The government issued close to €200,000 worth of direct orders to five companies to provide services related to the promotion of Budget 2024.
According to a list published in Tuesday’s edition of The Malta Government Gazette, the Finance and Administration Directorate at the OPM issued the direct orders over a span of three days in October last year, a few days before the budget was announced on October 30.
The direct orders listed totalled €196,235.
Emineo Ltd (Tribe), owned by Samuel Dalli and Olwyn Jo Saliba, was paid €13,200 for the provision of adverts related to Budget 2024.
The contract for filming for the budget spots was awarded to Sharp Shoot Media, owned by Steven Dalli and Justin Farrugia. They were paid just over €27,000. The company had been involved in the production of its own TV series, Strada Stretta, which had a viewership of more than 120,000.
Webee Ltd, owned by Calvin Briffa, was paid €69,000 to take care of a social media campaign for Budget 2024 with posts on Facebook, Google, Instagram and YouTube.
The rental of billboards to promote the budget was entrusted to Border and Co. Ltd, which was paid €22,400 for the service. The company is owned by Bernard Debono and Alan Piscopo.
Ikona Artworks Ltd, co-owned by Joel Saliba and Margaret Pace, received two direct orders. One, worth almost €20,000, covered the budget’s branding and design and another direct order worth €45,000 covered media buy for the budget.
Media buying is part of the advertising process. It involves securing ideal locations, placements and times to run adverts to maximise their effectiveness with specific audiences. The goal is to purchase placements on channels that are most relevant to a brand’s audience at a time when the largest portion of the audience may see the adverts, to achieve the lowest cost per action.
Media buying includes purchasing traditional media, such as television, radio, print, and outdoor, as well as digital channels, including websites, social media, streaming services and specific applications.
These companies were among those which received direct orders for last year’s budget too.
Ikona Artworks Ltd received two direct orders worth over €65,000 for the design of the budget’s information campaign as well as a post-budget information campaign in newspapers.
Sharp Shoot Media had received €38,000 for budget propaganda while Webee Ltd was paid €46,610 to boost the government’s budget messages on social media. Border & Co. Ltd was paid €11,100 for billboards.