Media Future: Internet access in South Africa has many divides

by Arthur Goldstuck (@art2gee) The latest study on internet access in South Africa reveals extensive fault lines across geography, race and income.

The digital divide is a convenient way of describing the gap between the haves and have-nots in the world of technology and communications. But it goes far beyond mere affordability. The new Internet Access in South Africa 2017 report, recently released by World Wide Worx with the support of wholesale connectivity providers Dark Fibre Africa, spells out the many divides that make up the dramatic imbalances in internet access. [Full disclosure: Arthur Goldstuck is one of the authors of the report.]

Good news

The good news is that the South African internet user population passed the 20m mark for the first time last year, reaching 21m, and is expected to grow to at least 22.5min 2017. This means that more than half of the adult population is now connected. The bad news lies on the flip side of that same coin.

“It means that half are not connected, highlighting how far we still have to go to bring everyone into the information economy,” says Reshaad Sha, chief strategy officer and executive director of Dark Fibre Africa. “If we are to deliver a truly digitally inclusive state, increasing the ability of people to afford internet connectivity is absolutely critical, as this remains an inhibitor to the majority of people in the lower income brackets isolated from the benefits of the information economy.”

The report includes data supplied from the Target Group Index (TGI) survey conducted by Ask Afrika, one of the largest market research organisations on the continent. TGI comprises more than 15 000 interviews across a vast range of consumer topics and behaviours.

The analysis of this data reveals that, among adult South Africans earning more than R30 000 a month, internet penetration is at 82.4%, on a par with overall penetration in many industrialised countries. However, penetration declines rapidly as income declines, falling to 61.3% for those earning between R14 000 and R18 000, 42% for those earning between R3 000 and R6 000, and below 30% for those earning below R2 500 a month. This is merely the most obvious divide, as one would expect access to be associated with income levels. However, it highlights the extent to which lower income South Africans are frozen out of the internet economy.

Primary means of access

The research shows that a third of adult internet users rely on their cellphones as their primary means of access. For low-income users, internet access requires data costs to be taken off airtime, and those costs remain among the highest in the world.

High-income individuals tend to buy data in large bundles, which brings the cost down dramatically, to the extent that their data costs compare with some of the lowest in the world. However, this obscures the high cost of data for the rest of the population.

Education is also a barrier to internet access, with less than 20% access among all segments that have below Grade 7 education. Fewer than 40% of those with less than a Grade 11 education have internet access, but it rises rapidly after that: with a maximum Grade 11 education, it goes up to 48.7%, Grade 12 goes to 55% and, of those with a post-matric qualification, it reaches a high 71.6%.

A digital divide also exists between major metros and non-metro areas, and between different cities and provinces. The Western Cape has by far the highest internet penetration of all provinces, at 75%, followed distantly by Gauteng at 55%. This is believed to reflect the extensive local initiatives in towns such as Stellenbosch and Somerset West to increase coverage, as well as an earlier start on provincial connectivity initiatives.

Infrastructure

“It might seem like it is stating the obvious, but the other major area that needs work is that of infrastructure,” Sha point out. “The report indicates that a vast digital divide exists between the major metropolitan areas and the smaller cities and towns. The former have penetration levels of 67.7%, compared to the latter’s 32.3% penetration. Even more concerning, these figures only reflect the gap between large cities and smaller towns. It can certainly be assumed that, outside of the urban areas, internet penetration is significantly lower. Therefore, when infrastructure projects are planned in the future, sustainable models, partnerships and policies must be explored to support such projects.”

Unfortunately, says Sha, when one looks at internet penetration among the various races, it is also clear that SA a long way to go to overcome the inequalities of the past.

“Over two-thirds of white people have internet access (69.1%), compared to just 47.7% of black, 48.1% of Indian, and 45,8% of coloured users. Perhaps the most-effective way of increasing internet penetration is to improve economic inclusivity across the board. “

The more people that can afford devices and connectivity, he says, the easier it will be to drive penetration: “This is vital as, with Africa the continent that has the largest population of youth in the world, internet penetration has never been more critical if we want our youth to be able to play a role in the economy.”

See also

 

Arthur GoldstuckArthur Goldstuck (@art2gee) heads up World Wide Worx and is editor-in-chief of Gadget, a personal technology magazine. He is a consulting editor to MarkLives.com and our media tech columnist. This article has been republished from Gadget.

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Thinking B2B: Recession? Boost your B2B marketing

by Warren Moss (@warrenmoss) There’s the well-known notion that, when you’re in a recession or economic downturn, many companies try to tighten the purse strings and where’s the first place they usually cut back? Marketing budgets.

This is understandable: marketing is the soft target because it’s one function that traditionally hasn’t been directly linked to revenue or profit, and so it’s easy to say: “Let’s simply shave off 30% of the marketing budget.”

