#BigQ2018: Marketing evolves from campaign activity to a service

by MarkLives (@marklives) What are the expectations for the marketing and advertising industry in 2018? We emailed a panel of key industry executives for their take on the macro environment, budgets, changes in messaging, movement in the industry and any consumer and communication trends they’ll be looking out for. First up is Joshin Raghubar of iKineo.

Joshin Raghubar

Joshin RaghubarJoshin Raghubar (@Joshin) is an entrepreneur in the media, marketing and technology sectors. He is CEO of iKineo Ventures and chair of the Cape Innovation & Technology Initiative, and a fellow of the Africa Leadership Initiative, Aspen Institute’s Global Leaders Network and Yale Greenberg World.

There will be an uneasy tension between accelerating digital business transformation, with its associated need for investment and calculated risk-taking, and the uncertain political environment in South Africa. This means that, in 2018, we should see the continued acceleration of two important trends: the closer integration or even merging of customer marketing into an end-to-end customer experience (CX) responsibility; and the increasing focus on marketing effectiveness and measurable performance.

The focus on customer experience means that marketing continues to evolve from a campaign-dominant activity to a service (and content) design-led activity. In this new world, where the power has shifted from companies to customers, marketers and their agencies will feel the pressure to become service and product designers, strategy consultants, data scientists, user experience specialists, intangible product owners, storytellers, publishers and customer community managers.

Shrunk to one click

The space between a brand experience in the media and an actual user experience has shrunk to one click. In 2018, companies and their service providers will have to develop and integrate credible capabilities throughout this experience value chain, with an expanding requirement for connected offerings across design, development, marketing, content and commerce.

The economy and associated budgets are set to be constrained again in 2018 and measurable marketing effectiveness will be a focus. Attention and budgets should increasingly flow to performance marketing capabilities and strategies.

Performance marketing generally refers to online marketing and advertising programmes in which advertisers and their marketing service providers are paid when a specific action or conversion is completed, such as a sale, lead or click. Programmatic marketing will continue to grow as the best way to execute online performance advertising.

Alignment

The alignment of data science and marketing-sales execution will expand performance marketing beyond online and social, through to direct and offline channels. Campaigns and programmes will have to clearly demonstrate a measurable contribution to growth. Simply put, the marketing and sales functions are going to get much closer.

2018 will see the need to develop the capabilities and partners to apply the science behind this growth. This means the advertising industry should see increasing competition from the traditional consulting firms, new data science firms, and even technology services firms.

As we have already begun to see, consulting firms and other non-traditional firms with established business leadership brands, which already had some of these competencies, have been more able to respond to these new opportunities quickly, and have been able to move into the adjacent communications market by adding the necessary creative and innovation skills. Over an 18-month period in 2015 and 2016, Accenture acquired 40 marketing firms. This trend will continue in 2018.

In-sourcing

We will also see the global trend of in-sourcing play out more in South Africa. As leading companies embed end-to-end customer experience as a core competency, they will gradually develop in-house teams in design, development, marketing, content and commerce. Companies will follow the lead of global leaders such as Lego, Apple, the Dollar-Shave Club and others which have made content development, storytelling and omnichannel publishing a core internal competency. They may begin to work with specialist service providers on a project basis, or this will see the rise of more-integrated client and growth partner teams. In either scenario, these growth partner firms will increasingly be prepared and structured to be paid on performance only.

2018 is going to be a positively disruptive year for the marketing industry once again as the science and art of marketing draw closer.

#BigQ2018 series

See also

 

MarkLives logoLaunched in 2016, “The Big Q” is a regular column on MarkLives in which we ask key advertising and marketing industry execs for their thoughts on relevant issues facing the industry. If you’d like to be part of our pool of panellists, please contact editor Herman Manson via email (2mark at marklives dot com) or Twitter (@marklives). Suggestions for questions are also welcomed.

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Masterclass Notes: Highlights from agencyScope 2017 South Africa

by Johanna McDowell (@jomcdowell) Here are some trends to look out for in the coming months, based on the results of Scopen’s agencyScope 2017 South Africa research to find out what marketers are looking for in their agencies.

[Full disclosure: Scopen Global and Mazole Holdings (the company that owns IAS 100%) have formed a company in South Africa called Scopen Africa. Scopen Global holds the majority of the shares; Mazole is a minority shareholder. Johanna McDowell is a director of Scopen Africa, as is Cesar Vacchiano, global CEO of Scopen.]

Second wave

This second wave of the study reached many more marketers than the first wave in 2016. Our sample of 217 face-to-face interviews among marketing professionals — 61% of whom were CMO level — on a national basis was robust and representative. In terms of the content of the results, we are very happy that the views and opinions expressed are solid and our reports for the market place have been well-received. One hundred-and-fifty-two agency professionals were also interviewed, via a short online survey, for their views on aspects of the industry, along with 15 procurement specialists.

