NT Tourism hunting for sweeping brand refresh
The Northern Territory’s tourism office has issued a creative pitch to revamp its seven-year-old brand position and help reach a $2.2 billion visitor economy target.
The newly restructured government body, now known as Tourism and Events Northern Territory (TENT), has invited tenders from advertising agencies to deliver a “bold, emotionally compelling storytelling” brand refresh by February next year.
The call puts its seven-year relationship with KWP on notice, with at least 55 agencies registered on the NT’s creative panel.
The independent Adelaide creative agency developed the”Different in every sense” brand platform a year after being appointed, replacing the territory’s former destination branding of “Do the NT”, which had been in place since 2013.
The move follows a significant reshuffle in the NT Government, merging Tourism NT and NT Major Events Company to create TENT at the start of 2026, and comes almost a year after long-serving tourism CMO Tony Quarmby’s exit.
At the end of last year, the territory released its new tourism strategy, which set out goals to grow the visitor economy from $1.5 billion to $2.2 billion and lift overnight trips from 1.2 million to 1.5 million by 2032, driving year-round visitation, investment, and liveability across the NT.
Under the leadership of TENT’s chief marketing officer Staci Mellman, who was appointed to the role last October, TENT is aiming to unlock growth from different audiences using segmented consumer data from New Zealand, the USA, the UK, Germany, China, and Australia to underpin the new platform.
In its request for tender, the government department said its “brand now requires renewal to drive growth and enhance the global perception of the Northern Territory”, noting that the brand positioning has not been reviewed or evolved since before the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Traveller motivations, behaviours, and values have shifted significantly, and the brand must reflect this new global and domestic tourism landscape,” the RFT read.
Last year, the NT’s Department of Tourism and Hospitality, which oversees TENT, spent over $23 million on advertising and marketing.
The NT Government, meanwhile, has used Atomic 212 as its master media agency since 2015, most recently renewing the account in March 2023.
