Dentsu Grant wins consultancy job for global tea campaign

Thursday, 23 November 2017 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Cabinet yesterday gave the green light to appoint Dentsu Grant Ltd. as the consultancy agency for the much-awaited tea promotional campaign.

The agency was selected after a long tender process to carry out media planning, scheduling and buying for the global tea promotion campaign.

Dentsu Grants won the tender quoting Rs. 219.9 million while the second tenderer Phoenix O&M quoted Rs. 258.1 million.

Although three out of five companies which responded to the Expression of Interest qualified for the job, only two had submitted bids in compliance with the requirements, Minister Navin Dissanayake told Cabinet this week.

The company appointed to do the consultancy services will be responsible for media planning scheduling and buying for the campaign in Russia/CIS, Middle East /Gulf, Africa, Far East Oceania, Europe and South Asia for a period of three years.

The work of the campaign has been categorised under three segments, Creative Work and Social Media Work, Media Component which includes media planning scheduling and buying, and Public Relations.

The responsibility of the Public Relations component had been handed to the Ceylon Tea Board by the Cabinet in August 2016, while Creative Work for both above-the-line and below-the-line and Social Media was awarded to Phoenix O &M Ltd. in April 2015, with an extension granted in 2017 for another two years.

The campaign has already been delayed for several years due to shortcomings in the launch initiatives and has survived an attempt by the Treasury to take over the promotional fund earlier this year.

Tea Board Chairman Dr. Rohan Pethiyagoda has raised concerns over the delays in the campaign on several occasions, stressing that if the campaign misses the December 2017 deadline, the entire campaign will be pushed back by yet another year, till 2018 winter in the Northern Hemisphere.