With its current contracts set to expire in August, Tourism Prince Edward Island has issued RFPs for both a creative and media agency.
Halifax-based Prime Creative and Toronto’s Neo@Ogilvy currently handle creative and media, respectively. According to Brenda Gallant, director of marketing for Tourism P.E.I. in Charlottetown., both agencies have been invited to pitch the assignment said
“They are more than welcome to bid again,” said Gallant. “I can say with certainty that we have been very pleased with the work both companies have done. This is not a situation where we’re saying we want totally new.”
Three shortlisted candidates in both disciplines will present in mid-August, with the decisions coming immediately afterwards. It’s an accelerated timeline, said Gallant, since planning for 2014 begins the first week of September.
Agencies will be judged on factors including their ability to generate proven business results and their knowledge of Tourism P.E.I.’s most important markets (Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, New England, New York and the United Kingdom), she said.
Tourism P.E.I. had historically worked with one larger agency (Grey, Cossette and Y&R have each held the account previously) that typically subcontracted the various portions of the business to partners (typically network affiliations).
However, the client changed its model two-and-a-half years ago with the goal of assembling what Gallant called an “A team” of agencies that best fit its individual needs. The model has worked “extremely well” for the organization, said Gallant, leading to the creation of Tourism P.E.I.’s current agency roster: Hiero Marketing (account management), Mosaic (public relations), Prime Creative and Neo@Ogilvy.
The contract of The Montreal Office, a Montreal company that has provided Quebec-specific work on a long-term basis, will not be renewed. Those capabilities have been incorporated into the creative RFP, although Gallant said the opportunity still exists for The Montreal Office to partner with another agency on the Quebec business.
“None of these contracts are ending because of bad relationships,” Gallant stressed. “There’s not one group we want to let go, we love them all, but we’re using taxpayer dollars; we have to go out and find the best creative [partners] we can get who can give us the most value and help us stand out in a highly competitive travel market.”
Tourism P.E.I. has extended the contract of both Hiero Marketing and Mosaic until 2014 in order to ensure some continuity in the event that it does bring new agency partners aboard.
Next year is a milestone year for Tourism P.E.I. since it is the 150th anniversary of the Charlottetown Conference, which paved the way for Confederation. It will bring numerous marketing opportunities, said Gallant.
“We really want to ensure that we have a good strong team ready to tackle that, because with additional activities come great opportunities to bring more people to the island,” she said.
