‘Tourism Malaysia’s practice unconventional’

KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 27, 2011): Tourism Malaysia’s practice in not calling for shortlisted agencies to make presentations before deciding on the winning advertising and promotions bidders, is unconventional. The Association of Accredited Advertising Agents (4As) vice-president Tony Savarimuthu said the calling for final presentations is an established industry practice before a decision is made on the winning bid.

Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen had said that the Finance Ministry had decided to do away with the presentation process as the submissions were “good enough”. “I don’t know the quality of the presentations but it is conventional to see final presentations, also to have a question-and-answer session between the clients and the agencies,” Savarimuthu told theSun recently. He was responding to allegations by Integrated Strategic Communications (ISC) chairman and group president Austen Zecha who withdrew from the controversial Tourism Malaysia tender bid on Jan 26 for “ambiguous” reasons.

One of them was that the ministry was not going to hold presentations by the shortlisted agencies.“How do you explain something on advertising without a presentation? No marketer worth his salt would pick an agency without a presentation,” Zecha said. Savarimuthu said to ensure no disputes arose and for greater transparency, the services of pitch consultants or independent parties should be roped in to oversee the pitching process. He said among steps that can be taken to improve the process are having a clear assessment criteria and to communicate them clearly, a set timeline to announce who the winners and losers are and for independent parties like senior marketers to oversee pitches to prevent disputes. “The best way to see a due process is to apply tools that allow you to operate better and have the best possible results,” he said adding that this was not the first time the pitching process had caused controversy.

ISC backed out of the race between 34 agencies for contracts worth RM314 million, following claims of abuse by Zecha who has since lodged reports with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC). Zecha claimed that supporting evidence included then Tourism Ministry director-general Datuk Mirza Mohammad Taiyab being charged for criminal breach of trust, hours after tenders closed on Aug 16, 2010. “In all previous occasions, the director-general – whoever that is – is the chairman or head of the Tender Selection Committee. And they didn’t even name an acting director-general for a bit of time!” Zecha said when met recently.

However, ISC too has been accused of having a “privileged run” for 12 years in the ministry. Zecha claims otherwise, saying it was in 1999 when then minister Datuk Seri Abdul Kadir Sheikh Fadzir called for a re-pitch between the ministry’s panel agencies and ISC. “He wanted the agency responsible for the ‘To Know Malaysia is To Love Malaysia’ brand and gave us three weeks to come back with a presentation and with no clients’ brief. “When we came back, I told him don’t go into shopping, or night life but to stand above it all.“Because Malaysia is the only one who can justify demographically, statistically that you have more Malays, Chinese and Indians than any other countries in the world and you truly represent the great three Asian civilisations and hence 'Malaysia: Truly Asia' won the tender,” Zecha said.

Under the 12-year-old 'Malaysia: Truly Asia' brand, he said the country saw growth in tourism receipts between RM10 million in the first year and RM54 million last year.“Every single year was a record year but now, truthfully, the brand can be destroyed in a moment,” Zecha said, adding that the worst part is watching the brand custodians who are supposed to be safeguarding it becoming the “brand destroyers.”
-theSun.