The larger of the two media contracts is the £60m federal government contract. The business is split into two contracts: non-campaign, which includes work such as recruitment advertising and public notices; and campaign work.
Australia's largest independent media-buying agency Mitchell and Partners currently handles all the campaign media planning and placement, while Starcom Worldwide, owned by Bcom3, does the non-campaign work. Both have held the accounts for the past four years and are thought to be repitching in the statutory review. The current contracts expire on November 30 this year.
The second contract is with the New South Wales government, which has put its campaign and non-campaign media-buying account out to tender. The annual billings for the state government are around £33m, with the tender process due to close on July 31.
Currently Zenith Optimedia Group holds the NSW campaign account, while HMA Blaze, part of George Patterson Bates, handles the non-campaign work. Both have held the work for more than four years and are expected to be in the running for the work once more.
The Australian government operates the Central Advertising System to consolidate government adspend, secure optimal media discounts and ensure that departments and agencies do not compete against each other for media time and space.
The details of the federal government tender will be released next week.
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