Who We Are
Girl Effect is an international non-profit that builds media that girls want, trust and need. From chatbots to chat shows and TV dramas to tech, our content helps adolescent girls in Africa, and Asia make choices and changes in their lives.
We create safe spaces for girls, sharing facts and answering questions about health, nutrition, education, and relationships, empowering girls with the skills to negotiate and redefine what they are told is possible “for a girl”.
Our reach is 50 million and counting. And we’re using technology to reach girls at scale so every girl can choose to be in control of her body, her health, her learning and her livelihood.
Because when a girl unlocks her power to make different choices that change her life, it inspires others to do so too. She starts a ripple effect that impacts her family, community, and country.
That’s the Girl Effect.
Our Approach
Girl Effect uses a branded media approach towards delivering behavioural change messaging.
We reach girls across the world, where they are -online and offline, to support them at the critical moments in life when choices around their health, education and economic future need to be made.
We use our expertise in behaviour change science to motivate and equip girls with information and support to help them see a different future for themselves, act on those choices, and drive greater demand for the opportunities and services available to them.
Girl Effect builds youth brands that girls love and trust, reaching girls where they are and creating change. Chhaa Jaa in India, Tujibebe in Tanzania, Yegna in Ethiopia, Ni Nyampinga in Rwanda – these are some of our youth brands. They exist across multiple channels – digital ( Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, Tiktok, Whatsapp), TV, radio, print and offline. Together, these brands reach over 20M girls worldwide.
Girl Effect in South Africa
Girl Effect has been present in South Africa for the last 7 years through its global digital brand ‘Springster’, and its AI-powered chatbot for girls – ‘Big Sis’.
Springster was launched as a series of mobi-sites under the Facebook Free Basics program and later pivoted to social media. It has made girl-friendly content accessible to girls for free, reaching 6.1M users across the African continent.
Big Sis, Girl Effect’s chatbot in South Africa, offers girls a virtual friend to talk to about their health concerns and curiosities. Launched 3 years ago, Big Sis has scaled to 75,000 conversations, started over 1.2 messages sent/received, proven impact across behavioural drivers, and been shortlisted for multiple awards.
Campaigns run on the Springster and Big Sis ecosystems have also been able to successfully direct girls to services.
Girl Effect continues to invest in South Africa – we are launching new campaigns around sexual and reproductive health and mental well-being, connecting girls to services and expanding Big Sis’s AI models to understand the language young people use to express mental health and SRHR issues so that we may respond appropriately, timely, and efficiently at scale.
South Africa Opportunity
Now, Girl Effect has the opportunity to bring hope and inspiration to an entire generation of South African youth. We are building a national-scale youth brand that will help young South Africans to rise and take charge of their dreams, take different actions and make better choices about their sexual health and economic prospects.
This brand will come to life with a mix of content, music, social and digital tools created to inspire, inform, equip and prepare young people for the future. An entire ecosystem of products – ranging from social media content, web series, a radio drama, on-ground ambassadors, chatbot, a network of call centre operators, murals, billboards etc. – will potentially live within this brand. The brand will connect to young people through multiple touchpoints, becoming an entity larger than the sum of its parts.
These touchpoints will be designed to reach our target audience where they are, forming an ecosystem around them that stays with them and propels their journey from awareness to engagement and contemplation to making positive choices about their health, education, and financial future.
Building a Glocal Brand
There is also an opportunity to build out this new brand as a glocal brand – a brand that is locally resonant but globally adaptable- where the brand identity, tagline, look and feel is informed by a universal palette and set of values that can stretch to multiple youth audiences across the globe. By carrying forward the power that we know creating a contextualised, local brand creates – trust, resonance, and relatability, but also, combining it with the efficiency and effectiveness of a global setup, we want girls to feel that they are part of something bigger while speaking to them in a way that is both real and relatable.
We believe this is possible. But it’s complex.
How does a brand feel simultaneously Global and Local? How do girls come together to share this experience? What is her experience? How do we inspire behaviour change journeys that result in action?
The Glocal brand can help us answer these questions.
We want to build out the SA brand as a local brand rooted in culture, but situated within a global framework, a framework consisting of values, attributes, DNA, palette etc., that can then be adapted into another country successfully while at the same time saving us cost, time and resources. We believe the SA brand we want to design is broad and holistic enough to make this possible.We would like you to include this thinking as part of your proposal.
At the same time, we want to understand what developing this brand as a glocal brand would mean in terms of added project costs and timeframes – and then come to a final decision around this approach. Therefore we request to add this as an additional layer to the financial proposal regarding budget and timelines.
Objective
As Girl Effect expands its South Africa presence with this new program; we are seeking an experienced agency with expertise in building culturally resonant youth brands to develop, test and build this brand for us over 6-8 months.
