SG whole of government 3-year media buying contract up for grabs

The Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI) has launched the whole of government (WOG) media buying tender which will last for 36 months with the option to extend by 24 months. The incumbent is Publicis' media solution led by Starcom which was appointed as MCI's master media agency in 2018 for the SG$80 million account. The previous appointment was for a year with the option to extend for another and Starcom managed the overall planning, coordination, execution and evaluation of media buys across digital and non-digital media platforms across the WOG.

The briefing is on 8 October at 10 am. According to the tender seen by MARKETING-INTERACTIVE, there are three categories: master media agency, panel of media planning and buying agencies, and panel of content publishers.

Among the list of roles for the master media agency include overall planning, coordination, execution and evaluation of media buys across digital and non-digital media platforms across the WOG. The agency is also required to form a dedicated hub team and manage the individual planning, execution and evaluation of media buys for each customer, across digital and non-digital media platforms. The appointed agency will have two groups to account to: the adviser under the master contract and the customers in respect of the purchase order issued by the customers in question.

For this specific category, MCI is looking at appointing a single contractor which can either be a single media agency or a custom team of media buying agencies formed on their own accord. The hub team will offer advisory services and be the main point of contact for MCI as well as the other WOG customers. It will also be responsible for setting up the standard operating procedures for the management of the WOG account, as well as updating MCI and customers on the emerging trends to drive strategic direction and innovation. At the same time, the hub team will also be responsible for the overall digital governance of the WOG account and create a strategic approach to data and establishing the ways of working that help future proof WOG's data strategy for marketing initiatives.

These include setting up and standardisation of digital operations and digital media planning templates to be used across all customer initiatives, establishing a data strategy to be integrated into customer initiatives and media planning, and advisory services on future-proofing media strategy and operations.

Meanwhile, the panel of media planning and buying agencies will manage the individual planning, execution, and evaluation of media buys for each customer, across digital and non-digital media platforms. Initiatives in this category are likely (but not always be) agency-specific and smaller in scale as compared to initiatives for the master media agency, the tender said. This category of the master contract is non-exclusive and customers may purchase from other vendors or utilise in-house resources where deemed more appropriate during the contract period. The media buys in this category include but are not confined to government communications efforts.

If more than one selected media agency from this category is required to submit a proposal that includes audience insights, media strategy, media plan, execution approach, media costs and timeline for a specific government agency project, a pitching fee of SG$3,000 is fixed and only payable to agencies that submitted proposals but were not selected to run that initiative. 

The selected panel of content publishers, on the other hand, will work to meet content and amplification needs for WOG users who might need access to publishers directly for long-term or special engagements, for example.

A content publisher is defined as a company that owns one or or multiple websites, video channels or social media pages. Content publishers will be required to have a minimum of either 100k followers on Facebook or Instagram; or 100k subscribers on YouTube; or have a minimum of 500k web visitors a month on a single page, channel and social media handle. Content publishers will not need to plan or strategise media outside of the publisher ecosystem, but may boost their own social media posts or buy media to support the reach of their content.

The appointed content publishers are required to pass engagement data back to MCI in a template set out by MCI and the WOG users. Data, in this case, is defined, including but not limited to costings, impressions, views, reach, engagement and clicks.

In April this year, MCI appointed R3 to assist with the development, execution, and evaluation of its media buying services contract. The account for the pitch consultant is valued at SG$85,000. Meanwhile, MCI is currently in the midst of selecting agencies for its creative WOG account. There are currently 162 agencies vying for the account including Accenture Singapore, ADK Connect Singapore, Asia PR Werkz, BBDO Singapore, BLKJ Havas, DDB Worldwide, dentsu Singapore, Disney, Edelman, Fishermen Integrated, formul8, Forsman & Bodenfors, GOODSTUPH, Grey, Wunderman Thompson, TSLA, VaynerMedia, and Wild Advertising, UltraSuperNew, among others. This was a jump from the 67 agencies which previously competed in 2018, with only 39 being selected eventually.

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Photo courtesy: 123RF

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