But what if the marketing director could interject and explain that shaving off that 30% would directly impact revenue by x or y? The budget cutters would have to look elsewhere. The problem is that marketers have often lacked the proof and the reports to show how what they’re doing is directly influencing revenue. If they were armed with the relevant data, they could then defend their budgets and, what’s more, motivate for more.

Tracking marketing spending

This is one of the primary differences between B2C and B2B marketing. In B2B, you have the capability to track marketing spend all the way through the buying cycle: from how many leads are generated and how many become qualified sales to how many of those actually turn into opportunities and then how many turn into actual sales. You can even track brand awareness into leads.

The reason that it’s much easier to do this in B2B is simple: not only are there fewer leads but the sales ecosystems in B2B businesses are generally better defined. You can now close the link between sales and marketing teams. You’re tracking hundreds or thousands of leads, not millions, as you would have to do in B2C. And this is the key: once you link marketing spend back to the lifetime value of a new customer and you effectively “close the loop”, you can completely justify that marketing spend.

How do you close that loop, though? By using marketing automation platforms, which link into sales CRM platforms. You then use the two to link back marketing spend into responses, looking at the revenue and profit generated. If you do that over a sustained period of time, you start to develop models: the holy grail of marketing.

Measurable

There’s the well-known phrase by successful US merchant, John Wanamaker: “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.” This may have been the case for decades but this is no longer valid. Because of marketing automation platforms, your spend is now measurable. And marketers who ignore the closed loop are not only wasting huge opportunities; I believe they’re also being irresponsible.

Using marketing automation platforms is one thing but you need people with the expertise and skills to create strategies that govern those platforms and tell them what to do. This then puts the chief marketing officer in the pound seat, as marketing is now seen as a function of profit. There is now clear accountability and businesses can see which products are selling better, and which sales people are performing better, too.

Marketing used to be an expense but now it may be seen an investment, giving CMOs a meaningful seat on the board by proving its return. I believe that this is no more essential than now, as our economy finds itself in the doldrums and we’re all looking for ways to help our businesses thrive.

 

Warren MossWarren Moss (@warrenmoss) is the CEO and founder of Demographica, a multi-award winning full service agency that specialises in the B2B category. He is the chair of both the Direct Marketing Association of South Africa (DMASA) and the Assegai Integrated Marketing Awards (Assegais), as well as the only African to judge the B2 Awards, which recognise the top performing B2B marketers in the world. Warren contributes the monthly “Thinking B2B” column, which looks at the latest trends in B2B communications and explains why it is fundamentally different from B2C comms.

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BREAKING: Y&R Cape Town closing down

by Herman Manson (@marklives) Y&R South Africa is closing down its Cape Town office. This follows the news that Graham Lang, CCO of Y&R SA and Africa, is leaving the agency at the end of November 2017. Yossi Schwartz, group chairman of Y&R Africa, previously announced he would also do so, effective this September.

The agency suffered a major blow in 2016 when Pick n Pay moved its account to King James, ending a relationship that lasted 48 years. Now Y&R SA is consolidating efforts around its Johannesburg agency, which employs 80 plus people. Key clients in Johannesburg include Edgars, Amstel and Colgate.

Jason Xenopoulos, CEO of NATIVE VML and Y&R South Africa, says consolidating the agency’s focus and efforts around Joburg makes business sense. It already houses its major clients, and its best growth prospects. According to him, the group tried to make the Cape Town office work but the market has remained small and the office hasn’t regained viability after PnP.

Clients

Servicing of Cape Town’s major remaining client, SKYY Vodka, has already been moved to Joburg. Russian Bear is being temporarily serviced out of there as well while it decides if it wants to move. Chevron is about to go out to pitch as it looks for a Level 1 BBBEE agency partner.

The decision to close down Cape Town affects 6–8 permanent staff members, most of whom are leaving the agency. Some posts in the Jozi office are available but requires relocation.

According to Xenopoulos, the Durban office has also been closed and all Durban clients are being serviced out of Jozi.

The agency would consider reopening in Cape Town if a major client required servicing out of the city but, for now, it has moved away from a multi-city strategy in a bid to save on overheads and logistics costs. A new leadership team will be announced for the Joburg agency in the near future.

 

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

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Who exactly is Africa’s consuming class?

by Ailsa Wingfield. Africa’s vast potential is the stuff of investors’ dreams; however, capitalising on that opportunity is less about identifying or quantifying prospects and much more about execution, stemming from knowledge, insights and data to enable on-the-ground success.

The phrase “untapped potential” is often bandied about when it comes to Africa but, when we drill down to the reality, the numbers speak for themselves: home to 54 countries, 1.3bn people, the second-fastest growing economy, millions of retail outlets and rapid urbanisation — over 55 African cities have a population of more than 1m people, of whom 80% have a mobile subscription coupled with steep growth in smartphone ownership.