In terms of client-agency relationships, 499 relationships were analysed; we believe that this is the most that has ever been done in South Africa and the findings provide excellent benchmarks for the industry.

In addition, because of Scopen’s global reach into 12 countries, including South Africa, we are able to compare SA each time to the global benchmark.

Interesting

Here are some interesting observations:

Marketing budgets

  • Our analysis reveals that South African marketing budgets, as a percentage of turnover in the respective corporate companies, average 2.68%. The global benchmark is 2.5%.

Digital spend

  • Digital spend in SA has increased from 18.59% in 2016 to 24.36% in 2017. The global benchmark is 28.3%.

Agency selection

  • 77% of all agency selection processes are done with a pitch process that includes strategy and creative in South Africa. Most marketers claim to pay for pitches.

Procurement

  • Procurement departments are involved in 46.2% of agency negotiations in SA. The global benchmark is 60%.

Length of relationships

  • The average length of client/agency relationships in creative agencies in SA is 4.26 years. The global benchmark is 4.47 years.

Contribution to business growth

  • Marketers told us that their agencies contribute to business growth by about 17.31 %. The global benchmark is a lot higher at 25% but this is affected by a 52% contribution made by agencies in Brazil, where media and creative agencies are still combined by law. Interestingly, Spain, China and the UK marketers record lower contributions to business success by their agencies, compared to here in South Africa.

Level of satisfaction with agencies

  • 72% of marketers here say they are satisfied with their agencies. The global benchmark is 76.4%.

Likelihood of changing agencies

  • 19.4% of marketers in SA will change their agencies in the next 12 months; the global benchmark is 15.1 %. We think that our economy and that we are an emerging market plays a role in this particular fact.

See also

 

Johanna McDowellJohanna McDowell (@jomcdowell) is managing director of the Independent Agency Search and Selection Company (IAS), which is partnered with the AAR Group in the UK. Johanna 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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#BigReads2017: Transformation, ratings, circulations & other issues

by Herman Manson (@marklives) We list the best-read media and marketing stories on MarkLives during 2017.

1. The transformation debate

Big Q Transformation panelBig Q Transformation

Over the course of two months, we asked a panel of agency leaders to discuss progress in how the marketing and advertising industries are transforming. The individual opinions flowing back to us made clear several factors highlighting the limits of the transformation project to date.

Dear clients, please stop asking for a ‘black team’ to work on your business and actually appoint a black-owned agency. If that black team is good enough to work on your business in a multinational establishment, imagine what they can do for your business on their own without some supervision that thinks the only way black people express themselves is through song and dance — dancing for a piece of chicken, airtime and a funeral policy.

So, if we are disgruntled at the rate of progress in our industry, what do we do to change it? We need to proactively begin to get corporates to understand the value of working with black agencies, not to benefit their scorecard but to benefit their brands. Without buy-in on the demand side, we will continue to perpetuate the same norms and same beliefs that have kept the industry slow to transform.

Isn’t it strange that we’re asking this question when the proverbial workhorses have bolted? That we have had to wait to the point where senior black creatives are “disgruntled” to the point of leaving the big shops?

While the marketing and advertising industries may be transforming, it is doing so at a frustrating pace. The only way to know if an agency is capable is for the client to give it a chance to prove itself. Clients have to be willing to take the road less travelled if they truly believe in transformation. If we are to build a sustainable marketing industry, if transformation is to be more than talk, it cannot be business as usual.

Last year at Cannes Lions, a hot topic was sexism in advertising and the use of one-dimensional female stereotypes in the work produced by the broader industry. Industry giant Unilever even denounced this, and pledged to portray authentic, three-dimensional women personalities in its brand ads going forwards.

I would like this same understanding to be extended to all people of colour. Don’t reduce us to simply a group of people who sing and dance for consumables. Treat us like the multifaceted individuals and consumers we are.

Brands succeed when they break through in culture, and branding is a set of techniques designed to generate cultural relevance. What is culture? Simply put, it’s the customs and social behavior of a particular society. The best way to break through South African culture is to have a deep understanding of it from various perspectives. We need to embrace the society we live in, understand its people, and find meaningful and effective ways of communicating with them. Therein lies the true value of transformation.

In order for this discussion to move forward, the responses to the question need to be blunt. It has been 22 years since the first discussion on the very same topic. We’ve run out of time.

The larger advertising industry has not transformed. We can all say some progress has been made but, after 22 years, “some” is simply not good enough.

And the reason for this is simple; there is no will to transform. There is neither desire to right the wrongs of the past nor is there a willingness to share power and wealth. We have all been inundated with excuses. I say excuses because, 22 years ago, we had reasons; now they are just excuses.

On the face of it, South African advertising is transforming itself. Inside today’s ad agencies, you see lots of black faces and brown faces, as well as white. Often, however, transformation is only skin-deep. Go deeper and you encounter subtle forms of transformation apartheid.