The Scope
The agency will be responsible for creating this new youth brand, drawing on existing learnings from our work with Springster and other work in South Africa and earlier work on the global brand. The scope of work includes brand strategy development, media landscape and competitive market research, development of a tested brand DNA, values, architecture and positioning, name and logo creation, the design of all brand assets and communication materials, development of a brand guide and conceptualisation of the brand campaign etc.
It may also include the development of this brand as a glocal brand, as explained above.
The agency will work closely with the Girl Effect team to:
- Develop a detailed approach and implementation plan for the project
- Conduct media landscape and competitive market research. This will include popular youth brands as well as SBCC brands.
- Develop the brand strategy for South Africa, considering all programmatic needs.
- Build the brand framework – including brand DNA, values, architecture and positioning
- Test potential brand territories and positioning options to finalize the one that is most likely to be resonant with a youth audience 18- 24 years old.
- Build out the options for brand identity – including name, logo, tagline and other elements.
- Test brand identity options working with GE’s Evidence and Impact team.
- Build out the final brand guide with brand identity and all its elements
- Build concepts around brand campaign and launch
- Design example brand assets and communication materials as inspiration guide for future implementation.
Adding on the global component, the agency will also need to:
- Build briefs for testing the glocal positioning and brand identity in 2 different countries apart from SA.
- Build the final brand guide with the added component of a glocal brand guide which will include adaptation guidelines and examples.
Additionally, the agency will:
- Work closely with a GE team member to map out the process and timelines, set up recurring meetings and drive the execution forward.
- Be responsible for consistent updates on progress
- Facilitate any brainstorming sessions/working sessions needed
- Work with a GE Impact and Evidence team member to conduct any tests, review feedback and learnings and integrate them into the final product.
Deliverables:
- Regular check-ins – Meet with the teams at least once weekly to discuss progress
- Implementation Plan – Build out the implementation plan for the project
- Media Landscape and Competitive Market Research Report – on youth brands, SBCC brands and other trends with the youth that help our brand develop its positioning.
- Workshops – Run 4-5 workshops with the teams to arrive at the final positioning, architecture and brand concepts
- Brief on testing the Brand Positioning Options – Put together a brief on testing the brand positionings for our research team and support in interpreting the test results.
- Brand Strategy Document – An understanding of how we should approach the brand and what our DNA, values, architecture, USP, positioning etc., look like.
- Brand Identity options – Options for naming, palette, look and feel, logo and other design assets
- Brief on testing the Brand Identity Options – Put together a brief on testing the brand identity for our research team and support in interpreting the test results.
- Brand Guide Book – An updated brand guide based on the new positioning and DNA- including updated visual assets, identity, naming and identity.
- Brand Launch Concept– Final guidance, recommendations and concepts on the way forward and re-launching the brand.
- Brand Communication Asset Examples – For the brand launch and brand campaign, as inspiration and guideposts.
And for Global,
- Brief on testing brand positionings and identity in 3 countries ( including SA)
- Brand Guide for Glocal – framework, adaptation guidelines, examples
What Success Looks Like
A new youth brand for South Africa – tested and ready to be launched, developed as part of a global framework ready to be adapted for a new country.
A strong, differentiated and culturally resonant brand that can become a trusted and credible name for young women and men across South Africa, become the seamless ecosystem around multiple touchpoints, achieve the aims of the program and drive forward Girl Effect’s work in South Africa.
Tentative Workplan
TASK
DATE OF COMPLETION
Start date of the work
3rd July
Week 1 – Project planning, roles and responsibilities and implementation plan
10h July
Week 2 – Deep Dive into GE’s work in South Africa
17th July
Week 3 – Desk research, Market Research, further brief on SA and programs
24th July
Week 4 – Market Research, Building brand framework
31st July
Week 5 – Market Research, Workshop 1 on brand
7th August
Week 6 – Market research share out
14th August
Week 7 – Workshop 2 on Brand – Finalizing Brand DNA, values, architecture etc
21st August
Week 8 – Workshop 3 on Brand – Coming up with Brand Positioning Options and USP
28th August
Week 9 – Finalize brand positioning options and build brief for testing
4th September
Week 10-12 – Testing to be carried out by internal teams
11th Sept – 29th Sept
Week 13 – Analyse the tests and present final brand positioning, architecture and DNA ( Deck 1)
2nd October
Week 14 and 15 – Build and share brand identity options – naming, logo, palette etc
9th Oct – 20th Oct
Week 16 – Finalise options for testing and build brief
23rd October
Week 17-18 – Testing and results from testing
30th Oct – 10th Nov
Week 20 Building final brand guide based on test results
13th November
Week 21 Concepts for brand launch and Campaign
20th November
Week 22-24 Sample brand communication assets and guidance/creative brief for in-house designers
27th Nov – 8th Dec
Week 25 Final Wrap up
11th December
Who You Are
An agency with:
- Rich experience in global and local brand-building.
