2016 Big Reads: It’s about the people, y’all

by Herman Manson (@marklives) We list the most-read-about people on MarkLives during 2016.

1. Management moves at Ogilvy & Mather SA (Carol Gallarelli & Nicky Schermer)

Ogilvy & Mather (O&M) South Africa announced that Carol Gallarelli and Nicky Schermer will take up new senior responsibilities in the agency. Gallarelli has assumed the role of group marketing director, having overseen Ogilvy Public Relations (OPR) Cape Town. In her new role, she reports to CEO of O&M SA, Abey Mokgwatsane, and remains based in Cape Town. To replace Gallarelli, Schermer took over the reins as MD of Ogilvy PR Cape Town in October 2016 and reports to Joanna Oosthuizen, national MD of Ogilvy PR SA.

Carol Gallarelli and Nicky Schermer

 

2. Ahmed Tilly joins FCB Joburg as joint chief creative officer

Ahmed Tilly, the co-founder of iconic South African agency, Black River FC, joined FCB Joburg as joint CCO, alongside Jonathan Deeb, in November 2016.

Read also: Black River FC still looks to score

Ahmed Tilly

 

3. Young, Gifted & Killing It: Suhana Gordhan

by Veli Ngubane. Suhana Gordhan’s introduction to adland wasn’t promising, so much so that, after being told what to wear to work and suggestions that she work upon tampon ads, she even left the industry. Thankfully, she returned and has risen to become FCB Joburg creative director. To succeed in adland, she says, “you need to fall in love with the work you do”. There’s also another great love in her life: capoeira. This young and gifted creative tells us how she’s killing it — and what capoeira is.

Suhana Gordhan

 

4. Mthunzi Plaatjie to head AVATAR in Cape Town

Mthunzi Plaatjie was appointed as AVATAR’s managing director in Cape Town. The agency opened its office in the Mother City earlier this year, after being awarded the Chevron South Africa digital account following a three-way pitch. Plaatjie came to AVATAR after having successfully launched BET Network (Black Entertainment Television) across a number of territories in Africa.

Mthunzi Plaatjie

 

5. Young, Gifted & Killing It: Mukondi Ralushayi & Nkgabiseng Motau

by Veli Ngubane. In their four years in the ad industry, copywriter Mukondi Ralushayi and art director Nkgabiseng Motau have been involved in some particularly creative campaigns, such as the award-winning “Share a Coke with Bobby” TV commercial and an Old Mutual renewable energy social impact campaign. Adding to a great 2015, they even attended Cannes Lions! Now they’ve gone on their own and plan to keep killing it through their recently established creative hub, THINK.

Mukondi Ralushayi and Nkgabiseng Motau

 

6. Young, Gifted & Killing It: Festus Masekwameng

by Veli Ngubane. Our mission to meet creatives who are young, gifted and killing it! moved on to award-winning creative director and entrepreneur, Festus Masekwameng. He’s travelled a long way from rural Limpopo via Hunt Lascaris, MotherRussia and McCann Worldgroup South Africa to MKT Media, where he’s now managing partner.

Festus Masekwameng

 

7. The agency bosses catches some shine:

Agency Leaders 2015: Most admired ad agency boss in Jozi

Here it was Brett Morris, GCEO and ECD of now FCB Africa, with Gareth Leck, Joe Public United CEO, as runner-up. Contenders included Ahmed Tilly, then Black River FC ECD; Jerry Mpufane, M&C Saatchi Abel Jhb group MD; and Felix Kessel, Owen Kessel Leo Burnett CEO.

Agency Leaders 2015: Most admired ad agency boss in Cape Town

For 2015, James Barty, K

ing James Group co-founder and CEO, was voted as the most-respected agency boss by his Cape Town peers; there was no runner-up.

Agency Leaders 2015: Most admired ad agency boss in South Africa

Brett Morris, GCEO & ECD of FCB Africa, took top honours in 2015. Gareth Leck, CEO of Joe Public United, was our runner-up. Ahmed Tilly, Black River FC ECD; Jerry Mpufane, M&C Saatchi Abel Jhb group MD; and Felix Kessel, Owen Kessel Leo Burnett CEO, were all named contenders.

Look out for our Agency Leaders’ Most Admired 2016, starting Monday, 31 January 2017!

Making of 2015 MarkLives Agency Leaders Most Admired poll certificates 8 photo slider

 

8. Young, Gifted & Killing It: I See A Different You

by Veli Ngubane A collective of Sowetan-born creatives are telling it like it really is, as was discovered when spending time with Justice and Innocent Mukheli and Vuyo Mpantsha. Started as a photographic blog, the I See A Different You collective aims to change the world’s view of Africa from the negative to the positive. “As Africans, our story has always been told by others and as I See A Different You we want to tell our own stories through art,” they explain. The trio’s blog has now morphed into a multifaceted enterprise. Young and gifted, Mpantsha and the twins are definitely killing it!

I See A Different You

 

9. Young, Gifted & Killing It: Grant Sithole

by Veli Ngubane. This new monthly column — to find out more about the new breed of creatives in the worlds of adland and marketing — started with Grant Sithole, creative director at Ogilvy & Mather. Sithole is a rising star who has executed great work for leading brands. What makes him stand out are his extensive local knowledge and insights, which enable him to engage intimately with consumers.

Grant Sithole

 

10. Young, Gifted & Killing It: Sbu Sitole

by Veli Ngubane. With black-owned startups seemingly popping up all over the place, Sibusiso “Sbu” Sitole feels that we’re “on the cusp of real and sustainable change” in an adland which has been slow to transform. What’s now needed, says the young and gifted creative director and co-founder of 100% black-owned ad agency, The Odd Number, is for more big brands to give smaller agencies a chance. However, he tells us, if small agencies want to be successful, they’ve got to show they can run a world-class business.

