by Herman Manson (@marklives) The Telkom advertising account has been put out to tender. The tender went out on 14 March 2014 and closed 8 April 2014. Bidding agencies must have the capability to operationally support a business with media spend of R25 million per month, according to the tender document.
The new tender comes shortly after Telkom’s new Chief Marketing Officer, ex-Vodacom executive Enzo Scarcella, took up his 
position at the parastatal. Scarcella was appointed as CMO and December 2013 and took up his post in February 2014.
The Telkom account is currently serviced by Y&R South Africa. The Telkom Mobile account is serviced by JWT. Telkom’s Ratile
Motlhoioa (to whom we were directed for information by Telkom spokesperson Pynee Chetty) confirmed that the two accounts will be consolidated.
Y&R South Africa won the through-the-line contract for Telkom in May 2012. At the time it was announced that the account would be held for a three year period.
JWT was involved in creating the new corporate identity of Telkom Mobile that was revealed in March 2013.
Motlhoioa confirmed that both Y&R South Africa and JWT had been given three months notice on their respective contracts.
Approached for comment Y&R SA issued this statement: “Y&R South Africa was awarded the through-the-line advertising services to Telkom in May 2012. Changes within the client’s business led to the appointment of Enzo Scarcella as Chief Marketing Officer, who started in February 2014. Over the past month, Scarcella advised the agencies of Telkom’s need to consolidate three key business units, namely Telkom Mobile (serviced by JWT), Telkom Consumer and Telkom Business (serviced by Y&R). Given the fact that Telkom follows the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) the business is required to be put out for public tender.” Y&R South Africa confirmed that it will continue to work on the account until the end of May 2014.
Tender requirements set by Telkom (PDF document) included that the agency head office must be located within a radius of 100 kilometres from Telkom’s Johannesburg Head Office and that no conflict exist with the following service providers; Vodacom, MTN, Neotel and Cell C.
According to Motlhoioa the tender and pitch should be completed in the next two and a half months. Motlhoioa could not confirm which agencies made the short list to pitch citing confidentiality issues.
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