On My Mind: The millennials and a new work ethic

by Jerry Mpufane (@JerryMpufane) My outlook for the younger talent today is that they have lots of opportunity. South Africa has more than doubled its middle class in the last 10 years, so progression is a realistic possibility; social mobility is increasingly achievable and ambitious; talented young people have a better chance of seeing their dreams fulfilled; and adland is on a mission to transform itself, so the doors of opportunity are opening for a wider and more diverse skillset.

Generational impasse

Why, then, are we at what appears to be a generational impasse when it comes to handing over of the torch?

Millennials are often accused of being impatient, self-entitled, narcissistic, tough to engage and impossible to lead. They place individuality ahead of community and they value extrinsic affirmation and constantly seek praise in order to get it. Modern society dishes it out to them much easier than it did to previous generations, thanks to the immediacy of social media. This generation is in constant need for likes, fans, followers, and heaps of praise on a constant basis. Because the highly addictive “likes” have become social currency, the millennials find any form of criticism hard to take. Shying away from criticism has meant that they shy away from real-world connections with peers and superiors who might dole it out.

In my experience as a mentor, I find that they prefer being receptive rather than engaging, especially when it comes to constructive input. As an example, they enjoy the mentoring session when I’m doing the talking, doing the work and giving the feedback, but they disappear when given assignments, then try and reappear behaving as if it’s all forgotten. They want feedback, but only if it is positive!

Plenty of positives

These are the negative perceptions but there are plenty of positives to consider, too.

Bentley University in the US conducted a study among millennials and concluded that they are nimble, independent and entrepreneurial. They are motivated by personal values and aspiration. They are confident in their abilities and strive for career success.

My time as an intern goes back 20 years. Back then, opportunities and resources were very limited and, in contrast to the millennial experience, the trappings of the modern world were all new. The internet, email, and ‘going online’ were all brand-new concepts to me. My ability to connect with the perceived rock ’n roll ad world would have to come from traditional avenues. I deliberately sought out the counsel of my colleagues, both positive and negative. Our clients were the source of inspiration, as well as opportunity, and so I researched them and made sure I knew lots about their world. I revered my bosses, who were very much my heroes in the workplace. I was mentored by some of the best women our industry has produced; they encouraged me to acquire a ferocious appetite for knowledge and honed a work ethic that would require many late nights and weekend hours to complete tasks so that I could be assigned ever meatier ones. I had a clear sense of mission and a great desire to fulfill it.

Big believer in transformation

I’m a big believer in transformation, and that the work environment must advance forward as cultures evolve. Change is a good thing. So, in order to bridge this generational gap, I think we need to harness the positivity of the millennial psyche and combine it with some tried-and-tested values. Loyalty, authenticity, balance, responsibility and community, among others, will forever be trending.

The Bentley study also showed that the majority of the millennials have an ambition to own their business, as opposed to seeking employment.

When is it wise to work independently vs being a part of a community, and working individually vs being an integral part of a team? Is it wise to break out on your own before you gain any experience? How do you achieve success without a support system? Can you derive joy outside of the friendships and camaraderie of community? This is not a ‘either/or’ question, but rather a choice.

A remarkable generation

Millennials are defined by the HUSTLE. They do not wait for opportunity. Millennials pursue new forms of work and experiment with everyday life. Local economies would not exist, were it not for the pursuit of what’s outside the normal.

Millennials are a remarkable generation and arguably smarter than many before them. They have access to significantly more information than previous generations. But they mistake their high self-esteem for experience and would do well to merge their information dividend with some traditional values. And we would do well, as the older guard, to access their agility and entrepreneurial verve.

 

Jerry MpufaneJerry Mpufane (@JerryMpufane) is the chairperson of the M&C Saatchi Abel JHB Group of Companies; vice-chair of the Association for Communication and Advertising (ACA); a Loerie Awards board member; and a judge for Bookmarks, Loeries and PRISMs. His monthly column on MarkLives, “On My Mind”, discusses the stuff that keeps him awake at night.

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By Invitation Only: Downsides of in-house production

by Bobby Amm. Using an ad agency’s in-house production company (IHPC) may be an appealing option. With the apparent cost-savings and the convenience of a one-stop shop, what business person wouldn’t want to try it, especially when the costs of producing low-end work are often too high? But, looking deeper into the matter, any advantage to using an IHPC on mid-to-high-end projects may be a short-lived one.

Here’s why

1. It kills quality and competition

When using a specialist commercial production company, clients have access to the best creative professionals in the industry, with over 100 directors locally available.

When using an IHPC, clients’ choices are limited, especially since an in-house director is already on the payroll. This also creates a tricky situation for clients, because the IHPC is likely to propose its in-house director, not the best one for the job.

Competition-wise, the most-controversial dilemma is that agencies with IHPCs often fill the role of both player and referee: sending out calls to production houses for pitches, and sending in their own pitches for the same job. Because of the conflict of interest in these cases, many commercial production houses refuse to pitch to these agencies for these jobs. This doesn’t only reduce the competition but, with fewer companies pitching, it also affects quality.

The relationship between agencies and commercial production companies is a driver of quality for the client. By continually pushing production houses to deliver more, agencies may deliver a better commercial at no extra expense. But, with the cost of that production pressure on its IHPC, would the agency push with the same force?

