Tourism bureaus and destination marketing organizations buy video, photo and drone content through a written scope, often a formal request for proposals, scored on creative approach, experience, work samples and cost. The scope that works lists every deliverable, the seasons and locations, the partners who will use the content, and the license the bureau needs. It also sets rules for releases, drone permits on public land and captions. Bureaus that write those terms into the RFP get proposals they can compare line by line.
This guide is for marketing directors at visitors bureaus, chambers, downtown development authorities and park systems in Michigan and Ohio. It covers how the money flows, how an RFP is built and scored, what to put in a deliverables list, how to write usage rights, and the permissions and accessibility rules that apply. It is general information, not legal advice.
Where the money comes from
How a bureau buys depends on whose money it is spending. In Ohio, Ohio Revised Code 5739.09 directs a share of county lodging tax revenue to the convention and visitors bureau operating in the county. Many bureaus are private nonprofits funded partly with that public money, and their funding agreements, boards and auditors decide how purchases must be documented.
Grants bring their own rules. The Greater Wilmington Convention and Visitors Bureau in Wilmington, Delaware, a 501(c)(6) nonprofit, funded a 2024 sports tourism video with an American Rescue Plan Act grant allocated by New Castle County, according to its published RFP. Federal and county grant money usually means a competitive, documented selection.
State programs add a third layer. TourismOhio described its 2026 Joint Marketing Program in a May 2026 webinar as covering 100% of media placement fees and 25% of advertising or content creation costs, up to $4,000 per partner per state fiscal year, first come while funds last, according to the Ohio Local History Alliance’s listing for the webinar. Confirm current terms with TourismOhio. In Michigan, Pure Michigan reported in March 2025 that 27 travel partners were contributing more than $2.5 million to its warm-weather campaign. Content made for those programs has to meet the state partner’s specifications as well as the bureau’s own.
Public procurement thresholds
Bureaus that are part of a county or city government follow that government’s purchasing law. In Ohio, Revised Code 307.86 requires county purchases above the amount in section 9.17 to be competitively bid, with listed exceptions. Section 9.17 set that amount at $75,000 through 2024 and raises it 3% a year starting in 2025, with the Director of Commerce publishing the figure. Cities, townships and Michigan local governments set their own thresholds by charter, ordinance or policy.
Nonprofit bureaus are not always bound by those statutes, but many adopt similar rules in their purchasing policies or grant agreements. Check three documents before writing the RFP: the bureau’s purchasing policy, any grant agreement funding the work, and the funding agreement with the county or city. Below the bidding threshold, a written quote against a short brief is often enough, and it is faster for everyone.
How a tourism video RFP is structured
A clear RFP has the same sections whether the budget is small or large.
- Overview and goal. What the content is for: visitation, overnight stays, a sports or meetings market, a season.
- Audience. Who should see it, such as leisure travelers within a day’s drive, tournament families or meeting planners.
- Deliverables. Every edit, length, format and still, with quantities.
- Seasons and locations. Which months and which places, including partner sites.
- Roles. What the vendor does and what the bureau does, such as securing access to member locations and approving cuts.
- Usage and ownership. The license or ownership terms, partner use and paid media.
- Budget. A ceiling or a range. Bidders scope to the number, so stating it saves a round of revisions.
- Submission requirements and scoring. What to send and how it will be evaluated.
- Timeline. Release date, question deadline, answers, proposal due date, interviews and award.
The Wilmington RFP is a useful public model. It asked for a 60-second sports tourism video, 30- and 15-second versions, a raw b-roll strip, a color-corrected b-roll strip and stills of each sport and facility. It also scheduled filming across a full year, starting with fall sports and ending with spring and summer, and set a budget ceiling of $70,400.
Scoring criteria
Publish the scoring before proposals arrive. It tells bidders what matters and gives the evaluation team a defensible record. The Wilmington bureau scored proposals on a 100-point scale:
| Criterion | Points |
|---|---|
| Project narrative | 20 |
| Related project experience | 20 |
| Work samples | 20 |
| Organizational capacity | 10 |
| Equipment | 10 |
| Recommendations | 10 |
| Proposed cost | 10 |
Two lessons carry over. Work samples and related experience together carried 40 points, four times the weight of cost, which rewards vendors who have shot destinations before. And the bureau reserved the right to interview finalists, which is the best way to test whether a crew understands the region. A bureau can shift the weights, but it should state them.
The deliverables list
Vague deliverables are the most common reason proposals cannot be compared. A list like this one gives every bidder the same target.
| Deliverable | What to specify |
|---|---|
| Hero or campaign video | Length, horizontal and vertical versions, music licensing, voiceover |
| Cutdowns | 30, 15 and 6 second versions, platforms they will run on |
| Social reels | Count per season, 9:16 vertical, caption style |
| Itinerary or partner features | Number of partners, length, who approves each one |
| Aerial b-roll library | Number of locations, horizontal and vertical, color-corrected or log |
| Still photography | Count, subjects, people or scenery, release requirements |
| Raw footage | Whether it is required, format and delivery method |
| Caption files | Format (SRT or VTT) for each edit |
| Metadata | Location, date, season, people pictured, release status |
Raw footage deserves its own line. The Wilmington RFP required unedited raw files uploaded with metadata tags, which is a reasonable request when a bureau has in-house editors. It is also extra work and extra value. Many production companies, ours included, price raw files separately from the edited work, so listing raw footage in the RFP keeps every bid on equal terms.
Usage rights language
The license is where most disputes start. Decide these points before the RFP goes out.
Term. A perpetual license lets the bureau use the work indefinitely. A term license, such as three or five years, costs less and fits campaign pieces that will date quickly. B-roll libraries usually justify a longer term than a campaign spot.
