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#BigQ2020: Hello, blurred world!

by MarkLives (@marklives) What are the industry expectations for the marketing and advertising industry in 2020? A panel of key agency and marketing execs discusses the macro environment, budgets, changes in messaging, movement in the industry and any consumer and communication trends they’ll be looking out for in the year ahead. Next up is Publicis Groupe Africa’s Naeem Seedat.

Naeem Seedat

Naeem Seedat is CEO of the Communications business at Publicis Groupe Africa, having previously served as TransUnion Africa VP plus on the Auditor General of South Africa exco. He has also held senior positions in Accenture, KPMG Abu Dhabi, Bytes and PwC Southern Africa. His experience is broad and spans many industries and disciplines, giving him the unique perspective needed to connect the dots and operate across increasingly blurring industry lines. Naeem is an agent of digital transformation and has spent much of the last few years helping clients to use and respond to technological change.

At a macro level, the pace and complexity of technology-fuelled change will continue to accelerate in 2020, with digital thinking becoming the norm across all industries, further contributing to the phenomenon of “blurred industry lines”. As startups continue to chip away at traditional industry value chains across the board, incumbents in all industries will be forced to radically transform their business models and/or to look at challenging adjacent or alternative industries outside of their traditional hunting grounds — there go those precious industry lines which we’ve all arranged around ourselves, our offerings, our skills and our mindsets around!

Armed with new data-driven, tech-enabled front- and back-office capabilities, organisations in all industries are rethinking their core business models, reimagining and smashing the status quo while venturing out into delivering new kinds of products and services and seeking out new sources of growth in new markets. In this world, it wouldn’t be uncommon or surprising for a telco company to launch a banking service, for a tech company to get into the transportation game or for a retailer to venture into pharmaceutical distribution, etc.

Many industries will shift from merely overlapping to having significant disruptive effects on each other. 2020 marks the start of a feeding frenzy, with ‘outsiders’ increasingly eating the lunch of ‘insiders’.

Prepare for impact

Closer to home, the disruptive digital forces of the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) have steadily been nudging three worlds towards each other, placing them on a collision course — namely our world, the communications and media industry (which includes all manner of organisations that have historically serviced the marketing and advertising value chain); the tech industry (which includes a host of tech solutions, consulting and delivery organisations); and the data industry (which includes a number of organisations that collect and aggregate big data to deliver information-based solutions to the market).

2020 will see these three industries start to collide in a significant way, with organisations in each industry pitting their respective capabilities, products and services against each other in a quest for a larger share of clients’ attention, relevance and ultimately wallet.

This collision of industries will reshape the communications and media industry, the impact of which split the agency world into two distinct groups.

The first will be made up of those agencies which remain largely traditional and purist in their approach, serving only a narrow, niche marketing and advertising market. The opportunity for this group in 2020 will be for them to double down and secure their position as masters of their current craft (for the time being, at least), while the big threat for them is that of commoditisation and redundancy due to cheaper, tech- and data-enabled alternatives.
The second will be those agencies that evolve and connect their value propositions, staying relevant to not only marketing and advertising execs but to other c-suite stakeholders across their clients’ value chains. This second group will make the shift from being niche agencies to being strategic business partners which are able to authentically bring creativity, data and technology together to solve business problems, drive client growth and deliver transformative experiences that wow their clients’ customers. The opportunity for this group in 2020 will be the ability to price for value (to “follow the money” as it were) as clients reprioritise and shift budgets away from traditional marketing to other revenue-generating areas within their businesses. The big threat for them will be the challenge of successfully attracting and integrating new talent needed to position new value propositions and solve new kinds of business problems for clients.

Get ready to grow

I’ll sum up my expectations for 2020 by adapting a phrase from the late, great Johnny Clegg: “It’s [going to be] a cruel, crazy, beautiful world!”

And as this crazy world tilts, shifts and ebbs around us, it’s clear that the communications and advertising industry will be challenged like never before this year. Much will be written of the threats to our industry from technology and convergence, especially from ‘outsiders’ who are coming to eat our lunch! Personally, I welcome this kind of competition as it creates healthy discomfort for us all, pushing us out of our safe spaces and creating the conditions needed to drive us towards reimagining the value we create for clients — it’s is a discomfort that the industry desperately needs; after all, nobody every grows from a comfort zone.

Old ways of doing biz are dead —can we adapt fast enough to survive?

pin-board-pin-list-change-tiller courtesy of Pixabay

by David Cohen (@gridworldwide) We’re living in a world of exponential change. As ad agencies, we may fight those changes and hope they don’t affect us — or embrace them and discover new ways of doing business.

It’s not always an easy choice. Industries, markets and consumers are changing on an almost-daily basis and, as a species, we often find that pretty difficult to accept. We tend to hold on to what we know. We defend the way we’ve always done things. Why fix what’s not broken, right?

Wrong.

History is littered with companies that held on too tightly — and for too long — to what they believed was true. Kodak and Nokia are two obvious examples but there are many, many more.

Adapt or die

Here’s our reality: Agencies are being disrupted by apps pumping out logos and copy, and artificial intelligence (AI) is making everything we used to do more accessible at a lower price. Ignoring this fact won’t make it go away. Look at it as a tsunami. Trying to paddle against it is pointless.

This is why we need to take a different approach. Given the pressure that agencies are under, the mix of skills and insights that make up teams has never been more relevant — or more essential.

An agency’s currency is the ideas that sit in its people’s heads. That’s the whole business. Instead of fighting what’s happening around us, choose to create an environment that nurtures those ideas, keeps everyone motivated and moving in the same direction together, and above all celebrates originality and ingenuity.

Future-fit

Here’s how agencies may build a future-fit business that embraces the fourth industrial revolution (4IR).

#1. Stay in beta

If you’re not comfortable with change and adapting to the way the world is and will be, you need to get comfortable — fast.

It’s not always easy to get your head around. A business that is always changing and in beta is not for everyone but this is no longer a ‘nice to have’. Businesses that want to stay ahead of the curve need to drastically increase their agility quotient. It won’t be easy but the first step is believing in it. Then it’s trial and error figuring out how to live it.

#2. Have access to the right tools

The reality is that clients want what they got last year at a better price. Ignoring this truth or trying to change it is pointless. Instead, we need to accept it and make it work. A lot of that involves understanding how the world works, what consumers want and need, and delivering real brand value to them. It’s about pulling strategy, creative and execution together to deliver meaningful results.

Read international news sites daily. Watch YouTube videos. Understand what is trending and why.

Most importantly, bring diverse people with different interests and backgrounds into the room and trust them to add value. Don’t ask them to leave their passions and hobbies at the door. They must bring them into the office. That’s how you understand what’s happening out in the world. It’s how you collectively stretch your imagination and what’s possible.