2. It costs more in the long run

In the short term and on paper, an IHPC may look cost-effective. But once it’s operating at the same level as a commercial production company, its business expenses are likely to rise. This is because a production company benefits from less downtime and greater efficiencies of scale, as it works with many different clients and agencies at once. An IHPC, however, only produces for one agency: itself.

The IHPC model has put immense pressure on production companies, forcing some to downscale or go out of business. With fewer production houses comes less competition and, in the long run, a lower commercial production standard across the board; however, this isn’t just a quality issue. Less competition also means higher costs for the client.

As Steve Davies, CEO of London’s Advertising Producers Association, said at 2017’s Advertising Week, “In any over-competitive market you cannot put your prices up. You have to bid as low as you can to win the work. That’s what clients should take confidence from.”

3. It’s eating away at the industry

We’re living in tough economic times, so it makes sense that agencies would broaden their scope for financial reasons. Yet, if you look closely, this approach is short-sighted as the upper hand only lasts as long as competition exists. If production companies disappear, the costs level out (or become higher) and the standard is lower, crippling the entire industry.

Furthermore, production houses also play a critical role in developing new talent by investing in young directors and other production specialists, mentoring them, and building their careers. With only profits in mind rather than the industry as a whole, the IHPC model doesn’t offer the same nurturing depth and ‘the common good’ falls away entirely.

Keeping up in a changing market

The commercial production industry is constantly working to stay relevant and profitable in an evolving market. We’ve seen some companies close down because of an unwillingness to rethink their business models, which means that keeping up in a changing market should be top priority. In a world of large businesses saving costs by outsourcing services to specialists, it seems backward, and even dangerous, for the commercial production industry to be dragged in the ‘wrong’ direction by agencies looking to make a quick buck.

 

Bobby AmmBobby Amm is chief executive of the Commercial Producers Association of South Africa (CPA), the trade association of production companies that produce television, cinema and internet commercials for the local and international market. After a brief stint in journalism, she began her career in the industry at the Consultative Committee for the Entertainment Industry in the early ’90s. Bobby first joined the CPA in 1997 but left three years later to join a production company. After finding that she missed the big-picture perspective of the CPA and the interesting issues which continuously perplex the production industry, she made the decision to return to the CPA in 2003.

“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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Thinking B2B: How to use client mapping to acquire B2B customers

by Warren Moss (@warrenmoss) As a B2B marketing agency, you spend your time marketing products or services to other businesses on behalf of your clients. And there’s a notion that, when you’re selling to other businesses, there’s never just one buyer who makes the decision on their own — there are various influencers around them.

For example, the CTO of a company could be the buyer of the goods in question, and her influencers would be the CEO, CFO, CMO and HR director. You usually reach these influencers by exposing them to communication that will help them make buying decisions. But, the truth is, that’s not enough.

Because these influencers also need a tactile and tangible experience with the brand that’s selling to them in order to create trust. That’s not always possible, given the budget of a brand but, generically, I believe that client mapping is fundamental in order to do this.

What is client mapping?

If you’re selling into another company, you first need to map the organogram of that organisation. Then you have to create the buyer journey, thinking about what steps the company would need to go through to make the final buying decision.

Then you have to overlay that purchase journey on the organogram, so that you can see whom to interact with at which stages. For example, in the ‘interest’ phase of the buying journey, the type of information you would expose the influencers to is designed so that the influencer goes to the buyer and says, “Have you thought about this particular issue or option?” This triggers the buyer to think about a potential solution to that problem.

Example

Let’s say our client is an ICT company, and that it has a cloud-based solution that it wants to sell to another company that has a few thousand employees. The buyer in question would then pay on a monthly basis, per employee, in order for employees to have access to the cloud solution.

The decision on which ICT company the CTO chooses rests with her. But employees are also influencers — and it’s important to remember that. Therefore, you should start by mapping out the organisation and then ask: what is the typical purchase journey that the buyer (CTO) goes through? They might read an article about how a competitor is reducing costs because of very tangible benefits, such as a cloud solution, and this could be a trigger.

The triggers kick off the purchase journey. Once the CTO is triggered, what does the purchase journey look like? It could begin with a research phase, heading on to evaluation, pricing and, eventually, buying. The influencers would have different impacts at these different phases. These employees may not have a say at the pricing phase, for example, but they would have lots of influence in the research phase.

As a marketer, it’s only once you understand who these influencers are, and what their roles are per phase, that you may then create the best content to help the influencer influence the buyer at each given phase. You couldn’t, for example, send emails to thousands of employees as you don’t know their email addresses nor do you have permission. But perhaps they work onsite in a factory? You could then put billboards outside the factory tailored specifically to those employees.

The client-mapping process

Here’s the high-level process you should follow when client mapping:

  1. Define who the buyer and influencers are
  2. Create their purchase journey
  3. Overlay that on the organogram mapping
  4. Decide what content topics are relevant to the influencers on different phases of the purchase journey
  5. Decide on which channels to communicate
  6. Come up with the “big idea” for the campaign
  7. Create content and disseminate it

This whole process could take 24–36 months so it’s not a ‘quick fix’. The purchase journey in B2B marketing campaigns is much longer than the typical B2C purchase journey, and it takes research and expertise to execute on this.

