Integrated Marketing
Branding and Marketing a New Government Organization
Background
The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) provides mission support to government agencies by delivering nearly $66 billion of products, services, and property needed to meet national priorities. In 2005, Congress voted to merge two GSA customer-facing services, the Federal Technology Service (FTS) and the Federal Supply Service (FSS), resulting in the formation of the Federal Acquisition Service (FAS). This new GSA organization redirected its focus toward enhancing customer service and simplifying its offerings.
In the past, GSA promoted its offerings through complicated contract terms, including GWACs, IDIQs, BPAs, and Schedules, which resulted in confusion and a very fractured brand among customers and stakeholders.
As GSA moved to transform and modernize its business and re-establish its position as the leading provider of acquisition services, the organization was looking to refine its messages and strengthen its brand image in the market.
JDG's Solution
GSA's FAS turned to JDG Communications for help. After listening to both GSA employees and their customers, JDG recommended that GSA adopt an integrated brand communications strategy that emphasized a customer-centric approach. The goal was to increase market awareness of GSA's product and service offerings while accentuating the agency's renewed focus on customer service. The primary objective was to shift FAS market strategy from promoting "contracts" to a "solutions-based" approach, leading to the development of the "One Country. One Mission. One Source." slogan and "At Your Service" marketing icon.
JDG applied its Integrated Brand Communications (IBC) model to develop advertising initiatives and marketing materials in support of the new GSA/FAS brand position. The approach included a range of tactics that connected with the customer at every level of the buying process: awareness, consideration, preference, and sale. These efforts included targeted print, online and radio advertising, e-mail campaigns, signage, and posters. In addition, JDG created a comprehensive customer assistance guide to procurement, as well as a suite of brochures presenting its simplified solution set of "customer-centric" offerings: Products, Services, Travel, Transportation, Technology, and Motor Vehicle Management.
Results
Instead of hard-to-understand contracts, GSA customers are now being presented with clear solutions to their needs. The series of print ads and web banners JDG created ran in a variety of government trade publications, securing nearly 9.7 million impressions between print and interactive media. The online banner ads received approximately 4,000 click-throughs in just the first two months of the campaign. The guide to procurement and brochures featuring FAS's solution set were developed and delivered in time to meet a critical deadline for GSA Expo, the agency's annual conference dedicated to educating and training GSA customers and vendor partners. Nearly 10,000 people attended the Expo and received copies of the collateral material upon entering the conference hall. According to GSA staff in attendance, "The material was flying off the shelf!"
The integrated advertising and marketing campaign successfully communicated key messages to GSA's target audiences. Moreover, the campaign generated significant awareness and consideration of FAS's new value proposition and resulted in an increase in sales over the previous year. GSA's recognition of the success of the FAS branding initiative has since resulted in the award of a new contract to JDG and plans to develop the GSA brand on a corporate level.
