DDB MudraMax bags OOH duties of South African Tourism

The agency will be responsible for the tourism board's destination brand building efforts in India and create the 2013-14 campaign which goes live in January, 2014.

South African Tourism has appointed DDB MudraMax as its outdoor advertising partner. The agency will be responsible for the tourism board's destination brand building efforts in India and create the 2013-14 campaign which goes live in January, 2014.

An agency pitch was undertaken in August, and saw participation from 12 creative and media buying agencies. A comprehensive campaign brief was shared with the agencies in July and the participants were given more than a month to present their creative plan. After several rounds of evaluation of all the proposals, DDB MudraMax was chosen as the preferred partner by South African Tourism.

Commenting on the win, Hanneli Slabber, country manager, South African Tourism, says, "Given the importance of Indian market in our global tourism growth strategy, we were scouting for an agency that showcases the best understanding of South Africa as a holiday destination, brings forth in-depth market knowledge and consumer understanding, besides demonstrating commitment to extend a mutually beneficial long-term partnership with us. We definitely saw a stiff competition amongst the participating agencies as everyone came up with exciting proposals making it tough for us to choose the best."

As per Slabber, DDB MudraMax was declared the winner as it provided the most innovative and compelling ideas in addition to showcasing its team strength and expertise that can support South African Tourism's brand building and marketing requirements across key markets and audiences.

Mandeep Malhotra, president, DDB MudraMax, OOH, experiential and retail, says, "I am extremely happy to be partnering with South Africa Tourism to help promote its tourism plans and expand its strategy to the outdoor market, in India. The team comprising of Aneil Deepak, Vijay Jain and Raza Syed are excited to be a part as well."

Over the years, South African Tourism has witnessed a tremendous increase in Indian tourist arrivals to South Africa - 59,161 Indian tourists visited South Africa from January 2013 to June 2013, which is an increase of 11 per cent. In partnership with DDB MudraMax, the tourism board hopes to roll out innovative and exciting outdoor, cinema and TVC campaigns to position South Africa as the most preferred destination among potential Indian travellers, besides extending their brand marketing outreach to a larger mix of traveller segments across key markets.

In July 2013, DDB MudraMax bagged gold for its Post It campaign at the Outdoor Advertising Awards (OAA). A year earlier, the agency bagged the top spot, getting 14 metals in its kitty, comprising six golds, six silvers and two bronzes. The agency's gold wins included the work done for auto brand Volkswagen, which was awarded the Campaign of the Year; it also bagged the Outdoor Media Plan of the Year (National). The Volkswagen campaign was the big winner at the award ceremony, bagging a gold for DDB MudraMax in the Innovation of the Year category. In the same category, the silver was awarded to Lintas Initiative Outdoors for a campaign done for Nokia Lumia.