Also see The Odd Number builds on two

Sbu Sitole

 

11. Young, Gifted & Killing It: Thabang Tipi Manyelo

by Veli Ngubane. Thabang Tipi Manyelo is a natural-born storyteller. He’s been telling stories for as long as he can remember. Then he made a life-changing discovery after happening to attend a Vega School open day: “I just couldn’t believe that there was a job that allowed you to write mini stories, and get paid for it!” Two Pendorings and a Loerie later, this young and definitely gifted copywriter has been killing it! Look no further than Jabu’s Left Testicle to find out what he’s all about.

Thabang Manyelo

 

12. Chris Gotz back in SA, joins OFYT

Chris Gotz, former co-chief creative officer of Ogilvy & Mather South Africa,  returned to South Africa to join Old Friends Young Talent (OFYT) as its newly appointed national creative director. This came as OFYT executive creative director and partner, Greg Burke, left the agency and the country for France.

OFYT with Chris Gotz

 

13. Philip Ireland leaves Ireland/Davenport

Ireland/Davenport, a WPP agency, announced that founding partner, Philip Ireland, would be leaving the agency. At the same time, it announced the appointment of Karabo Songo as CEO.

Also see Philip Ireland’s advice for ad agency entrepreneurs.

Philip Ireland 'headshot'
Herman MansonHerman Manson (@marklives) is the founder and editor of MarkLives.com. He was the founding editor of media.toolbox (1998–2006) and Mobile.Works, and the co-founder of Brand magazine. He has served on the editorial boards of The Journal for Convergence, as well as of Fast Company South Africa. Winner of the 2011 Vodacom Social Media Journalist of the Year award, he was also a finalist twice in the Highway Africa Award for the Innovative Use of New Media in Africa (2003 and 2004). Over his 20-year-plus career, Herman has contributed to numerous journals and websites in South Africa and abroad, including the Mail & Guardian, .net, Intelligence, AdVantage, Men’s Health, Computer World and African Communications. He has consulted on web architecture to several financial institutions.

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Big Q 2017: Suhana Gordhan’s Great Expectations for the ad industry

by MarkLives (@marklives) What are the expectations of South Africa’s marketing and advertising leaders for the industry in 2017? We emailed a panel of key industry executives for their take on the macro environment, budgets, changes in messaging, movement in the industry and consumer and any communication trends they’ll be looking out for. Second up is Suhana Gordhan of FCB Africa.

Suhana Gordhan

Suhana GordhanSuhana Gordhan (@SuhanaGordhan) is a creative director at FCB Africa. She loves seeing ideas grow and enjoys working with partners who believe in making iconic South African work. She’s also Young, Gifted & Killing It!

2017 looks set to be a lot like the title of one of my favourite Charles Dickens’ novels — “Great Expectations”. I’m just hoping that we’re not left feeling like we’re all Pip, chasing the cruel dream of Estella. She is a lot like advertising — beautiful and bewitching — life with Estella could be amazing if she just stopped being so harsh, cruel and aloof.

These are the Great Expectations I have for 2017:

1. Respectful relations

There is a ruthlessness that has developed in our industry over the last five or six years and it has a lot to do with felled budgets and longer chains of command. Our marketers are being fed a diet laced with threats and fears from superiors, so they breathe fire on their agencies. Our clients expect so much from us, with so little to give in return. It’s about piling us with demands and expecting it all to be done at light speed. Enough.

The supplier mentality must fall and we need to find trust and respect again. While we can, and have to, display our agility and nimbleness as an industry, we’re shackled at the ankles if our partners don’t treat us as such.

2. Free borders

It’s so last year to be speaking about digital things. This year, we need to master the integration model. It’s not just about digital, too. It’s about creating seamless campaigns, where the borders between the states of TV, content, activation and social media are not manned by heavy, hairy policemen. We just need to become better at integration, and better faster.

Our marketers need to stop washing their hands off this responsibility. If you appoint a lead agency, you have to help pave the way with partner agencies so that the lead agency may actually lead. Integration is not about everyone sitting in a room and playing nice. It’s about lifting the barbed-wire fences and pushing forward with nothing on our minds except ideas on how to make the best possible work in the best possible way.

3. More, not nada

If we are to have an industry that makes work that is truly South African, we need to be more truly South African. All this means is that we need MORE black insights and more female insights and, for that, we need more black people and more women in our agencies and in our marketing teams. It doesn’t mean that we can’t hire men and white people.

This is the responsibility of the entire industry — not the work of just a few good men and women.

4. Mindfulness

For too long, we’ve accepted that this is an industry that abuses people’s time.

Creativity is not a cactus. It needs water, care, some plant food and occasionally you have to speak lovingly to it. We need to treat our people better and give creative minds time to rest and refuel. I’m not sure why we insist on draining creatives ’till they’re inspired to do nothing but leave this industry.

