by Herman Manson (@marklives) FCB Africa has emerged as the winner of the consumer component of the Barclays Africa Group advertising account, MarkLives has learnt. The financial services group, which includes Absa in South Africa, split its account into B2B and B2C components. Mortimer Harvey has won the business-to-business component.
David Wingfield, head of marketing at Barclays Africa Group, would only say that as part of its RFP Barclays Africa has “taken the next step of our process with selected agencies in the B2B and B2C space”, which includes a commercial negotiation. A number of internal governance approvals also still need to be addressed in order for Barclays Africa to conclude any formal agreements.
Brett Morris, FCB Africa CEO, confirmed that the agency has been informed that i’ts been chosen to manage the consumer account, as well as that the formal agreement is still being negotiated. Staff are being informed this afternoon (Wednesday, 24 August 2016).
Agencies working on Barclays Africa have included The Jupiter Drawing Room (Johannesburg) [read Graham Warsop on where to next for Jupiter (Jhb)], Base Two, Mortimer Harvey, Publicis Machine and Rogue among others. The entire business was out to pitch, except for sponsorship, brand design and internal change management (Rogue). During the procurement phase, Wingfield made it clear the group was looking for a more-efficient agency model that saved time and cost, and offered a higher business return.
Absa spends more than R429m on advertising and marketing activities in SA alone, according to Nielsen’s AIS/Adindex ranking (2014). The Barclays Africa Group is active in Botswana, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Seychelles, SA, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Shortlisted agencies included, according to the Financial Mail, Ogilvy & Mather South Africa, FCB Africa, DDB, the Publicis group and a collective of agencies pulled together by the incumbent, Jupiter. Agencies on the B2B shortlist included Mortimer Harvey, iKineo, Demographica and Publicis Machine.
Herman Manson (@marklives) is the founder and editor of MarkLives.com. He was the founding editor of media.toolbox (1998–2006) and Mobile.Works, and the co-founder of Brand magazine. He has served on the editorial boards of The Journal for Convergence, as well as of Fast Company South Africa. Winner of the 2011 Vodacom Social Media Journalist of the Year award, he was also a finalist twice in the Highway Africa Award for the Innovative Use of New Media in Africa (2003 and 2004). Over his 20-year-plus career, Herman has contributed to numerous journals and websites in South Africa and abroad, including the Mail & Guardian, .net, Intelligence, AdVantage, Men’s Health, Computer World and African Communications. He has consulted on web architecture to several financial institutions.
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