 

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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Agency Life: How to intern like a boss

by TJ Njozela (@tj_njozela) Starting at an agency at the very bottom of the food chain may be daunting, especially when agency life is nothing like what you thought it would be. At least you were thinking. If you want to make it up the ranks, you’re going to have to do a lot more thinking to impress your seniors, their bosses, and the bosses’ bosses.

Between the coffee runs, embarrassing reviews, and executing other people’s ideas, there’s room for you to develop a few skills that will help you get noticed and grow from “that intern over there” to someone who adds value to the team. Here are a few tips on how to get there.

Go a little overboard

The best thing about being young and naive is that, well, you’re young and naive. Add to that the vibrancy of youth that lets you party all weekend and still rock up at work as if nothing happened, and you’ve got an idea machine that can run at full speed…all the time. So use it.

Whenever there’s a problem you need to solve, think up as many ideas as you can to solve it. Then think up more. Granted, most of those ideas will be really, really bad, but some will also be really good, or really interesting.

Most people would say quality over quantity but, when you’re an intern and aren’t really sure what quality is, quantity will at least help the people overseeing you to find a few needles in the haystack.

Be open to learning

After spending most of your life in classrooms and exam halls, you get a lovely piece of paper from a tertiary institution over which everyone who knows you goes crazy. So, the last thing you expect when you start working is to do more learning. Things such as how to talk to a group of people sitting around a table looking at a screen (also called presentation skills), knowing what and what not to spend your time doing (also called time management), and a bunch of other skills will go a long way in helping you develop in your career.

Don’t be afraid to ask people around you for help. After reviewing, ask how you did, what you can improve on, and what you should look out for. When you see someone doing something you have no clue about, ask them to give you a crash course so you may learn to do it.

These are small things, but in the end, you’ll be glad you did it.

Surprise people

No, this doesn’t mean you must secretly organise the best birthday party ever, although that would be nice. What you need to do is surprise everyone with stuff that no one thought you would know.

Stay clued up about what happens in the industry. Know what campaigns are making waves, which trends are picking up or dying down, what the cool kids are listening to, or what the latest mind-blowing tech there is that may be used right now.

Yes, this means expanding your literature to more than what happens on your social media platforms but, when people start coming to you with questions or asking for advice instead of asking for another cup of coffee, you’ll wonder why you hadn’t been doing it all along.

It’s important to remember that you still have to do your job well while you’re developing other skillsets. But it shouldn’t be difficult because you got your job because someone saw potential in you. All you need to do is realise that potential by getting better at what you do, and increasing the value you add to the team. It’ll take a while before you become your seniors’ bosses’ boss, but you’ll definitely get there by interning like a boss.

 

TJ NjozelaTJ Njozela (@tj_njozela) is an award-winning senior copywriter at FCB Africa with several years of experience in the advertising industry. More than a writer, he is also a reader, a thinker, and an avid liker of things; and he once walked from Joburg to Cape Town in 30 days to raise funds to buy wheelchairs for people in need. #30Days30Wheelchairs. TJ contributes the regular “Agency Life” column, in which he gives career advice for working within the advertising industry, to MarkLives.

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Ad of the Week: Meet the Stones ‘bot’ that sells

by Oresti Patricios (@orestaki) Publicis Machine gets inventive and throws conventional advertising out the window for that popular urban lifestyle brand, Stones. Thanks to smart thinking, the pool hall/pub/club benefits from an experience that opens up a new ‘platform’ for beverage brands to promote themselves.

A franchise chain of some 13 theme bars, whose main attraction is a section for pool tables, Stones also sports a relaxed pub setup that includes a dance floor and DJ-driven music, as well as light meals such as pizza. Although the focal points, the pool tables, are coin-slot operated, the club makes far more on drinks, and has also relied on alcoholic beverage companies to sponsor launches and promotions as part of its revenue stream.

But all of that is changing, thanks to a savvy ad agency, Publicis Machine. According to some recent publicity material, the pool bar noticed that its revenues were being diverted to newer, ‘more contemporary’ venues and so the challenge was on to win relevance and to ensure that Stones maximises the ‘cool’ factor — all in a recessionary environment where consumers are spending less and marketers need to innovate and come up with more cost-effective ways of engaging with consumers.

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The key word here is “engage” — a word you may have heard being bandied about more and more recently. Engagement, in my mind, means listening to your customer and giving them what they want, in such a way that they keep coming back for more. It’s clear the the Publicis Machine gurus had this in mind when they put their heads together to come up with a solution for Stones. And a very smart solution it is, too: the Stones BOT, or Bottle Operated Table.

The BOT is a pool table that doesn’t take coins. Instead, it has a special bottle-deposit mechanism able to recognise different beer brands, based on the colour profile of the label. All a user has to do is buy the beer (or cider) on promotion, insert the bottle into the mechanism, and the balls in the pool table will be released for a new game. The mechanism is easily reprogrammed to recognise different brands. As an added promotion, the sides of the pool tables may also be branded to maximise the impact for the beverage being promoted.

Stones BOT collageStones reports that the first promotion went off very well, driving up sales for the featured beverage. Now there are several brands ‘lining up’ to use the Stones BOT.

This just goes to show that you don’t need a fancy, multimillion-rand campaign to engage with your customers. But you do need smart marketing that understands the target customers and how to engage with them.

Publicis Machine rack it and sink it on the break for Stones. And, if you don’t know what that means, it’s time you joined me for a game at Stones. But it will cost you a beer.

