Carat set to retain £30m Tourism Australia account

by Arif Durrani, Media Week 04-Sep-08, 11:15

LONDON - Aegis Group's Carat is poised to officially announce it has retained the £30m global media planning and buying duties for Tourism Australia tomorrow (Friday), following a statutory review that pitted the agency against Media Planning Group in Australia.

Carat has held the account for the past three years and this is expected to now be extended by a further three years.

An insider at Carat said: "I am unable to confirm anything at the moment, but things are certainly looking good. We hope to be able make an official announcement tomorrow."

An insider at Australia's MPG, which is a joint venture between Harold Mitchell's Mitchell Communications Group and the Havas-owned MPG, said she did not believe they had been successful in the pitch.

The reappointment of Carat completes a company-wide review that has seen Tourism Australia drop its controversial "So where the bloody hell are you" campaign, after DDB snatched the global creative account from former incumbent M&C Saatchi in July.