UM has been been reappointed to the Tourism Australia media account with an annual ad spend of $40 million to $50 million.
The media services contract, for "high-performing" agencies, was put out for tender in November last year as part of a statutory review.
Tourism Australia today confirmed the reappointment of Mediabrands Australia, trading as UM, to handle its global media buying across 15 key markets, including Australia. UM won the account from OMD in 2016 during the last review.
The latest deal is for five years from September, mde up of a three-year contract with options for two, one-year extensions.
Susan Coghill, Tourism Australia's CMO, says the tender process was thorough.
“UM was the right choice for continued success," she says.
"Their global strategy and demonstrated ability to adapt to an unpredictable environment will be instrumental to driving demand for Australia and supporting the industry’s recovery.”
Anathea Ruys, the CEO of UM Australia: “I am immensely proud of our UM team in retaining the trust and partnership with Tourism Australia.
“This partnership is so very strong, having endured the most testing of circumstances that could not have been imagined 18 months ago.
"We look forward to the future with total enthusiasm and focus on Tourism Australia’s opportunities and audiences in all domestic and international markets.”
Tourism Australia’s managing director Phillipa Harrison says it is vital, while international travel is on hold, that Australia stays top of mind in key markets so that when borders reopen audiences are primed to book an Australian holiday.
“Paid media is necessary to ensure that Australia maintains a visible presence in its key markets and having a strong global media strategy is more important now than ever before, particularly as we work towards rebuilding tourism as swiftly as possible,” she says.
“The international tourism market has always been highly competitive, but throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve seen consumer media consumption shift significantly and gaining cut through to the right audience is incredibly challenging, and as such our media placement needs to be both strategic and highly effective."
Tourism Australia has also announced the reappointment of Beijing Gridsum Technology, trading as Gridsum, for search engine marketing and search engine optimisation in China.
Gridsum has been appointed for a five-year period from September, with the contract structured for an initial three-year period with options for two one-year extensions.
Coghill: “Having an agency on the ground in China has proven invaluable to us over the past few years. Gridsum’s deep relationships and local knowledge will be critical to ensuring we continue to reach the right audience at the right time in a unique and media saturated market, such as China."
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