With the issues spelled out, it’s time for the industry to collectively find the creative solutions to these problems — surely it can’t sell this service when failing to apply it to itself?

 

Other transformation columns

Gazette MAC Sector Charter BEE Good Practices Codes

Few topics cut to the heart of the South African soul as powerfully as black economic empowerment (BEE). While we have all become comfortable with the term, the idea that contemporary South Africans are charged with the redress of decades — even centuries — of inequality remains a difficult and divisive one.

Going back in time and removing prejudice from our laws and society is not an option we have. Therefore, we must systematically intervene in the lives of those who were disadvantaged and give them some kind of requisite advantage now. If this is done right, we should be able to look more like a society where racism did not artificially hold people back.

This time, I bring you a collection of BEE myths and facts. Previously, I tried to make a case for why it’s is the right thing to do, as well as to give some guidelines on how to achieve success. In the course of doing that and over the past years, I have heard a lot of people say things about BEE which is not true — and not enough people saying things that are true. So keep this article handy for the next uncomfortable dinner party with your ill-informed relatives.

This piece is not for people who are outraged by black economic empowerment (BEE) or who actively believe that black people do not deserve any kind of redress. Those people aren’t even in the starting blocks. They require both a history lesson and a serious examination of their conscience. This piece is for those who desire transformation but for whom it keeps feeling just out of reach.

elephant-animal-proboscis-africa courtesy of Pixabay
Image courtesy of Pixabay

  • TJ Njozela: The black elephant in the room — parts 1, 2 and 3

Yes, this is another series about transformation. No, it’s not a rant. Yes, it’s going to be controversial.

Black people might find the awkwardness of ‘white people smiles’ in the office a lot more awkward, and white people might start wondering if young black creatives really are ‘gathering’ to talk about fashion and music, or if they’re plotting the next #ThingThatMustFall. But, ladies and gentlemen of the advertising industry, I put it to you that, while this series of articles is going to be challenging and, at times, as comfortable as a turbulent flight back from the Loeries after starring in your own version of The Hangover — thank goodness for sickness bags — in the end, we’ll have a platform where we can talk about the black elephant in the room in a constructive way.

Before we get into what we need to do with the elephant, we need to understand why it’s there in the first place. Fortunately, there are some valid reasons for the need for transformation, and how as a nation we got to this point. Here are a few that will help contextualise our current economic climate.

BBBEE gazette slider

I am a pragmatic utopian. I work towards a utopia where we all get along and sing kumbaya around the proverbial campfire. I also know that the current context is far from this ideal, so I straddle the line between our sometimes-harsh reality of, in this case, gender and racial imbalance, and a utopia where we are all genderless, raceless unicorns doing amazing boundary-pushing work. What does this mean in my day-to-day life as the CEO of a global agency group in present-day South Africa? How does this approach keep us relevant today and fluent in tomorrow?

 

2. Big Q 2017: Expectations for the year that was

The Big Q Expectations for 2017What were the expectations of South Africa’s marketing and advertising leaders for the industry in 2017? We emailed a panel of key industry executives for their take on the macro environment, budgets, changes in messaging, movement in the industry and consumer and any communication trends they would be looking out for.

 

3. South African TV Ratings

Remote control courtesy of PixabayEvery week we reveal the hottest primetime television shows on South African television channels. #SAtvRatings

 

4. Circulation math

ABC results magazines November 2017 sliderOur stories analysing the quarterly magazine and newspaper circulation data released by the ABC, as well as our Big Magazine and Newspaper lists, were among the top-read features published during 2017.

 

5. Capitec’s 6 P’s of marketing

Speak Up ManifestoPublished in 2012, the story remains one of our best-read features, month in and month out, year after year.

“Consumer discontent opened up the market for this ‘straight talking organisation’, according to Carl Fischer, Head Executive of Marketing and Corporate Affairs at Capitec. Fischer says he has no idea how the Big 4 justify their costs and business practices and, increasingly, consumers don’t either. Capitec wants to change banking ‘like Kulula.com changed the airline market’, says Fischer. That is – it wants to bring about fundamental change to this market.”

See also: Capitec’s marketing team on the Capitec way

 

6. Salary Survey: Who earns what in adland & marketing in South Africa

South African currency currency notes courtesy of Pixabay
Image courtesy of Pixabay

Recruitment agency, Ad Talent, released its 2017 salary survey for the communications industry.

 

7. Nielsen AdEx Top 50 SA advertisers 2015 vs 2016

Nielsen logoNielsen Sub-Saharan Africa released its list of the top 50 advertisers in South Africa for 2016, covering cinema, direct mail, out of home, print, radio and TV, and excluding self-promotion and internet. We compare it to the 2015 figures.



