by Johanna McDowell (@jomcdowell) I’d been keeping its eye on global developments since the last quarter of 2015, when a noticeable slowdown in the local market started to become apparent. Talk of low growth, possible recession and marketers being nervous about the outlook for 2016 prompted the creation of an opportunity for marketers to share their concerns and anxieties about their respective industries.
Common concerns and inputs
It was important to ensure that there was a good spread of marketers representing financial, retail, FMCG and beverages, as it was figured that there may well be differences among the various sectors in terms of outlook for 2016. What was interesting is that the marketers’ concerns and inputs were common to all four categories. This, therefore, was of great interest to the 18 or so agencies who attended the latest marketers masterclass, giving them a real glimpse into the marketers’ worlds and what they have to deal with on a daily basis.
For me, it’s clear that there needs to be more opportunity for real dialogue between agencies and marketers — other than the normal day-to-day workings between clients and agencies — and the role of intermediary consultancies becomes increasingly important in creating these opportunities where robust discussion may take place.
Discussion summary
Here is a summary of the discussion that took place among marketers and agencies at the latest marketers masterclass.
Present representing the marketers were Belinda Godfrey, marketing executive, The Spitz Group (previously head of marketing at Edgars); Brehndan Botha, procurement portfolio manager, Brandhouse/Diageo; Mohammed Ismail, senior manager, marketing resource management and integration, Standard Bank; and Miantha Padayachee, brand group manager, Clover Industries.
Representing about 10 different agencies were approximately 18 people.
So what are marketers looking out for in 2016 — a year of challenge and uncertainty?
- Flexibility in contract and pricing
- Less focus upon resource plans — more focus upon outputs and outcomes
- Real “partnering”
- Help from their agencies in terms of helping the marketers retain their own customer bases
- A real understanding of the consumer and all of the messages that they receive
- An understanding of the equity and the history of their brands
- An understanding by their agencies of the impact that a price hike has upon consumers, and the resultant effect upon the marketer’s business
And what does “partnering” mean, from a marketer’s perspective?
- A proactive approach from agency towards budget cuts — which are inevitable in a tough economic climate
- An understanding of the business and its pressure points
- Partnering with other agencies on client’s roster in order to deliver for the brand
- A productive partnership between client and agency
- An understanding of the competitive environment and its possible impact upon the marketer’s business
- Transparency in costs
- Focused media spend designed to deliver ROI
So for a marketer, what is real ROI? How does this get recorded in the boardroom or c-suite?
- An improvement upon previous year’s performance
- Growth above the economic growth for that year
- Effective use of a reduced budget year-on-year
- An understanding of zero-based budgeting — or starting over
- Agility and willingness to course correct during a campaign in order to derive better ROI
- A willingness for the agency to mine a marketer’s own data — where a lot of really important material might be sitting.
Are in-house agencies an option for marketers? Do we see this trend increasing?
- Mixed responses here — pros and cons to in house agencies
- On the one hand, a dedicated resource is perhaps cheaper
- But how can your in-house agency give independent feedback?
- In-house agency might have more insights, especially if there is a strong research team in-house
- Useful to have a basic graphic design service in house — saves time and money
- May be an idea to have some services in-house but the bigger, more-strategic ones in an agency or agencies
Is Africa an option for marketers? Do they see real growth and opportunities? How is this measured?
- Lots of opportunity
- Production facilities in certain African countries are cheaper than in SA; this could be very helpful for marketers.
- Important to use local in-country agencies in conjunction with others so that local insights and flair may be fully used
- Very important for the marketers to understand how important their brands are in the different markets
Is marketing taken seriously at board level, especially during tough times when costs are an issue for the business?
- Without question — marketing is part of the decision-making processes in any business
- This means that the marketer, especially at senior level, is often called on to be part of these discussions
- The consequence is that the CMO will have far less time for agency management issues and will be delegating most — if not all — of this to the marketing team.
- Agencies need to understand that the more seriously marketing is taken in a company, the better the understanding of the agency’s role will be, but the more the agency will have to adopt a proactive approach.
Johanna McDowell (@jomcdowell) is managing director of the Independent Agency Search and Selection Company (IAS), and she is one of the few experts driving this mediation and advisory service in SA and globally. Currently she is running the IAS Marketers Masterclass, a programme consisting of masterclasses held in Cape Town and in Johannesburg. Twice a year she attends AdForum Worldwide Summits.
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