Singapore whole of government media buying panel up for grabs

The Singapore government is seeking to appoint a panel of media buying agencies to deliver collective media planning and buying services across the Whole of Government (WOG), in a move aimed at improving efficiency, coordination and campaign performance.

According to tender documents seen by MARKETING-INTERACTIVE, the master contract seeks to deliver greater cost savings through economies of scale, strengthen marcomms coordination and capability building across government agencies, and centralise campaign data through a shared dashboard to improve campaign processes and performance.

The successful agencies will be appointed to the panel for an initial term of 36 months, with the government retaining the option to extend the contract by up to a further 24 months.

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The tender is split into three categories based on campaign size and media requirements.

Category A agencies will manage media planning and buying for campaigns with media expenditure of SG$350,000 and above, while Category B agencies will handle campaigns below SG$350,000. Meanwhile, Category C comprises content publishers that government agencies can engage directly for campaigns across television, radio, print and online channels. Where a preferred publisher is not part of the Category C panel, agencies may procure the placement through a Category A or Category B agency depending on the value of the media buy.

Beyond media buying, the appointed agencies will be expected to provide strategic recommendations that demonstrate creativity and innovation, including identifying emerging audience targeting methods, new advertising formats, media technologies and platforms that can improve the effectiveness of government communications. They will also be expected to advise on issues unique to the public sector and keep agencies updated on the latest industry trends and market developments.

For Category A agencies, responsibilities extend beyond campaign execution. The appointed agency will provide ongoing strategic advisory support to the government's appointed adviser and WOG agencies, including coordinating government-wide media activities, managing campaign clashes, producing performance benchmarking reports, organising an annual "Gov Day" event, conducting media training and reporting total media savings achieved across government.

Category A partners will also be responsible for producing an annual "Media industry trends report" and maintaining a marcomms playbook. The report will analyse media consumption habits, consumer behaviour, audience profiles across media platforms, key social media creators, emerging technologies and new platforms suitable for government messaging, while recommending strategies to help agencies better reach their target audiences.

Meanwhile, Category B agencies will oversee the planning, execution and evaluation of campaigns with media expenditure below SG$350,000 across both online and offline platforms. Category C agencies will be responsible for planning, producing and executing campaigns across their owned media channels, including developing media strategies, creating campaign content and managing live campaigns. The category is divided into four panels covering television, radio, print and online content publishers.

The government has also introduced stringent requirements around personnel continuity. Key account personnel, including account directors or account leads, cannot be reassigned or removed without prior notice to the customer, except under exceptional circumstances such as illness or resignation. Any replacement must be communicated at least 21 days in advance and be of equivalent qualifications and experience to ensure business continuity.

The tender also places a strong emphasis on tackling ad fraud and reducing media wastage. Agencies will be required to implement measures to detect and mitigate fraudulent traffic, including deploying ad fraud detection technologies where appropriate. Government entities will only be charged for impressions, clicks or conversions verified as legitimate by approved ad fraud tools.

In addition, agencies must regularly monitor and optimise advertising technology platforms, use internet protocol exclusion lists to block suspicious traffic, implement appropriate audience targeting and segmentation, and provide customers with monthly campaign-level ad fraud reports alongside administrative access to ad fraud detection platforms.

The new tender comes months after the Ministry of Digital Development and Information (MDDI) appointed MediaSense to independently review the performance of its incumbent media buying agency under the WOG media buying framework. The appointment followed a tender issued by the National Marketing Office (NMO), which closed in February this year.

In May last year, The Ministry of Communications and Information's (MCI) whole of government creative pitch resulted in 66 agencies making the cut and ending up on the roster.

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