Tourism Malaysia calls review to consolidate global creative account

Up to 50 agencies have reportedly shown interest in what is known to be the largest advertising account in Malaysia. The current tender is for the term January 2011 to December 2013 and closes at 12 noon on 16 August.

For the last six years, Tourism Malaysia's global business, worth on average between US$45 million and $60 million, has been handled by 10 different agencies each holding a different tender.

TBWA ISC holds the account for Europe, Pakar Media in North America, M&C Saatchi in OSEANA, Smascon in North Asia, Wellads in East Asia, Sen Media in South Asia and the Middle East and Astana in Southeast Asia. Conceptcom holds the domestic tourism tender and M&C Saatchi holds the special events and projects tender.

The ten tenders have now been reduced to five, bundling the territories as follows: domestic and specials events; Southeast Asia; North and East Asia; South and West Asia; and Europe, North America and OSEANA.

According to an industry source, the new arrangement will work in favour of multinational agencies. The government has stipulated it will only accept tenders from agencies with at least RM1 million (US$300,000) available in paid capital, therefore stable and financially sound, and an international network and access to international research and data. The requirements therefore excludes local or independent shops from all tenders bar domestic and special events duties.

"There have been too many eyebrows raised on choices of agencies in the past. There is no McCann, no O&M, no Y&R and no Lowe," said the source.

This development follows a report from February last year that Tourism Malaysia was seeking to consolidate its global account into two agencies. In August 2008, the organisation was rocked by an alleged corruption scandal when Datuk Mirza Mohammad Taiyab, director-general of Tourism Malaysia at the time, was accused of illegal dealings with Pakar Media, a company part-owned by Carat Malaysia.

Reducing the tenders to five reverts back to the account's original arrangement back in 1999 when TBWA ISC came on board to manage creative duties for Europe, North America and OSEANA. The agency went on to produce the iconic 'Malaysia. Truly Asia.' campaign, which, following its launch in 1999, has reportedly increased annual arrivals to Malaysia from 6.6 million in 1998 to 23 million last year, increasing the tourism market's worth from US$3 billion to over US$15.6 million.

TBWA ISC has since held the account for four consecutive terms.