- The ability to think strategically and creatively to understand how to best position the new brand, draw from others’ learnings, use the test results to refine our understanding and finally, creatively execute the new brand identity.
- Experience in crafting strong brand strategies that resonate with youth demographics.
- Strong creative and design capabilities, as referenced by previous work examples.
- Experience developing large scale, successful youth brands. A deep understanding of youth culture, trends, and behaviour.
- Strong understanding of the local context and/or team members who understand the local context
The agency will need to:
- Put together a team considering the requirement of GE
- Build an execution plan keeping our timelines in mind
- Facilitate regular sessions with the GE team – for concepts, brainstorming, ideas and feedback
- Execute the deliverables mentioned above
Expected Commitment
- The assignment is expected to take approximately 6-8 months.
- The agency’s assignment period starts in July 2023 and ends in December 2023.
Procurement Timelines
- Terms of reference published:26th May
- Questions/Clarification Deadline: 7th June
- Deadline for proposal submission: 12th June
- Supplier selection, contracting and briefing: 20th June
- Project commencement: 1st July
Reporting:
This engagement will be managed by the Creative Lead in South Africa and the Global Create Team, who will work with the successful consultant to ensure its timely and thorough execution.
Location
The agency should have local operations (or have done several projects) in South Africa and must be conducive to working with teams in Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, the UK, the USA, and India.
Proposal submissions:
Your proposal (max 10 pages), should you be interested, should cover the following:
- Your understanding of the brief and why you are well placed to deliver on the requirements.
- Credentials/Profile – Please showcase any previous work that you consider to be relevant to what we are trying to achieve and how we approach our work, and the audience that we cater to
- CVs conforming to the qualifications for persons to manage and conduct the brand set up.
- Highlight work (if) done in other geographies.
- Detailed reference list indicating the scope and magnitude of similar assignments
- Proposed Approach, work plan, and timeline describing how you will implement the design and development process for this project.
- Information on Additional Services – please provide any information on additional services that you believe would be pertinent and align with GE’s mission, vision, and values.
Financial Proposal
- A breakdown of the financial proposal in USD indicating the daily or hourly billing rate, time input, and all applicable reimbursable expenses. Alternatively, you can provide a fixed fee for the requested deliverables.
- All applicable taxes should be quoted separately;
In their technical proposal, the bidder must demonstrate an understanding of the requirements described in the RFP and demonstrate how the bidder will meet the requirements of the evaluation criteria.
Technical and Financial proposals will need to be submitted as separate documents. Financial bids will not be opened until the technical evaluation and then only for those proposals deemed qualified and responsive.
GE is not liable for any cost incurred during the award/contract preparation, submission, or negotiation of the award/contract. All submitted documentation and/or materials shall become and remain the property of GE.
VALIDITY of the proposal shall be for 90 days from the date of bid closure.
Evaluation Criteria
The criteria against which proposals will be evaluated are listed below.
Technical Evaluation
- Interpretation and understanding of this TOR – [10%]
- Company Profile and Organizational Capacity [10%]
- Experience in carrying out similar assignments in Organizational Brand set-up [10%]
- Geographical Experience in South Africa [10%]
- Proposed methodology and approach criteria [15%]
- Experience and Qualification of key personnel [10%]
- Evidence of a minimum of three contactable references – [5%]
Financial Evaluation
- Value for money/proposed budget breakdown – 30%
Tax
Applicants are advised to ensure that they have a clear understanding of their tax position with regard to provisions of their local jurisdiction tax legislation when developing their proposals.
Disclaimer
GE reserves the right to determine the structure of the process, the number of short-listed participants, the right to withdraw from the proposal process, the right to change this timetable at any time without notice, and reserves the right to withdraw this tender at any time, without prior notice and without liability to compensate and/or reimburse any party. GE shall inform the ONLY successful applicant(s). The process of negotiation and signing of the contract with the successful applicant(s) will follow.
Safeguarding
You may be required to undertake safeguarding checks. Shortlisted consultants will be assessed on our organisational values at the interview stage. The successful consultant will be expected to adhere to our safeguarding policy. We encourage you to read and understand our safeguarding policy, the executive summary of which can be found here. We have zero tolerance for all forms of violence against children, beneficiaries and staff.
Equal Opportunities
Girl Effect Services is committed to equal opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, gender, gender identity or expression. We are proud to be an equal-opportunity workplace.
We are committed to building an organization that is increasingly representative of and works extensively with the communities that we serve. To this end, due regard will be paid to procuring consultancy service organizations and individuals with diverse professional, academic and cultural backgrounds.
How to apply
To apply for this opportunity, please submit a proposal by email with the subject line “South Africa Brand Development” to [email protected] by 12th June, at 5:00 pm EAT