Tourism Australia appoints M&C Saatchi and Digitas to its creative and digital agency roster

UPDATED – Tourism Australia has appointed M&C Saatchi as its global creative agency and Digitas as its digital agency, after a major pitch lasting more than six months.

The agency will provide Australia’s national tourism organisation with global brand, advertising and production services, commencing work in January 2019.

The incumbent creative agency is Clemenger BBDO, Sydney, who won the account in 2013 from DDB Sydney, who was also on the pitch. Others known to be on the pitch list included BMF and Droga5 New York.

The win for M&C Saatchi sees it once again taking the lead creative agency role for Tourism Australia, twelve years after the controversial ‘Where the Bloody Hell are you?’ campaign in 2006 when Australia’s current Prime Minister Scott Morrison was managing director of Tourism Australia.

Tourism Australia managing director, John O’Sullivan, said the appointment followed a comprehensive and competitive selection process aimed at continuing its focus on delivering world class creativity aligned with its strategic marketing objectives.

Says O’Sullivan: “I think Tourism Australia has set a pretty high benchmark in recent years with its marketing work and the brief we put together for this tender was very much about building upon that. The calibre of responses we received was exceptional.

“In the end, M&C Saatchi proved to be the stand-out agency in terms of their strategic and brand thinking as well as the culture and operating model we wanted for our business.”

Says Lisa Ronson, chief marketing officer, Tourism Australia: “The ideas M&C Saatchi shared were extremely creative, and they demonstrated the kind of big thinking we need to effectively differentiate Australia from the competition.”

Says Jaimes Leggett, CEO of M&C Saatchi: “The Tourism Australia team have bold creative ambitions and their passion is contagious. From the beginning it has felt like a great partnership, we cannot wait to get started.”

Ronson thanked all the agencies who participated in the tender process, paying special tribute to current agency partners Clemenger BBDO Sydney and Droga5.

Says Ronson: “Over the past five years, we’ve has great support from our agency partners who have helped deliver some exceptional creative work. This includes Clemenger BBDO for stand-out campaigns such as Restaurant Australia and Aussie News Today, and more recently, Droga5 who were responsible for the Dundee campaign we launched at the Super Bowl.”

The new arrangements with M&C Saatchi initially run for three years, with an option to extend the contract for two further periods of 12 months.

This year Tourism Australia partnered with Droga5 New York and UM to launch its star-studded ‘Dundee: The Son of a Legend Returns Home’ campaign, which secured a coveted Titanium Lion award at the 2018 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.

Tourism Australia picked up a total of 10 Lions. Tourism Australia’s youth-focused ‘Aussie News Today’ campaign, developed in conjunction with Clemenger BBDO Sydney, also took home a Gold and Bronze Lion.

Developed in conjunction with Droga5 New York and Tourism Australia’s global media services agency UM, the A$36 million campaign was officially unveiled at the Super Bowl in February with the aim of reinvigorating interest in Australia for a new generation of American travellers.

Initially appearing as a trailer for a new Crocodile Dundee movie, the 60-second ad, shot by Australia’s Steve Rogers from Revolver, features Chris Hemsworth and Danny McBride as well as Paul ‘Crocodile Dundee’ Hogan. The campaign was also supported by a host of Aussie A-listers, including Hugh Jackman, Margot Robbie, Russell Crowe, Ruby Rose, Liam Hemsworth, Isla Fisher, Luke Bracey and Jessica Mauboy.

Tourism Australia has confirmed the appointment of Digitas, a subsidiary of the Publicis Groupe, to oversee its global digital and technology services requirements, commencing work in January 2019. Incumbent ASAP+ has also been retained for all digital services in China.

The digital creative, CX and technology scope of work includes assisting Tourism Australia to refine its higher value target traveller and strategically aligning its digital platforms and user experience to better attract, inform and convert these customers to travel to Australia. Digitas and ASAP+ will also support Tourism Australia’s agency roster for major campaign development.

O’Sullivan said both agencies had demonstrated strategic vision alongside a strong track record of delivery: “Digital is the real battleground in today’s world of destination marketing and we attach huge importance to our digital assets and the huge global footprint they give us.

“Both Digitas and ASAP+ demonstrated a real understanding of our target customer, both globally and in China, and identified where we can engage most meaningfully with them on their digital journey. They showed us a compelling vision and a clear pathway to execute it.”

Ronson said the new digital appointments effectively completed its agency roster across media (UM), creative (M&C Saatchi) and digital (Digitas and ASAP+) and, alongside Tourism Australia, provided a world class destination marketing team.

Says Ronson: “Competition for the share of the global travel wallet is intense and as a destination marketing agency we are increasingly looking for cut through and high impact ideas.

“Digitas and ASAP+ certainly tick those boxes as our new global digital partners. We see them playing a key role working alongside M&C Saatchi and our media services agency UM in helping to integrate our brand narrative across all digital touchpoints.”

Says Adrian Farouk, CEO, Digitas Australia: “As potentially one of the most competitive digital pitches of the year, we are humbled and excited to work with one of the country’s most trusted and revered brands.

“We love working with ambitious clients and can’t wait to drive more meaningful connections for Tourism Australia through the smart application of digital; creating data-fuelled stories and tech-enabled experiences to reach audiences in powerful new ways.”

CEO of ASAP+ Dave Rumsey said it was an honour to continue as one of Tourism Australia’s two digital partners: “The competition for digital attention in global travel has never been greater, especially in Australia’s biggest inbound market, China. We look forward to bringing our ideas and digital expertise to a table that not only contains world leading agencies but also a courageous and innovative world leading client in Tourism Australia.”

The new digital arrangements initially run for three years, with an option to extend the contracts for two further 12-month periods.