8. EDITORIAL: A quick resource for PRCA’s Bell Pottinger investigation

Bell Pottinger logoProfessional industry bodies either need to act on or throw away the charters on which they have built their relevance and credibility [they acted — ed].

 

9. Letter to the South African advertising industry — part 1

BBBEE gazette sliderDear South African Advertising Industry

I am writing this letter to you as a black woman who has worked for you short of three years, and in my time here I have experienced how hostile, violent and resistant you are to the black female creative voice.

As a black female body entering the advertising space, regardless of skill and abilities, it is made very clear from the onset that I am just an HR tick box.

 

Herman Manson 2017Herman Manson (@marklives) is the founder and editor of MarkLives.com.

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SA TV Ratings: DStv — primetime top 30 for Nov 2017

by MarkLives (@marklives) The hottest primetime television shows on DStv in South Africa revealed: TV ratings for November 2017.

In 2016, the Broadcast Research Council of South Africa (BRCSA) changed its policy about giving away TAMS and now only monthly reports, highlighting the top 20 or 30 primetime shows on several popular channels, are available.

DStv November 2017

BRCSA TV Ratings November 2017 primetime DStvSource: BRCSA November 2017

Broadcast Research Council of South Africa

 

The Broadcast Research Council of South Africa (the BRC) is a non-profit, industry body that was incorporated in 2015 to cater to the audience research needs of the radio and television industry in South Africa.

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#BigReads2017: The agencies that made waves in 2017

by Herman Manson (@marklives) We list the agencies you made time to read about here on MarkLives during 2017.

1. Iconic Cape Town agency closed down

Y&R Cape Town receptionBREAKING: Y&R Cape Town closing down

Y&R South Africa closed down its Cape Town office mid-September 2017, following the news that Graham Lang, CCO of Y&R SA and Africa, would be leaving the agency at the end of November 2017. Yossi Schwartz, group chairman of Y&R Africa, had previously announced he would also be leaving, effective September 2017. The agency had suffered a major blow in 2016 when Pick n Pay moved its account to King James, ending a relationship that lasted 48 years.

Y&R SA is consolidating efforts around its Johannesburg agency, which employs 80+ people.

 

2. Iconic Joburg agency closed down

Gugu Madlala and Sizwe KumaloBREAKING: Jupiter Joburg closes, Black Powder take over baton

Another iconic South African ad agency, The Jupiter Drawing Room (Johannesburg), also closed down. The agency stopped trading trading mid-2017 and the shutdown happened over the course of 3–4 months. Two former senior managers at the agency, Gugu Madlala and Sizwe Kumalo, have contracted with Jupiter Joburg’s remaining client roster through their agency, Black Powder (as in gun powder).

 

3. The ACA suspended three member agencies (thanks, Telkom)

Association for Communication and Advertising South Africa - ACA - logoBREAKING: ACA suspends DDB SA, Ireland/Davenport, Wunderman
Ireland/Davenport responds to ACA suspension

In July 2017, the Association for Communication and Advertising (ACA) suspended DDB South Africa, Ireland/Davenport (now Collective ID) and Wunderman South Africa after the three member agencies were found guilty of transgressing the ACA’s Code of Conduct governing tenders and pitches.

The agencies were all involved in the controversial Telkom account pitch, which concluded in July 2017 with the announcement that the account was moving to Wunderman (above-the-line creative and digital marketing), Demographica (direct marketing) and Retail Insight (retail and brand activations). DDB SA was the ATL incumbent.

 

4. AVATAR buys into M&C Saatchi’s SA network

Avatar logoIn January 2017, Avatar Investment Holdings, owned by Zibusiso Mkhwanazi and Veli Ngubane, acquired a significant minority stake in M&C Saatchi’s South African agency network, which includes M&C Saatchi Abel, M&C Saatchi Connect, M&C Saatchi Africa, Dalmatian and Creative Spark. At the same time, M&C Saatchi PLC acquired a 20% stake in the agency AVATAR from Avatar Investment Holdings.

New African holding company to challenge global networks

M&N Brands logoIn July 2017, Mkhwanazi and Ngubane rebranded their agency holding company to M&N Brands, putting distance between their 80%-owned, fast-growing agency group, AVATAR360 Group (owners of AVATAR Johannesburg and Cape Town), and the new holding company, which was previously (and somewhat confusingly) known as AVATAR Investment Holdings (AIH).

The rebranded holding vehicle is being used to expand and build their South African and African agency network. The intention is to create a group with scale to take on global agency networks operating on the continent, such as Dentsu Aegis Network, Havas, Interpublic Group, Omnicom, Publicis and WPP.

 

5. King James Digital to disrupt media revenue model

King James Digital logoTowards the end of November 2017, King James Digital announced it would be offering a disruptive costing model for digital media: charging clients zero management fees, with absolute transparency on all media buying and placement.

