With its contract with current agency partners set to expire in November, Canada Post has issued an RFP for what it describes as “up to two” full-service agency partners.
The Crown Corporation currently works with five agencies: Cossette, DraftFCB, MediaPlus and the Ottawa-based agencies Banfield-Seguin and McMillan. All five agencies have worked with Canada Post for the past five years.
While outwardly the RFP seems to indicate that Canada Post will trim its agency roster, director of media relations Anick Losier told Marketing that is “not necessarily” the case.
Losier said that Cossette and Draft are the Corporation’s main agency partners at the moment, and have partnered with the other three agencies “to complete the service offering. In essence it’s the same offer but could yield a different result in terms of numbers,” she said.
In May, Canada Post reported a pre-tax loss of $3 million for the first quarter ended March 31, compared with a pre-tax profit of $22 million for the corresponding year-earlier period. The organization cited a “significant decline” in core mail volumes, with its biggest revenue generator, Transaction Mail, falling by 4.5% or 58 million pieces compared with the year-earlier period.
“This is just the natural protocol for us to garner a new roster of service agencies and contract,” said Losier in an e-mail to Marketing. “The current contract expires in November and we are posting the RFP now in order to be ready by then.”
In a post on the government’s electronic tendering service Merx, Canada Post indicated it was seeking agency partners able to provide expertise across a full scope of services including promotion, direct and database marketing, interactive, public relations, communication strategy and planning and corporate brand development.
The agreements will run for three years commencing Nov. 27, with Canada Post holding an option to renew for an additional two years.