Credits

Account manager: Jamie Rossiter
Agency art director: Joshua Foster
Brand representative (client): Duncan Graham
Creative production agency: Nurun
Executive creative director: Gareth McPherson
Information architect/UX design: Johan Steyn, Gareth Cozens, Richard Masefield, Vanya Kruger
Programming: Johan Steyn, Gareth Cozens, Richard Masefield, Vanya Kruger
Regional agency group: Publicis Worldwide
Writer: PJ Eales

 

 

Oresti PatriciosAd of the Week, published on MarkLives every Wednesday, is penned by Oresti Patricios (@orestaki), the CEO of Ornico, a Brand Intelligence® firm that focuses on media, reputation and brand research. If you are involved in making advertising that is smart, funny and/or engaging, please let Oresti know about it at clientservice@ornicogroup.co.za.

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Masterclass Notes: Building marketing capacity

by Johanna McDowell (@jomcdowell) Nicola Kleyn, dean at Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS), delivered her annual lecture/workshop for us this year on building marketing capacity. Partnering her at the masterclass was Jackie Carnelly, an experienced marketer herself who is currently completing her marketing doctorate.

“In a rapidly changing world, virtually all marketers are re-evaluating how they should do marketing.”

This was the start of the masterclass, which consisted of 18 leading marketers who were divided up into three groups of six in order to develop their ideas and maximise their input.

Participants were asked how they could prove they add value. Being in the learning zone, as opposed to the “doing” zone, was seen as being vital — it’s true that we are so busy carrying out the normal day-to-day tasks that there’s no time to think and reflect on ways to add value.

So we spent time in the class on the three big questions:

  1. What marketing capabilities do organisations need to compete with the challenges of doing business in the 21st century?
  2. Is there a way to categorise these marketing capabilities?
  3. Are these capabilities adaptable?

What capabilities are needed?

Marketers were then asked to list the various capabilities within their working groups and then to put the capabilities into four quadrants:

  • Dynamic — constantly changing
  • Routine — unchanging
  • Specific to a particular industry or to a few
  • General or common throughout the industry

The increasingly important roles that exemplify marketing capabilities needed were ranked as follows:

  • Data analyst warrior: not only the analysis process but defining what this data means from a marketing perspective
  • Politician and lobbyist: marketers agreed that, while marketing is “easy”, the conversations in their organisations are often hard. Learning how to manage the politics, and to lobby for what is needed, is part and parcel of the marketer’s role
  • Detective: asking the question, “Is it relevant?”
  • Inventor: always looking for new ways and methods, new ways of delivering core products and services

What is constantly changing and what is staying the same?

  • In a time of constant change, it is the learners who are best equipped — not the learned

So how does the organisation build marketing capability? And how may the marketer best drive this?

  • Identify two or three capabilities that you personally bring to your organisation. Where and how did you learn them — your marketing apprenticeship?
  • The culture that we create in an organisation creates the learning ability
  • Scientific methods matter
  • A culture of sharing drives capability-building

Traits associated with building marketing capability:

  • Curiosity
  • Appreciation of the aesthetics
  • Creativity

Seven key learnings

  1. Get personal — be involved in coaching and mentoring
  2. Go where the action is — on-the-job learning — apprenticeship
  3. It’s up to you
  4. Stay curious
  5. Art and science
  6. Phone a friend — learn from each other
  7. The sum of the parts is greater than the whole

We ended up with two frameworks: moving from individual to organisational capability and, as marketing problems vary, so should the way we solve them

From individual to organisational marketing capability

Individual capability –> amplification mechanisms –> learning exchanges –> explicit codification –>  embedded organisational capability

Categories of marketing problems and how to solve them

Complex

Complicated

Chaotic

Obvious
Enabling constraints Governing constraints Lacking constraints Tightly constrained
Loosely coupled Tightly coupled De-coupled No degrees of freedom
Probe/sense/respond Sense/analyse/respond Act/sense/respond Sense/categorise/respond
Emergent practice Good practice Novel practice Best practice

 

This is known as the Cynefin Framework by Snowden.

“Leaders are more powerful role models when they learn than when they teach.”

 

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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Shelf Life: Laduma Ngxokolo’s Mna Nam makes saving stylish

Cheryl Hunter (shelflife at marklives.com)’s weekly pick of all things new — product, packaging, design, insight, food, décor and more!

  • Sanlam gets SA saving with King James and Laduma Ngxokolo
  • New look and feel for OUTsurance with Lucky Beard
  • Kulula launches Flying 102

Wear your wallet

Sanlam has joined forces with world-renowned designer Laduma Ngxokolo this National Savings Month to create a signature piece that combines fashion with function and shifts the brand’s focus from education to action — the Mna Nam.

https://youtu.be/yTpVDUmLUhM

Conceptualised with the King James Group, Mna Nam is a limited edition accessory, worn around the wrist, which has an embedded QR code that links to a savings wallet on the wearer’s mobile phone. Marking Ngxokolo’s first foray into the world of functional fashion, it integrates his traditionally-inspired aesthetic with smart technological capabilities — taking wearable tech to the financial sphere.

Says Yegs Ramiah, Sanlam Brand CEO, “The global trend is for wearable tech to solve real-world problems. In South Africa, this problem is the country’s poor savings culture. Mna Nam helps people prepare for a healthy financial future by making saving fashionable. The purpose-led accessory offers a one-of-a-kind campaign to shift the realm of fashion into a space for responsible saving as opposed to excessive spending.”

