Singapore Tourism Board appoints TBWA as global ad agency after four-month review
Singapore Tourism Board has concluded one of the biggest advertising pitches of the year in the citystate.
The government body has appointed TBWA, which handles the Singapore Airlines and Airbnb accounts, as global agency of record for creative, digital and production services after a four-month review.
TBWA\Singapore takes on the account from J. Walter Thompson, which has handled the business since 2013.
TBWA saw off competition from a shortlist that included Omnicom sibling DDB, and WPP agencies Ogilvy & Mather and Comwerks, in a process managed by Roth Observatory.
The appointment is effective from 1 April 2016.
TBWA’s proposal was the priciest of the four contenders, with its work valued at $8.6 million for the two-year contract period.
The agency faces a tough task to define the diminutive 50 year-old citystate’s brand at a time of declining visitor numbers.
Lynette Pang, STB’s assistant CEO, said in a statement that she was “confident” that the organisation had found the right partner to “challenge the norms of destination marketing.”
The announcement from STB:
Singapore, 15 December 2015 – The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) has appointed TBWA\Singapore as STB’s global agency partner for integrated creative, digital and production services. The appointment is for two years with effect from 1 April 2016, with an option to extend the contract annually for a maximum of three years.
Following the Request for Proposal in August 2015, STB received a total of nine submissions. With advice from Roth Observatory International, the first round of evaluation assessed the submissions based on criteria such as track records, strength of global networks, and proposed servicing models. Following this, shortlisted agencies were given a pitch challenge to showcase their strategy development, creativity, and team capabilities.
Throughout this process, the TBWA\Singapore team stood out for their deep understanding of the tourism business, clear thinking, innovative and impactful ideas, and proposed action plans that were well integrated across different channels and platforms.
“We look forward to working closely with TBWA\Singapore as an agile and synergistic team. Based on our extensive interactions in the past four months, we are confident we have found a partner that can challenge the norms of destination marketing and help us create new possibilities,” said Ms Lynette Pang, Assistant Chief Executive, Singapore Tourism Board.
“We would like to thank all agencies that have put in the time and effort to participate in our pitch, and are grateful for the hard work, great energy, and thoughtful submissions,” added Ms Pang. “We also thank our incumbent agencies, JWT and Mirum, for their contributions so far.”
We didn’t have a chance for this one sorry. CEO Fiona runs back to England, Creative Directors Troy Lim and Jon leaving and the planners too. It was a pitch full of freelancers and people leaving the agency when you think about it so many people working on it were not even full time employees. That was a very sad mistake, and of course the client knew this because they know people working here! great on the tbwa guys for pitching and winning this nightmare.
Reply@Seventh Floor Where was the CCO in all of this?
ReplyBig loss for XM / false start for Mirum.
Replyits was smart of jwt and mirum to pull out. good luck to tbwa.
ReplyI had originally picked ddb as the predictable winner of this gangbang….but happy to be proven wrong. Now im just happy they didnt give it to grey…..probably the most unsingaporean agency in town by employee representation.
Ogilvy…..hmmmph….what can you say…..put a bunch of pro bono queens on a pitch like this and you know youre staring at disaster. They need to burn that place down and reinvent themselves.
ReplyA very candid and curt analysis of the competitors.
This is a far cry from the days when STB/STPB work stood out for its bravery, charm and wit.
The agencies behind them were Leo Burnett and Bateys.
Today’s players show just how far the creative standards have fallen.
The focus on scams and awards have seen an atrophy of professionalism in departments across the agency.
See you all back for the next gang bang in 2019. Or sooner.
Reply@humble pie, that comment on Grey… couldn’t have said it any better.
Replynice one about Grey. But TBWA is about second in terms of unsingaporean, no? that said its a strong streak the / agency is getting. Hope they can whip the clients to shape.
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