Dentsu reels in Thailand's international tourism brief

BANGKOK: The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) is poised to

appoint Dentsu and Siamese D'Arcy to its international and domestic

accounts respectively following a lengthy pitch process.

Separate pitches were conducted for the international and domestic

accounts because they required different briefs and the (TAT) wanted to

give domestic agencies a chance. Siamese D'Arcy pitched against Kantana

Group, Cool Dee and Batey Ads; while Dentsu pitched against Siamese

D'Arcy and McCann-Erickson. International incumbent Leo Burnett declined

to repitch.

Siamese D'Arcy was well placed to pitch for both because it is part

owned by local founders - Pandis Diskul and Vichai Suphasomboon - said

Bill Hickman, Siamese D'Arcy's executive director. But it would have

been a challenge for domestic agencies to pitch for the international

brief as it required having a global network to service the account, he

said.

Dentsu plans to launch its first international campaign for TAT around

December, coinciding with the peak tourism period. "The brief was about

getting tourists to stay longer in Thailand so we showed a lot of

strategies and ideas around that," said Kazuhiro Nobuta, Dentsu MD. The

upcoming campaign will retain Burnett's "Amazing Thailand" tagline.