Collage: Laduma Ngxokolo Mna NamFor Matt Ross, King James Group ECD, Mna Nam is an example of African ingenuity: “In Africa, we have our own set of challenges and we’re known for reengineering technological tools to solve them. Wearable tech is very expensive and out of the reach of most — but not if you innovate on an existing platform. “So we took a widely used virtual payment app, WeChat, and flipped its primary purpose of easy spending into easy saving. Then we coupled this with an object of real beauty to be worn on the wrist and created by the country’s most forward-thinking designer to make saving top of mind and aspirational.”

maxhosa.co.za • Facebook • Twitter
sanlam.co.za • Facebook • Twitter
kingjames.co.za • Facebook • Twitter • Ramify

 

Getting more OUT

OUTsurance has refreshed its brand, launching a new website and smartphone application alongside its new corporate identity. The short-term insurance company was established in February 1998.

OUTsurance logotypeThe company’s name and strapline of “You always get something out”, remains unchanged, but it has completely redeveloped and introduced new functionality to its website and mobile application and revised its corporate identity with the assistance of Lucky Beard agency.

Says Willem Roos, group CEO, “We’ve built OUTsurance on three core principles. Firstly, we deal directly with our clients and so we can provide high-quality products with exceptional value for money. We then back this up with awesome service, particularly when clients need to claim from us. Thirdly, we foster a culture of innovation within the business to ensure we attract great people and continue to grow.”

The new OUTsurance mobile app offers several new functions. For instance, clients may lodge a claim on the app or complete a windscreen claim without having to interact with the call centre. A life insurance quote is said to take less than a minute. Clients may also cover a new item on their facility by taking a photo of the new item using their smartphones, as well as refer friends and family to earn cash rebates for doing so.

Included in the new functionality is SmartDrive — a new telematics programme that allows discounts of up to 25% off a person’s premium, depending on how well they drive. Help@OUT, the 24/7/365 emergency roadside and home assistance service, is also accessible to all registered app users.

Roos says an all-new financial-services product is also in development: “We’re in final testing of an all-new savings product that we believe will bring much-needed disruption and innovation to the savings and investment space. OUTvest has all the potential to shake up that market in in much the same way that OUTsurance shaped insurance. There are some exciting times ahead for our group.”

The new OUTsurance app is available in the Apple and the Play stores.

out.co.za • Facebook • Twitter
luckybeard.co.za • Facebook • Instagram

 

Kulula creates kool

Low-cost airline, kulula, operated by Comair Limited, has launched “Flying 102” — a new aircraft paint design encouraging plane spotters to #lookup.

Kulula Flying 102 Kulula Flying 102According to Luane Lavery, brand communications manager at kulula.com, the aircraft makeover depicts the kulula tongue-in-cheek phrase guide that gives travellers the run-down about the various parts of the plane. Some of the phrases on this particular aircraft include the “No Red-Light District Here” and “Complimentary Darth-Vader Mouth Caps”.

She says: “We are very lucky to have got the opportunity to repaint and have some fun with our spare aircraft, which will now be better known as ‘Flying 102’. This aircraft is a limited edition and the second brainchild of kulula’s in-house design department, and will be the last of its kind as all our brand-new aircrafts come with a standard paint scheme straight off the assembly line. Its sibling, ‘Flying 101’, became a global hit and we are still amused by the number of responses that we have received since it took to the skies in 2010. We hope our fans will enjoy the new funky and truly South African aircraft paint design.”

kulula.com • Facebook • Twitter

 

Cheryl HunterShelf Life is MarkLives.com’s weekly column covering all things new. Notify us of yours at shelflife at marklives dot com. Want to sponsor Shelf Life? Contact us here.

Cheryl Hunter (@cherylhunter) has written for the South African media, marketing and advertising industries for more than 15 years. A former editor of M&M in Independent Newspapers and contributor to Bizcommunity, AdFocus, AdReview and the Ad Annual, she has also produced for various television networks and currently consults on communication strategy and media liaison.

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ACA suspends DDB SA, Ireland/Davenport, Wunderman

by MarkLives (@marklives) The Association for Communication and Advertising (ACA) has suspended members DDB South Africa, Ireland/Davenport and Wunderman South Africa, after the three agencies were found guilty of transgressing the ACA’s Code of Conduct governing tenders and pitches.

Telkom pitch

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. Both Wunderman and Ireland/Davenport are WPP agencies; DDB SA is part of the Omnicom network.

  • As sanction for participating in the pitch, which the ACA believes to be irregular, the three agencies all need to submit a written undertaking “from each agency regarding their future conduct is to be sent to the ACA”
  • Agency representatives from these agencies currently on the ACA board or operations committees are to step down for a period of 12 months
  • Each transgressing agency is to be fined the maximum penalty allowable in terms of the ACA’s MOI
  • Each agency’s ACA membership is suspended for a period of 12 months, and during this the agency may not derive any of the benefits offered to member agencies
  • The agencies’ membership may be reinstated after the suspension period, on the proviso that they don’t commit any further transgressions of the Code of Conduct during their suspension.

