Tourism Australia is to choose UM as its media agency after both the incumbent OMD and Mindshare were told they are no longer part of the process.
It is expected the decision will be announced in the coming week or so, with Tourism Australia telling AdNews the process is still "ongoing".
Tourism Australia is one of the most prestigious media accounts in Australia and a welcome boost for UM, which lost Coles and Target to OMD earlier this month.
The account does not generate a huge amount of ad bookings in Australia, but has a sizeable five-year $300 million budget abroad, particularly in key markets Southeast Asia, China, India, the UK and US. Tourism Australia says 50%-60% of budget will be focused on digital.
Tourism Australia's extensive brief focused on three service components: global media, global digital media and China digital media.
A key component is being able to provide media buying services across several markets, including the UK, US, China, India, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Germany, France, Italy and Brazil.
Another interesting element is that UM will be required to deliver a first or third party demand side platform for programmatic media buying to enable automated buying of desktop display, mobile display, mobile video and online video inventory.
The IPG Mediabrands agency will also be required to establish a bespoke agency operating model to ensure a consistent service across the world.
All of the media agencies AdNews contacted declined to comment.
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