Tourism Australia reappoints UM as its media agency across 15 markets

News 26 Aug 2021 - 2 min read

Tourism Australia reappoints UM as its media agency across 15 markets

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Tags: Tourism Australia

Tourism Australia has reappointed Mediabrands Australia agency UM to handle its $80m global media buying account across 15 key markets, including Australia. The two will work together for a further five years under the new contract.

What you need to know:

Tourism Australia has reappointed UM as its media agency of record, with a contract extending the partnership a further five years.
The pitch process, which originally began in early last year, was hit by several delays including Covid and the 2020 bushfire season.
UM will handle media buying for the tourism body across 15 of its key markets, including Australia.

Tourism Australia has reappointed Mediabrands' UM to its $80m media account, with the contract extending the relationship by a further five years.

The review, which initially began in January last year, was fraught with several delays, including the 2020 bushfires and Covid, with the pitch restarting in November last year.

UM will operate under a fixed three year contract, with Tourism Australia having the option to extend the arrangement in two 12-month blocks.

The agency will handle its global media buying services across 15 key markets, including Australia.

According to the tourism body, Australia remains top of mind in its key source markets, with TA awaiting the reopening of borders as the current wave of Delta Variant keeps multiple states trapped in lockdown.

TA also received a further $76m in federal government funding last year, as part of a push for local tourism and its "Holiday Here This Year" campaign.

“Paid media is necessary to ensure that Australia maintains a visible presence in its key markets and having a strong global media strategy is more important now than ever before, particularly as we work towards rebuilding tourism as swiftly as possible,” Tourism Australia’s Managing Director, Phillipa Harrison said.

“The international tourism market has always been highly competitive, but throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve seen consumer media consumption shift significantly and gaining cut through to the right audience is incredibly challenging, and as such our media placement needs to be both strategic and highly effective."

TA CMO Susan Coghill said UM's success in the pitch was attributed to its global strategy and "demonstrated ability to adapt to an unpredictable environment".