Australia’s national tourism marketing agency, Tourism Australia, has commenced a competitive tender process for the provision of integrated global creative and digital services.
As part of the request for tender, Tourism Australia is seeking to move towards a panel model for creative and digital agency providers as it evolves its approach to respond to future opportunities and challenges. Tourism Australia is open to a range of potential panel types from tenderers to meet its creative and digital services requirements.
Current incumbent creative shop M&C Saatchi has declined to comment on the story.
Tourism Australia managing director Phillipa Harrison said the approach reflects the unique circumstances facing tourism as it continues to rebuild following the pause in international travel.
“Tourism Australia has a global footprint that sees us actively marketing Australia to attract international visitors in 15 key markets where our long-standing ‘There’s Nothing Like Australia’ brand platform has been in place for more than a decade,” Ms Harrison said.
“Currently we are in a strong position, with the return of international travel steadily rebuilding back to pre-pandemic levels and our global campaign ‘Come and Say G’day’ gaining traction internationally to remind and inspire visitors about what an Australian holiday has to offer.
“Despite this success, as international tourism continues to recover from several tumultuous years of disruption, we are facing competition for the tourist dollar as destinations globally seek to strengthen their visitor economies.
“The change in approach to our global creative and digital services for the future is about giving our organisation the flexibility it needs to respond to a range of scenarios that could emerge in a rapidly changing world,” Ms Harrison said.
Tourism Australia chief marketing officer Susan Coghill said tourism marketing was constantly evolving and so too were the requirements for creative and digital agency services.
“The key factors that attract visitors to Australia have largely remained the same over time, such as our world class natural beauty, people and lifestyle, and have been marketed internationally through a suite of excellent campaigns developed by our creative agencies, including our current ‘Come and Say G’day’ campaign,” Ms Coghill said.
“What we have seen in recent years, more so than at any other time, is just how quickly our external environment can impact the marketing we do and where we need to respond swiftly on multiple fronts at any one time with creative work.”
“Moving to a panel approach better reflects the diverse creative and production needs of our business and in particular the integration of digital across all of our marketing,” Ms Coghill said.
For further details on the request for tender, interested parties should register and download the package of documentation from AusTender (www.tenders.gov.au). An industry briefing will be held by Tourism Australia on 21 September 2023 for in-person attendance in Sydney or virtual attendees, with further details available in the tender document.