#3. Learn to cross-pollinate

The old way of doing business was sticking to your lane. I’m in favour of specialising and even niches, but there’s huge value in drawing different industries, verticals and skills together as well.

Keep your eyes open. Be constantly asking what’s happening around the world. What challenges and opportunities are different verticals and sectors facing? How do different businesses operate? What makes them tick? The secret is to always take a little bit away from every interaction you have that you may then infuse in the next thing you move on to.

Industries and business are shifting. Telcos are becoming banks and banks are becoming telcos. Learning from different sectors and businesses opens our eyes. Always be willing to learn something new. More importantly, be willing to action that knowledge and make changes.

David Cohen is the joint CEO and a partner at Grid Worldwide (@gridworldwide).

“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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#BigQ2020: A new decade of change in the advertising industry

Johanna McDowell & César Vacchiano

Johanna McDowell (@jomcdowell), Independent Agency Search & Selection Company (IAS) founder and CEO, and César Vacchiano (@cvacchiano‏), Scopen global CEO and co-founder, together formed Scopen Africa in 2016. They’ve known each other since 2009, when they first met at the AdForum Worldwide Summit in New York. Both Johanna and César are recognised as leaders in the consulting space for marketers and agencies. Since 2016, AgencyScope, Scopen’s primary product and study which encompasses key learnings from the marketing community to enable agencies to improve their performance, has been run in South Africa with three times.

As 2020 begins, it’s really interesting to review the changes that have happened in the last decade, let alone the last 12 months. The pace of those changes has also varied considerably at times globally and locally.

In the past 10 years, more new agencies have opened in South Africa; there have been many mergers and acquisitions, mainly by the holding companies; and black economic empowerment (BEE) has been instrumental in transforming many aspects of agency and marketer life. We don’t see the change happening until after it happens but we just “feel” it.

Masterclass Notes: Trends from #AdForumSummit London — Johanna McDowell
Masterclass Notes: Key global trends in advertising & comms industry — Johanna McDowell & César Vacchiano
#BigQ2019: How much change will there really be? — Johanna McDowell
Masterclass Notes: 2018 AdForum Summit observations & trends — Johanna McDowell
Masterclass Notes: Highlights from agencyScope 2017 South Africa
#BigQ2018: Marketers to take digital in-house at unprecedented rate — Johanna McDowell
Masterclass Notes: Trends from agencyScope SA 2017 fieldwork — Johanna McDowell
Masterclass Notes: agencyScope 2016 SA — what marketers want — Johanna McDowell

In addition, our economy in the last 10 years has been on a downward trajectory and that has had a huge impact on the industry and on how people think. Marketers commented to us last year how 2019 budgets for agencies are much the same as in 2011 —meaning little growth for those agencies — although our Scopen AgencyScope 2019/20 study tells us that marketers are actually spending more and spending it differently.

10 trends

So where to from here? We present 10 trends for 2020 and the decade to come:

#1. More diversity in the senior marketer space

We foresee many more senior marketing women in the corporate space. These are women at decision-making level, able to hire and fire agencies, approve marketing campaigns etc. In AgencyScope data, the male/female split was equal, if not slightly more favourable to women, in 2019; this trend will continue into this new decade. One day soon, we’ll have more women in CEO positions, as this is still a very weak area.

#2. Less diversity in the senior advertising space

In contrast, there are very few, if any, female CEOs in the advertising agency space, although there is greater representation in the media agency territory. Women at senior level — board director, shareholder in agencies and especially at chief creative officer level — are very thin on the ground and, as we saw recently at the 2019 AdForum Worldwide Summit in London, that this is a global phenomenon. So, it feels as if we’re going backwards in gender diversity in agencies.

#3. Digital work

As predicted, digital has changed everything — the way we live the way, work, respond to advertising etc. This has probably been the biggest and most-comprehensive change in the past decade and has accelerated in the past three years, in particular, with the advent of digital media and digital content now able to do things (from a tech point of view) that were only imagined in the 2000s. This can only accelerate and lead to a greater diversity of digital capabilities in the future.

#3. Integration

Marketer preference for integrated agencies which can supply all of their needs is much the same as it was a couple of years ago; however, we see the increasing demand for closer involvement with the creative and media agencies and some agencies, as a result, are starting to either bring more media skills in house or more creative skills in house, depending on the core skill of the agency. However, the majority of marketers work with specialist agencies because they need the variety of skills — marketers work with an average of three creative agencies (ATL, BTL, digital) and one media agency.

#5. Account service

On a very granular level, account service has become a tipping point for marketers and agencies alike. The kind of skills level that clients need now — within agencies — has to be led by individuals with vast experience and knowhow in order to master all of the different components of advertising — and not always found in the same agency.

These client-facing individuals are rare and are more like business consultants or the business partners that clients desperately need to have in order to ensure their marketing delivery needs are met. Some agencies are now structuring their businesses this way; some are hiring in highly experienced top-level people (from marketer or management consultancy backgrounds) and, while this might seem an expensive way of making this happen, the value that they add is inestimable.

These people are not the old style “glad-handing” client service directors; they are business consultants and business-minded individuals whose grasp of marketer needs, along with a full understanding of and appreciation for the impact of a creative product, are the combination of skills that are now required.

#6. Results & effectiveness

Results and effectiveness continue to grow in importance. Now that marketers can measure everything, they are being held more and more accountable by their CEOs for results from their advertising campaigns. This, in turn, puts their agencies under even greater pressure to deliver and to demonstrate results. Smarter agencies are starting to spend much more time on their success stories and case studies which show how effective creative work delivers tangible sales and results fornbsp;brands.

Now that SA has become part of the Effie Awards via the Association for Communication and Advertising (ACA), which has replaced the local APEX Awards with this international effectiveness awards show, it will be a further opportunity in 2020 for the country to demonstrate more effectiveness locally and globally. Also, the Effie Index is something that marketers aspire to have on their CVs, so this area will grow in importance.

#7. In-housing

In-housing of certain marketing activities has increased (not as much as in some other countries such as the UK) but more and more marketers are handling in-house their own strategic planning, CRM and digital performance, as well as the more-obvious social media and community management, DTP etc.

Smart agencies will have to find a way to provide their services — especially for creativity and production — in such a way as to stimulate the internal client team, allowing both parties to excel in their particular areas and to ensure that savings are reinvested to produce better results for the marketer which, in turn, will increase ove all budgets into the future.

#8. Increasing relevance of independent agencies

Clients believe that independent agencies have a better understanding of the consumers and categories, are able to identify local insights for strategic planning, and produce faster responses and with better value for money. In SA, and other countries, independent agencies occupy strong positions in the creativity rankings, and are becoming more and more attractive options for marketers when producing shortlists for pitches.