We only get great work if we get space to breathe. I hope that in 2017 we can all slow down a little — enough to spend more time considering the work, enough to be able to make work we may love instead of work that has to be shoved down the gullet of the duck.

~~~

Dickens writes, “I have been bent and broken, but — I hope — into a better shape.” May we all find ourselves in better shape this year and may our expectations — no matter how large and grand — be fulfilled.

 

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

— Sign up now for the MarkLives email newsletter every Monday and Thursday, now including headlines from the Ramify.biz company newsroom service!

Big Q 2017: Jarred Cinman’s expectations for the SA ad industry

by MarkLives (@marklives) What are the expectations of South Africa’s marketing and advertising leaders for the industry in 2017? We emailed a panel of key industry executives for their take on the macro environment, budgets, changes in messaging, movement in the industry and consumer and any communication trends they’ll be looking out for. First up is Jarred Cinman of VML Y&R Africa Group.

Jarred Cinman

Jarred CinmanJarred Cinman (@jarredcinman) is a longstanding member of the South African digital industry, having founded one of the first professional web service firms, VWV, in 1995 and the chair of the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) South Africa until 2016. In 2010, his company Cambrient merged with Stonewall+ Digital Marketing and Brandsh to form NATIVE, now NATIVE VML and part of the VML Y&R Africa Group. These days, Jarred is co-chief operating officer at VML Y&R Africa Group.

I’m not sure what is harder to digest at the time of writing: that 2016 is almost over, or that 2016 marked 20 years since I entered the digital marketing industry. Neither sits comfortably. In my mind, I’m still young and it’s still January and the future is wide open. This, though, turns out to be just the frame of mind one needs going into 2017. As always, we stand on the brink of great changes and shifts in advertising and marketing, cocooned within even greater shifts in the society, country and world around us.

Let’s start with the local industry.

Turmoil, upheaval and mega-pitches

2016 was a time of much turmoil and upheaval. We saw some big and iconic agencies shrinking, struggling and changing. Some (such as Quirk) were swallowed up by their parent agencies. Some (such as The Jupiter Drawing Room Joburg) seemed to disappear altogether. And many, many accounts moved.

2016 was a year of mega-pitches — and where there is a pitch, there is one winner and many losers. For the victors, such as FCB Africa which snagged the enormous Absa B2C account, King James Group which won Pick n Pay or the Y&R SA network which got Edgars and Amstel, it was celebrations and a hiring frenzy. (Disclaimer: NATIVE VML is now integrated with Y&R SA.)

So that makes 2017 a year of proving ourselves. Clients with brand-spanking new agencies are expecting the magic they were promised in the pitch. So expect to see a flurry of exciting and challenging new work, and a bold attempt to reposition some familiar brands.

Integration is the buzzword. Clients are finally tiring of trying to manage messy rosters and opting to place their business with a single, integrated agency. This has led to a lot of turf warfare, as shared accounts have become battlefields where digital people try to prove they can make TV ads and traditional people that they can post to Twitter.

Very real and very tricky

The continued downward pressure on budgets and margins is very real and very tricky. Pitch and fee consultancies, to say nothing of clients themselves struggling with a stagnant economy and embattled currency, are axing fees and challenging assumptions. The word “junior” has become synonymous with cost-savings. Discounts and risk-and-reward schemes are everywhere. Ah, the romance of Mad Men has indeed gone, never to return.

Of course, this climate also spells opportunity. For agencies that can adapt to being business partners and not merely creative shops, which can influence not just communications but product and service, and can become integral to business transformation, the future is bright. This is not lost on the consulting firms such as Deloitte and Accenture — which are rapidly becoming some of the biggest players in marketing globally and at home.

How our economy performs has a lot to say about how our industry performs. There is a lot of bleak news out there but, every now and again, our South African tendency to roll up our sleeves and get shit sorted out pokes through. If we can hold back the dark forces that seem intent on destroying the hard-fought gains of the last 20 years, perhaps we may once again stand as the shining light on the continent and refocus on becoming an economic success story.

Maybe.

Technology continues to bewilder and amaze us. In 2017, it’s likely that digital media buying will settle into a largely programmatic mode, as it has in most parts of the world. That spells challenges for local publishers and for agencies which don’t understand this new world order. Some interesting new programmatic players in the local market, however, may represent a real response to global publishers at last.

How imminent?

We know that virtual reality, wearables, the “internet of things” (IoT), driverless cars and artificial intelligence are all imminent. How imminent we don’t know, particularly in SA where we still don’t have cheap internet or, let’s face it, running water for a large part of the population. Still, you may expect to see at least some meaningful movement in all of these areas next year, with ad agencies enthusiastically trying to sell cars and soap to people wearing massive goggles and gaping at the roof like idiots.

Which only leaves me to wonder: what am I looking forward to in 2017?

I still believe, despite my infamous cynicism, that advertising can change society for the better. Brave brands, passionate agencies and incredible technology can intersect to shift the currents. I don’t see enough of that but I do see enough to convince me that it is possible. It’s also necessary, because consumers care less and less each day about boring, irrelevant, irritating messaging that is easier to block than to endure.

The billions that are sunk in the communications industry can be deployed to make our society enviable, caring and successful. It is all of our jobs to do so and I do think the stars are aligned such that some will get this right. I hope to end 2017 proud to be a part of this ambitious and creative business we find ourselves in.

 

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

— Sign up now for the MarkLives email newsletter every Monday and Thursday, now including headlines from the Ramify.biz company newsroom service!

Global Headline Makers: Caroline Duret, France

by Mark Tungate (@MarkTungate) Caroline Duret of RadiumOne’s Paris office not only demystifies the new metier of “data-driven marketing” for us but makes it sound like an exciting career option.

It may well be that your blood runs cold when you read the words “programmatic advertising”. I know mine does: after all, I’m interested in creativity, not algorithms. So it was with some trepidation that I paid a visit to RadiumOne in Paris. It turns out that “programmatic” is only part of what the agency does. “Data-driven marketing” is the term it uses, which sounds friendlier. Plus its offices overlooking a narrow and rather charming Parisian street are of a reassuringly human scale.

Background

