BANGKOK: The Tourism Authority of Thailand's (TAT) domestic and
international accounts, valued at US$9 million combined, are up
for review. Seven agencies are pitching for the international assignment
and 11 are pitching for the domestic.
However, incumbent agency Leo Burnett, which has held the account for
six years, is not taking part in the pitch. According to Pornsiri
Rojmeta, the managing director of Leo Burnett Thailand: "We decided it
was time to take a break and allow other agencies to have an opportunity
to work on this prestigious and important account."
The surprise decision comes as a TAT source said that the review process
would give some consideration to a controversial Government directive
issued about six months ago, in which Prime Minister Thaksin
Shinawatra's office instructed state enterprises to hire Thai
consultants instead of foreign ones in order to save money.
That same month, TAT awarded a portion of the domestic account to small
local agency Creative Juice, at the expense of Burnett. But the Prime
Minister's office later issued a clarification, saying the directive was
only a suggestion.
The source said that multinational agencies would not be disadvantaged
during the review process. "You have to remember, these are not foreign
agencies. They may have international headquarters, but they are
majority-owned by Thais and are staffed by Thais. They will get a fair
chance. But we need to see if there are Thai agencies that can handle
the work."
Pornsiri, however, left the door open for project work. "We have indepth
knowledge of, and experience in the tourism business - it would be a
real shame not to draw on all that experience again."