#9. Consultancies

Consulting companies aren’t yet perceived as strong as agencies in contributing to clients’ growth. Overall, globally, advertising agencies contribute by 35% to client growth, media agencies by 27% and PR agencies by 26%. However, consultancies are still perceived as contributing less than 20%. Amazon, Google and Facebook are ahead of business consultancies and are fast approaching agencies in their contribution to business growth.

#.10 Project-based

Clients will increasingly working on project-based relationships with their agencies. Even if they maintain relationships on an ongoing basis with their agencies and there’s an annual fee, clients will remunerate their agencies project by project that are developed during the year. At the same time, we foresee less incentives and bonuses at the end of the year. CFOs on the client side don’t like to integrate these bonus formulae into their budgets, and agencies no longer want to take the risk because clients don’t always pay, even if the agreed-upon KPIs have been reached.

The case for being human in an otherwise inhumanE world

railway-platform-mind-gap courtesy of Pixabay

by Taazima Kala-Essack (@taazimakala) The case for people, brands and businesses becoming more human gets stronger every day. In cracks of darkness, light gets in.

Every day, we are reminded of atrocities in the world that easily fall short of what it means to be a decent, kind human being. From crime to sheer brutality, the world can be a truly scary place. The proverbial silver lining, however, often resides in those glimmers of hope that sometimes, when you really keep an eye out for it, reveal pure magic does exist among people.

Why does this matter? Because as businesses and brands become increasingly focused on artificial intelligence (AI), digitisation and leveraging big data, you can’t help but smile at the realisation that, more often than not, old-fashioned heart from a brand often makes the biggest dent.

Mind the gap

For as long as I lived in the UK, I wondered why the Embankment tube station was allowed to be different from the rest. The famous “Mind the Gap” felt and sounded wholly different, heralding back to the days of many voiceovers and unsystematised ways of running things. Then digital happened; everything became centralised and, admittedly, was the better for it. Except, that is, Embankment. Years later, I finally learnt the reason. Not only is it heartwarmingly magical, but it is authentically human and compassionate in a way that ‘systemised’ could never be.

Upon hearing the new, digitised voiceover at Embankment station one day several years ago, Dr Margaret McCollum felt nothing but dismay. Eventually, she engaged the Transport for London (TFL) officers in the station to ask why there had been a transition to a new, different, automated voice. Soon enough, the officers learned that the original voice was none other than her late husband, Oswald Laurence, a man who never quite made it in the acting world but who did have the opportunity to become the voice artist for the TFL Northern Line Mind the Gap announcements.

Daily after her husband’s passing, McCollum would spend a few minutes at the start of her day in Embankment station, purely to hear his voice again. “Since he died, I would sit and wait for the next train until I heard his voice. On 1 November [2012] he wasn’t there. I was just stunned when Oswald wasn’t there anymore,” said McCollum according to various news reports.

More endearing

Realising it had the ability and, indeed, opportunity to change one woman’s life in a monumental way, simply by choosing to place compassion above digital transformation and restore his voice, TFL made the case for being more human, more endearing than any brand strategy, stunt or move ever could. In the crack of darkness, light got in.

As we continue to embrace the fourth industrial revolution, big data and the opportunity that data transformation brings, there’s also something to be said for harmonising technological advancement with genuine and authentic humanness. It may go against the choreographed and strategised efficiency planning of individuals and businesses but, in many ways, the world is full of Dr Margaret McCollums whose entire lives may be altered when one individual or team chooses to throw out rigid structure, or carefully drafted playbooks, in favour of the simple practice of kindness and compassion.

In an otherwise inhumanE world, it’s the unscripted, unplanned acts of being more human that stand to make businesses feel like pure gold in a manner that no business plan or communications strategy ever could. Why? Because sometimes the best stakeholder or business efforts are the ones that leave an impact without the cry for attention and glory.

The case for being human is now stronger than ever, as the general populace refuses to be duped or fooled into curated realities. They’re not authentic, not human and just not us, because we are more Dr Margaret McCollum than we may often realise.

Taazima Kala-Essack (@taazimakala) is a PR and public affairs specialist consultant based in Gaborone, Botswana, with an academic background in language and literature. She has led and collaborated on a number of strategic and communications projects in Botswana and Namibia, and is currently the only CIPR-accredited PR consultant in Botswana. She is the lead consultant at Hotwire PRC, Botswana’s oldest and largest PR consulting business which is aligned to FCB Wired.

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#BigQ2020: A focus on the unchanging

Faheem Chaudhry

Faheem Chaudhry (@faheemchaudhry) is managing partner at M&C Saatchi Abel JHB, Financial Mail’s 2019 Large Agency of the Year. He was previously at M&C Saatchi’s global HQ in London, working with clients across Europe, Asia and the Middle East. He has won over 35 awards locally and internationally, including being named Rising Star by the South African Chamber of Commerce in the UK. His obsession is to work to unleash the power of African creativity on the world (part patriotic, part Machiavellian).

The new year. A time for pause, reflection and projection. Futurists seem to love the first of January; an opportunity to cast their minds ahead to what might be in the next 12 months.

The year of broadcast, the year of mass personalisation, the year of the specialist agency, the year of the integrated agency, the year of the holding company, the year of the independent agency, the year TV dies, the year people watch more video than ever before. The year of the micro-influencer. The year influencers have their bubbles popped. Ramaphoria. Ramageddon. Trump 2020. Bernie 2020. Brexit. No-Brexit. I’m leaving. #ImStaying.

While this sort of intellectual industry jousting is fun, the truth is, things don’t change as quickly, suddenly or as triumphantly as the dong of the new year bell.

We often hear about us living in a time of unprecedented change. But then I thought about the creation of electricity, the Great Depression, two World Wars, moving from horses to cars to jet engines and the founding of the world wide web. Unprecedented change has been the norm for much of the last century. As the marketing industry, we sometimes fall into the trap of chasing the next shiny high. We’re drawn to novelty a lot more than we’re sometimes drawn to reality when predicting what the new year will bring.

Amazon’s Jeff Bezos famously reflected that “I very frequently get the question: ‘What’s going to change in the next 10 years?’ And that is a very interesting question; it’s a very common one. I almost never get the question: ‘What’s not going to change in the next 10 years?’ And I submit to you that that second question is actually the more important of the two — because you can build a business strategy around the things that are stable in time.”

So, while 2020 will no doubt bring with it some new and novel trends, tweaks and shifts, my gut says that they’ll tend to distract us, rather than guide us towards the light.

What isn’t changing

As we head into the new decade, it might be more useful to take a step back to gain some perspective and notice what isn’t changing, rather than what is.