“The ACA is about maintaining the health and well-being of the industry and sets the highest standards for integrity and professionalism amongst its member agencies. In the interest of upholding our commitment to self-regulation, it was decided that sanctions be imposed on DDB South Africa, Ireland-Davenport and Wunderman,” says Odette van der Haar, ACA CEO, in a statement issued to the media. “The biggest threat to our industry is that more and more clients behave unfairly towards agencies during pitches. It is paramount to the sustainability of the profession that agencies stand united against these unfair practices in order to maintain the value and currency of the profession.”

Issues

The ACA highlighted the following issues with the Telkom pitch:

  • Too many agencies were asked for strategic and creative work (as many as 15 agencies were said to be participating). “This especially prejudiced smaller agencies, as they do not have the resources to invest in a pitch of this scale. Without payment of pitch fees, the unsuccessful agencies could not recoup some of the cost incurred as a result of answering Telkom’s brief,” according to the ACA.
  • Agencies had to supply Telkom with free intellectual property.
  • The collective cost of this pitch ran into millions of rands in time and material costs for the participating agencies.
  • A pitch process of this nature is counter-productive to the industry’s transformation efforts. “Small, black-owned agencies were invited to participate in the Telkom pitch process with little-to-no prospect of success, given the terms and conditions of the RFP,” says the ACA. “The ACA would therefore like Telkom to explain why none of the smaller South African agencies were able to secure any of the business on offer — especially since Telkom is such an iconic South African brand.”

Telkom’s response

When approached for comment, Telkom’s executive for group communication and business support issued the following brief statement: “Telkom takes note of the decision taken by the ACA. We however believe it is a matter between the ACA and its members. Therefore we cannot comment any further.”

Full statement by the ACA:

After an appropriate and robust investigation and disciplinary process held between the Association for Communication and Advertising (ACA) and its members DDB South Africa, Ireland-Davenport and Wunderman, the ACA exercised its rights in accordance with its MOI and the process laid down in the ACA’s Internal Enquiry Framework. At thesubsequent Board meeting held on 5 July 2017, the ACA found the three agencies guilty of transgressing the ACA’s Code of Conduct governing tenders and pitches.

Sanctions to be imposed

The ACA Exco and Board discussed the circumstances pertaining to the Telkom pitch at length, considered statements made by representatives from each agency and agreed that in the interest of self-regulation and in accordance with its MOI, the following sanctions were to be imposed:
a. A written undertaking from each agency regarding their future conduct is to be sent to the ACA
b. Agency representatives from these agencies currently on the ACA Board or operations committees are to step down for a period of 12 months
c. Each transgressing agency is to be fined the maximum penalty allowable in terms of the ACA’s MOI
d. Each agency’s membership of the ACA is suspended for a period of 12 months and during this suspension the agency may not derive any of the benefits offered to member agencies.

The agencies’ membership may be reinstated after the suspension period, on the proviso that they do not commit any further transgressions of the Code of Conduct during their suspension.

“The ACA is about maintaining the health and well-being of the industry and sets the highest standards for integrity and professionalism amongst its member agencies. In the interest of upholding our commitment to self-regulation, it was decided that sanctions be imposed on DDB South Africa, Ireland-Davenport and Wunderman,” says Odette van der Haar, CEO ACA.

Telkom and the professional integrity of the advertising and communications industry

The ACA is deeply concerned that the Telkom ad agency pitch process did not comply with the ACA’s Code of Conduct that governs tenders and pitches. This Code was put in place some years ago to encourage fair, equitable and healthy competition, transformation, a level playing field, good ethics and conduct during new business acquisition and protection of agencies’ intellectual property.

The Code also mitigates risk and wasteful expenditure on the part of agencies and clients. There is therefore no reason not to adhere to the Code, which supports a mutually fair and robust pitch process.

According to Odette van der Haar, CEO of the ACA: “The biggest threat to our industry is that more and more clients behave unfairly towards agencies during pitches. It is paramount to the sustainability of the profession that agencies stand united against these unfair practices in order to maintain the value and currency of the profession.”

The ACA’s concerns with the Telkom pitch are as follows:

1. Too many agencies were asked for strategic and creative work, whichwas very costly for the participating agencies and gave each bidder a less than 10% chance of winning the business. This especially prejudiced smaller agencies, as they do not have the resources to invest in a pitch of this scale. Without payment of pitch fees, the unsuccessful agencies could not recoup some of the cost incurred as a result of answering Telkom’s brief.

2. Most worrying is that the contribution and currency of the participating agencies was devalued when agencies were asked to provide Telkom with free intellectual property. An option was for Telkom to accept case studies of recently successfully work, that was in line with thescope of work and services required of the brief. These case studies would have accurately demonstrated the agencies’ ability to meet Telkom’s requirements and deliver a return on investment. Furthermore, submission of case studies would not have incurred pitch fees. Telkom did not accept the ACA’s proposal.

3. The collective cost of this pitch ran into millions of Randsin time and material costs for the participating agencies.

4. A pitch process of this nature is counterproductive to the industry’s transformation efforts. Small, black-owned agencies were invited to participate in the Telkom pitch process with little to no prospect of success, given the terms and conditions of the RFP.

5. The ACA would therefore like Telkom to explain why none of the smaller South African agencies were able to secure any of the business on offer – especially since Telkom is such an iconic South African brand.

/ends

MarkLives will publish comment from affected parties as their feedback is made available. This is a breaking story.

Updated at 11.10am on 17 July 2017.

