PLEASE "don't do it"...

The following news story comes from "allNovaScotia.com" and it casts our Province in shunning out Nova Scotia's businesses from bidding on PEI work and if we keep up this closed shop parochial type thinking then we're going to find PEI firms being shut out of Nova Scotia work... but I think there's even more to this story in that the PEI Tourism geniuses (well they do run our golf business) are thinking along some other lines...

Yes PEI Tourism hit a home run with Regis & Kelly by doing it "in-house" but let's hope they're not crazy enough to "open their own advertisng shop"... it's easy to think you're invincible once you're hit the "homer" but it only takes a "Cirque" project to strike out... I like the concept of working with the smaller firms but why they would want to preclude Halifax agencies like "Extreme or M-5" or other big agencies puzzles me... in my business the Government's construction tenders are public tenders and lots of times major firms like PCL and Bird show up and occasionally win some in our local market but lots of times we show up and win some in their markets... I can certainly understand why they want the "personalized" attention of a smaller firm on this kind of contract but they should at least accept proposals from anyone who shows up with an interest in bidding... if they don’t want to accept the lowest price then set up a open scoring system and at the very least openly "score" them on their abilities before they preclude them... and for our taxpayer's interests PLEASE don't get crazy enough to "Open your own Shop" as another way of creating jobs...

I’d hate to wake up tomorrow and find out the our Government “opened” their own advertising agency and they hired the folks from Tourism Charlottetown to run it... because that’s exactly what we've got in “Golf Links PEI” an unnecessary agency that’s costing our taxpayers millions of dollars every year!!!! PLEASE "Mr. Vessey" don't let them do it....

P.E.I. Shuns Big Halifax Ad Agencies
allNovaScotia.com
By Andrew Macdonald
Oct 18-10
Halifax ad agencies have lost an opportunity to gun for the P.E.I. government's tourism campaign -because they are too big. according to Brenda Gallant who directs the Tourism Department's marketing division on the Island.~
The news comes right on the heels of P.E.I.'s hugely successful hosting of the popular American
morning show Regis & Kelly.
Instead of canvassing among the full service ad agencies - like Extreme Group or M-5 - the Robert Ghiz government wants a smaller boutique operator, or an individual who would provide account services and then tender out for things like media buying and producing commercials and other ads.
Grey Worldwide, a Toronto outfit, has had held the circa $600,000 contract to manage P.E.I. multimillion dollar tourism campaign since 2005. Its contract was extended for one year and expires this month.
When Grey took over it replaced Cossette Atlantic.
Many observers believed Extreme or M-5 would be in a position to compete for a new contract.
That's because Colour would be in a conflict, as it runs the Nova Scotia tourism campaign, and
Target does the same job for Newfoundland.
Gallant said yesterday a decision on hiring a new outfit or person could be made by the end of next week. She previously said the tender disqualified firms like Extreme or M-5 and other full service firms.
She said a smaller operator will be able to work hands-on with P.E.I.'s Tourism Department. The move is not, however, expected to save money.
One model which was also considered, was taking the tourism campaign in-house - something that could possibly happen in Nova Scotia, given the Darrell Dexter government is cash-starved.
The N.S. contract runs until November, but there are renewal options with existing contract Colour.
Over at the Dartmouth office of M-5, Jim Megann, its Nova Scotia director, said P.E.I.'s decision to reject the ad agency model should not be a big concern to the industry.
"The agency model has certainly stood its test of time, and while I wish P.E.I. the best in that
endeavour, I don't think it signals anything negative towards agencies," he said in a recent interview.
Paul LeBlanc, founder and co-owner of Extreme, notes Grey was not involved with the Regis & Kelly show, which the "Gentle Island" hosted for a week or the Island's popular music festival. Those programs were drafted in-house.
"The kind of exposure they got from that - you can't buy. And I would suggest if they do it every year they should replicate that," said LeBlanc.
But he said it's a lesson that agencies have to respond to changing times, as marketers feel that
agencies don't or shouldn't have all the answers to growing brands.
"An agency absolutely must change. Agencies in the world must change given the change that
consumers have had (with things like social media)," said LeBlanc.
He added: "Agencies still need to be the custodian of the brand."