#1. A brand is the most-powerful commercial tool a business has

There are many definitions of what a brand is. Regardless of which tickles your fancy, the benefits of building a clear, distinctive, preferred brand are empirically clear. My favourite articulation of the commercial power of brand is from BBH Labs:

“A brand increases the chances of customers choosing your product or service over your competitor’s, attracting more customers, at a lower cost per sale, who are happy to pay a little more, and will buy it a little more often. A strong brand will deliver more revenue, profit and growth, more efficiently, year after year, and so generate more shareholder value. It can help attract, motivate and retain your people. And can work as a barrier to entry for future competitors, creating a legal ‘monopoly’.”

Yet, over the last decade, the industry has increasingly preferred to reallocate budget to short-term tactics over brand-building. A tough economy perhaps demands it, as CMOs are under quarterly pressure to prove the business case for marketing. Further, immediacy has proliferated every facet of our lives at all levels of society. Sending money to loved ones? Instant. Ordering food? Instant. Hailing a taxi? Instant. Booking accommodation? Instant. As our expectations of life have become more immediate, so too have our expectations of the marketing activity we put out into the world.

Building powerful brands is without a doubt be the single most powerful orientation advertising agencies and their marketing partners can rally behind.

Regardless of what new challenges 2020 brings, let’s embrace this powerful role we can play in helping businesses achieve distinction and competitive advantage in a tough economic climate.

There’s no more powerful contribution we can make to business than building powerful brands. That isn’t changing in 2020.

#2. Creativity is a superpower, not a commodity

Creativity goes left when convention says go right; it sees something new, flips a conventional truth, surprises, delights, scares, shocks, reinvents and reinvigorates. The danger is that we use metrics such as time and efficiency to continually squeeze it like any other commodity. While many industries continue to chase efficiency, jobs are being replaced by more-efficient software and technology. If we recognise this reality, and embrace our creative potential, we’ll start the new decade with an orientation that is defensible, desirable and limitless. In a world overwhelmed with complexity and choice, creativity is the superpower that can liberate and differentiate.

In parallel, South African creativity is shining on the world stage. Whether it’s late-night satire, the catwalks of the world’s most-desirable fashion shows, the dancefloors of Ibiza, the cover of Time magazine or Miss Universe, there’s a South African creative at the pinnacle. Our global creative capital is shining.

SA creativity is a superpower, not a commodity. That isn’t changing in 2020.

#3. People are an investment, not an expense

Some industries wouldn’t exist without natural resources, others without systems, processes and factories. Ours wouldn’t without people. We’ve got to do more as an industry to grow, nurture and retain our top talent. Talented people leaving the ad industry is an inditement on agency leaders, the cultures they build, and the way they foster and enable brilliant careers. Every other industry invests heavily into its greatest assets; we need to do the same with ours. Our people. It comes down to a simple orientation — your people are a critical investment in your business, not an operating expense.

People have always and will always be an agency’s greatest asset. That isn’t changing in 2020.

Summary

2020 brings with it the promise of a new decade.

As we embrace the challenges thrown at us, as an industry, let’s push against getting sucked into short-term gimmick and novelty (which is often the easier path) but rather focus on where we’re most powerful and where we add most value — building brands, unleashing creativity and investing in the people who make the magic happen.

Here’s to focus on the unchanging. Here’s to a brilliant 2020 for all.

Clicks ’n Tricks: The cookie monster crumbles

cookies-cake-still-life-studio-shot by engin akyurt courtesy of Pixabay

by Charlie Stewart (@CStewart_ZA) Google’s finally given in and agreed to kill third-party cookies. But a phased approach means advertisers have a couple of years to find alternative ways of reaching customers as they browse the internet.

The search giant’s early January 2020 announcement has been a long time coming. Increased media scrutiny — and regulator intervention — has made internet privacy one of the most-contentious topics of the latter part of the last decade. And the humble cookie has been at the centre of the debate.

Good cookie, bad cookie

A quick refresher: while cookies get a bad rap, just like cholesterol, there are good and bad ones. First-party cookies are pretty useful things. Websites use them to identify and remember you, which can be handy if you want to log into an account without entering your username and password. Fortunately, first-party cookies won’t be affected by this change.

But third-party cookies are responsible for the annoying — and sometimes embarrassing — reminders of what we’ve been looking at as we move around the internet.

A whole industry has been built on the back of the humble cookie, with advertisers using them to keep our browsing activity under surveillance while they target and retarget us with ads, all the time tracking our actions and attributing our response.

Broken telephone

It’s pretty darned scary that these things are shared as widely as they are. Imagine MTN recording all of your phone calls and then letting advertisers listen to your conversations so they could flight targeted ads to you. A dumbed-down comparison that may be, but it’s pretty much what’s been going on with third-party cookies.

And, of course, Google, which makes around 90% of its revenue from advertising, has been at the vanguard of it because… drum roll… it operates the world’s most-popular browser.

Most of us use Chrome; around two-thirds of South Africans have it set as their default means of accessing the internet. The tradeoff for getting it free is that we’ve allowed Google to harvest our data and sell it to the highest bidder.

Granted, there are ways we can block third-party cookie collection by changing our settings in Chrome. But, just as none of us read the End User License Agreements software companies throw at us, very, very few people make the effort to switch tracking off.

Why the change?

While the Cambridge Analytica scandal, although based around Facebook’s malfeasance rather than Google’s, drew the public’s attention to the adtech industry’s rampant abuse of our data, for years there’ve been murmurings about the morality of third-party cookie collection.

Apple’s been particularly vocal and (perhaps because it doesn’t make money from advertising) was first out the blocks in preventing third-party cookie data being shared. It released Intelligent Tracking Prevention (ITP) in September 2017 when it brought out Safari 11.

Then came the regulators. Alongside a raft of antitrust inquiries and fines, the EU enacted GDPR legislation to safeguard consumers.

It must have been clear to those in Google HQ that the clock was ticking on the third-party cookie. If it didn’t act, it’d be cast as pariahs in the court of public opinion — an uncomfortable reality for a business that, until a 2018 update, kicked off its code of conduct with the mantra “Don’t be evil”.

What does it mean for advertisers.

Financial directors will be reaching for the panados as they realise they’ll soon be writing off the very expensive investments they made in their DMP and DSP tech but, in the short term, not much else will change. Because it dominates the online advertising industry, Google would be castigated (and doubtlessly sued) if it ditched third-party cookies overnight.

But it’s hard at work on finding alternatives. In his blog post announcing the move, Justin Schuh, Chrome Engineering director, said that Google is working with publishers, advertisers and the broader community to develop “privacy-preserving and open-standard mechanisms that can sustain a healthy, ad-supported web in a way that will render third-party cookies obsolete”.

It’s speculated that its Privacy Sandbox will enable Chrome to store individual user-level information in the browser while allowing adtech companies to make an API call to collect depersonalised insights on user behaviour and intent, against which they can flight ads.

A cynic could argue that this might further consolidate Google’s stranglehold on the ad industry.