King James Digital will only be remunerated on a percentage of the cost savings generated on the media, in comparison to the benchmark of previous performance. For example, if a client is getting a cost per click (CPC) of R8.00 and the cost saving of running the media with King James Digital results in a CPC of R5.00, the agency will only be remunerated on a percentage of the saved amount of R3.00 on each click.

 

6. Ogilvy Cape Town aligned with new global integrated model

Ogilvy & Mather Cape Town. Source: Facebook. Ogilvy & Mather Cape Town set about a major internal restructuring process that aims to reorientate the agency and the way it operates. The new structure does away with the siloed approach to specialist skills and accounts management as it merges creative studios and account teams across its various specialist agencies and departments, including PR and digital.

 

7.  Restructuring of Jupiter Cape Town

The Jupiter Drawing Room Cape Town logoThe Jupiter Drawing Room (Cape Town) also restructured and rescaled its business during a tough 2017, in which it lost both Hyundai (to FoxP2) and Windhoek Beer (to M&C Saatchi Abel Johannesburg). This October news followed the announcement of the closure of The Jupiter Drawing Room (Johannesburg).

The agency is now lead by Lucas van Vuuren, executive creative director for the previous two years, and Michelle Beh, who has stepped up as managing director in addition to her role as strategic director. Public relations continues to be run by Jupiter’s head of PR, Luanne Slingerland.

 

8. Ogilvy SA dragged into ANC ‘black ops’ media scandal

black opsIn January 2017, Ogilvy & Mather South Africa, as the ANC’s ad agency of record, was dragged into a scandal surrounding an alleged “black ops” election campaign set in motion by the ruling party in the run-up to the 2016 municipal elections.

“The ANC planned to spend R50 million on a covert campaign targeting opposition parties in the 2016 local government elections.” This is according to investigative journalism site, amaBhungane [read the full amaBhungane expose]. “A covert team, initially known as the War Room, intended to ‘disempower DA and EFF campaigns’ and set a pro-ANC agenda using a range of media, without revealing the ANC’s hand.”

In its official response, OM& SA commented as follows: “Ogilvy & Mather has been an agency of record for the ANC in various elections since 1999, including the 2016 Local Government elections. O&M were contracted to run the traditional communication for this campaign including above the line, digital and PR work, and the work produced was absolutely within the parameters of ethical and professional communication.” It also told amaBhungane that, while it participated in discussions around the electoral “war room”, its involvement didn’t extend beyond the original discussions [which seems bad enough reputationally — ed].

 

9. Stretch and Point Blank merged to form R50m agency

Elevator Facebook cover imageIn February 2017, two experiential and activation agencies, Stretch and Point Blank, merged to form a new agency named Elevator. The combined agency at that point employed roughly 60 people, had R50m in revenue and was 51% black-owned through an employee trust. The combined portfolio of clients included Standard Bank, Chevron, Lipton Ice Tea, Pernod Ricard, Cell C, Hisense and MMI.

 

10. Duke — where John Wayne meets the Naidoos

The Four DukesWhen Wayne Naidoo stepped from corporate back into adland to launch his venture, Duke, back in early 2015, he had no idea his business would lose its founding client four months after his wife Nino quit as head of traffic at Woolworths’ inhouse agency to join him at the fledgling ad agency. Naidoo was making his first hires; things were looking up; and he was confident about Duke’s prospects. Then came that call that kicked him in the teeth and nearly killed off his startup.

 

11. Dentsu Aegis to buy FoxP2

FoxP2 logo and Dentsu Aegis Network logoLate October 2017, Dentsu Aegis Network and FoxP2 issued a holding statement, pending regulatory approval, on Dentsu Aegis Network’s proposed acquisition of a shareholding in the latter. FoxP2, one of South Africa’s leading creative agencies, launched in 2005 and employs about 83 people across its Cape Town and Johannesburg agencies.

 

12. Ireland/Davenport became Collective ID

Collective IDAd agency Ireland/Davenport (ID), which recently increased its black ownership from 25.1% to 51%, rebranded in October 2017, becoming Collective ID. The word “collective” is meant to encapsulate and reinforce the cooperative way in which Collective ID wants to work: combining everyone’s experiences and expertise, collaborating in the name of collective wisdom, and working together to unlock the skills and talents of everyone.

 

Herman Manson 2017Herman Manson (@marklives) is the founder and editor of MarkLives.com.

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#BigReads2017: The creative work you made time to read about in 2017

by Herman Manson (@marklives) We list the creative work you made time to read about here on MarkLives during 2017.

1. #AdoftheYear: South Africa’s best ads 2016

2016 Ad of the Year Part 2 #AdoftheYear: South Africa’s best ads 2016 [part 1]View part 1 and part 2.

We released our annual Ad of the Year countdown for 2016, with First Kiss by Y&R Cape Town for the Western Cape Government’s Safely Home campaign taking top honours (view the ad here).