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Post Truth: ‘A truth’ vs ‘the truth’ in marketing

by Marguerite de Villiers. Brands have their own truths, and it is up to the consumer to decipher and determine which truth they relate to, agree with, or discard altogether.

A truth

You have two children. You share between them a chocolate bar, giving each half. They run outside to enjoy their treat in the summer sun. In the heat, as they play, the chocolate begins to melt and one child accidentally knocks the remaining chocolate in the other’s hand to the ground. There it lies, a melted misshapen mess of sugar and dirt. The latter child instinctively grabs the chocolate out of the former child’s hand, declaring it now belongs to them. The former child begins to cry and calls for you.

Not knowing what had taken place, you walk over to the scene with no idea of what to expect. The self-proclaimed victim who had their chocolate removed from them explains through tears that the supposed thief had unfairly taken their treat. The supposed thief counters this argument by blaming the apparent perpetrator for having initiated the series of events by bumping into them in the first place and making them drop their treat to the ground — claiming that this chocolate therefore belongs to them and that the so-called victim got what they deserved.

You, as the parent, now need to make a decision. Both your children feel strongly about their truth — their opinion, perspective and experience — of the truth — the actual events as they happened. Do you feel confident in either truths? Are you sceptical of either or both? Do you feel apathy or sympathy towards your children? Who do you believe?

It is the same with advertising and marketing. Brands are like these two children; they operate in the same environment, but get different reactions from the consumer (the parent). Brands have their own truths, and it is up to the consumer to decipher and determine which truth they relate to, agree with, or discard altogether.

The truth

https://youtu.be/S8_0MYzz4cw

A few years back in 2013, FNB found itself in an epic quest. As with any hero journey in literature, the hero — FNB — was called to embark on this venture. What inspired FNB was its realisation that the South Africa it had dreamed about and been promised in ‘94 was not the South Africa it believed it was living in at present. FNB took it upon itself to capture and expose socio-political injustices. It filmed unscripted interviews with 1 300 South African youths in which the teens and young adults expressed their political opinion — notably their dislike or even distrust of the ruling party and present government. FNB was entering unchartered territory; it was at the threshold of the known and the unknown. It was the beginning of its transformation from what consumers generally considered to be a relatively conservative bank with ties to the country’s past to conquering its own demons and braving the storm. FNB was on a mission to inspire South Africans to unite and stand together in creating a better country.

From the interviews, according to CMO Bernice Samuels, FNB extracted themes and messages which were then incorporated into a scripted TV advert. This would be a first for both FNB and SA — not only would it blatantly voice FNB’s opinion of the country’s current state, it would do so live and in real time across channels and streamed online. But the ad had been presented as being an unscripted, filmed event at a school in Soweto where a teen voiced her opinion. After it was revealed that it had been staged, the public felt deceived by the bank. In addition to this, it lost popularity among those who didn’t support its version of the truth.

FNB received further criticism for withdrawing the ad and unscripted interviews that had been posted online. In trying to give a platform to unheard voices, its own voice was silenced. Some critics stated that FNB should have followed through with its mission; if you make a political statement, stand your ground. But, alas, the hero had fallen victim to challenges and the temptation of surrendering. FNB attempted to reach the atonement stage of the hero journey by taking out full-page ads in local newspapers that were written in free-verse and in a positive tone: “We help because we believe where there’s help, there’s a way.”

…And where the truth lies

Some market researchers and analysts believe that this campaign was merely an attempt made by FNB to cut through the clutter that consumers are surrounded by. With shorter attention spans and a huge selection of choices, consumers are easily distracted; their attention divided and their loyalty wavering. So how then do brands share their truth without facing dire consequences?

Nando’s is known for its subtly witty social commentary. It draws on the power of suggestion and makes tongue-in-cheek statements. But it is not immune to negative public opinion nor to consequence; it, too, has had ads pulled and has had to make public apologies but it’s been consistent in its perspective and standpoint.

SA Home Loans - James Whitelaw billboardA safer — yet effective — approach was adopted by SA Home Loans. Here, the company put up billboards displaying consumer quotes. Drawing on the ongoing trend of consumer reviews and the impact of eye-witness accounts or first-hand experience, SA Home Loans quoted satisfied customers alongside the statement: “their words, not ours”. This makes SA Home Loans’ truth seem more believable and trustworthy.

Diversity of voices

The key is to allow for a diversity of voices to be heard, rather than simply raging against the machine with no clear intentions. Be transparent and stand your ground. Know what you are fighting for, and follow through. Yet know when to acknowledge your mistakes and take responsibility for your actions. Your truth is not fact; it is merely a truth among many others.

 

Marguerite de VilliersMarguerite de Villiers is an anthropologist at strategic marketing consultancy, Added Value. “Post Truth”, her new regular column on MarkLives, addresses marketing in the post-truth era.

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Dissident Spin Doctor: How to build a business you love

by Emma King (@EmmainSA) Since starting up, without necessarily planning it, a set of business beliefs have organically formed over the years, and they’ve become a set of guiding principles that govern the way we work on a day-to-day business. Perhaps they don’t suit everyone but they’ve created the kind of business that I look forward to going into every day, and one in which, I believe, clients want to work with, and one that people want to work for.