Caroline Duret, the agency’s deputy director, offers to demystify its work for me. But first I want to know about her background. It turns out she studied microelectronics, the world of semiconductors and chips, in Grenoble. At the same time, she was gaining practical experience at a startup created by the Franco-Lebanese inventor, Jean Michel Karam. “An exceptional guy,” she says. “He was only 27 at the time.”

Karam specialised in the micro-machines used in applications ranging from inkjet printers to airbags. By the time Duret left, the company had grown from two employees to 120 and raised over €100m. “At that point I absolutely didn’t want to work for an internet company,” she says. But fate intervened when she got a marketing job at a prepaid mobile phone company — which was immediately taken over by Liberty Surf, an internet access provider.

A few years and jobs later, she was busy heading the digital sales operation at broadcaster Canal + when her entrepreneurial streak rebooted, and she joined classy internet dating startup, Attractive World, alongside founder Ludovic Huraux.

Hard to know how this led to RadiumOne, you might think. In fact, family life with two young children convinced Duret to leave startups behind and take a relatively safe role at an advertising sales house with a network of premium websites. That’s when she got the call from Frédéric Bellier, a former colleague at Telecom Italia, who invited her to help him run RadiumOne’s new French office.

“He spouted a whole list of acronyms that I didn’t understand but, looking into the company and the meaning of all the words I’d heard, I realised something was happening with advertising and technology,” she says.

On the radar

In short, there was a shift from media planning — identifying the ideal medium for reaching a particular group of people — to audience planning, which is about serving ads to individual consumers in the optimal conditions. “Because the problem is that our target, let’s call him Mark, may well visit male-oriented sites like [sports journal] L’Equipe. But he also visits culture sites, websites for his kids, social media sites. Where can I reach him, and engage him, in the right place, at the right time, with the right message?”

Media planning and buying are done by people — the people from media agencies who chat up ad-sales staff at publishers and TV sales departments. But this new kind of advertising happens in the digital space. The sales staff have been replaced by ad exchanges — online markets of media inventory.

When Mark arrives on L’Equipe’s website (except he’s not called Mark; he’s just an anonymous code number), a signal goes out to potential buyers. The RadiumOne tool recognises Mark — it’s been tracking his behaviour via cookies, and knows he’s a valuable target — and makes a bid. If it bids high enough and fast enough, Mark is served an ad from one of RadiumOne’s clients. But one of its competitors could just as easily win.

That’s only the tip of the iceberg. RadiumOne’s tools are constantly monitoring the online movements of consumers to identify opportunities for its clients. Duret explains: “For example, if our tool notices that Mark is a client of American Express, it analyses his online comportment and looks for consumers with a similar behaviour: lookalikes. And now it has dozens of potential new Amex customers.”

RadiumOne also tracks the articles you share on social media and, more importantly, with whom. Those people are your circle of friends — and potential customers. Then there’s geo-fencing: if you pass through the same airport on a regular basis, as indicated by your mobile phone, you can be served with an appropriate ad at that moment. And since you’re clearly a well-travelled business person, your clients will also find themselves on the radar.

The human factor

You get the idea by now; it’s a sort of benevolent espionage. Thrilling, in a spine-tingling sort of way. But where does that leave creativity? Still in the game, it turns out. Because no matter how clever companies such as RadiumOne are at serving ads, you can easily ignore them. The trick is to make sure the target pays attention.

Duret says: “In order to engage him, you need something impactful, which expresses the values of the brand. If he clicks, we can move to the next phase, where the message is more focused the product. If he clicks after that, I’ve got him — and I can start talking about price.”

RadiumOne does not create these messages, and therein lies a problem. “Data, media and creative should work together as a trio,” she says. “But very often, unfortunately, they don’t.” The result is a new generation of agencies that can personalise and adapt creative work to specific consumers, in real time, based on relevant data — RadiumOne works with an outfit called ADventori, for example.

With all this talk of automation, it would be easy to imagine that the human element has largely been removed, reduced to a couple of geeks with laptops in an otherwise empty office. In reality, a new population has entered the advertising industry, from techno-savvy sales people and data scientists to media traders who barter space on ad exchanges with the urgency of stockbrokers. There are 45 people in RadiumOne’s Paris office.

Duret says: “We still need to talk to clients, and we still need to talk to their media agencies. We need to define the target and the strategy. And we often do that in the traditional way — by picking up the phone.”

 

Mark TungateMark Tungate (@MarkTungate) is the editorial director of the Epica Awards (@EpicaAwards), the only global creative prize judged by the specialist press. A British journalist based in Paris, Tungate is also the author of six books about branding and advertising, including Luxury World and Adland: A Global History of Advertising. He has a weekly column in the French magazine, Stratégies, and has written for leading newspapers and magazines in the UK and the US.

This “Global Headline Makers” column, which profiles creative stars making headlines in their home markets, is syndicated monthly from Epica.

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The Real McCoy: Use your second chance properly

by Sean McCoy (@TheRealMcCoyTRM) I’ve always held the view that we all make mistakes, and perfect delivery each time is damn hard. My maxim, however, has been that, when you screw up, how you respond to the mistake or customer’s complaint does matter and may make the difference. If you get a second chance, then use it well in dealing with a complaint or addressing the product or service malfunction. Customer service 101, I guess.

To err is human

In the journey of internal brand-building, the world is seldom perfect and, as hard as we try, it does go wrong from time to time. Leading brands such as Toyota have had assembly-line defects that have necessitated major model recalls to correct the problem and you may recount the false poison scare experienced by Pick n Pay some years back that resulted in a range of products removed from shelves as a precaution. Consumers are forgiving in situations such as these and it’s one of the benefits of a strong and credible brand — the capacity to bounce back from problem situations or trade through tough economic cycles.

This shouldn’t be confused with poor leadership and immoral behaviour, such as the VW emission scandal as example. No consumer is likely to easily forget or forgive that from a leading motor corporation and it’s very different from a legitimate operational or manufacturing error.

A second chance well-used

