Whole of government media tender worth SG$80m picks master media agency

Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI) has appointed Publicis' media solution led by Starcom as its master media agency, following a whole of government (WOG) tender, Marketing understands.UPDATE: Marketing initially understood the account to be valued at SG$100 million, but MCI later clarified this to be approximately SG$80million. "After a rigorous process that looked into the price competitiveness, media buying capabilities, and the proven track records of six tenderers for the MMA, we have appointed the Gov@Publicis Media consortium led by Starcom Media Worldwide," Claire Tan, director, National Marketing Office, MCI told Marketing.The length of appointment for the master media agency will be for a period of one year, with an option to extend for a maximum of two years. Publicis' spokesperson has referred all queries to the client. According to Marketing' sources, Starcom is tipped to manage the overall planning, coordination, execution and evaluation of media buys across digital and non-digital media platforms across the WOG.As seen in a tender document obtained by Marketing earlier, the appointment will cover all government ministries, statutory boards, departments, organs of state. The pitch also involved appointing of a panel of media agencies. Marketing has reached out MCI for details on the panel. Both the length of appointment for both the master media agency, and panel of agencies will be for a period of one year, with an option to extend for a maximum of two years.Overall, the tender saw 26 agencies vying to be part of the panel. These included media agencies such as IPG Mediabrands, Havas Media, GroupM, IH Singapore, Carat and many others. It also saw unconventional players such as Singapore Press Holdings, Singapore Telecommunications, and Mediacorp bid for the account. The tender also involves the appointment of a panel of media agencies.