Channels. List them: website, social, email, visitor guide, trade shows, broadcast, streaming and connected TV, out-of-home. Paid media is often priced differently from organic use, so say whether it is included.
Partner use. Name the partners or categories, such as lodging members or attractions featured in the footage. Say whether partners may post finished pieces only or also cut their own edits from the b-roll. The Wilmington RFP planned for sports facilities to use the b-roll catalog in their own marketing, which is the kind of term that belongs in writing.
State and co-op use. If the footage may run in a TourismOhio or Pure Michigan partnership, say so, because the state office may need its own rights.
Ownership. Under the federal Copyright Act’s definition in 17 U.S.C. 101, a commissioned work counts as a work made for hire only if it falls in a listed category, such as part of an audiovisual work, and both parties sign a written agreement saying so. Standalone photographs usually fall outside that list unless they are commissioned for something like a visitor guide, so a bureau that wants to own stills generally needs a written assignment. Have a lawyer review ownership language. Ownership or a buyout usually costs more than a broad license, and a broad license covers what most bureaus actually do with the content.
Music and talent. Licensed music and on-camera talent carry their own terms. A song cleared for social may not be cleared for broadcast, and a release signed for organic use may not cover paid ads. Match those terms to the bureau’s license.
Write the license into the RFP. When every bidder prices the same term, channels and partner use, the cost line means the same thing in every proposal.
Talent and location releases
Anyone recognizable in the final work should sign a release that covers the uses in the license, including paid media if it applies. Minors need a parent or guardian’s signature. At festivals and public events, posted filming notices help, but featured people still need individual releases.
Location releases matter more than bureaus expect. A partner restaurant, a private marina or a cabin rental is private property, and its owner should sign a location release that covers the bureau’s and the partner’s use. The Wilmington RFP split the work sensibly: the vendor secured subjects and consent forms, and the bureau helped secure access to its member locations. Keep every signed release with the asset it covers, so a marketer can check it before reusing a clip in two years.
Drone permissions on public land
Commercial drone work falls under 14 CFR Part 107. The pilot needs an FAA remote pilot certificate, and section 107.39 bars flying over people who are not directly participating unless they are under a covered structure, in a stationary vehicle or the operation meets an operations-over-people category. Festival and beach shots are planned around that rule.
Federal rules govern the airspace. The landowner and the park agency decide where a crew can take off and whether commercial filming is allowed.
Ohio state parks. Ohio Administrative Code 1501:46-13-11, effective January 1, 2025, bars drone operation in state parks without permission from the chief of the Division of Parks and Watercraft or an authorized agent. Using a drone to photograph or film public activities needs the same permission. Flights over open-air assemblies, beaches, boats and roadways are not allowed.
Ohio metro parks. Columbus and Franklin County Metro Parks requires a permit for commercial or media drone work. Our Ohio drone laws guide covers Cleveland and Toledo’s park districts too.
Michigan state parks. The DNR’s Land Use Order 5.1(6) requires written permission for commercial drone use and bars flights within 100 yards of cultural or historical sites or structures, over occupied beaches and over campgrounds.
Michigan metro parks and cities. The Huron-Clinton Metroparks rules allow drones under federal and state law but restrict commercial activity to the Metroparks and its licensees, so paid shoots go through its filming process. Michigan law limits local ordinances on drone flight, but city film permits for using public property still apply. Our Detroit drone rules guide explains both.
Ask bidders to describe how they will secure these permissions, and build permit lead time into the schedule.
Captions and accessibility
Ask for a caption file with every deliverable that has speech or meaningful sound. The W3C’s success criterion 1.2.2 is a Level A requirement for captions on prerecorded video, and its guidance says captions should identify speakers and meaningful sound effects as well as dialogue. Success criterion 1.2.5, at Level AA, calls for audio description of prerecorded video. For a scenic piece with music and no narration, that usually means planning a described version, or a narration track that already says what the viewer is seeing. On-screen text alone does not meet 1.2.5, because it is not spoken.
The dates have already moved once, so check ada.gov for the current schedule. The Justice Department’s ADA Title II web rule adopts WCAG 2.1 Level AA for state and local government web content. After an interim final rule published April 20, 2026, compliance dates are April 26, 2027 for governments serving 50,000 or more people and April 26, 2028 for smaller governments and special districts. A bureau that is part of a county or city government should plan for those dates now.
Asset management
A library is only useful if people can find things in it. Write these requirements into the RFP:
- File naming by location, subject, season and date.
- Metadata embedded in each file: location, people pictured, release status and license term.
- Two formats for each b-roll clip, horizontal and vertical, where the scope calls for both.
- Release links so every clip with a recognizable person or private location points to its signed release.
- Expiration flags for term-licensed music, talent or footage, so nothing runs past its license.
- A shared folder or digital asset management system with view access for named partners.
Measuring results
Decide what the content is supposed to change before it is shot. For a visitation campaign, that might be lodging tax collections, hotel occupancy or visitor guide requests in the campaign markets. For partner features, it might be clicks to the partner’s site or bookings during the promotion. On social platforms, compare views and completion rates against the bureau’s own baseline rather than against national accounts. Ask bidders how they will report, and put the reporting format in the contract.
How we handle destination projects
Our office is in Detroit, and we work with a network of crew and creator contacts across Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Windsor. In October 2026 we shot tourism aerials across Delaware County, Ohio, for the county’s tourism bureau; see the Destination Delaware County project. Our pilots hold FAA Part 107 remote pilot certificates, and we check park, city and airspace rules before we quote. We license edited work and b-roll for the uses a bureau and its partners need, deliver caption files with every edit, and price raw footage as its own line. See our tourism and destination marketing work, drone photography in Columbus, or send us your RFP.