WASHINGTON: The US Treasury Department's Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) has awarded Burson-Marsteller a $36-million, five-year contract for a public education and awareness campaign for the new $5 and $100 notes.
Claudia Dickens, manager of BEP's division of external affairs, declined to discuss the reasons for Burson's selection, or who other bidders for the contract were, though Weber Shandwick and Fleishman-Hillard are known to have been the other finalists. Burson declined comment.
Redesigned $5 notes are to be introduced in early 2008, with redesigned $100 notes to follow later. Communications work includes outreach to the media, retailers, financial institutions, law enforcement authorities, and the public at large, both in the US and oversees, to provide information on, among other things, new security features such as optically variable ink and watermarks. The contract was awarded on December 11.
According to the original government solicitation, work must use visual elements that relate to the $50-million "Color of Money" PR and education campaign for the $10, $20, and $50 notes -- which Burson also handled -- and include support for the www.moneyfactory.gov Web site and other Internet outreach.