If I were an advertiser, I’d take the next couple of years to prioritise my company’s first-party data and really get to know my most-important audience — the people who buy from me. In doing so, I’d have a better understanding of their motivations, which should help me sell to their friends, their peer groups and others like them.

Charlie Stewart (@CStewart_ZA) is CEO of Rogerwilco, a multi-award-winning independent digital agency best known for its expertise with Drupal, SEO and content marketing. A Scot by birth, he moved to South Africa in the early 2000s in his quest to support a winning rugby team — a search he’s reluctantly forsaken. Together with Mark Eardley, he co-authored Business to Business Marketing: A Step by Step Guide, (Penguin Random House, 2016) and may be found on LinkedIn. Charlie contributes the monthly “Clicks ‘n Tricks” column, which looks at how brands are using digital channels to engage their customers, to MarkLives.

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EXCLUSIVE: New CEO for Wunderman Thompson SA

Miles Murphy appointed as new CEO
Haydn Townsend moves to global role
Jim Faulds leaves JWT

by Herman Manson (@marklives) Wunderman Thompson South Africa has announced the appointment of Miles Murphy as its new CEO, effective April 2020. Haydn Townsend, who’s been group CEO for four years, will be relocating to London in May 2020 as he transitions into a global client lead role. Townsend will serve as Wunderman Thompson SA chairperson until such a time as a new appointment is announced.

Murphy joins the WPP agency from Publicis Groupe Africa, where he most recently served as chief operating officer. He is the founder of Liquorice (today Digitas Liquorice), which he sold to Publicis in 2014.

Wunderman Thompson SA, the result of a merger between Wunderman and J. Walter Thompson, employs 500 people and has offices in Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town. It generates revenue of around R500m, according to MarkLives’ 2019 Agency Revenue Rankings, and has four divisions covering advertising, digital, consulting and technology. It also recently introduced Prism Sport + Entertainment to the group to handle sponsorships.

Career highlight

During his tenure, Townsend first united Wunderman, Aqua, Applogix, Base Two and Cerebra into a single agency with a common brand purpose and culture — a feat he describes as a career highlight. More recently, he has worked at integrating J Walter Thompson and Mirum (formerly Quirk) into the new Wunderman Thompson offering to great effect, lining up client wins from Absa (creative agency for Retail & Business Banking South Africa), Standard Bank (digital agency) and BMW Group South Africa (BMW and MINI on ATL, digital, social and direct, experiential, content and CRM).

Meanwhile, Jim Faulds, who has been J. Walter Thompson’s South African CEO since September 2014, left his position at the group at the end of 2019, although he continues to consult on Diageo until the end of March 2020. Prior to his CEO role, he’s been managing director at the agency since 2007.

“Honestly, I’m really excited about the future and believe that the combined capabilities of Wunderman Thompson make for a very compelling proposition in the market,” Faulds told MarkLives shortly before his departure. “I’ve made some life-long friends with many of the people I’ve been fortunate enough to work with at the agency and on the client side, so this doesn’t feel like a goodbye. Rather, it’s the perfect time for me to step aside and see some of the young talent that has emerged take things forward. I have no doubt that the new exec and leadership team will have a blast and make every success of this opportunity.”

“Brilliant history”

“I’ve been a massive admirer of Miles for some time now,” says Ewen Sturgeon, Wunderman Thompson CEO, Europe and South Africa since May 2019. “He is a well-respected marketing leader with a brilliant history of leveraging breakthrough creativity, data and emerging technology to inspire growth for clients and partners. His experience of bringing together pioneering businesses to create something new and unique is why he is perfect to lead our South African business. We are thrilled to have Miles join the Wunderman Thompson family.

“I would also like to thank Haydn for what he has accomplished. He has created a fantastic, award-winning agency in South Africa and positioned our team there to continue our growth streak.”

“Wunderman Thompson has brought together some of the best creative, data and tech minds globally and in South Africa,” says Murphy on his appointment. “The SA team is on a real winning streak and I am truly honoured and enthused to lead the agency of the future here is South Africa. Clients are calling out for a new kind of partner that helps them thrive in this challenging environment and I know that Wunderman Thompson has the right formula to do this.”

Salary Survey 2020: Who earns what in adland & marketing in South Africa

coins-currency-investment-insurance by stevepb courtesy of Pixabay

by MarkLives (@marklives) Recruitment agency, Ad Talent, has released its 2020 salary survey for the communications industry. This annual survey is not intended to be prescriptive but is a report on what this specific recruiter has experienced over the course of the last year.

It was compiled using:

figures of actual placements made by Ad Talent
figures from monthly salary information obtained from all candidates interviewed by Ad Talent from January 2019 to December 2019
figures from monthly salary information obtained from candidates who have submitted their CVs to Ad Talent
monthly cost to company (CTC) figures, and
the average monthly salaries per sector.

The survey notes that salaries vary significantly, depending on many factors, including size of the company, desirability to work for a particular company, and status. Salaries for media-sales roles vary significantly, depending on the commission structure/incentives. Years of experience references time spent in that particular position and NOT total working experience. This survey is not intended to be prescriptive but a report on what Ad Talent, not the entire industry, has experienced in the past 12 months. MarkLives republishes it with permission.