It all starts with the consumer

In addition, Africa currently has up to 500m people who spend more than US$2 day and, within this, a middle-class potential of between 60m and 420m people (African Development Bank), depending on the definition that you use. But is the middle class really everything it’s cracked up to be? Is it a ‘mountain or molehill’? In sub-Saharan Africa, Nigeria has the biggest middle-class population potential at 42m, while Ethiopia/Kenya and South Africa’s potential is almost equal, at 21m versus 24m people respectively. But it’s interesting to consider the fact that the average African middle-class population per country is anything between 1m and 8m people ie 60m or 420m split across 54 countries.

In comparative size, China and India’s middle-class populations are roughly the same in size and range of potential as the African middle class but the latter’s average income is only US$4 000 p/a (India’s is similar), in comparison to China’s, which is US$8 000. Added to the disparity is that this income is spread far and wide, and Africa’s consumption story will be different to other emerging markets.

What’s not to like?

It’s therefore clear that the foundation is there, and there is certainly no debate about the base of opportunity. But, within the broader middle-class definition, it’s important to drill down even further for greater clarity and look at Africa’s rising consuming class who spend more than US$10 per day. Globally, this class represent a massive rising-emerging market opportunity, which by 2025 will see the world’s consuming class swell to 4.2bn (53% of the population) and account for 50% of consumption spend.

In Africa, today’s comparative consuming class is just 120m people or 10% (versus 35% globally), accounting for 31% of income and closer to 40% of spend. However, in the near-term, this figure could double as the lower middle class (US$4-10) incomes stabilise and, in the longer term, this could expand to 40% to include the mass middle class of variable potential — those with fluctuating spending ability between US$2-4 per day — and in the more distant future there are a further 720m people who live a subsistence life (below US$2 per day). It’s therefore clear that these growing markets represent massive potential for spending to increase exponentially and rapidly as political, economic and social advancement continues and consumers’ circumstances improve. Businesses need to consider the current as well as the future — five-, 10- and even 20-years’ time — and develop product portfolios, media and retail strategies which serve today’s consumer needs and build for the future consumer-purchasing potential into their planning.

A matter of mindset

As part of this reality check, it’s important to move beyond income and demographic numbers. It’s, first and foremost, about understanding the diverse and evolving consumer spectrums. It’s about how consumers live, shop, buy, interact and experience products; what influences this; what they watch; and the impact of technology.

Together with mindset, we need to be cognisant of the consumer realities and how this translates into opportunities for brands. Within Africa, the consumption-needs spectrum far exceeds the product spectrum and the brand spectrum. It’s important to appreciate that the branded product is not usually the starting point of the ability to consume. In understanding the ability to consume today and tomorrow, it brings in to question what is a brand’s mandate/role, and at which stage of the need state are businesses prepared or able to tap into? Unfortunately, this is where many new and existing businesses have fallen short, as less than 1/5 of consumers are able and willing to purchase branded products. This leaves a massive range of consumers who are fulfilling their needs beyond the branded format. With an in-depth understanding of consumer needs, businesses will be able to adapt their offerings to match those needs, across a broader spectrum and build equity for the future.

Build a reason and they will buy

Another million-dollar question is whether businesses build or fulfil a reason to purchase or simply bring a brand from other emerging markets and anticipate that Africa’s consumers will buy the same? The reality is that success is about more than just bringing another affordable or available product. Marketers and manufacturers need to look at the specific consumer’s day-to-day life and identify a need to solve. With deep analysis, many unmet needs may be identified, whether based on tradition, taste preference, new needs, ease of use, scarcity, accessibility, health and wellness, aspiration or sustainability, and differentiated products brought or optimised for markets and consumers to fulfil these roles.

Opportunities across the continent

It’s therefore clear that untapped opportunities exist across the continent — whether viewed in absolute or relative potential — for current and future consumers. The key is to identify where it will be easier to execute based on overall consumer potential and ask these questions to ensure success:

  1. Which part of the consumer needs spectrum is your mandate? Are there opportunities to extend purchasing beyond the brand to build for future loyalty?
  2. Do you have the right products? Can you adopt, adapt or innovate to match the market and consumer specific needs?
  3. Can you reach your consumer through tailored marketing and media? Can you optimise your retail execution, distribution and activation in the stores that matter most?

 

Ailsa WingfieldAilsa Wingfield is head of thought leadership across Nielsen’s Emerging Markets, with responsibility for curating strategic, forward-thinking content to help clients future-proof their business. To look at opportunities in comparative ways, Nielsen has created seven consumer groups across 17 countries to identify and understand consumers and how to tap into them, based on behaviour, propensity and the brand, media and shopping drivers.

“Motive” is a by-invitation-only column on MarkLives.com. Contributors are picked by the editors but generally don’t form part of our regular columnist lineup, unless the topic is off-column.

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The next challenge for CMOs

by Nontokozo Madonsela (@NontokozoM88) Digital advancement means the chief marketing officer’s role is changing faster than most other industries around the world. This is true in Africa, too, and with this change comes immense responsibility.

