Newspapers, journals, periodicals and magazines

Tender description

GBP 500 000. Network Rail’s internal communications team requires services that cover the offline creative, design, production and distribution of a regular paper-based communications channel intended primarily for all Network Rail staff. The supplier must possess a suite of skills including dedicated contacts in account management, creative design, the supply of photography, illustration and competitions, print management, editorial services (copywriting, subbing) and distribution. The supplier must also be able to provide pro-active and innovative ways of working to reduce the cost of production and meet increasingly high standards in sustainability. Your proposal should demonstrate how your editorial input will help to bring to life the company’s behaviours through its communication channels and bring to the fore our values: always safe; teamwork is key; empowered to act and care about people. You should also be able to demonstrate how you would accentuate our ‘Putting Passengers First’ messages. We have 40 000 employees all over Britain, from different backgrounds and working in different disciplines and business areas. We use five key themes to shape the content and prioritise news flow across our corporate channel mix — Network magazine (all-staff magazine), MyConnect (corporate intranet), Front Line Focus (bi-monthly video briefing) and plasma screen messaging. Digital – while this invitation for services is very much to meet the remit of a paper-based channel we do have large swathes of our population who like online content. Our news offering on our intranet is very well read and we know from reader surveys that there is an appetite for content from the paper channel that translates on-screen. Currently we produce an Issuu version of our all-staff publication. The supplier must demonstrate how they will achieve greater resonance with all staff by creatively elevating its editorial contribution, and in particular in particular by underscoring safety and service. One of the criticisms of communications at Network Rail is that they feel too corporate in look and feel or the content. However, the audience does not want to be patronised and across 40 000 staff there are huge variances in the appetite for how information is communicated. The supplier must demonstrate how they will make Network more illustrative of all our staff, which is currently 2/3 to 3/4 frontline. There must be emphasis on this channel being genuinely reflective in its presentation and underlying content of operational and frontline activity, in a way that will resonate across the organisation and reflects what we really do and what we are all about as a company. We would expect our publication to be read by stakeholders beyond staff (visitors, contractors, train operators, members and potential employees). Each control period, Network Rail’s internal communications team re-evaluates our narrative Strategy (the themes we want content to align to). Presently we work all five themes into each issue of the magazine. The supplier must demonstrate how they can provide our scope of requirements for the production of Network magazine (one paper-based communication channel) for Network Rail staff on a regular schedule. Network Rail requires a minimum of 10 copies per a year with an option for one or two special editions.