Advertising agencies
	0–2 yrs (light)	2–5 yrs (medium)	5–9 yrs (heavyweight)
Managing director
Johannesburg	R90 000–R100 000	R100 000–R150 000	R150 000+
Cape Town	R75 000–R90 000	R90 000–R130 000	R130 000+
Deputy MD
Johannesburg	R85 000–R94 000	R94 000–R100 000	R100 000+
Cape Town	R75 000–R84 000	R84 000–R93 000	R93 000+
Client service/business unit director
Johannesburg	R56 000–R60 000	R60 000–R66 000	R66 000+
Cape Town	R48 000–R55 000	R55 000–R60 000	R60 000+
Group account director
Johannesburg	R49 000–R54 000	R54 000–R60 000	R60 000+
Cape Town	R45 000–R50 000	R50 000–R55 000	R55 000+
Account director
Johannesburg	R36 000–R41 000	R41 000–R50 000	N/A
Cape Town	R35 000–R40 000	R40 000–R46 000	N/A
Account manager
Johannesburg	R24 000–R27 000	R27 000–R36 000	N/A
Cape Town	R18 000–R20 000	R20 000–R30 000	N/A
Account executive
Johannesburg	R15 000–R18 000	R18 000–R21 000	N/A
Cape Town	R12 000–R15 000	R15 000–R17 000	N/A
Project manager
Johannesburg	R27 000–R40 000	R40 000–R45 000	R45 000+
Cape Town	R23 000–R30 000	R30 000–R40 000	R40 000+
Operations
Johannesburg	R49 000–R60 000	R60 000–R80 000	R80 000+
Cape Town	R45 000–R57 000	R57 000–R70 000	R70 000+
Production
Johannesburg	R14 000–R22 000	R22 000–R40 000	R40 000+
Cape Town	R12 000–R20 000	R20 000–R35 000	R35 000+
Traffic
Johannesburg	R15 000–R20 000	R20 000–R37 000	R37 000+
Cape Town	R15 000–R17 000	R17 000–R35 000	R35 000+
Strategic planning director
Johannesburg	R63 000–R70 000	R70 000–R89 000	R89 000+
Cape Town	R55 000–R68 000	R68 000–R85 000	R85 000+
Strategic planner
Johannesburg	R18 000–R30 000	R30 000–R47 000	R47 000+
Cape Town	R15 000–R25 000	R25 000–R40 000	R40 000+
Digital
Strategist
Johannesburg	R20 000–R34 000	R34 000–R50 000	R50 000+
Cape Town	R20 000–R30 000	R30 000–R50 000	R50 000+
Project manager
Johannesburg	R27 000–R35 000	R35 000–R45 000	R45 000+
Cape Town	R25 000–R30 000	R30 000–R42 000	R42 000+
Social media manager
Johannesburg	R22 000–R30 000	R30 000–R45 000	R45 000+
Cape Town	R17 000–R20 000	R20 000–R30 000	R30 000+
Social media and analytics specialist
Johannesburg	R24 000–R33 000	R33 000–R50 000	R50 000+
Cape Town	R19 000–R28 000	R28 000–R42 000	R42 000+
Social media community manager
Johannesburg	R15 000–R22 000	R22 000–R38 000	N/A
Cape Town	R15 000–R18 000	R18 000–R30 000	N/A
Content manager
Johannesburg	R18 000–R25 000	R25 000–R38 000	R38 000+
Cape Town	R13 000–R18 000	R18 000–R30 000	R30 000+
Account executive
Johannesburg	R17 000–R20 000	R20 000–R23 000	N/A
Cape Town	R13 000–R18 000	R18 000–R20 000	N/A
Account manager
Johannesburg	R26 500–R30 000	R30 000–R40 000	N/A
Cape Town	R19 000–R25 000	R25 000–R35 000	N/A
Account director
Johannesburg	R40 000–R45 000	R45 000–R50 000	N/A
Cape Town	R35 000–R42 000	R42 000–R47 000	N/A
Group account director
Johannesburg	R49 000–R54 000	R54 000–R58 000	R58 000+
Cape Town	R47 000–R52 000	R52 000–R55 000	R55 000+
Client service director
Johannesburg	R56 000–R60 000	R60 000–R67 000	R67 000+
Cape Town	R48 000–R50 000	R50 000–R60 000	R60 000+
SEO specialist
Johannesburg	R18 000–R22 000	R22 000–R30 000	R30 000+
Cape Town	R15 000–R20 000	R20 000–R28 000	R28 000+
PPC specialist
Johannesburg	R18 000–R23 000	R23 000–R35 000	R35 000+
Cape Town	R15 000–R20 000	R20 000–R30 000	R30 000+
Brand manager
Johannesburg	R28 000–R40 000	R40 000–R50 000	R50 000+
Cape Town	R25 000–R35 000	R35 000–R45 000	R45 000+
Analyst
Johannesburg	R20 000–R25 000	R25 000–R40 000	R40 000+
Cape Town	R18 000–R23 000	R23 000–R33 000	R33 000+
Creative: traditional
Chief creative officer
Johannesburg	N/A	N/A	R135 000+
Cape Town	N/A	N/A	R125 000+
Group/executive creative director
Johannesburg	N/A	N/A	R108 000+
Cape Town	N/A	N/A	R100 000+
Creative director
Johannesburg	R52 000–R68 000	R68 000–R80 000	R80 000+
Cape Town	R40 000–R48 000	R48 000–R65 000	R65 000+
Head of design
Johannesburg	R38 000–R52 000	R52 000–R62 000	R62 000+
Cape Town	R35 000–R40 000	R40 000–R50 000	R50 000+
Designer
Johannesburg	R10 000–R18 000	R18 000–R34 000	R34 000+
Cape Town	R10 000–R17 000	R17 000–R30 000	R30 000+
Creative group head
Johannesburg	R38 000–R45 000	R45 000–R55 000	R55 000+
Cape Town	R30 000–R40 000	R40 000–R47 000	R47 000+
Art director
Johannesburg	R12 000–R18 000	R18 000–R38 000	R38 000–R65 000
Cape Town	R10 000–R18 000	R18 000–R35 000	R35 000–R50 000
Copywriter
Johannesburg	R11 000–R18 000	R18 000–R38 000	R38 000–R70 000
Cape Town	R10 000–R17 000	R17 000–R30 000	R30 000–R60 000
Proofreader
Johannesburg	R15 000–R20 000	R20 000–R30 000	R30 000–R47 000
Cape Town	R10 000–R15 000	R15 000–R25 000	R25 000–R40 000
Creative strategist
Johannesburg	N/A	R23 000–R35 000	R35 000–R50 000
Cape Town	N/A	R20 000–R33 000	R33 000–R42 000
Studio manager
Johannesburg	R33 000–R36 000	R36 000–R42 000	R42 000–R55 000
Cape Town	R28 000–R35 000	R35 000–R40 000	R40 000–R50 000
DTP operator
Johannesburg	R9 500–R16 000	R16 000–R25 000	R25 000–R40 000
Cape Town	R8 000–R15 000	R15 000–R24 000	R24 000–R36 000
Promo director/producer
Johannesburg	R12 000–R17 000	R17 000–R30 000	R30 000–R48 000
Cape Town	R10 000–R15 000	R15 000–R25 000	R25 000–R40 000
Animator
Johannesburg	R14 000–R18 000	R18 000–R35 000	R35 000–R57 000
Cape Town	R12 000–R16 000	R16 000–R26 000	R26 000–R41 000
Video editor
Johannesburg	R10 000–R17 000	R17 000–R30 000	R30 000–R48 000
Cape Town	R10 000–R15 000	R15 000–R25 000	R25 000–R40 000
Creative: digital
Digital creative director
Johannesburg	R50 000–R62 000	R62 000–R82 000	R82 000+