It is no longer good enough to have a good story to tell, based on a model that may have worked in the past; additional instruments have to be unlocked within marketing platforms to continue the conversation and influence behaviour. There needs to be far more empathy and understanding of the goals and challenges human beings face on a daily basis. When you have empathy, then the level at which you can enter into conversation as a brand is value-adding and authentic, rather than just being about achieving financial targets.

Connect the dots

The world we live in has new slogans and brand promises coming through thick and fast, and so it is very important to be able to connect the dots and understand how people are interacting with all their brands on digital platforms. This means knowing what your target market is experiencing out there so that, when you are judged and compared with other brands, you get noticed. Ready access to big data on key behavioural trends is a very useful tool for the modern CMO, as it enables us to have a finger on the pulse of what customers really want.

For instance, when designing a complementary travel lounge experience at OR Tambo, it is no use just comparing yourself to similar lounges at big international airports; you need to go further and explore what is happening in the hospitality industry when it comes to their lounge experiences. After all, these are the real-life experiences customers are having and, if you start there. you can set a benchmark and work to deliver a truly remarkable service.

I believe you must use the available data to really delve into other sectors in order to be a true partner on a client’s journey, whatever that journey is. No two journeys are the same and no two people the same — consumers are the CEOs of their own lives. To use a simple analogy, it’s a bit like seeing yourself on Lewis Hamilton’s Formula 1 team: enabling remarkable success by supporting the person in the race at any given moment. It is about unlocking the conversation to understand where clients are going on their journeys.

Why you exist

To be a leading brand today, you need to be fully in touch with why you exist. I truly believe that, with information so pervasive and available and client demands rising in tandem with the wave of digital experiences they have on a daily basis, you need to do the good first, and then talk about it. Simply put, people want to see you do more. We all know how the gift of social media may quickly become a curse in the absence of doing the right things in the court of public opinion. When someone clicks a few times, they can put a picture to your face instantly, so we need to ensure what they see matches up to promises made.

Employees need to be a key part of delivery engines and have an incredible multiplier effect. For example, there are many conversations taking place every day at braais, dinner tables and picnics where a CEO is not available — yet, if there is someone who understands what you as a company or brand are doing and why, then they can contribute through dinner conversation from a place of good knowledge

That being said, engagement in various sectors may be complex and this makes our jobs as marketers that much harder! There are myriad layers of complexity that ultimately all have to add up to the brand experience.

For me, doing business with purpose will deliver lasting value to clients and stakeholders.

 

Nontokozo MandoselaNontokozo Madonsela (@NontokozoM88) is head of marketing for personal and business banking at Standard Bank. She has close on 20 years in executive marketing positions, including Coca-Cola, Brutal Fruit, and Carling Black Label, among others). Her portfolio wide includes strategy development, merchandising, experiential events, media and campaign Planning.

“Motive” is a by-invitation-only column on MarkLives.com. Contributors are picked by the editors but generally don’t form part of our regular columnist lineup, unless the topic is off-column.

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Re-tilting influencer campaigns

by Herman Manson (@marklives) TILT aims to reignite interest in influencer marketing campaigns by disrupting the dominant pay-per-post model. Lead by chief creative officer, Arye Kellman, and co-founder, Jason Levin, this new influencer marketing agency is being positioned as a creative concept-led one.

TILT team
The TILT team

Kellman, a former creative director at both CliffCentral.com and Touch HD, describes the duo as influence architects working to connect brands with audiences through digital and activation campaigns. Social influencers will create their own third-party content, to encourage content authenticity, and will be relevant to the brand they act as ambassadors for.

Levin, who led HDI Youth Marketeers for over eight years until late 2016, became involved in TILT when Kellman approached Levin’s company, Elevation Holdings, for startup advice. The two had met previously through HDI, which hadsupported some of the work done by Kellman on the millennial market.

Kellogg’s All Bran Flakes

TILT was recently involved in the relaunch of the Kelloggs All Bran Flakes brand through a #BranNewDay campaign, driven by eight influencers over a 8-10 week period. All long-time consumers of All Bran, they’ve all been provided with a basic content policy to ensure messages stays in line with client expectations but, for the rest, the individual influencers do their own thing.

TILT gets paid content and campaign management fees. Influencers are either paid or, when company policy doesn’t allow for this (Nike being a case in point), receive product(s). The hope is that the brand and its influencer team will build a long-term relationship and that this will result in creative collaboration to drive brands forward. Media buying is at the discretion of individual brands and their digital media agencies; for TILT, the focus is on a strong organic approach, says Kellman. This is done through authentic, enduring content that engages people. On the experiential and activation side, TILT has teamed up with Funeka Peppeta of Mood Mechanics, who assists in sourcing talent for on-the-ground activations where the campaign requires it.