This article is being prepared on the patio of African Pride Mount Grace, where I have experienced exactly that — a second chance well-used. Following a weekend visit earlier this year, I sent an email to hotel management to inform that the experience was disappointing and off-brand, when compared to the reputation the destination holds out and the brand promise that it makes.

It hinged upon a number of service issues and the general experience in a hotel undergoing some refurbishment activity and witnessing an extremely busy weekend, with multiple company conferences taking place at the same time, mixed in with the usual weekend guest quota. It was evident that we may have caught the hotel at precisely the wrong time, but I nonetheless forwarded my grievance in the interest of feedback and, I suppose, my brand-promise preoccupation.

Rising to the challenge

To its credit, I got a call, within hours of despatching my email on the Monday morning, from the deputy general manager. She offered a huge apology, without feeble excuses and without being defensive on any of the issues. She listened attentively to my gripe, took time to understand my point of view and openly acknowledged that, if this was how I felt, they had failed in meeting expectations. She concluded the call by offering us a complimentary night for a return visit once the refurbishments were completed, with the ‘counter-challenge’ of re-experiencing the destination as promised and assessing whether that was more in line with expectations.

This article concludes the return visit and precedes my note back to her to comment on the visit again and, more importantly, to thank her and the hotel team for clearing the air. Everything ran like clockwork again this time around and we experienced outstanding service, were totally pampered in an upgraded room, and were welcomed by a small gift and personal message from the GM and his team — small and special touches that make a real difference.

Even if you argue that this is reactive and over-the-top treatment, the effort stands out and has done a lot to restore our view of a facility that we have visited often over the years but, more importantly, has demonstrated how exactly to respond to a customer problem or complaint, as this was.

Social listening

Surprisingly, and by contrast, I’ve not heard a word from kulula following my column in September 2016. Admittedly, I didn’t log it directly with the company, but it does say something about its social listening skills, or lack thereof, as I had comments from a number of other interested parties on social media following that article.

Compare that, in turn, to the story of Tim at an Engen forecourt in a previous column, too. It was a positive story but was impressively picked up directly by the Engen social media team, who responded immediately with a note of thanks and, what’s more, prompted the franchisee to do likewise; and ensured a follow-through extension of the message to Tim himself for the exemplary service feedback, while reinforcing the message that this is what the brand aspires to, rather than resting upon its laurels for the positive feedback.

It’s a wrap

African Pride Mount Grace Hotel & Spa has had other brand-related issues to consider in its transition from the Protea Hotel Group to a leading global hotel group under the Marriot International banner, but that’s for another day. In the interim, well done to the hotel for living out its brand promise and completely setting the record straight, given the opportunity to do so.

In signing out for 2016, may your holiday season be filled with service delight and amazing experiences; and your 2017 filled with growth and prosperity!

 

Sean McCoyDr Sean McCoy, MD and founding member of HKLM, is a prominent figure in the branding arena, with his expertise centered on client service, brand strategy and business development. He contributes the regular “The Real McCoy” column focusing upon internal branding to MarkLives.

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The Surgery: How to choose superheroes over strategy…

by Mimi Nicklin (@MimiNicklin) It’s the end of the year and, as our offices show no sign of slowing down just yet, I thought my last column of the year could share some respite, and a smile, to all those equally weary agencies and teams out there. It’s too late to start discussing strategy, so let’s talk superheroes instead…..

The work below from Philips, which has fast become 2016’s creative leaders in healthcare communications (following its Breathless Choir Grand Prix), shows that even a 120-year-old brand can bring standout innovation to its products and marketing. Its newest “Everyday Hero” campaign from Ogilvy & Mather London is based upon the enchantingly true story of a window cleaner who took it upon himself to go the extra mile every time he cleaned the windows of a children’s hospital.

Heartfelt storytelling

And, let’s be honest, when has a true story ever really made a bad ad? This one is no different, it’s charming and it’s true — the perfect mix for heartfelt storytelling [get your tissues ready, too — ed-at-large].

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1abDtr-Ffnw

The campaign includes TV, OOH, digital and social, and is aimed at changing the perception of healthcare professionals with regards to Philips’ offering in the professional healthcare space. That there is overspill to changing brand perceptions for just about anyone who watches it is an added bonus. Social media helped hugely when the world wanted to tune in to the charm of Spider-Man getting ready for the day ahead. Who can resist? The soundtrack helps, too — you can’t go wrong with an ad set to an acoustic cover of Paul McCartney and John Lennon’s “Revolution”.

Key takeaway

The key takeaway for me? Amid our technologically driven world, our human touch is still paramount in healing, in health and in life. This skew to hero-ing humanity seems to be a growing theme as the heaviness of 2016 draws to a close and brands all around the world take a stance around (re)building families, friendships and human connection. The tech brands are doing it, the phone brands are doing it — even FMCG is doing it. The importance of bringing — or reintroducing — a human element to creativity, in a data-led world, is bound to be appearing on more screens in 2017, so watch this space.

Until then, dear readers, let’s focus upon the real world and head into the end-of-year holidays surrounded by all our many special humans and entirely forget the advertising industry for a fleetingly ‘in-touch-with-reality’ moment. Here’s to a healthy and happy holidays!

 

Mimi NicklinMimi Nicklin (@MimiNicklin) has spent a decade in the advertising industry, working across global brands in Europe, Asia Pacific and Africa, mainly within WPP. She most recently led GlaxoSmithKline business as global VP for Grey Group, based in Singapore, before relocating back to South Africa, where she is now the head of marketing at Pam Golding Properties. Mimi also has her own business, www.merakicode.net, in integrated health and yoga therapy, inspired by her time in the east. Her regular MarkLives column, “The Surgery”, tracks consumer healthcare communications to drive awareness and passion for this growing creative and dynamic consumer industry within Africa and beyond.

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Beyond Borders: Brand ranking in the developing world

by Craig Page-Lee (@cpl_ignite) YouGov BrandIndex is a platform that provides a daily measure of the public perception of brands across multiple sectors in real-time. BrandIndex covers a broad range of brands and countries measured in the tables published, but what’s interesting to note is that South Africa is conspicuous by its absence from this list.

