SYDNEY — Independent consultancy Poem has been awarded a three year contract by Tourism Australia (TA) to manage the brand’s global integrated communications and public relations.

Poem joins TA's agency roster following a competitive pitch process, and will initially focus on supporting the reopening of international borders and the resumption of international travel. As of March of this year, Australia had welcomed 520,000 international visitors, who injected $4.9 billion back into the Australian economy.

Poem will also deliver PR services to support TA’s marketing and communications activities both globally and regionally, the country's vision to become the most memorable and desirable destination on earth. These services include strategic comms planning, brand campaign amplification and reputation management, media relations and publicity support in collaboration with advocates and influencers.

Poem's hire comes three years after TA restructured its global PR roster, hiring Ogilvy PR alongside new PR support in a series of local markets. The organization kicked off a review of its PR agency support earlier this year.

"Tourism Australia has delivered some of the most innovative and famous destination marketing work of all time and the team really value the importance of earned being at the heart of creative campaigns," said Poem co-founder and ECD Matt Holmes. "We’re already enjoying working with a brilliant agency village on the next truly integrated and uniquely Australian ATl and BTL to welcome back international travellers."

Tourism Australia CMO Susan Coghill noted that Poem comes in "at a crucial time" as the country aims to rejuvenate its tourist appeal following the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2019, Australia welcomed 9.4m tourists, a 2.4% increase on 2018.