According to Levin, that influencer marketing will continue to gain both traction and importance as brands adapt to the dialogue-driven landscape of social media, a vastly different beast to the monologue they usually subject consumers to in other media. There is little traction for brand voices online (Nando’s would be an exception) and influencers may offer compelling language on behalf of brands.

Tracking ROI

Tracking ROI in influencer marketing, says Kellman, is easy enough (it becomes harder when the campaign runs across multiple channels) and the case studies TILT is pulling together makes for compelling material in convincing brands to give the agency and its influencers a shot.

TILT has a panel of around 100 influencers it can work with but, says Levin, it prefers finding relevant talent based on campaign and brand objectives.

By the end of August 2017, TILT would have run between 12 and 14 campaigns for a client base which includes Nando’s, Virgin Atlantic, Kellogg’s and FNB. Levin says marketers are open to TILT’s pitch, although several had burnt their fingers in influencer marketing in the past, either by feeling isolated from the campaign (little or no interaction with the influencers) or through lack of ROI. Like TILT, they are keen on getting it right. “We are getting meetings, and briefs from those meetings,” says Levin.

TILT will continue to evolve in the year ahead. It was conceived as a global business and Levin hopes to work with multi-national companies to bring their offering into other emerging markets. Levin says he hopes TILT will be able to create a marketing platform that offers a voice to the millennial market as well as assisting brand in understanding what Levin believes is a fundamentally misunderstood (and fractured) market.

Case studies

Supplied by TILT

#MZ17 with Nando’s

Objective

Create and build a media platform (audio, visual and ebook) for Nando’s to connect with brand-aloof South African millennial authentically, meaningfully and engagingly.

Solution

#MZ17 (2017 Millennial Zeitgeist) self-expresses the narrative of the millennial generation. It’s a digital-thought series of engaging podcasts, short videos and an ebook presented by Nando’s, encapsulating millennial opinions on love, fame, passion, success, social media and purpose.

Results

The campaign is ongoing, with the #MZ17 ebook coming soon. The launch of the campaign podcasts and videos on 13 February trended #1 on Twitter, achieving 33m+ impressions for the hashtag (#MZ17), and
reaching an audience of 2.3m+ (per Zoomph) in a single day.

 

Virgin Atlantic #GoLiveVA

https://www.instagram.com/p/BRsHJtAg3-I/?tagged=goliveva

Objective

Enable Virgin Atlantic to connect with millennials from around the world by giving them an active voice on Virgin Atlantic’s social media platforms, and letting them co-create content.

Solution

#GoLiveVA enabled audiences to engage with an influencer-driven Virgin Atlantic travel experience in real-time, as social-media users from across the world instructed millennial influencers navigating New York and London to share their experiences and go live on social media at any time.

Results

#GoLiveVA saw an extensive amount of social-media users engaging with Virgin Atlantic as a content provider as well-known millennial influencers engaged with the brand on their personal platforms in a meaningful and engaging way.

 

Kellogg’s #DonateYourGreat

Objective

Align the #Kellman20 brand to Kellogg’s business objective of connecting with millennials in an authentic and meaningful way on Mandela Day, 18 July 2016.

Solution

Create content around the #Kellman20 engaging with the Kellogg’s brand on Nelson Mandela Day through a series of digital motivational videos and podcasts, as well as appearances by the #Kellman20 at a Kellogg’s Breakfast For Better Days school in Joburg.

Results

The #Kellman20 collab let Kellogg’s leave an indelible mark on Nelson Mandela Day with the hashtag #DonateYourGreat trending #1 on Twitter on the morning of Mandela Day. #DonateYourGreat was able to rack up an online audience reach of over 4.5m by providing engaging content and extensive digital reach through influencers.

 

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

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Graham Lang resigns from Y&R South Africa

by MarkLives (@marklives) Graham Lang, chief creative officer of Y&R South Africa and Africa, is leaving the agency at the end of November 2017. He will be going overseas to pursue opportunities in North America, according to a statement released by the agency.

Graham LangLang joined Y&R SA where he spent the last six years, from Y&R London (previously known as RKCR/Y&R). There he’d been the global integrated creative director on the Land Rover account.

“It’s been a privilege and honour to serve Y&R,” Lang says. “I would like to thank Tony Granger [CCO of Y&R Advertising] and all the clients, organisations and businesses that have given me an opportunity to do what I do. Y&R South Africa has done some pretty incredible work over the last couple of years across a variety of channels and for a wide spread of brands, and it leaves me excited about the agency’s future.”

According to Jason Xenopoulos, CEO of NATIVE VML and Y&R South Africa, the group will be consolidating its efforts around the Johannesburg agency, bolstering the leadership team there, “and shifting the agency into a bold new direction”.