A key driver of enlisting to YouGov BrandIndex is that the platform provides regular updates across multiple brand categories and sectors, and enables brand owners to view the performance and health of their brands in relation to their competitor’s brands in almost real-time. The daily updates to the data, accessed through an online platform, ensure that brand owners may track changes in public perception on a regular basis and hopefully react accordingly — for the right reasons and not just to be reactive. BrandIndex also operates at both national and international level, allowing you to track brand perception in just one country, or compare across multiple countries and monitor a global picture.

Developing nations

The investigation into the Top 10 brands in Egypt as listed on YouGov’s BrandIndex makes for interesting reading, even more so when comparing to the same list for a number of other developing nations listed.

Here, too, is a quick overview of the most-comprehensive and globally accepted brand rankings that we generally default to before listing the YouGov BrandIndex ranking. The likes of Forbes — The World’s Most Valuable Brands, Interbrand — Best Global Brands and Millward Brown — BrandZ Top 100 Global Brands spring to mind. It is important to note that, while each of these global ‘ranking systems’ apply a different methodology to their respective reports, the principle remains the same, namely that of identifying ‘most-valuable brands’ across the world.

A snap-shot of these reports revealed the following;

Forbes — The World’s Most Valuable Brands, 2016

  1. Apple
  2. Google
  3. Microsoft
  4. Coca-Cola
  5. Facebook

As noted in Forbes — The World’s Most Valuable Brands ranking 2016, and probably as anticipated, we see that technology brands occupy 17 of the Top 100 positions, with Apple being listed as the world’s most-valuable brand, Facebook as the biggest climber (by value) and IBM listed as the biggest faller (by value)2.

Interbrand’s Best Global Brands Report4 provides a similar review of most-valuable brands in the world, but the specific Best Brand by Country report is what interests me as it looks specifically at the indigenous brands of a particular country. I’ve compared the reports for India and Brazil, and the results provide for interesting reading, what with conglomerate holding companies taking the top two positons and a telco taking the third position in India, while, in Brazil, financial services companies take the top two positions and a beer brand takes the third position.

Interbrand — Best Indian Brands, 20155

  1. Tata Group: conglomerate holding company with some of the 30 publicly listed businesses it owns operating across the steel, automotive, consultancy services, power, chemicals, global beverages, teleservices and telecommunications sectors3
  2. Reliance Industries Ltd: conglomerate holding company owning businesses across energy, petrochemicals, textiles, natural resources, retail and telecommunications sectors3
  3. Airtel: largest provider of mobile telephony and second-largest provider of fixed telephony in India3

While we see conglomerate holding companies filling two of the top three positions and a telco brand filling the third position of Interbrand — Best Indian Brands4, the only other brands that I’m aware of in the Top 20 are State bank of India (#5), Infosys (#7), Mahindra (#10), Bajaj (#13) and Maruti Suzuki (#14).

Interbrand — Best Brazilian Brands, 20156

  1. Itau: the largest non-state bank in Brazil, with a major presence throughout Latin America. It is the result of a merger in 2009 between Unibanco, a Brazilian bank, and Banco Itaú, the second-largest Brazilian private-banking group3
  2. Bradesco: one of the biggest banking and financial services companies in Brazil. Bradesco was the largest private bank in Brazil until Banco Itaú and Unibanco merged in 20093
  3. Skol: the most-popular beer brand in Brazil was initially created to become a global beer brand in the mid-1960s, when brewers from UK, Canada, Belgium and Sweden formed a new company called Skol International. While Carlsburg holds the licence to brew and market the beer worldwide, AB InBev holds the licence for South America3

While we see financial services companies filling two of the top three positions and a beer brand filling the third position of Interbrand — Best Brazilian Brands6, the only brand that I am aware of in the Top 20 is Havaianas which is actually ranked as 20th most-valuable Brazilian brand 2015.

As with Interbrand, Kantar Millward Brown also has a set of country-specific reports affiliated to its BrandZ Top 100 Global Brands report. These reports also focus upon the indigenous brands of a particular country. I unfortunately didn’t find any Brazilian reference, but did find the 2016 BrandZ India Top 50 Brands7 report, which I have touched upon below.

Millward Brown — 2016 BrandZ India Top 50 Brands7

  1. HDFC Bank: HDFC Bank (Housing Development Finance Corporation) is an Indian banking and financial services company headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. It is the largest bank in India by market capitalisation as of February 20163
  2. Airtel:largest provider of mobile telephony and second-largest provider of fixed telephony in India3
  3. State Bank of India: an Indian multinational, public-sector banking and financial services company. It is a government-owned corporation with its headquarters in Mumbai, Maharashtra and is the largest banking and financial services company in India by assets3

There is an interesting comparison between the country-specific Interbrand report5 and the Kantar Millward Brown report7 as Airtel3 is the only common brand across both reports, coming in at #2 in the Kantar Millward Brown report. Instead of conglomerate groups making up the top-two positions, as in the Interbrand report5, the Kantar Millward Brown report lists two financial services companies in the top-three positions.

Now, getting back to the YouGov’s BrandIndex1 and covering Mid-Year Rankings: Egypt Top Buzz, we see a very interesting mix across the Top 10 Brands and, unsurprisingly, technology brands make up five of the top-ten positions and FMCG/food manufacturers make up another three. A lifestyle property group and a financial services institution make up the remaining two:

Mid-year Rankings: BrandIndex Top 10 — Egypt

  1. Facebook
  2. Google
  3. YouTube
  4. Memaar Al Morshedy: a real-estate developer in Egypt that was founded in 1983
  5. Galaxy: a brand of milk chocolate, made and marketed by Mars, Incorporated
  6. National Bank of Egypt: the oldest and largest bank in Egypt, with 338 branches across the country
  7. iPhone
  8. Almarai: the largest vertically integrated dairy company in the world
  9. Samsung
  10. Kit Kat: a chocolate-covered wafer biscuit bar confection created by Rowntree’s of York, England. Now produced globally by Nestlé, which acquired Rowntree in 1988

Looking at the BrandIndex Mid-year rankings for India and Brazil, we again see that tech brands lead the charge, with seven out of the top-ten brands in India, and five out of the top-ten brands in Brazil, being tech-led/social media-led brands.

Mid-year Rankings: BrandIndex Top 5 — India9

  1. WhatsApp
  2. Google
  3. Facebook
  4. YouTube
  5. State Bank of India

Mid-year Rankings: BrandIndex Top 5 — Brazil10

  1. O Boticario — the biggest Brazilian cosmetic company3
  2. Netflix
  3. Natura — a Brazilian manufacturer and marketer of beauty products, household, and personal care, skin care, solar filters, cosmetics, perfume and hair care products3
  4. Google
  5. Colgate