Founding, and then running a business, is not for sissies. The stories you hear of sleepless nights, stressful staff issues, eking out the cents to pay the bills in the beginning when cash flow is pretty much non-existent, and the general need to be ever enthusiastic and energetic, even when you feel like throwing it all up and running away, aren’t an exaggeration. And as much as the highs — the winning of business, the accolades — are invigorating, they aren’t enough on their own to make it all worthwhile. For me, it has always been about building a business that I love.

When I made the (some would call foolhardy) decision to start my own business several years ago, I didn’t set out to be the biggest or to create an empire. And I still don’t; I would still rather have a smaller business that does really good work, with really good people, than oversee a behemoth, reporting into a faceless global network, with a million people rushing around beneath me. I had a pretty idealistic vision that was driven as much by want I didn’t want to do or be as by what I did. I didn’t want to work in a business full of assholes and big egos. I didn’t want to have people crying in the toilets and who were expected to work late every night and all weekend. I didn’t want to churn out shitty work I wasn’t proud of, spew lots of fancy marketing jargon with death-by PowerPoint presentations, or have to suck up to horrible clients.

Guiding principles

1. Don’t work with assholes

Ever. And this means clients, staff, suppliers and anyone else whom you deal with.

I had an encounter with an almost-client recently that reinforced this belief. Within days, they were WhatsApping me at 6am, demanding I change other client meetings to fit in them at the last minute, and sending obnoxious and abusive messages. This was before we’d even met in person, and certainly before we were on the payroll. Imagine how we would be treated once we had been signed up and having to report into them? Anyway, it gave me a certain satisfaction to turn that work down — no amount of money makes being treated like rubbish worthwhile.

The same goes for people who are hired. Obviously, we want people who can do the job and who are dedicated to the company. But I also want to work with people who are fun, have an open and eager attitude, and who are friendly and enjoyable to be around.

Tip: I also believe that the best client relationships are built on friendship and mutual respect and, in an industry where your employees are the face of your brand, when a client loves you and your employees, this only leads to strong relationships and ongoing work.

2. Be careful and passionate about anything you do

Some people look to take short cuts and take the easy way out. I prefer to only do work that I am proud of and, for me, this means attention to detail and craftsmanship — whether that be a simple email or a massive campaign. I have worked in past agencies where any old shite was sent out or presented to clients, and it’s demoralising and embarrassing.

Tip: Doing good work is strangely pleasing and doing stuff that you are proud of keeps you in love with what you do.

3. Throw money at the problem

This may sound odd, especially for a small business or one that is starting out, but it’s one that I stand by. And it doesn’t mean wasting money, and being silly, but rather outsourcing or delegating jobs when you can.

When we start a business, we often try to do everything to save money and grow margins, but it frequently means stretching ourselves too thin, and exhausting ourselves by doing everything from hand-delivering boxes in the small hours of the morning instead of using couriers (she says, speaking from experience) or spending hours logging invoices instead of using a bookkeeper. It’s exhausting and wears you down. Instead, spend your time doing what you do well, and get other people to do the stuff they do well.

Tip: Work those costs into your operating costs or fees to clients — if this is done well, it won’t leave you any poorer.

4. Make your working environment a reflection of the life you want to live yourself

Considering we spend five days a week at work, every single week, isn’t it mad to spend those hours being miserable or working in a terrible environment?

Make that workspace somewhere that you love coming into, and which reflects the values that you want the business to have. Of course, it needs to be a professional space that functions well, and I’m not suggesting a Google-esque office full of pinball machines and bouncy castles. But make it somewhere that feels nice and where people enjoy coming to. For me, that means good coffee, an office dog wandering around now and again, a comfy big daybed that people squash up on to work from when it’s rainy outside, and a fully stocked bar so people may chat over a drink at the end of a long day.

It also means the little things — I know of businesses that proclaim they are premium, world-leading brands which have cheapo one-ply toilet paper in their loos; and others that proclaim they have inclusive work environments but which only allow directors to use the posh coffee machines while junior have to sip on Ricoffy.

Tip: This point also ties into point 1. Make sure that the space is full of pleasant, happy people, not bullies, nitwits, egomaniacs and psychos.

5. Live a good life outside of work

For most of us, work is something we do in order to enable to do the things we want to do in the rest of our life. So set the business up so this is possible, and so that your “real” life is not taken over by exhausting late nights and working every day of the week (apart from the odd occasion). Again, good financial planning allows this: ensure that estimates and invoicing are well-planned so that funds cover the amount of staff needed to do the job. When I see agencies where it is the norm for people to work to midnight every day and every weekend, I don’t see one that is hard-working — I see one that that has not managed its business model or client billing well enough to resource the work that needs to be done.

Tip: On that note, pay your staff members well for the hard work they do. It’s not only the right thing to do but it keeps the good people wanting to work for you.

~~~

In creating this utopian version of a business that I’ve wanted to work in, the greatest learning has been that it’s possible to do good work, surround yourself with amazing and inspiring people, have fun along the way and still be financially successful. These things don’t need to be mutually exclusive, and I would bet that they play a part in creating a solid and attractive business — to work for, with and alongside.

 

Emma KingEmma King (@EmmainSA) is the owner and MD of The Friday Street Club (@TheFridayStClub). She is allergic to bad grammar and ampersands, but likes working her way through piles of novels and travelling the globe. She contributes the monthly “Dissident Spin Doctor” column on PR and communication issues to MarkLives.com.

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