Cape Town	R40 000–R50 000	R50 000–R65 000	R65 000+
Digital copywriter
Johannesburg	R13 000–R19 000	R19 000–R37 000	R37 000–R70 000
Cape Town	R12 000–R15 000	R15 000–R30 000	R30 000–R43 000
Digital art director
Johannesburg	R15 000–R19 000	R19 000–R38 000	R38 000–R68 000
Cape Town	R13 000–R16 000	R16 000–R35 000	R35 000–R50 000
Digital designer/multimedia designer
Johannesburg	R13 000–R19 000	R19 000–R38 000	R38 000–R50 000
Cape Town	R13 000–R16 000	R16 000–R30 000	R30 000–R45 000
User experience (UX) lead
Johannesburg	N/A	N/A	R74 000+
Cape Town	N/A	N/A	R65 000+
User experience (UX) designers
Johannesburg	R18 000–R27 000	R27 000–R48 000	R48 000+
Cape Town	R15 000–R20 000	R20 000–R40 000	R40 000+
User Interface (UI) designers
Johannesburg	R17 500–R26 000	R26 000–R40 000	R40 000+
Cape Town	R15 000–R20 000	R20 000–R35 000	R35 000+
IT/Tech
Frontend developer
Johannesburg	R20 000–R39 000	R39 000–R59 000	R59 000+
Cape Town	R18 000–R30 000	R30 000–R49 000	R49 000+
Backend developer
Johannesburg	R20 000–R39 000	R39 000–R58 000	R58 000+
Cape Town	R18 000–R30 000	R30 000–R47 000	R47 000+
Full–stack developer
Johannesburg	R25 000–R34 000	R34 000–R44 000	R44 000+
Cape Town	R20 000–R32 000	R32 000–R40 000	R40 000+
QA/test engineers
Johannesburg	R32 000–R46 000	R46 000–R58 000	R58 000+
Cape Town	R30 000–R44 000	R44 000–R52 000	R52 000+
Data analysts
Johannesburg	R12 000–R28 000	R28 000–R55 000	R55 000–R70 000
Cape Town	R12 000–R27 000	R27 000–R55 000	R55 000–R69 000
Product owner
Johannesburg	R25 000–R38 000	R38 000–R58 000	R58 000–R73 000
Cape Town	R25 000–R38 000	R38 000–R58 000	R58 000–R73 000
Scrum masters
Johannesburg	R20 000–R30 000	R30 000–R55 000	R55 000–R62 000
Cape Town	R18 000–R30 000	R30 000–R54 000	R54 000–R62 000
IT manager
Johannesburg	R20 000–R35 000	R35 000–R55 000	R55 000+
Cape Town	R17 000–R25 000	R25 000–R45 000	R45 000+
Marketing
Head of digital marketing
Johannesburg	N/A	R60 000–R68 000	R68 000+
Cape Town	N/A	R50 000–R58 000	R58 000+
CRM and loyalty manager
Johannesburg	N/A	R40 000–R50 000	R50 000+
Cape Town	N/A	R37 000–R47 000	R47 000+
Online marketing manager
Johannesburg	N/A	R38 000–R48 000	R48 000+
Cape Town	N/A	R30 000–R35 000	R35 000+
Marketing director/group marketing head/head of brand
Johannesburg	R79 000–R86 000	R86 000–R145 000	R145 000+
Cape Town	R64 000–R77 000	R77 000–R135 000	R135 000+
Marketing manager
Johannesburg	R52 000–R56 000	R56 000–R78 000	R78 000+
Cape Town	R48 000–R55 000	R55 000–R65 000	R65 000+
Brand manager
Johannesburg	R28 000–R33 000	R33 000–R52 000	R52 000+
Cape Town	R22 000–R30 000	R30 000–R48 000	R48 000+
Brand/marketing assistant
Johannesburg	R15 000–R21 000	R21 000–R35 000	N/A
Cape Town	R15 000–R18 000	R18 000–R27 000	N/A
Corporate
Communications director
Johannesburg	R37 000–R55 000	R55 000–R75 000	R75 000–R130 000
Cape Town	R32 000–R42 000	R42 000–R62 000	R62 000–R100 000
Communications manager
Johannesburg	R30 000–R40 000	R40 000–R68 000	R68 000–R90 000
Cape Town	R25 000–R40 000	R40 000–R45 000	R45 000–R75 000
Communications officer/consultant
Johannesburg	R20 000–R30 000	R30 000–R40 000	R40 000–R45 000
Cape Town	R18 000–R26 000	R26 000–R35 000	R35 000–R41 000
Events manager
Johannesburg	R28 000–R35 000	R35 000–R40 000	R40 000–R70 000
Cape Town	R20 000–R30 000	R30 000–R33 000	R33 000–R65 000
Events coordinator
Johannesburg	R18 000–R22 000	R22 000–R30 000	R30 000+
Cape Town	R15 000–R20 000	R20 000–R30 000	R30 000+
Internal communications manager
Johannesburg	R27 000–R35 000	R35 000–R48 000	R48 000–R78 000
Cape Town	R25 000–R30 000	R30 000–R45 000	R45 000–R60 000
PR consultancies/corporate communications
Managing director
Johannesburg	R65 000–R75 000	R75 000–R80 000	R80 000–R130 000
Cape Town	R55 000–R65 000	R65 000–R70 000	R70 000–R130 000
Account director
Johannesburg	R35 000–R41 000	R41 000–R55 000	R55 000–R68 000
Cape Town	R35 000–R40 000	R40 000–R45 000	R45 000–R55 000
Account manager
Johannesburg	R25 000–R32 000	R32 000–R38 000	R38 000+
Cape Town	R22 000–R26 000	R26 000–R31 000	R31 000+
Account executive
Johannesburg	R16 000–R21 000	R21 000–R24 000	N/A
Cape Town	R14 000–R19 000	R19 000–R21 000	N/A
Public relations assistant
Johannesburg	R10 000–R16 000	R16 000–R19 000	N/A
Cape Town	R9 000–R15 000	R15 000–R18 000	N/A
Media
Media director
Johannesburg	R40 000–R50 000	R50 000–R55 000	R55 000–R85 000
Cape Town	R32 000–R40 000	R40 000–R50 000	R50 000–R80 000
Media planner
Johannesburg	R30 000–R33 000	R33 000–R45 000	R45 000–R60 000
Cape Town	R22 000–R30 000	R30 000–R37 000	R37 000–R42 000
Media buyer
Johannesburg	R16 000–R23 000	R23 000–R33 000	R33 000–R43 000
Cape Town	R15 000–R18 000	R18 000–R25 000	R25 000–R30 000
Media strategist
Johannesburg	R33 000–R38 000	R38 000–R48 000	R48 000+
Cape Town	R25 000–R28 000	R28 000–R38 000	R38 000+
Media sales executive
Johannesburg	R25 000–R28 000	R28 000–R40 000	R40 000+
Cape Town	R20 000–R25 000	R25 000–R38 000	R38 000+
Media sales director
Johannesburg	R38 000–R42 000	R42 000–R55 000	R55 000+
Cape Town	R35 000–R40 000	R40 000–R50 000	R50 000+
Media sales digital
Johannesburg	R27 000–R35 000	R35 000–R45 000	R45 000+
Cape Town	R25 000–R28 000	R28 000–R38 000	R38 000+
Digital media strategist
Johannesburg	R40 000–R48 000	R48 000–R58 000	R58 000+
Cape Town	R32 000–R40 000	R40 000–R50 000	R50 000+
Campaign manager
Johannesburg	R22 000–R32 000	R32 000–R42 000	R42 000+
Cape Town	R20 000–R28 000	R28 000–R35 000	R35 000+