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Cover Stories: Thoughtfulness in design (15 September 2017)

by Shane de Lange (@shanenilfunct) Let’s delve into great media design from South Africa and around the world:

  • Baseline — iconic
  • Bloomberg Businessweek, The Economist, The New Yorker — international/print
  • Cereal — online/print
  • Chimurenga — print (special mention)
  • Farmer’s Weekly — local/print
  • The Lake — local/print
  • Real Review — international/print

Find a cover we should know about? Tweet us at @Marklives and @shanenilfunct.
Pinterest icon Want to view all the covers at a glance? See our Pinterest board!

Special mention

Chimurenga (South Africa), Issue 3, 2002

Chimurenga, Issue 3, 2002 - Steve Biko

Anti-apartheid activist and forerunner for the Black Consciousness Movement in SA, Stephen Bantu Biko died in a Pretoria prison cell on 12 September 1977 — 40 years ago this week — in the custody of apartheid police. This cover of #3 of Chimurenga journal, with an artwork titled “Biko in Parliament” by Neo Muyanga, is an ode to Biko’s struggle and legacy, and the manner in which his memory lives-on today.

 

Print

Farmer’s Weekly (South Africa), 8 September 2017

Collage - Farmer’s Weekly, 8 September 2017, and High Times, October 2017

The future remains ‘foggy’ in South Africa in more ways than one, as suggested by the cover for the 8 September 2017 issue of Farmer’s Weekly. With a bold headline, stating “Cannabis Farming in South Africa”, this issue is more conducive to a cover for High Times (US) than the fairly pedestrian and austere content that one might expect from a trade publication such as Farmer’s Weekly. Setting aside the pros and cons of weed advocacy and increasing awareness surrounding the health benefits of weed, this particular issue of Farmer’s Weekly follows in the wake of a judgment handed down by the Western Cape High Court, on 31 March 2017, that declared sections of the Drugs and Drug Trafficking Act, 1992, unconstitutional, resulting in an unprecedented ruling that allows South Africans to possess, cultivate and use cannabis within the confines of their own homes. High times ahead, indeed.

 

Bloomberg Businessweek (US), 5–11 November 2012 and 4 September 2017
The Economist (US), 2 September 2017
The New Yorker (US), 11 September 2017

Collage - Bloomberg Businessweek, 5–11 November 2012 and 4 September 2017, The Economist, 2 September 2017 and The New Yorker, 11 September 2017

Many covers have appeared over the past few weeks in response to extreme weather across the globe. Each year, it seems to be getting worse and very little is being done to remedy the situation. While much of South Africa suffers from an extended period of severe drought (the worst in decades for the Western Cape), weather patterns across the globe are alarming, with historic levels of destruction and intensity. From devastating floods in Texas (following Hurricane Harvey) to even harsher rainfall and flooding in other parts of the world such as Sierra Leone (Freetown), South Asia (Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan) and Italy (Tuscany), perhaps it’s time to acknowledge that our actions are affecting this planet and, by proxy, our future.

The awesome power, increased density and frequency of these aggressive weather patterns were concretised in history this past week with Hurricane Irma, the most powerful Atlantic Ocean storm in recorded history. That makes two Category 4 hurricanes in as many weeks to make landfall off the coast of America. To quote the bold, underlined, headline on the cover of Bloomberg Businessweek from 5 Novevember 2012 (during Hurricane Sandy) which shouts: “It’s global warming, stupid”. No exclamation mark required; it’s best that we start listening, become conscious and do something.

 

The Lake (South Africa), Issue 17, September 2017

Collage - The Lake, Issue 17, September 2017 and iJusi, issue 27

The characteristic format of The Lake magazine takes its inspiration from the classic 12-inch format of vinyl records. Its approach to format is similar to the 2012 LP album cover theme for issue 27 of iJusi magazine, which included faux cover designs by Anton Kannemayer, Givan Lötz, and the editor of The Lake, Stefan Naude, among others. The influence of album-cover design is further revealed by the music-oriented, mostly sub-cultural, narrative that runs through every issue of The Lake, in support of South African design, art, and fashion. Street culture and youth culture are key. Featured creative types and influential personalities also contribute a list of their favorite albums as an epithet to the critical writings and reviews in the magazine.

The latest cover comes with a new format, one smaller and closer to the size of 7-inch single records. The cover showcases SA electronic music artist, and maverick producer, Felix Laband, in studio. The independent stance of the title is communicated with its eclectic choice of personalities that appear on each cover. The Lakes non-conformist vibe is also visible in the magazine’s spot-varnished, invisible masthead, avoiding any visible headlines and immediately setting a clear indie-alternative tone of voice. Importantly, the magazine is not for sale but rather distributed free of charge to those who are interested. It is available at selected outlets.

 

Real Review (UK), Issue 4, September 2017

Collage - Real Review, Issue 4, September 2017 plus issues 1, 2 and 3

Designed by studio OK-RM, Real Review is a quarterly magazine that veers away from orthodox production methods in editorial design. With a captivating tagline, “What It Means to Live Today,” the magazine critically reviews 21st century architecture and other culturally relevant discourse. The current issue focuses on what it means to love today, inspired by the underground tradition of hand-crafted Soviet (Russian) Samizdat publications. These were designed to be read, shoved into the reader’s back pocket, thumbed and passed around, as opposed to the detached and mediated forms of interaction we have today. Samizdat publications were aberrant, resourceful, urgent and critical, and meant to disseminate information under the radar within communities.

