Independent industry news for marketing, advertising & media execs
Louise Marsland’s (@Louise_Marsland) pick of new product, packaging and design launches.
New look bank branch for ABSA; a well-known graffiti artist creates street wear designs; flexible new ways to sample; competitive fast-food interiors; and a new brand CI for an IP firm.
by Erna George. I do believe that competition is what keeps innovation flowing, pricing honest and the consumer getting good value. But will consumers start questioning whose stats are correct, how are comparisons done and whose claims are being honest versus who is being economical with the truth? How exactly does this help the person in the street, or in the supermarket, and what does it do to brand trust?
Louise Marsland’s (@Louise_Marsland) pick of new product, packaging and design launches.
A Tuff environmental campaign; start-up success story’s bold new stores; Z-Card worms its way into creating Turkish delights; and sampling in the loo.
he snot really hit the fan last week when The Washington Post and The Guardian reported that the US had secret spying programs that are “tapping directly into the central servers of nine leading U.S. Internet companies.”
It was inevitable that our industry’s obsession with Internet data collection would come smack up against questions of civil rights and individual liberties. But no one in the marketing or advertising industries seems to care about the consequences of our obsession with data, or the central role we are playing in this controversy.
It is an article of faith among the pundit digerati that the Internet has given us reg’lar folks more control over our lives. One of the mantras of marketing’s chattering class is that “the consumer is now in charge.” These people think that because we can tweet “the fries at Wendy’s really suck” we now have greater economic, social and political control. They are alarmingly insensitive to the trade-offs the web has presented us with.
On several occasions during the past few years I have taken the, ahem, contrarian position that not only are we not “in charge,” but the illusion that we are is masking the fact that the powerful are getting more powerful and that the individual citizen has less control than ever.
by Emma King (@EmmainSA) I came across an awesome word the other day – ‘Unitasker’. It’s attributed most commonly to Alton Brown, ‘celebrity’ chef and TV personality, who apparently disdainfully coined the term to describe single purpose kitchen utensils that clog up a kitchen and which are only good for one thing. Like a corn kernel remover, or a cake pop maker, or a banana slicer.
Apparently, it can also be used to describe a person – someone who can only do one task at a time (I’m resisting the temptation to insert joke about men and multitasking here). But I’d like to create another way it can be used, in the workplace, to describe someone who clogs up a business and who is only able or willing to do one thing.
I think it’s a pretty dangerous to be a unitasker in this fast moving age. Back in the day, when there were limited channels and disciplines, and ages to work through a brief from a client, we had the luxury of being able to lovingly and single-mindedly focus on our preferred skill of copywriting or design or strategic research.
by Alistair Mokoena (@AlistairMokoena) As MD of one of South Africa’s larger agencies I’m struck by the similarities between the migration of animal species and the movement of creative talent within our industry. The migration of talent used to be limited to advertising agencies. Now we are witnessing lots of movement of talent from traditional advertising agencies to small below the line shops, digital shops as well as to the client side, and vice versa.
Some animal species migrate from North to South and back. Others migrate vertically from high altitude forests to low altitude forests. These species migrate mostly in search of food and warmer temperatures as well as for breeding purposes.
The wildebeest migration in the Serengeti and the migration of European swallows come to mind. European swallows spend their breeding period in Europeso they can access food supplies and longer days. In winter, they migrate to the warmer southern hemisphere.
Before embarking on their journey to Southern Africa and the Indian sub-continent, they go on a feeding frenzy, which provides sustenance for their long sojourn. They travel in a large group on this long journey that takes them through North Africa, down the West Coast of Africa, all the way down to the South. Come spring, the swallows migrate back to Europe for their breeding season.
As MD of one of South Africa’s larger agencies I’m struck by the similarities between the migration of animal species and the movement of creative talent within our industry. The migration of talent used to be limited to advertising agencies. Now we are witnessing lots of movement of talent from traditional advertising agencies to small below the line shops, digital shops as well as to the client side, and vice versa.
Many employers in our industry are starting to use employee propositions to differentiate themselves. Employment contracts and remuneration packages are becoming a lot more creative. We are starting to see a combination of flexi time, relative job security, career paths as well as participation in share schemes.
Ironically all of this makes staff retention a nightmare for many agency MD’s. What compounds this retention problem is the fact that, unlike our parents’ generation, this generation of employees does not value tenure and loyalty. Not only is the world their oyster, it’s also a travelator, constantly on the go.
What I’m learning pretty quickly though, is that this musical chairs phenomenon is pretty normal in our industry. As European swallows are attracted to Europe’s abundant food supplies and long days in their breeding period, creative talent is attracted to agencies that are seen to be on the up and up.
Agencies that win pitches attract masses of creative talent. Agencies that boast a “sexy” client list and have an impressive collection of silverware are also quite alluring to talent.
Another observation I’ve made is that talented people tend to have a following, which means, when they move agencies, others migrate with them. It matters not how hard you try, using water tight contracts, to preclude them from poaching key staff or to stop key staff from following their heroes. At the end of the day birds with bright feathers cannot be caged. Is this perhaps what Bob Marley had in mind when he sang “exodus, it’s the movement of the people.” There’s got to be a better way, methinks.
by Masingita Mazibuko. Whether it is heroes of the silver screen, toys or clothing, many a brand of yesteryear is making a resurgence and winning a place in our hearts all over again. This re-emergence of brands deserves consideration, for there are those instances when it has been botched, and those when it has succeeded stunningly.
by Colwyn Elder (@colwynelder) Navigating the ‘green’ or ‘ethical’ aisle in any supermarket is no mean feat. Ongoing research means new and often conflicting information that makes trying to ‘do the right thing’ is confusing at best, and just plain off-putting at worst.
The story of economic growth in Africa has been topical globally, with some of the most disappointing reports coming from leading publications. However for us Africans, the glass is definitely half full, with inspiring stories coming from the most ordinary of people. Ornico and MarkLives have teamed up to present our first ‘The Africa Annual’, a compilation of some of Africa’s remarkable stories and resources for businesses; and media, marketing and branding enthusiasts.
by Sean McCoy. If I told you that Starbucks wasn’t in the business of selling coffee, you’d think I’d lost it. But they’re not. They’re in the people business, selling coffee.
