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Confusion surrounds Tourism NT’s appointment of 16 agency strong panel

Tourism NTTourism Northern Territory has today announced it has appointed a panel of 16 agencies on the $8m a year account, with a lead creative and lead media agency set to be decided in the coming weeks, Mumbrella can reveal.

The tourism body has released the full list of agencies on the account showing a total of 16 agencies, including eight from the Northern Territory, will provide domestic creative and media services, with the incumbent Publicis agencies, retaining spots on the panel.

Publicis’s Mojo and ZenithOptimedia are both on the panels for creative and media respectively, with the group tendering successfully for four of the five categories covered by the contract; creative, media, photography, filming and editing, and digital.

Mumbrella understands there is some confusion amongst agencies on how the panel structure will work, with some agencies thought to have pitched on the basis they would win the entire account. It is understood a conference call will be held next month to brief the successful agencies and discuss the panel structure.

Publicis was joined in handling creative by Melbourne-based integrated advertising agency Balance Marketing, Darwin-based graphic design studio Boab Design, Sydney-based advertising company Common Ventures and Darwin-based Communicate NT.

On the media front, Publicis will work alongside Sydney-based Atomic 212, Common Ventures, Foundation and OMD.

Some agency sources have asserted it was not clear such a large panel was going to be established and that questioned the workability of the number of agencies on a relatively small account.

According to a release announcing the appointments, the myriad panel agencies “enables Tourism NT to have the flexibility to work with a variety of agencies to build and deliver on Tourism NT’s strong brand and develop direct relationships with local Territory suppliers”.

When questioned on the confusion, Tourism NT referred to the tender which was titled: “Panel contract for the provision of domestic creative and media services for a period of 36 monhts”.

The tourism body further highlighted section four which outlined the services required and stated: “The Principal will engage a number of service providers under a panel period contract arrangement to provide media, creative, photography, filming, editing, audio and digital services at the national, mid-tier and regional local level.

“The Principal may appoint one or more suitable service providers to each category of the panel.”

One agency source described it as: “the longest list of agencies on a panel that I’ve ever seen”.

The confusion comes after the tourism body pitched the creative and media account in October last year, putting incumbent Publicis on alert for both media and creative. The pitch was Tourism NT’s fourth in four years, after a consortium of Publicis Groupe agencies picked up the account, with Publicis Mojo on creative, Zenith Optimedia on media, and Razorfish on digital.

In a statement Tourism NT executive director of marketing Adam Coward said: “Being able to work with multiple agencies, at a national, mid-tier and local level, enables us to access a variety of new and innovative creative approaches and techniques that can be incorporated over the life of the panel contract,”.

“Delivery of these creative and media services will support the NT Government’s vision to grow the visitor economy in the Northern Territory to $2.2 billion by 2020, and we are looking forward to this panel helping us to make further advances in increasing awareness and conversion to travel to the NT.”

The contact commences on April 1 and has an option to be extended for two periods of 12 months. It follows the expiry of the current contract with Publicis Communications on 31 March 2015. The contract has an estimated worth of $8m a year, the bulk of which will go on media buying, with the remainder on production costs.

According to the tender website: 303Lowe, Cummins & Partners, LOUD Communications, M&C Saatchi Melbourne, Moon Communications, Naked Communications, JWT, Y&R Group and Whybin\TBWA Melbourne were all listed as “prospective tenderers”.

Publicis first won the account in March 2013, with the first major work coming out in September 2013 with Tourism NT shifting its domestic brand messaging to ‘Do the NT’ in its series of new TV commercials, print and digital advertisements.

All contacted agencies declined to comment.

The successful agencies:

CATEGORY A: CREATIVE REQUIREMENTS

  • Balance Advertising and Marketing Pty Ltd T/as Balance Marketing
  • Boab Design Trust as trustee for the Jacobs Family Trust T/as Boab Design Pty Ltd
  • Common Ventures PTY LTD T/as Common Ventures
  • Joanne Ellen Robertson T/as Communicate NT
  • Publicis Communications Pty Limited

CATEGORY B: MEDIA REQUIREMENTS

  • Atomic Search Pty Ltd T/as Atomic 212
  • Common Ventures PTY LTD T/as Common Ventures
  • Foundation Works Pty Ltd T/as Foundation
  • Optimum Media Direction Pty Ltd T/as OMD
  • Publicis Communications Pty Limited

CATEGORY C: PHOTOGRAPHY, FILMING AND EDITING

  • Balance Advertising and Marketing Pty Ltd T/as Balance Marketing
  • Bellette Media Pty Ltd T/as Bellette
  • Common Ventures PTY LTD T/as Common Ventures
  • DHM Group Pty Ltd T/as New McPherson
  • Imparja Television Pty Ltd
  • Peter Eve T/as Monsoon Studio
  • Publicis Communications Pty Limited
  • Simon Says Televisions Pty Ltd T/as Simon Says Television
  • Studio McNaught T/as Shaana McNaught Photography
  • STW Communications Group Limited

CATEGORY D: AUDIO REQUIREMENTS

  • Balance Advertising and Marketing Pty Ltd T/as Balance Marketing
  • Bellette Media Pty Ltd T/as Bellette
  • Common Ventures PTY LTD T/as Common Ventures
  • Simon Says Televisions Pty Ltd T/as Simon Says Television
  • STW Communications Group Limited

CATEGORY E: DIGITAL REQUIREMENTS

  • Balance Advertising and Marketing Pty Ltd T/as Balance Marketing
  • Bellette Media Pty Ltd T/as Bellette
  • guerrilla digital Pty Ltd T/as guerrilla digital
  • Publicis Communications Pty Limited
  • SRA Information Technology Pty Ltd
  • STW Communications Group Limited

Miranda Ward and Nic Christensen 

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