The MarkLives top 10 ads for 2016

#1. First Kiss by Y&R Cape Town for Safely Home (Western Cape Government)
#2. Iziko Slave Calendar by Geometry Global Cape Town for Iziko Slave Lodge Museum
#3. Twitter Refugees by NATIVE VML for PASSOP
#4.Promaths by Y&R SA for Investec
#5. Define Tomorrow by Net#work BBDO for Unisa
Joint #6. The Girl Who Rewrote Her Future by T+W for Absa and AfrikaTikkun
Joint #6. Social Test Drive by Ogilvy & Mather Cape Town for VW Amarok
Joint #6. #jetloveyourself by Joe Public for Jet
Joint #6. Post and Drive by DDB SA for Honda Motor Southern Africa
Joint #6.InstaGlad by DDB SA for Glad South Africa

 

2. VW + Ogilvy Cape Town

Ogilvy Cape Town for New VW Golf 2017 TVC screengrab 08Ad of the Week: Are you gonna go my way?

Volkswagen South Africa, Ogilvy & Mather Cape Town and director Grey Gray of Velocity Films delivered a cuteness overload with a charming little vignette that steered the Golf brand well on the path of being, first and foremost, a family car.

 

3.Toyota + FCB Joburg

FCB Joburg and Your Girlfriend for Toyota Customer Services screengrab 07Ad of the Week: Age-defying

FCB Joburg and director Morgan Dingle of Your Girlfriend elevated the Toyota Service Centre with a metaphor that was both insightful and humorous. The bottom line? A really cool message that reminded us why we should look after our cars, and our bodies.

 

4. OUTsurance (for all the wrong reasons)

OUTsurance tweet from Yusuf AbramjeeOutrage at #OUTsurance — a turning point for adland

How does an organisation such as OUTsurance create a Father’s Day ad celebrating nearly exclusively white fathers? Surely somebody in the organisation should have noticed that it wasn’t representative of all South Africans? How does it then apologise for producing the ad by saying that it didn’t “appropriately represent” South Africa’s demographics, and was an “unintentional oversight” on its part?

 

5. Chicken Licken

Chicken Licken Afronaut stillsAd of the Week: Chicken, the final frontier

Chicken Licken saw in the new year as our first Ad of the Week for 2017 with a funny, fantastical piece — based on an African space programme — that was as gloriously well-made as it was hilarious. The TVC, directed by Pete Pohorsky of Plank Film Productions for Chicken Licken’s new ad agency, Joe Public, humorously combined excellent 3D animation and visual effects with a funky music track. It told the story of a mission to resupply the “Vaya-1” space station with a ‘classified’ cargo, to be undertaken by Afronaut Rodwell Tshabalala.

 

6. Investec + Aqua

Investec More Than DataAd of the Week: The human connection

Investec, Aqua and Greg Gray of Velocity Films reached out to the ‘me’ generation with a cyber-essay that celebrated individualism, and astutely positioned the private bank as the brand with the human touch.

 

7. Capitec

Capitec Skippable Ad 3Ad of the Week: Banking that breaks the fourth wall

Capitec, that innovative banking brand, came up with a campaign for the social age. These YouTube ads talked directly to viewers with a quick hit that got the message across in five seconds. For the curious — those who didn’t click the ‘skip’ button and kept watching — hilarity ensued.

 

8. Sanlam + King James Group

King James for Sanlam Ukshona KwelangaAd of the Week: Sanlam’s WhatsApp soapie is a first for SA

South Africans love soap operas and are WhatsApp fanatics. King James traded on these two insights to create a campaign for Sanlam that knocked the ball way out of the park for a service that’s notoriously tough to sell.

 

9. SA Tourism + FCB Joburg

Meet Bheki the Mbhaco Maker screengrab 02Ad of the Week: A South African love story from SA Tourism

FCB Joburg and director Teboho Mahlatsi of Bomb Commercials created mythical magic for South African Tourism in a commercial story that journeys through our beautiful country.

 

10. All the award winners

Nathan Reddy, Loeries Hall of Fame 2017Loeries 2017

Loeries Creative Week Durban 2017 drew to a close on Sunday night, 20 August 2017, at the Durban International Convention Centre. Over two nights, more than 241 Loeries were awarded across 22 categories, including five Grands Prix, 34 Golds, 24 Craft Golds, 76 Silvers and 102 Bronzes, and Nathan Reddy of Grid Worldwide became the first designer inducted into the Loeries Hall of Fame.

