When will it ever be good enough? Why ‘Come Down for Air’ should not be up for pitch
For five years, BMF’s ‘Come Down For Air’ work for Tourism Tasmania has been consistently great. Despite that, the account has gone up for tender, as per government rules. Jess Wheeler, creative director at SICKDOGWOLFMAN, argues that this is an example of everything that is wrong with the advertising industry.
I’m just gonna come out and say it, BMF’s ‘Come Down for Air’ work for Tourism Tasmania is the best tourism work in the country. Arguably some of the best in the world. And those that don’t agree with me would at the very least have to acknowledge that it’s in the discussion.
For my international readers, Tasmania is a small, cold, isolated island at the southernmost tip of Australia. Look up a map of Australia, see that little triangle right down the bottom? That’s it. And it’s probably safe to say that, for the majority of living memory, it hasn’t been at the top of many ‘mainlander’s’ destination lists. It’s not hot, it’s not tropical, it’s not full of resorts, it’s just not where a typical Australian brain has gone when thinking ‘local holiday’.
But it’s cool factor has grown immensely in recent years, spearheaded by David Walsh’s antics with MONA and DARK MOFO (which are both fucking amazing if you’ve never experienced them), a burgeoning food and drink scene, a wildly varied landscape, and the incredible work done by BMF via this campaign. I’ve been to Tassie a few times in the last 5 years, and it’s bloody great.
I don’t think anyone would question the quality of the work, but there are infinite reasons why it may be up for pitch : How effective are the processes, what’s the working relationship like etc etc? Could even be related to KPIs e.g. a quick search reveals tourism in TAS has not grown since the campaign launched https://pulsetasmania.com.au/news/new-figures-show-tourists-visiting-tasmania-spent-billions-last-year/
Not sure what the scenario here is but please know that clients also want
– values alignment and ambition
– chemistry and proper partnership
– no misconduct or compliance issues
– no overwork / burning people out
– commercial acumen
– governance and pricing transparency
– integrated services
– a different creative response type (eg more digital or PR)
Could be lots of reasons why
Ok there’s tones of petulant creative here, but the constant pitching is a key factor for dragging the industry down. It’s not economics, you’ve done it to yourselves. And a few guilty CMOs/client siders are now ‘open to work’ too. Visiting this site is like ringside seats to an industry punching itself in the face. The most political will last longer, but not by much. it’s broken, gone and unsustainable.
This pitch has not been called because of the creative .
Commenting on why a pitch has been called is like someone commenting on someone else’s marriage. When you don’t know, what you don’t know, it’s best say nothing. (BTW I love the Tassie work)
outstanding work and outstanding observation. correct about client discomfort and inconvenience when procurement comes to party. (also add in Global realignment when US decides they can save money by using single agency across all countries resulting in further client inconveniences and lack of local knowledge and expertise). Relationship and great work/expertise should count for more. so sad.
The person writing this piece is naive in the extreme.
He only needs to look at the history of government corruption in this country and around the world to understand the need for this process.