In closing, it is obvious that the YouGov’s BrandIndex ranking approach is something that would be more appealing to marketers who manage mass-market consumer-facing brands, due to the frequency and almost real-time sentiment measuring capability.

Understanding the dynamics of brand performance in such real-time may help a brand on the edge of disaster turn itself around, or push a brand on the brink of stardom into that stratosphere. The power of these important brand-measurement and -ranking methodologies cannot be over-emphasised, as they help not only marketers at street level but provide the insights that global brand teams need to manage and shape the future of their respective brands.

References

  1. www.BrandIndex.com — YouGov BrandIndex ranking
  2. www.Forbes.com — Forbes The World’s Most Valuable Brands 2016
  3. www.Wikipedia.com — all brands associated per heading
  4. www.Interbrand.com — Interbrand Best Global Brands
  5. www.Interbrand.com — Interbrand Best Indian Brands 2015
  6. www.Interbrand.com — Interbrand Best Brazilian Brands 2015
  7. www.MillwardBrown.com — Kantar Millward Brown BrandZ Top 100 Global Brands
  8. www.MillwardBrown.com — 2016 BrandZ India Top 50 Brands
  9. www. BrandIndex.com — Mid-year Ranking: BrandIndex Top 10 India
  10. www. BrandIndex.com — Mid-year Ranking: BrandIndex Top 10 Brazil

 

Craig Page-Lee 2016Craig Page-Lee (@cpl_ignite) is the former group managing director of Posterscope South Africa and is now an independent consultant servicing the broader brand, marketing and communications industry. His monthly column on MarkLives, “Beyond Borders”, focuses upon doing business in various African markets. Craig is always available for a coffee catch-up and chat (email craig at d-cifr dot com).

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Shelf Life: Finding the magic at Woolworths

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

  • Woolworths’ star-studded Santa series
  • Vega and Utopia call Generation V
  • UK welcomes KWV’s Cruxland

’Tis the season to shop

Watching seasonal ads this year, it seems, for the most part, South Africa doesn’t go in for the sentimental messages that other countries adopt in December, preferring to focus upon flogging their wares, so here’s a reminder that giving, sharing, family and friends don’t have a shelf life — ‘use’ them today. That said, the Woolworths #findthemagic campaign in partnership with Shine Literacy is playful and upbeat, while still managing to sneak in a festive message.

The campaign finds Santa in a rut; nothing is going according to plan and he really needs to get excited about Christmas again, so he sets out to explore SA with his trusty dog, Jingle, to find the magic of Christmas. Hugh Masekela lends his star power to the series of animated ads as the voice of Santa, among many other well-known local personalities, including Olympic gold medallist Wayde van Niekerk, rapper Riky Rick, media personality Bonang Matheba and supermodel Katryn Kruger.

As Santa’s story unfolds, viewers are reminded that Christmas is a time for giving. Woolworths has partnered with Shine Literacy to help equip families and children across the country with better reading skills and learning capabilities, and will help create foundation-phase reading corners in under-resourced classrooms.

The ads also encourage viewers to “turn on annotations” and each element clicked on takes consumers to another scene, one of which is the Woolworths shopping cart.

The tone is light but meaningful and the message is woven into the story, creating an entertaining series that sends a clear call to action — buy your goodies at Woolies this season and do some good. It’s not a completely new message but the delivery is skillful and it works.

woolworths.co.za • Facebook • Twitter

 

Vega looks to 2017

Year end is a stressful time for many young people and Vega School’s new ad campaign from Utopia aims to show potential 2017 students how the institution may help them “Find Their Purpose” and create true value in society and, in turn, people’s lives.

At the core of the campaign is a video featuring real Vega students honouring the mindset of “Generation V” — the current generation of Vega students, alumni, employees and stakeholders — a positioning developed by Vega itself.

Vega Generation VSays Shevon Lurie, managing director at Vega, “By branding it Generation V and articulating its identity, Vega has created a powerful hook upon which to hang the whole complex set of values, attitudes, beliefs and behavioural patterns that define this generation.”

The campaign, developed by Cape-based creative agency, Utopia, runs online and on social media, and shows a number of students talking about locating their purpose through finding a career and passion that suits them; and playing a part in bettering the world by finding new solutions to old problems through 2020’s most-sought-after skills — complex problem-solving, critical thinking and creativity.

“An idea has never been as powerful as it is today, and we believe that the students of tomorrow really do have the power to change the world.”

The campaign will roll out over digital and social media for the month of December and January.

vegaschool.com • Facebook • Twitter
utopia.agency • Facebook • Twitter

 

Coals to Newcastle

KWV recently tapped into the craft-spirit trend when it introduced its own handcrafted gin — Cruxland — to South Africa and now it’s taking the gin to international audiences, launching in the most ‘discerning’ gin-drinking market of them all: the UK.

Cruxland is infused with nine exotic botanicals, including Kalahari N’abbas (Kalahari truffles) indigenous to the Kalahari Desert and Namibia.

KWV Cruxland Gin’s introduction into the UK market is based upon its ‘distinctive point of appeal’, with experts saying the gin revival has been sparked by unusual flavours and launches of small batches, adding vitality to the category. This has been supported by the re-emergence of a cocktail culture, with the gin offering consumers something that is 100% unique and has a ‘taste of origin’.

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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#AdoftheYear: South Africa’s best ads 2016 [part 2]

by Oresti Patricios (@orestaki) Which ads reaped the rewards, and top spots, in Marklives.com’s Ad of the Year countdown? There’s something common to all of them — every ad is about making life better. After a torrid 2016, these top five offer hope, are beautifully crafted, make a point and make a difference. Congratulations to the brands, agencies and service suppliers involved: your world-class work stands as a beacon to what local talent is capable of.

Last week, we looked at five runners-up that all tied for 6th place; this week, we finish off with the top five, starting off with fifth place and working our way up to the top to the numero uno MarkLives Ad of the Year for 2016.

Pinterest icon View all the Ads of the Week at a glance on our #AdoftheWeek Pinterest board
YouTube icon Watch our 2016 #AdoftheWeek playlist on YouTube
YouTube icon Watch our 2016 #AdoftheYear countdown playlist on YouTube

#5. Define Tomorrow by Net#work BBDO for Unisa

In fifth place is Net#work BBDO’s heart-warming TV commercial for Unisa, “Define Tomorrow”. This is a feel-good mini-movie about a young man who works as a taxi driver by day and uses every spare minute to study.

The film, which is shot mainly at night, and with lots of rainy scenes, takes the viewer through a series of scenarios that show the young man’s normal day-to-day life: driving the taxi at night, handing the car over in the morning to his father for him to do the ‘day shift’, falling asleep exhausted over his books. But, when he starts getting frustrated, he sees other people also studying, which inspires him to persevere.

