by Craig Page-Lee (@cpl_ignite) Is a standalone Digital Agency of the Year Award still relevant? Is the African Advertising Agency Network of the Year Award correctly titled and genuinely representative of activities on the continent?
A key objective of the recent first meeting of the AdFocus 2015 Awards judges was to debate the relevance of the current awards categories and to establish if any should be eliminated, consolidated, changed, or new ones added.
Greatest resonance
It is the second topic that has the greatest resonance for me but, before diving into this conversation, I reiterate the question regarding the first topic, considering that digital is ubiquitous, a channel and should probably be integrated into every single communications campaign out there these days.
Does digital therefore justify a separate awards category, considering the efforts of digital agencies to extend their repertoire to include other aspects of the communications offering, through the likes of “integration” and “holistic” approaches?
The very same may be asked of ad agencies, though, with their relentless pursuit in bringing digital “in-house” and again selling themselves as TTL or “integrated agencies”. This is a much bigger conversation for another day, but a topic that cannot disappear from the industry without resolution.
Do we have enough oversight?
Going back to the second point noted above, namely that of African Advertising Agency Network of the Year Award, I remain fixed as to whether we as judges — let alone the South African media, advertising and communications industry as a whole — have enough oversight of the advertising industry activities in Africa outside of the so-called agency groups to make such an award, and if this award category fairly represents the achievements of all agency types (media, advertising and creative) and sizes (staff or revenue generated) operating on the continent north of South Africa’s borders.
It is at this point that I present the question of what an African agency network actually comprises and what the qualifying criteria should be, considering the plethora of global brands vying for representation on the continent, the heightened M&A activity within the industry across the EMEA and SSA regions, and the negative effect and consequences that this has had for some agencies.
With a career spanning many years across the disciplines of media, advertising and design and working within WPP, IPG and Dentsu Aegis Network at different times, I am well-versed with the hype, and benefit, of belonging to a global agency network, but equally aware of the challenges that such networks are faced with when looking beyond to new continents and markets.
Severe consequences
The “loose” and even blatant unsupported legal association with established agency names in such markets does happen, and the adage that “mimicry is the best form of flattery” must not be looked upon lightly. Any effort by those unscrupulously and even blatantly illegally trying to gain advantage in a region on the back of a network agency brand has severe consequences, not only for the group brand in question, but for the client relationship and brands being worked on in those regions.
The key question then is: “What is an African Agency Network?”
First, it is obviously Pan-African. It is, however, definitely not just a post office box number or hole in the wall north of the border. It is not just a gmail.com address without a real name or face to the business north of the border. It is not just a plaque on the door or wall without any legal representation and bonafide intent or operations north of the border.
What it’s clearly not
Most importantly, though, is that it’s clearly not just the “lending” of a global group-agency brand name to an independent business (or creative person purporting to be an agency) to gain advantage in any region operating north of the border at the expense of established and entrenched entities that are investing and contributing to industry upliftment in that region.
In seeking absolute clarity on this question, I obviously have had to consider the other awards ceremonies and festivals that take place in Africa and which recognise “Agency Networks” as one of the awards categories. As expected, no other awards ceremony, or current festival of note, has such an award classification. AdReview had the African Regional Champion in its day, but AdFocus definitely takes the award in this regard today.
African Cristal Festival, a global awards festival that was represented on the continent for the first time in 2013, is a super-spectacle that has done much for the northern half of the continent, and the Loeries Awards, which will hopefully remain the Cannes Lions-equivalent for SA. Both focus primarily upon creative awards, not upon agency or group structure.
Not just about celebrating creative achievement
The beauty about this question is that it’s not just about celebrating creative achievement. It’s about understanding how we recognise and celebrate the efforts of all contributors to the advertising, media and communications industry in Africa. What’s great is that SA agencies are doing this — extending the excellence across the continent, from creative agencies, to PR agencies (in the same group) and, hopefully, to media agencies soon.
We are a continent of great diversity, with variable needs, absolute poverty evident in most instances and placing huge demands upon the physical environment and land that we occupy. Can we as an industry work with our clients to entrench more-purposeful African agency networks and serve the people of our continent in different and more-purposeful ways?
May the African agency networks that deliver this vision and objective realise their achievements in many ways, from seeing financial growth and success to receiving great accolades and awards.
New networks rising to the challenge
I applaud the most consistent winner of the African Agency Network award — Ogilvy & Mather Africa — and welcome the opportunity of seeing a new network rise to the challenge and surpass its success. Instead of “Doctors Without Borders”, let’s see more “Agency Networks Without Borders”, understanding geographies, consumers and client needs across these regions.
Already, Joe Public South Africa announced earlier this month the launch of Joe Public United Africa, its “union of African advertising agencies represented in 14 countries across the continent”. Will we see the emergence of equally successful agencies from north of SA migrate and extend their success into the SA market? Either way, the same parameters of investment, enrichment and skills transfer should apply.
In closing, an African agency network should never just be a tacit representation of taking on any other group’s (SA or global origination) established vision, values, culture, tools or ways of working. It should be the result of collaboration, co-investment and skills transfer, based upon the promise of mutual respect for the assets, intellect and opportunity brought about by the partnership. It should be about the betterment of the individual situation, in which the respective entities in the partnership operated, prior to their coming together. It should be about industry enhancement and raising the standards of the media, advertising and communications industry in Africa.
Shouldn’t be considered
Agencies ‘representing’ networks where there is no proof of share ownership and holding-group participation shouldn’t qualify in this category, nor be considered African ad agency networks.
Craig Page-Lee (@cpl_ignite) is the group managing director of Posterscope South Africa. He has over 21 years of working experience across the disciplines of architecture and retail design/brand communications and marketing management/advertising and media, across 11 pan-European and six pan-African regions. Craig’s monthly column on MarkLives, “Beyond Borders”, focuses on doing business in various African markets. Don’t forget to tune into his #eBizRetail slot on www.ebizradio.com.
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