The five Grands Prix were awarded to:

  • Radio: KFC’s “Sad Man Meals” by Ogilvy Johannesburg (Ogilvy & Mather South Africa’s seventh Grand Prix in a row)
  • Websites or Microsites: La Libanaise Des Jeux’s “Skip Friday 13” by Impact BBDO Dubai
  • Communication Design, Marble’s “Meat Made Luxury” by Grid Worldwide Branding, Johannesburg
  • Integrated Campaign: Nissan’s “Camelpower” by TBWA\RAAD Dubai
  • Print: The Cartel’s “Be Seen” by Y&R Dubai

 

Pendoring 2017Pendoring 2017

The 2017 Pendoring winners were announced at the annual awards evening held at Vodacom World in Midrand, Johannesburg, on Friday, 27 October 2017. Of the 10 Golds that were awarded to agencies, The Odd Number walked away with four, followed by J. Walter Thompson and 7Films/Y&R South Africa with two each. Joe Public and Abnormal Group were each awarded one Gold.

 

2017 Epica AwardsAfrica’s Epica 2017 winners

The Epica Awards announced its winning entries for 2017, with FP7/CAI (Egypt) scooping Gold for Coca-Cola, as did Advantage Y&R (Namibia) for Greenpeace Africa and Noah’s Ark Communications (Nigeria) for Airtel. In Kenya, Scanad won Silver for MASCULAN, as well as a Bronze for KWS. Net#work BBDO (South Africa) took a Bronze for SCA.

Prism Awards logoPRISM Awards 2017

The 20th PRISM Awards, which celebrated, recognised and rewarded excellence in the South African public relations industry, took place Saturday evening, 6 May 2017. Seventy three awards were presented: 18 Gold, 30 Silver and 25 Bronze. Over 220 entries has been received.

The Rocomamas #ElectionBurger Campaign by Tribeca Public Relations and Retroviral, scooped top honours, taking the South African Campaign of the Year Overall Gold Award. Global agency Burson-Marsteller won the Gold Award for African Network of the Year.

 

2017 AdFocus winnersAdFocus 2017

The winners at the 2017 Financial Mail AdFocus Awards came from a shortlist of 21 agencies across six categories in 2017. Agencies were adjudicated against four measures: new business and growth; business retention and relationships; training and industry recognition; and empowerment/social responsibility.

 

Assegai 2017 via FacebookAssegais 2017

The Direct Marketing Association of Southern Africa announced the winners of the 2017 Assegai Awards on 9 November 2017.

 

APEX Awards 2017Apex Awards 2017

The Association for Communication and Advertising (ACA) announced the winners of the annual APEX Awards on 6 July 2017.

 

Herman Manson 2017Herman Manson (@marklives) is the founder and editor of MarkLives.com.

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#BigReads2017: It’s all about the people, y’know

by Herman Manson (@marklives) We list the most-read-about people on MarkLives during 2017.

1. Agency Leaders’ Most Admired 2016

Making of 2016 MarkLives Agency Leaders Most Admired posters by Musonda Kabwe

Our announcement of our annual Agency Leaders awards for 2016! [The 2017 results will be released during February 2018; subscribe to our newsletter for twice-weekly updates].

Brett Morris, group CEO and group CCO at FCB Africa, emerged as the most-admired agency boss in South Africa in 2016. James Barty, co-founder and chief executive at King James Group, was our runner-up. Zibusiso Mkhwanazi, CEO and co-founder at AVATAR, as well as Mike Abel, co-founder and CE partner at M&C Saatchi Abel, received honourable mentions.

Alistair King, founding creative partner at King James Group, was named our most-admired creative leader, with Ahmed Tilly, joint chief creative officer at FCB Africa, named runner-up. Molefi Thulo, creative director at Ogilvy & Mather Johannesburg, was named a contender.

Our most-admired ad agency was King James Group and our runner-up was FCB Africa. OFYT was named the agency to watch in 2017, with AVATAR and The Odd Number tied as runners-up. Promise was named as a contender. The VML and Y&R Africa Group was voted most digitally integrated, with Avatar as our runner-up.

2016 National

2016 Gauteng

2016 Cape Town

 

2. Big changes at Ogilvy & Mather South Africa

Abey MokgwatsaneAbey Mokgwatsane resigns from Ogilvy & Mather SA

Ogilvy & Mather South Africa confirmed the resignation of Abey Mokgwatsane as its CEO. He left at the end of September 2017 to join Vodacom as its new managing executive for brand and communications.

Alistair MokoenaAlistair Mokoena to lead Ogilvy South Africa

Ogilvy South Africa subsequently announced the appointment of Alistair Mokoena as its new chief executive officer.

 

3. Young, Gifted & Killing It!

Young, Gifted & Killing It! 2017

We struck gold this year, and we didn’t have to dig too deep to find the shining nuggets in our industry. Just scratch the surface, and there they are: young and gifted creatives who’re killing it! as copy- and scriptwriters, creative, art and film directors, executive producers and more. As we discovered when we interviewed them during the year, they’re adding lustre and rich diversity to our industry.

Find our overview and links to all the individual interviews here.