BREAKING: Mokoena leaving Ogilvy to head Google South Africa

by MarkLives (@marklives) Alistair Mokoena, Ogilvy South Africa CEO, is leaving the communications group to take up the role of Google South Africa country director, effective April 2020, where he’ll oversee the commercial business for the search giant. He replaces Luke Mckend, who became LinkedIn director for Africa, Southern and Eastern Europe in November 2018.

Mokoena’s replacement at Ogilvy SA hasn’t yet been identified, according to the agency group.

“The digital economy presents many challenges and opportunities — particularly in developing markets like South Africa’s,” says Mokoena. “Technology is mainstream and the online digital world is no longer a challenger to the offline world. I am looking forward to joining Google South Africa, which is well-positioned to help South African organisations navigate a rapidly changing landscape as the online and offline worlds converge.”

“In high demand”

Says Angela Madlala, Ogilvy SA chief people officer, “One of the realities of being a business with our talent and track record is that our people are in high demand, both locally and internationally — over the last 18 months some of our senior people have taken up positions within Ogilvy and other businesses internationally. The upside of growing people and seeing them succeed is that we have had to entrench a deep commitment to succession planning and team leadership structures.”

In September 2019, Ogilvy SA group MD Luca Gallarelli left to join TBWA\South Africa as GCEO; in November, Ogilvy SA COO Joanna Oosthuizen left to take up a global position as director public relations & influence for Ogilvy’s Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region; and Pete Case, Ogilvy SA chief creative officer, also left at the end of 2019. Meanwhile, Ogilvy Johannesburg ECD Mariana O’Kelly took up a new position in Ogilvy’s global operations in Chicago in June last year.

Says Paul O’Donnell, Ogilvy EMEA CEO, “Across Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban, Ogilvy South Africa has a highly experienced management team who will continue to steer the business while we identify the right candidate to join our South Africa Team as CEO.”

Mokoena holds an LLB from Rhodes University, an MBA from MANCOSA and is working towards a PhD from the North West University School of Business, due for completion this year. He is the new chairperson of Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) SA board and was recently appointed Professor of Practice by the Johannesburg Business School.

EXCLUSIVE: Kessel rejoins adland as creative lead for Liquid

by Herman Manson (@marklives) Felix Kessel (@felixak) — former Leo Burnett South Africa CEO/CCO and OwenKessel co-founder — has rejoined the ad agency world as the new creative lead at Liquid, WPP’s agency for Distell. Kessel might be best-known for Vodacom “Yebo Gogo” campaign during the late ’90s, as well as later work on McDonald’s, Amstel and MTN.

Fran Luckin, who’s been leading the creative side of Liquid, steps back into her primary role as chief creative officer of Grey Africa but will continue to collaborate with Kessel on Liquid’s creative output. Liquid, a bespoke agency, was created last year to service Savanna, Hunter’s, Amarula, Viceroy, Bain’s, Scottish Leader and Hunter’s Edge, as well as a number of Distell-owned Kenyan brands.

Host of factors

According to Kessel a host of factors played a part in his return to the agency world. In the past he’s bemoaned the lack of a uniquely South African creative narrative, and came to realise he wasn’t playing an active part in driving such an initiative. He was, he says, sitting outside looking in, and he felt this had to change.

#BigQNarratives: What is our South African creative narrative? — Felix Kessel

Enter Distell — a major South African-owned liquor company with global ambitions and a host of strong SA-born brands. Here he can truly have an opportunity to drive a uniquely local creative voice and give meaning on a global stage. He believes a set of shared principles, values and beliefs can define SA’s character, and also its creative voice.

Creative vision

The team he has joined (now 40+ strong), says Kessel, buys into his creative vision; they’re also people he’s always wanted to work with and who want to work together to get stuff done.

“This opportunity, to guide some of SA’s most-wonderful and -powerful brands and tell quintessential, positive SA stories is, of course, a great responsibility but also one that I relish getting stuck into,” he says in the media statement announcing his appointment. “Guiding my team through the transforming landscape of communication while keeping our market engrossed with relevant, insight-based creative work, all with the aim of creating work that not only stands out but shapes our combined culture positively, is something that drives me personally.”

Without a real sense of identity — “rainbow nation” doesn’t cut it any longer — “the themes that emerge as SA creative narratives are insular, tactical and unfortunately a little trivial; we default to product, price and explanation littered with a bit of social commentary. It’s functional but not nearly meaningful enough.

“What we are missing is the pivot, the lever that can move the country emotionally positively. I would argue that, until you have a clear picture of who we want to be as a nation, you can’t project that positive image into the world, and you let the negative ones define you — issues of privilege, gender, race, religion, ancestry, wealth, poverty and a host of other negative labels start becoming our narrative and our identity. That is something I, for one, hope to avoid.” — Felix Kessel, #BigQNarratives: What is our South African creative narrative?

Naeem Seedat

Prepare for impact

Get ready to grow

See also

Adapt or die

Future-fit

#1. Stay in beta

#2. Have access to the right tools

#3. Learn to cross-pollinate

Johanna McDowell & César Vacchiano

10 trends

#1. More diversity in the senior marketer space

#2. Less diversity in the senior advertising space

#3. Digital work

#3. Integration

#5. Account service

#6. Results & effectiveness

#7. In-housing

#8. Increasing relevance of independent agencies

#9. Consultancies

#.10 Project-based

See also

Mind the gap

More endearing

Faheem Chaudhry

What isn’t changing

#1. A brand is the most-powerful commercial tool a business has

#2. Creativity is a superpower, not a commodity

#3. People are an investment, not an expense

Summary

See also

Good cookie, bad cookie

Broken telephone

Why the change?

What does it mean for advertisers.

Career highlight

“Brilliant history”

See also

Advertising agencies

0–2 yrs (light)

2–5 yrs (medium)

5–9 yrs (heavyweight)

Managing director

Deputy MD

Client service/business unit director

Group account director

Account director

Account manager

Account executive

Project manager

Operations

Production

Traffic

Strategic planning director

Strategic planner

Digital

Strategist

Project manager

Social media manager

Social media and analytics specialist

Social media community manager

Content manager

Account executive

Account manager

Account director

Group account director

Client service director

SEO specialist

PPC specialist

Brand manager

Analyst

Creative: traditional

Chief creative officer

Group/executive creative director

Creative director

Head of design

Designer

Creative group head

Art director

Copywriter