SG govt readies for WOG media pitch picking consultant to handle review

The Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI) has appointed consultancy R3 to assist with the development, execution, and evaluation of its upcoming whole-of-government (WOG) media buying services contract. This comes after a pitch it called last month. According to GeBiz, the account is valued at SG$85,000. 

The WOG media buying services contract is an annual contract that tasks an agency with the planning, coordination, negotiation, buying, and evaluation of media buys across various forms of government communications efforts on both digital and non-digital media platforms. In 2018, MCI appointed Publicis' media solution led by Starcom as its master media agency, after drawing in 26 interested parties for the pitch. The account was valued at SG$80 million, MCI said then.

In a tender document seen by MARKETING-INTERACTIVE previously, the collaboration with a consultancy is aimed to strengthen the WOG media buying framework, and drive more tangible benefits for WOG, such as ensure greater savings and improved quality performance. R3 will be tasked to improve the existing framework to establish a consolidated and coordinated approach to government media buys, and achieve cost savings from the aggregated buys. Additionally, R3 will have to develop performance standards and a suitable pricing structure for the media buy agencies. R3 will be responsible for onboarding the awarded media buy agencies as well.

Meanwhile, MCI has also picked Meltwater, Isentia, and Truescope to provide media monitoring and/or online analytics services for the WOG. The tender was first called last year and the appointment is for two years, with the option of extending another two. According to Gebiz, Meltwater’s total rate card is SG$20,580 while that of Isentia’s and Truescope’s were SG$12,264 and SG$9,800 respectively. The three companies will oversee all government agencies, which include all ministries, statutory boards and organs of state. There were 10 firms vying for the account, including Carma Asia, Digimind, Digitas, Happy Marketer, Insightmatrix, and StarHub.

On the creative side, MCI last week appointed 77 firms to carry out audio-visual production services under its WOG video and animation framework contract. Among the vendors chosen were NasDaily, Night Owl Cinematics, MM2 Entertainment, The Smart Local, Viddsee, and Rice Media. Agencies that were chosen also included GERMS Digital, Distillery, and Animagine among others. The 77 firms were chosen out of the 199 interested parties vying for the account through a pitch called early last year. The account is valued at approximately SG$3.8 million, and the length of the contract is for one year with the option to extending for two more, according to GeBiz.

Separately, MCI is currently on the hunt for a panel of vendors to carry out creative services for communications campaigns for the WOG. Under the contract, the vendors shall supply and deliver communications campaign servicing, development and execution/production services. They will be tasked with overall campaign coordination, conceptualisation, production and management of creative materials and services needed to communicate key messages for the campaigns.  The contract period will be for a year, with the option of extending up to two years.

(Photo courtesy: 123RF)

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