly, Annual, Quarterly reviews
(quantitative and qualitative)
Weekly meetings to discuss WIP
Media
audit

Messaging Document

Two

On-Going Activity

On-Going Activity

On-Going Activity

On-Going Activity

On-Going Activity

AGENCY in consultation with COAI, will create a comprehensive As per requirement

document of all top-line messages which should be driven across
India and propagated amongst media and other stakeholders
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Annual plan

Detailed strategic annual plan with clear road-map of activities and

responsibilities
In terms of media outreach, CAT A and CAT B media should be the
focus for each city
Quarter plan
Quarter wise break-up of the annual plan into tangible action
points and delivery
Monthly plan
Monthly grid of the discussed activities with identified markets
target media and timelines
Annual Review
Comprehensive and integrated review of the campaign done in a
year to review the performance
Quarter Review
Review of the quarterly campaign which maps activities, results &
performance
Monthly Review
Review of the activities done in the gone by month to map target
vs achieved along with coverage analysis
Daily coverage report Daily news summary of relevant articles on COAI and industry
from the identified markets (for print and online only)
Flag important / negative articles
Share media intelligence as and when there is a development
Work in progress Joint team meetings for tracking campaign progress
meetings

One

Four
Twelve
One
Four
Twelve
Daily (Mon-Sun)

Weekly

Detailed PR Scope of Work

Press
notes/

Statements

Press Conferences/

Briefings
Industry stories

Identify relevant industry story opportunities

Draft responses and seek approval from COAI (format: e-mail/ telephonic/ meeting)
Coordinate with the journalist & COAI team for placing COAIs view in the articles
Actively pitch and create positive stories on the association and the industry
Track and share coverage
Developing press notes or statement on an industry topic or news announcement
Proactively work towards creating pitch notes for positive brand building
Preparing the media universe
Distributing the press note/ statement
Media follow-up for coverage
Activity report
Joint press briefings in 19 identified cities (National / Regional)
Managing all events where COAI would have discretion to front-end or brand build
without any logo support to build third party voices
Identifying journalists/publications
Media invitation and follow-ups
Interviews with top media to drive features
Developing content press note and other collaterals
Media briefing document (talk points) & FAQs and briefing the spokesperson
Venue & logistics coordination with events agency
Press kits creation and collation
Media follow-ups for coverage
Activity/ Impact report
Influencers outreach Identify influencers/ experts/ opinion leaders who can lend a voice for COAI essential
centres
program
Curation and effectively manage all such relationships
* COAI to decide on the programs based on the potential benefits evaluation
Industry association Identify industry associations / experts/ opinion leaders who can lend a voice for
COAI essential cities
outreach program
Coordinate with the COAI team for bringing them on-board and leveraging their voice
on case to case basis
In case of monetary partnerships, COAI to do the needful
Speakership
Identify relevant Industry platforms where COAI spokespersons, management /
influencer may be placed as a speaker (explore forums telecom, IT, Digital Public
Opportunities
affairs, leadership, ICT, Women /Gender in Technology, Smart Cities, Bridging the
divide, IOT, M2M, Public Policy and medical fraternity limited only to
EMF/Radiation/Cancer)
Coordinate with the organizer
Brief the spokesperson and provide research material
Coordinate media interactions, if any, at the forum
Contributory articles
Identity opportunities for placing contributory / by-line articles on behalf of COAI
spokesperson/ influencer
Identify themes and target publications; seek approval from COAI team
Draft article; seek approval and place with publication
Track coverage
Proactive
stories/ Identify journalist and publication (across news wires, newspapers, magazines, online
portals and TV channels)
select interviews
Develop pitch note in consultation with COAI team
10 /
Pitch and coordinate meetings (face-to-face / telephonic ) for COAI spokesperson
influencer