Inspired by the resourcefulness of editorial design used in Samizdat publications, the editor of Real Review, architect and critic Jack Self, chose an experimental format. He observed the magazine as an object, realising that such publications are often folded or rolled-up. Presented pre-folded, Real Review’s format is thin and vertical, which emphasises the malleability and ‘realness’ of the publication; it unfolds much like a brochure, with quadruple-page spreads instead of double-page spreads.

Recalling Soviet Rosta posters from the 1920s, with the illustrated work of agitprop pioneer and Russian futurist, Vladimir Mayakovsky, the cover of each issue thus far has been illustrated by UK-based Nishant Choksi, known for various cover designs for Bloomberg Businessweek, The Economist, Esquire, Monocle, New York Magazine, The New Yorker, TIME Magazine, Vanity Fair, and WIRED to name a few. With this touch of Constructivist experimentalism, the architectural ‘R’ in the bottom third of the cover is an ode to British designer and typographer, Edward Wright, and his Alphabet for a Study in Legibility (1963).

 

Online

Cereal (UK), online and print, Volume 3, Issue 13, September 2017

Collage - Cereal, online and print, Volume 3, Issue 13, September 2017

If Donald Judd were to design a website, it would be Cereal, a UK-based biannual publication. Minimalist to a T, the site displays a clean layout, uncluttered design, and unadulterated use of typography. Everything is curated and accompanied by considered art direction, with a choice selection of writings on travel, design, art, and style. Its smooth responsive interface recalls the aesthetic of American modernist architect, Frank Lloyd Wright, and his embrace of emptiness within spatial arrangements, reducing elements to their essential qualities.

Finding common ground with the modernist movement of minimalism, and the mantra of truth to materials, Cereal strips all design components down to arrive at the virtue of simplicity, liberated from decoration. Conscious of the important difference between modernism and ‘modern life’, minimalism and ‘minimal living’, all sections of the site are examined to a point where nothing more could be reduced in order to refine the design. The structural qualities and aesthetic considerations of both Cereal’s online and print iterations reach spiritual qualities similar to traditional Japanese culture and Zen Buddhism, creating a dialogue between the website and the physical magazine that takes an ethical stance when it comes to the importance of mindful design in society.

 

Iconic

Baseline (UK), Issue 24, November 1997, and Issue 63, September 2017

Collage - Baseline, Issue 24, November 1997, and Issue 63, September 2017 and Hans Schmidt, Typography Today

UK-based Baseline was first published in 1979, initially used to promote the latest typeface designs and other distributable material related to graphic design and typography, pre-digital era. Despite its sporadic release — about 10 issues in its first decade (due to the availability of content and material) — the magazine had a global audience. Typefaces were not as readily available as they are today, giving the title its niche as one of the primary sources for new developments in visual communication.

1995 saw a radical departure for the magazine, with Baseline #19 and the arrival of Mike Daines and Hans Dieter Reichert, who co-edited the publication and introduced revised art direction from HDR Visual Communication, producing a larger format and double cover with sleeve. The magazine extended its scope to incorporate historical and contemporary content relevant to an international audience; it crafted an eclectic choice of articles and reference materials, notably having one of the earliest historical accounts of iJusi magazine in an international publication, in issue 24.

In 2007, with #52, the magazine saw yet another design refresh after the departure of Daines as co-editor. The logo and masthead, typography and layout, substrates and paper stocks all changed, including new contributors comprising established international design professionals, such as Ken Garland (UK), Steven Heller (US), Ian McLaren (UK), Helmut Schmid (Japan), and Arnold Schwartzman (US). Still in print almost four decades later, the cover for the current issue, #63, is a pastiche of surfaces and textures, showcasing the typographic output of Georg Salden in response to co-editor Schmid’s book Typography Today, linked to the notion of ‘typo-architecture’ mentioned in this issue’s article titled ‘Extroverted Type’.

 

 

Shane de LangeShane de Lange (@shanenilfunct) is a designer, writer, and educator currently based in Cape Town, South Africa, working in the fields of communication design and digital media. He works from Gilgamesh, a small design studio, and is a senior lecturer in graphic design at Vega School in Cape Town. Connect on Pinterest and Instagram.

Cover Stories, formerly MagLove, is a regular slot deconstructing media cover design, both past and present.

