M&C Saatchi Indonesia has won creative duties for the country's Ministry of Tourism, following a tender process that initially attracted 90 agencies.
The government issued the tender for the Ministry of Tourism & Creative Economy (Kementerian Pariwisata dan Ekonomi Kreatif) in July. According to a government tender website, which lists all 90 agencies that took part, the negotiated fee for the contract is about 3 billion Indonesian rupiah (just over US$200,000). Only 12 agencies passed a qualifications stage, and only M&C Saatchi submitted a proposal that passed muster.
The agency will be responsible for an integrated campaign that will run across six international markets (China, Japan, South Korea, Germany, the UK and the US), along with a local campaign to promote domestic tourism. The campaign will launch in 2021.
The ministry wants to do everything possible to help the pandemic-battered tourism industry, which contributed 4.8% to Indonesia’s GDP in 2019, when the country drew 18 million inbound tourists, said Martini Paham (Ibu Diah), director of the ministry.
"We were thrilled to see that 90 agencies were committed to help us do that," she added. "M&C Saatchi Indonesia’s approach was fresh, insightful, and we believe will instill confidence among travel enthusiasts to feel welcome in the country. We look forward to work with them to do a massive domestic and international campaign, including our creative economy with fashion, craft and culinary experiences.”
Anish Daryani, founder and president director of M&C Saatchi Indonesia, said his team takes "utmost pride" in the win. “We see this as an opportunity to serve the country and help revive the tourism industry in Indonesia," he said. "This is also another opportunity for us to demonstrate our integrated approach to communications, where we string together primary and secondary research, advertising, digital, reputation management, influencer marketing, performance marketing, social and digital marketing, all through a single lens.
The M&C Saatchi Group manages communications for a number of destinations and airlines, including Malaysia, Australia, Iceland and Abu Dhabi. “We are glad to add Indonesia to this roster,” Daryani added.