Tourism WA goes East

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StephanieBuckland_sml.jpgUPDATED STORY – Tourism WA has taken the controversial route and appointed Sydney agency Host to their account. Host pitched against BMF Sydney and 303 Perth in the three-way review. 303 Perth Managing Director Alan Taylor said the agency was very disappointed. He believed they put together a great pitch utilising the full resources of both their Perth and Sydney agencies.

“We gave it our very best shot and I can honestly say even looking at it now I wouldn’t have changed a thing,” said Taylor.

Executive Director of Marketing Stephanie Buckland (pictured) said that Host was selected from a highly competitive field, based on their excellent submission and on a value for money assessment: “The rigorous two-stage tender process was designed to find the agency with the most outstanding and impactful marketing approach and the ability to deliver it within our budget,” Buckland said.

The controversial appointment of Host has been approved by the State Tender Review Committee, Tourism Western Australia’s Strategic Marketing Committee and Tourism Western Australia’s Board.  Tourism Western Australia also took the additional step to engage an external probity auditor to ensure the tender process was fair and equitable at all times.

“It was a tight competition between three highly-qualified finalists who each brought innovative ideas to the table, but the panel agreed that Host would be best-suited to our needs. Host demonstrated an excellent grasp of the challenges in marketing Western Australia as a tourism destination, and recommended an exciting next step in our strategic direction. Most importantly they put forward an approach which we believe will clearly differentiate WA from the competition – nationally and internationally.”

Buckland said that Host is highly regarded in the Australian advertising industry with an impressive client list and a number of awards under their belt: “They also have a track record of delivering outstanding business outcomes for their clients which is critical for the State’s $7 billion tourism industry.”

She thanked all the agencies for the time and effort they put into their tender submissions.

Buckland also acknowledged incumbent agency Marketforce for their contributions to Tourism WA: “John Driscoll and his team have provided us with outstanding service during their time as our advertising agency and we thank them.”

Marketforce decided not to try and defend the account at the time the review was called. In Campaign Brief WA’s April 30th story “Tourism to travel east?” Marketforce chairman, John Driscoll, said that the pitch document released by Tourism WA made it difficult for local agencies.

“The way that the weighting of the case study part was worded implies that they were looking for case studies from major national or international clients and we believe that would disadvantage a Western Australian agency,” Driscoll said at the time.

Emotions within the Perth industry have been running high on this pitch since the shortlist, that originally contained three Sydney-based agencies and 303, was announced. Many industry observers have speculated that Host has always had the inside running on the account due to their previous client/agency relationship with Buckland when she worked at BankWest.

Buckland was part of the BankWest decision-making team that moved the creative account from The Brand Agency to Host in Sydney in 2007 when the bank embarked on an aggressive expansion in the eastern states.