Relationship Building
meetings / Editors

meets

Industry Research and

Reports/ Positioning

papers

Analyst Meetings

Direct
stakeholder
engagement

Government
Relations
Management

Media and activists

intelligence
Crisis Management

Media
audit
perception study

Create briefing document including journalist & publication profile, key messages,
FAQs, red flags etc.
Brief the spokesperson
Organize the interviews; follow-up for coverage
Identify key media to organize relationship building meetings with COAI
spokesperson/ influencer
Pitch and coordinate meetings with journalists (across news wires, newspapers,
magazines, online portals and TV channels)
Create briefing document including journalist & publication profile, key messages,
FAQs, red flags etc.
Brief the spokesperson
Organize the interviews; map next action steps
Develop positioning / research papers on industry issues
Coordinate with COAI on obtaining background information
Seek approval for drafted material
Leverage with media and influencers
Identify relevant subject analysts
Co-ordinate meetings with COAI spokesperson
Prepare advisory including analyst profile, key messages, FAQs, red flags and brief the
spokesperson
Collect analyst feedback, analyse and share it on the way forward
Submit activity report
Identify BTL agencies to help COAI in direct consumer outreach through NGOs/ RWAs
etc.
Identify influencers to be engaged for this activity
Support with media outreach in cities/ towns where feasible (through press note,
media briefings, interviews, etc.)
Arrange meeting with union ministers
The profile of government officials should not be lesser than Chief Secretary /
Minister/ Joint Secretaries and Directors, relevant.
Arrange meetings with state ministers
The profile of government officials from Municipal bodies, Department Secretaries,
Police, etc.
Pro-actively share media and activists intelligence
Identify potential red flag situations, create & execute plan to mitigate risk. Create a
rapid response to address risks including Risk Communications.
The agency should be prepared to deploy resources to provide 24X7 hrs support
Media perception audit to be done in consultation with COAI, once every quarter.

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Values for Performance Review: We run and appraise PR practices based on the following values:

Quantity

Quality

Out-of-the box methodologies

fully embraced. Organic stories
preferred, especially those that
bring
forth
secondary
communications (via Shares on
social media, etc.)

The quantity and quality of the

coverage are equally important
to us

We trust and would love to make use

of the power of social media and
KOLs.

Consumer-themed contents / stories

are as important as the industrial
topics.

Proposal from Agency:

The proposal from the agency must recognize the following requirements and requests:

Crendentials and
Media Relationships

Ideas on Brand building

and imagery
(b) execution of a
sample issue
management/campaign

Scope of Work

Client List

specific about the activities

and timelines

sample coverage generated

for those clients

Fee structure
on a retainer plus strategic
assignment expenses

Team Resources with

detailed CVs and
exclusive time
deployment on the
account

The Proposal needs to specifically answer the following questions:

Do you have PR experience within the telecommunications industry? If yes, what results and
insights can you share with us?
Explain any quantifiable results obtained for any client a result of your placements and
programs.
Include a projected timeline that shows when we should expect to see results once we hire
your firm.
What is the structure of your firm? Team structure in Delhi, Mumbai, owned centres other
affiliate networks | International Locations. How many people are on staff? Who would be
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the key contact representing our account with the time deployment? What is their
experience and role within your organization? What other accounts would this person is
handling? Who would be assisting their efforts in working with us?
How would you propose to service our account and how much time would be dedicated to
us? How would you address conflict?
Why should we choose your firm?
What are the two greatest strengths your firm is known for?
How do you recommend we measure the success of PR firm's efforts?
What reporting and communication system will you use in working with our staff to ensure a
responsive, successful relationship? Please elaborate with specifics.
What is the one idea you would implement for our company right away?
Please explain crisis management capabilities of your firm in any 2 scenarios.
Campaign ideas
The agency will be given an hour to make their presentation. 10 minutes must be spent on
a fully developed campaign/issue management (eg. Net Neutrality).
The presentation will be followed by an hour of discussion and QNA

Minimum Qualifying Requirements:

A list of Qualifying Requirements (QRs) and the supporting documents that need to be submitted is
given below. Any Agency not meeting any of the following QRs or not submitting any of the
documents shall be summarily rejected.
Qualifying Requirement (QR) Information
Cover Page
Company contact information including the Company name, registered
address, contact person, his/her title, contact telephone number, fax
number, email id, company website.
Proposed Account Head / Project leader(s) name, title, contact telephone
number, personal fax number (if any), email id.
Executive Summary
Two-page executive summary is to briefly describe the proposal. This
summary should highlight the major features of the proposal. It must
indicate any requirements that cannot be met by the bidder.
About Agency:

Technical
Proposal

Brief about Agency and Capabilities

Media Outreach, PR and Communications Programs: Information on your
firms skills and capabilities in applying public relations, media outreach and
communications principles and techniques
Describe the firms experience in producing strategic counseling/
communications materials that successfully communicated messages to
stakeholders
Case Studies of Success Stories - Describe at least two outreach and/or PR initiatives
that your firm has undertaken
Ownership and nature of entity (public company, partnership, subsidiary,
etc.).
Financials for past two years.
All clients added and lost in the past three years
List of major accounts including current accounts, years serviced
Certification/Accreditation/Affiliation, if Any
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Network & Reach (National & International): Physical locations including addresses
of all branches and number of executive/consulting/PR staff in each branch.
Human Capital (Please provide the details of teams of each Service Area)
Team involved in strategic planning

Financial
Proposal

Execution Team Deployment (Both in numbers and seniority, dedicated or shared)

The proposed composition of team for COAI (in terms of names,
designations, experience and numbers). Please also indicate specifically
who all will be dedicated to the account & how many staff will be on time
sharing basis.
Corporate PR (with specific capability in handling IT, Brand, Telecom service
providers, Telecom equipment providers)
Include materials that would demonstrate the firms ability to manage
issue/crisis, as well as meeting clients objectives and addressing the
challenges of outreaching to the target audiences
Crisis Management Capabilities & relevant Case Studies - Also include
materials that would demonstrate the firms ability to manage issue/crisis,
as well as meeting clients objectives and addressing the challenges of
outreaching to the target audiences
Research & Analysis strength Pls. detail availability of R&A tools like Wire terminals
(Brand watch, Factiva, Reuters, PTI), access to analyst reports, access to data sites like
(Capital line, Securities.com, GTB etc.)
Reporting & Review structure
Media intelligence and feedback mechanism
Content Skills (Press Release/White papers/Teasers, etc.)
Account Handling SOPs
Satisfactory client certification from Two clients (one existing & one former) serviced
in last three years
If the agency is servicing an existing conflicting client, please provide the details of
same and practise adopted to maintain client confidentiality and SoPs to service
conflict accounts.
Signed Copy of Non-Disclosure and Conflict of Interest Declarations
This must provide a detailed cost breakdown with separate figures for each functional
grouping or category. Estimates for cost-reimbursable items, if any, such as cost of
media journals, and out of pocket expenses should be listed separately

Proposal Evaluation and Selection: Assessment will be based on two parameters,

namely Technical and Financial parameters, looking specifically at the expertise of the organization,
personnel, overall budget and proposed work plan and approach.
Terms & Conditions:
All proposals will be technically & financially evaluated and short listing of parties for final
discussion will be made within two weeks from the date of submission of proposals.
Necessary communication will be made to the shortlisted parties only. We reserve the right
to select any or none of the proposals.
COAI assumes no responsibility or liability for costs incurred by proposed agency in
responding to this proposal request or in responding to any further request for interviews,
additional data, etc.

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 COAI reserves the right to reject any or all proposals, to waive any non-material irregularities
or information in any RFP, and to accept or reject any item or combination of items
Submission of proposal
All interested firms must respond with your proposals by Friday 30th September, 2016 EOD
Important Dates:
Sr. No. Date
Activity
1.
21.09.2016
RFP Issued
2.
23.09.2016
Pre-RFP submission query/clarifications meeting
3.
30.09.2016
Last date for submission of proposals
4.
4.10.2016
Pitch Presentations
5.
5.10.2016
Pitch Presentations
6.
7.
8.

7.10.2016
10.10.2016
13.10.2016

9.

17.10.2016

Announcement of Results
Scope of work finalisation
Finance and commercials closure and vendor
registration compliance
Commencement of service

For Queries: Emails may be addressed to :

Subi Chaturvedi
Head- Director Public Affairs and Communication
COAI
E: schaturvedi@coai.in
www.coai.in

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