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SA TV Ratings: SABC 3 — primetime top 20 for Aug, Jul 2017

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

BRCSA TV Ratings August 2017 primetime SABC 3

Source: BRCSA August 2017

 

SABC 3 July 2017

BRCSA TV Ratings July 2017 primetime SABC 3

Source: BRCSA July 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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The broken brand/agency model can be fixed

by Brigitte Majewski (@ForrBmaj) In a rapidly transformational digital age, the disconnect between marketers and agencies is growing. As part of our April 2017 report, The New Agency Operating Model for Brands, we developed a four-step process that B2C marketers may follow to adapt their agency investments in the age of the customer.

The marketer and agency relationship is broken. Before selecting yet another agency that will ultimately disappoint, marketers need to take an outside-in approach that prioritises customer strategy, experience delivery, and marketing performance over rote agency assignments. According to this recent research, marketers doubt their agencies’ ability to guide them through today’s new complexities. This includes the traditional agencies, which develop the overarching creative idea, and extends to media buyers. No agency type is immune from this marketplace distress.

Adapting marketing ecosystem

The entire marketing ecosystem is adapting to the empowered consumer and her radically different expectations and behaviours. The consequences of this acclimatisation are vast, from a recalibration of media value from quantity to quality to a reckoning with evermore helpful intelligent agents. Amid this drama, marketers will recognise a distressing subplot: the unsustainability of the current brand/agency relationship, which is a partnership to the tune of US$48.6bn.

Surveys have shown that marketers are increasingly dissatisfied with the agency’s ability to deliver long-term strategic thinking and stay ahead of cutting=edge new technology. In addition, the big consulting companies like Accenture, Deloitte and IBM are encroaching into the agency space. According to the Forrester/SoDA Q1 2016 Global Digital Outlook Online survey, more than 60% of marketers are open to working with consultants for agency work.

Economic forces, advances in technology, and changing customer behaviour and expectations have necessitated firms organising their entire business strategy around winning, serving and retaining customers. Traditionally, agencies would guide clients through this change but, ironically, many have failed to undergo the necessary transformation themselves. Frustrated marketers are unwilling to pay their agency’s hourly rate while they figure this out.

Agencies are facing some key challenges

  1. Fragmented expertise. Today campaigns travel through multiple agencies, where silos of expertise mean that no single entity has the full set of capabilities to deliver the personalised, relevant and seamless brand experiences customers expect.
  2. Data doesn’t connect across agencies. Data expertise stops with performance measurement and never moves forward to enhance the customer experience through better insights or optimisation.
  3. Technology use is not always strategic. Technology is being used on a one-off basis without integrating it across the broader strategy to better inform decision-making.
  4. Trust is secondary. Rebates and rigged production bids, as well as media markups and ad fraud reported in the news, are not helping build trust between marketers and agencies.

It takes two to tango

The disconnect does not lie squarely at the agencies’ feet — marketers don’t provide an environment where their agency can easily or advantageously organise around and deliver customer-centric strategies. Rigid budgets assigned to separate buyers and channels force agencies into ‘myopic strategies’, reinforcing the agency silos they so dearly want to break down. Moreover, marketers are still rewarding short-term thinking, encouraging agencies to staff to the desired fee instead of what it will actually take to get the work done.

Finally, despite the dramatic increase in channels, marketers are constantly squeezing their agencies on price, cutting margins and making it difficult for agencies to cover their own expenses and required skills sets.

A new blueprint for agency services

Here’s our four-step approach for marketers to adapt their brand and agency operating model.

  1. Change what you need. Marketers must do an internal reset to align with new strategic initiatives where creative strategy gives way to customer strategy. Media planning must take into account all experiential channels and measurement must transform into real-time performance management.
  2. Change how it’s done. Creative requests should merge with CRM data for informed customer strategies. Media and digital experiences should be mapped to a consolidated customer journey. More than this, marketers should take control over performance measurement and management.
  3. Change where you get it. The ideal services solution would be one agency that can deliver all components of the new value chain. However, this is not possible. Marketers will need to bring their data strategy in-house, expand the remit of their lead agency to think more broadly about their business, and share data across agencies through dashboards.
  4. Change how you pay for it. When everything must be measured in hours, agency innovation is compromised. This impacts the most-important and -distinct value of agencies: creative problem-solving. Marketers need to abandon traditional compensation tactics and should pay for results, not time. Incentives should also be seen holistically to encourage collaboration across agencies and channel delivery. Marketers should also consider paying for new skill sets they will require from the agencies, including data science, cognitive development, and product management.

 

Brigitte MajewskiBrigitte Majewski (@ForrBmaj) is vice-president and research director at American market research company, Forrester, and co-author, along with Sarak Sikowitz, of The New Agency Operating Model For Brands. Brigitte leads a team of analysts who help clients develop strategies to master and coordinate digital and traditional marketing channels using new media and technology to win, serve, and retain customers. She has more than 10 years of agency experience crafting integrated marketing strategies, with an emphasis on digital innovation.

“Motive” is a by-invitation-only column on MarkLives.com. Contributors are picked by the editors but generally don’t form part of our regular columnist lineup, unless the topic is off-column.

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