 

4. Neo Mashigo joins M&C Saatchi Group

Neo Mashigo

Neo Mashigo became the new creative partner for the M&C Saatchi South Africa Group of Companies. Based out of Cape Town, his primary role is to help build the group by partnering Gordon Ray (founding partner: ECD Cape Town) and Adam Weber (partner: ECD Johannesburg) within M&C Saatchi Abel, as well as the leadership teams from Dalmatian, Creative Spark and Avatar, where needed.

 

5. Masego Motsogi MD of 99c’s new Jozi agency

Masego Motsogi

Masego Motsogi was appointed as managing director of the new Johannesburg agency for of Ninety9cents (99c), effective 1 February 2017. [Motsogi resigned in late 2017 — ed.]

 

6. Management changes at M&C Saatchi Jhb

Jerry Mpufane

The M&C Saatchi Group promoted of Jerry Mpufane, group managing director (Gauteng), to the position of chairperson of the M&C Saatchi Abel JHB Group of Companies. Alan Bell, former MD at The Hardy Boys, took on the role of partner and MD at M&C Saatchi Abel’s Joburg office.

 

7. New CMO for MMI Holdings

Nontokozo Madonsela

Nontokozo Madonsela was appointed as the new group chief marketing officer (CMO) for MMI Holdings. Her group executive role gives her marketing oversight over the MMI Group as a whole, including the following brands: Momentum, Metropolitan, Multiply and GuardRisk. She officially started at MMI on Monday, 9 October 2017.

 

8. Graham Lang resigned from Y&R South Africa

Graham Lang

Graham Lang, chief creative officer of Y&R South Africa and Africa, left the agency at the end of November 2017. Toronto-based agency, Juniper Park\TBWA, subsequently announced that it had hired Graham Lang as its new CCO. Lang leads the agency’s creative output and assists in further growing the business across North America.

 

9. New ECD for M&C Saatchi Abel Joburg

Adam Weber

M&C Saatchi Abel Joburg appointed Adam Weber as partner and executive creative director. Weber, who began his career over 20 years ago, joined the partnership at M&C Saatchi Abel from Joe Public.

 

10. Yossi Schwartz left Y&R Africa

Y&R Yossi Schwartz

Y&R South Africa announced the resignation of Yossi Schwartz, group chairman of Y&R Africa, effective end of September 2017. Schwarz, who had been with Y&R since the 2001 acquisition of his independent agency, Gitam SA, decided to pursue other business and personal interests.

 

11. Tony Koenderman earned the mantle “legend”

Tony Koenderman

As Matthew Bull wrote in our tribute, “I recall the first time I spoke to him as a wiseass creative director at Tholet Sievers, telling him how great we were. He calmly told me he would reserve judgement. Which, in a sense, epitomised the man. He had values, principles. He was not one for the flamboyant, off-the-cuff, flavour of the month. He was studied, meticulous, professional. But he knew what he liked. And what he liked were companies, people, work that tried to do things of exceptional value, things of substance.

“I learned a great deal from him. I had a propensity to shoot my mouth off in those early days and a man of lesser integrity could have burned me on the page, had he so chosen to.”

 

Herman Manson 2017Herman Manson (@marklives) is the founder and editor of MarkLives.com.

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Toyota sticks with FCB Africa

by MarkLives (@marklives) Following a competitive pitch process, FCB Africa has retained the Toyota South Africa account. FCB has held the account for 57 years.

Earlier this year, Toyota announced the account was out to pitch to ensure corporate compliance. The Financial Mail estimates the business to be worth more than R245m/year (total ad spend).

“This is one of our most important and enduring relationships, and is only possible in the spirit of a true partnership that has seen us — as agency and people — grow along with the Toyota business in South Africa,” says Brett Morris, FCB group CEO and group CCO.

“A huge thank you to the current Toyota and FCB team, as well as the hundreds more who have worked on the business for the more than half a century Toyota has been with us. We’re obviously more than delighted that the partnership continues uninterrupted, and look forward to the next chapter. This is something that we will never take for granted and we strive to earn it every single day.”

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SA TV Ratings: SABC 3 — primetime top 20 for Nov, Oct 2017

by MarkLives (@marklives) The hottest primetime television shows on SABC 3 in South Africa revealed: TV ratings for November and October 2017.

In 2016, the Broadcast Research Council of South Africa (BRCSA) changed its policy about giving away TAMS and now only monthly reports, highlighting the top 20 or 30 primetime shows on several popular channels, are available.

SABC 3 November 2017

BRCSA TV Ratings November 2017 primetime SABC 3Source: BRCSA November 2017

 

SABC 3 October 2017

BRCSA TV Ratings October 2017 primetime SABC 3Source: BRCSA October 2017

Broadcast Research Council of South Africa

 

The Broadcast Research Council of South Africa (the BRC) is a non-profit, industry body that was incorporated in 2015 to cater to the audience research needs of the radio and television industry in South Africa.

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