Overview
The Department of Finance administers the Central Advertising System (CAS). CAS is the coordinated procurement arrangement that consolidates expenditure and buying power to secure optimal media rates for the placement of government advertising.
Universal McCann (UM), a division of Mediabrands Australia Pty Ltd, is the master media agency (MMA), responsible for the placement of all advertising under the CAS. UM operates under a Deed of Standing Offer with the Commonwealth.
- Non-corporate Commonwealth entities must place all their advertising through the CAS.
- Corporate Commonwealth entities and Commonwealth companies under the PGPA Act may place their advertising through the CAS.
- Certain other approved organisations provided with Commonwealth funding for advertising or communications purposes may place their advertising through the CAS.
Joining the Arrangement
- All organisations seeking approval to access the CAS should contact the Government Advertising Arrangement Management team in the first instance.
Types of Advertising
- Campaign – a series of communication activities designed to inform, educate, motivate or change behaviour
- Non-campaign – recruitments, public notices, tender notices
- Complex non-campaign – a series of recruitment or public notice advertising, generally to support an ongoing program or initiative
Role of Finance
Communications Branch
- provides specialist advice to non-corporate Commonwealth entities undertaking campaigns
- advises Ministers on the requirements under the framework for information and advertising campaigns
- manages the contract with the MMA
- liaises with entities on the contractual requirements of government advertising
- administers the recruitment and tender notice advertising policies
- administers the GovTEAMS community
Online Management System – UM Central
The online management system, UM Central, is your gateway to:
- brief the MMA on your campaign or complex non-campaign advertising needs
- make a booking for standard non-campaign advertising
- track the progress of your advertising
- access Apollo, the digital reporting system, which offers close to real-time performance data
Contact governmentadvertising@finance.gov.au to request access to UM Central.
Campaign Evaluation
- Advertising campaigns, with total budgets above $500,000 per financial year and undertaken by non-corporate Commonwealth entities, are required to be evaluated using a whole-of-government campaign evaluation framework.
- Hall and Partners Pty Ltd conducts the benchmarking, tracking and evaluation research services for all relevant advertising campaigns.
Note: the Australian Electoral Commission is exempt from this requirement.