The dramatic climax of the story is when he arrives home, but his father is not waiting to take the car. He hurries inside, and his son runs forward with a letter from Unisa: he has been successful! It’s a poignant moment, and the characters are realistic, so one empathises with them — an inspiring story for anyone who wants to study further but cannot afford to do it full time.

In summary, it’s a movie that’s been beautifully shot, masterfully scored, with great editing and point-perfect direction by Kevin Fitzgerald of 0307.

Credits

 

#4. Promaths by Y&R SA for Investec

Fourth place goes to Y&R South Africa for its “out-of-the-ordinary story” for Investec, about a remarkable young person living in a local township who entered the SA school system without a mentor to help her, and without access to the internet.

Using the analogy of a maths equation, the story looks at how, with help from an organisation called Promaths, young Lindiwe Zondo was able to achieve a 100% pass in matric maths. Promaths is a partnership between Investec and Kutlwanong Maths, Science and Technology Centre, helping high-school learners with extra tuition in maths and science.

Directed by Keith Rose in his trademark black-and-white style, the ad doesn’t shy away from the realities of SA’s problematic education system, but it offers a ray of hope — that with the right input at the right places, even the most-disadvantaged person has a chance of breaking out of the cycle of poverty. It’s part of a larger campaign called #OutOfTheOrdinary, which is hosted on an Investec minisite,and also made Ad of the Week this year for another ad, “Burning Ambition/Firepool”.

This campaign is doing big things for Investec, which in turn is helping to do big things for SA. Kudos to Investec, Y&R, Velocity, Rose and everyone involved in this campaign; you have a lot to be proud of.

Credits

 

#3. Twitter Refugees by NATIVE VML for PASSOP

Agencies have been thinking creatively about social media, and sometimes the simplest ideas are also the smartest, and most effective. NATIVE VML got the Twitterati thinking about xenophobia and prejudice with a Twitter bot created for PASSOP*, a civic organisation devoted to fighting for the rights of asylum-seekers, refugees and immigrants in South Africa.

The Syrian war created one of the worst humanitarian crises of the era, with millions of people fleeing the ravaged country, seeking asylum in neighbouring countries, or across the Mediterranean, in Europe. As the drama unfolded, the term ‘refugee’ became highly stigmatised, depersonalising those it identifies, and presenting them as a faceless problem, rather than a situation that involves real human beings.

The bot that was created by NATIVE VML monitored Twitter and replied to any tweets containing the word “refugee”; changing the word to “human being”’ instead. In hijacking these conversations, people were made to think about how they refer to displaced people.

According to Ryan McManus, ECD of NATIVE VML, the campaign has been mentioned on CNN, Sky and Channel 4 in the UK, as well as various other media in SA and abroad.

A campaign like this has real potential to change hearts and minds, to make people examine their prejudice and think again about what it is to be human.

Credits

 

#2. Iziko Slave Calendar by Geometry Global Cape Town for Iziko Slave Lodge Museum

What’s in a name? If you were one of the slaves who landed at the Cape between 1653 and 1856, it was something that was stolen along with your freedom. In a sad, shameful and mostly buried part of SA history, human beings were treated as commodities and traded for spices, tobacco and tea in a global trade system that ran from Europe to the Far East, Africa, the Americas and back to Europe.

Slaves were named after the month they landed in the Fairest Cape, and these names have persisted to this day. To commemorate the date that SA formally adopted its new constitution, which recognises the rights of all humans as equals, the Iziko Slave Lodge, with Geometry Global Cape Town (an Ogilvy & Mather company), released a calendar in May 2016 featuring black-and-white photos of 12 of these slave descendants. Each photo is accompanied by a short quote from each subject, who gives his or her feelings about their name, and what if feels like to be descended from slaves.

A video was also produced, featuring some of the calendar subjects who gave more insight into their experiences.

n exhibition, titled “My Naam is Februarie: Identities Rooted in Slavery”, began running at the museum later in 2016 as part of an ongoing campaign to drive awareness of this part of SA’s history. It’s ongoing until March 2017, so you may still see these prints in the context of the Slave Lodge.

The beautifully framed photographs and integrated campaign form a powerful message that gives insight and renewed respect for those who lived and died under the yoke of slavery. This remarkable campaign shows how important narrative and history are to SA, and how we need to collect, and share the stories that have made us who we are.

Credits

 

#1. First Kiss by Y&R Cape Town for Safely Home (Western Cape Government) [GRAPHIC]

And here it is — our best ad of the year. A road-safety ad that brings home, in graphic detail, just why it’s important for everyone, including backseat passengers, to be strapped in with seatbelts. This is even more important now — given it is the festive season and youngsters are out celebrating. This ad is so excellently crafted, it has become an instant classic, and it’s difficult to look at without your breath being taken away. The ultra slow-motion technique used in this TV commercial is one of the standout features, as it brings home just how much force a human body may exert when flung around by the momentum created by an accident.

The story sucks you in, as it features a likeable young man who meets a young woman at a party. The couple hits it off, and there is desire in the air. Their attempts at having a kiss are thwarted by other people, and eventually it’s time for the party to end. The young woman accepts a lift in the same car, and they are together in the back seat. Just when they are about to sneak that first kiss, the car is involved in an accident, and at this point the mood changes from romantic to horrifying.

The man is thrown around the car and collides with the driver and front passenger, with brutal force. Glass shards fly as the man tries to stop himself from flying through the windscreen. The shock of another impact forces him back and the slow-motion ‘kiss’ as his face collides with the young woman’s face is an ironic twist to the tale. The final scene reveals that all four people in the car are dead, and it was all due to the one passenger — the young man — who was not buckled up.

This ad, with its high-impact and graphic effects, was incredibly well-executed by Y&R Cape Town and Jason Fialkov of Egg Films. A gut-wrenching reversal of mood that will hopefully make people think about the importance of safety belts.

Credits

~~~

2016 was a chaotic year, with major social upheaval. The judging panel didn’t seek to reward social justice campaigns, but these were the adverts that won our best scores. In reflection, it has shown us how important crafting meaning and connection has been this past year, and how important it will be in the coming year as populism continues to polarise.

 

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 info@ornicogroup.co.za.

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