MoT floats tender of Rs 200 cr for Incredible India campaign

According to a report by Pritha Mitra Dasgupta for The Economic Times, the Ministry of Tourism (MoT), Government of India has floated a tender for the Rs 200-crore Incredible India campaign, inviting bids from advertising agencies with revenues of at least Rs 100 crore, a condition that rules out participation of mid-sized firms or any Indian-owned agency.

While the Ministry runs this campaign every year, in the international leg this year it wants to focus on new markets like Russia and CIS countries, the Middle East, and South America, among others.

"The bidding agency must have a cumulative revenue from creative work equivalent to Rs 100 crore or above in the last three financial years. In addition, the creative agency should have handled at least one creative account in any field, with revenue of over Rs five crore, in any one of the last three years," says the tender notice.

The Ministry has also stated that the agencies will have to submit an Earnest Money Deposit (EMD) or bid security of Rs 50 lakh. This will be returned to "unsuccessful bidders...within one month of issue of the work order/contract to the successful bidder".

According to the head of a nonparticipating agency, if the guidelines are strictly followed, only five agencies in India can bid for the account. These include Ogilvy & Mather (O&M), J Walter Thompson, McCann Erickson, Lowe, and FCB Ulka, said the agency head.

Source: http://goo.gl/XCmmho