The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) launched an open tender exercise today to appoint creative, media, digital and digital production agencies as partners in STB’s destination brand building efforts for a two year contract beginning April 2013, with an option to extend the contract for a further two years subject to satisfactory performance.

In the past year, STB has made a deliberate shift towards consumer-centric marketing, developing market-specific strategies and campaigns to address the evolving needs of consumers from Singapore’s key tourism markets. STB aims to attract agencies who, in their respective fields, can deliver solutions based on in-depth market knowledge and consumer understanding, have proven track records in building global brands, possess a strong network and presence in STB’s key markets, and have the commitment to develop a mutually beneficial long-term partnership with STB.

“We have deepened our understanding of consumers in our key markets, allowing us to develop relevant and appealing campaigns according to the needs of our visitors. Partnering strong creative, media, digital and digital production agencies will thus enable us to continue this emphasis on visitor-centricity in our marketing efforts,” said Ms Sophia Ng, Assistant Chief Executive, Marketing Group of the Singapore Tourism Board. “We see this as a partnership; beyond planning and executing campaigns, we want to work with agencies in building a strong Singapore destination brand.”

STB’s incumbent agencies are: creative agency Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH), digital agency XM Asia (XM), and media agency Mediaedge: cia (MEC).  They were all appointed on a two + two basis with contracts that end in March 2013.  They are also welcome to participate in the tender exercise.

Creative, Media and Digital Expertise

The tender does not dictate a specific agency model or structure, as priority will be on appointing a team of agencies with the required combined expertise that can support the full range of STB’s brand building and marketing needs.

The requisite creative expertise includes developing inspiring big ideas, innovative media-neutral concepts, and the ability and experience to play the strategic leadership role in integrating the work from each of the appointed agencies and the existing PR agencies in the respective markets. Media expertise includes having an in-depth knowledge of traditional, new and emerging media, and the ability to develop holistic and integrated media plans to deliver against the communications objectives to the target consumer. For both creative and media agencies, a critical criterion is offices or affiliate/partner network in STB’s key markets – Indonesia, Malaysia, India, China, Hong Kong, Australia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Japan, Korea, UK and North America.

For the digital agency, the successful tenderer will be expected to lead in all aspects of digital marketing, working together with the creative, media and digital production agencies. The digital agency will lead the conceptualisation, consultancy, development and maintenance of digital assets such as the YourSingapore destination website, supported and executed by a digital production agency with a high competency in digital production and technology.