by Herman Manson (@marklives) OwenKessel, recently bought out by Publicis Groupe, has been merged with Leo Burnett. The new combined agency will be known as OwenKessel Leo Burnett.
OwenKessel founders Felix Kessel and Vaughan Owen will be CEO and MD respectively. Donovan Bryan, also from the OwenKessel side, stays on as ECD. Janine Wilson from Leo Burnett becomes GM. Viby Prakash is head of account management, Kristina Couzyn head of strategy and Colin Huber the financial director.
Contact between Publicis and OwenKessel started as long as one and a half years ago. Kessel says various networks had approached the agency in the past but that he had held out for a deal that would make his agency better, rather than just for a happy payday. The deal was concluded in December but no official announcement was made before Publicis put out a media statement on April 9th.
Globally the Leo Burnett brand has a strong creative reputation. The Gunn Report’s “Most Awarded Agency Networks in the World in 2013” ranked Leo Burnett Worldwide fourth in the world.
The local Leo Burnett agency has been flying below the radar for several years now. By merging it with OwenKessel, which has a strong creative reputation in this country, Publicis hopes to push the local Leo Burnett office back into the rankings.
Kessel says the agencies have already been integrated into the same office – and will move again in June to larger premises. OwenKessel employed around 50 people and Leo Burnett around 30. Key clients at Leo Burnett included Philip Morris and Samsung. OwenKessel brings Brandhouse and DStv to the party.
Kessel and Owen have been spending their time with clients and ensuring them that the merged agency will ultimately provide a better service.
“They (Leo Burnett Worldwide) bring us scale and great international tools, learning and support and we are going to drive it like we have – walking like an independent while drawing the best form the network that we can,” says Kessel.
The merger allows OwenKessel to jump in size in the least painful manner possible, says Kessel. The agency will report into Publicis Groupe Africa. No minority shareholders remain in the combined agency.
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by Oresti Patricios (@orestaki)Sometimes being a junior creative in an ad agency can be less about being creative and more about being, well, junior — learning the ropes, and doing useful but boring stuff. Like fetching coffee for the Art Director. So it’s really cool when junior ad people can get an opportunity to spread their creative wings.
The Cannes Young Lions does this by pitting young creatives (under 28 years of age) against each other with an annual competition that gives contestants just 48 hours to conceive and produce an ad for a mystery topic.
Locally, the competition is run by Cinemark, as official representative in SA of the annual Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, and winners will get to compete in the international competition, as well as attend the festival.
The organisers (both locally and internationally) always choose a public-service type of cause or organisation, so rather than just a creative showcase, the ads produced can actually do something that benefits society at large.
This year, being an election year, Cinemark chose to link the competition to the Independent Electoral Commission’s “I Vote SA” campaign (IXSA for short). 111 teams from agencies around the country entered this year, and the winner was the team from Johannesburg-based Joe Public — Art Director Marina Andreoli and Designer Sonia Dearling. They win a trip to Cannes to attend the Lions festival and compete against their counterparts from the rest of the world. And of course Joe Public gets to bask in their reflected glory.
The winning ad will also be shown to the public in cinemas throughout SA, according to the organisers.
The ad the Joe Public pair came up with was smart and engaging, and relied on a simple mechanic to drive home an important point about people who don’t vote. Many will not go to the polls on the day SA votes, yet afterwards complain about the government that has been elected.
Voter turnout is a worldwide problem: according to International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA), it has been on the decline since the 1980s internationally. South Africa shows a marked decrease in voter registration with age — 97% of over 80-year olds registered, while less than 50% of first-time voters did so, in 2001.
This year saw registration by 80.5% of the 31.4 million people eligible to vote in the country. These are heartening figures, but statistically less than half of those registered to vote will actually make their crosses on the day.
This is a statistic that the IEC naturally would like to change, and this is the premise that Joe Public juniors chose to highlight. The idea was to target unsuspecting cinema audiences with an object lesson in apathy.
Outside the cinema there was a pop-up banner inviting people to “download the Cinemark Movie Experience App – a revolutionary way to choose your comfort levels in the cinema” – knowing full well that most people wouldn’t bother to do this. The audience would watch the commercials and trailers, until the ad played — and it would be the last commercial before the start of the movie.
I would love to be in the theatre when it does, because here’s how it plays out. Firstly text comes up on the screen, with a voice-over, reading: “Thank you for downloading the Cinemark Movie Experience App.” The next screen reads: “Please switch on your App so that you can vote for your comfort level during the movie.”
A graphic then shows on the screen, and the voice-over says, “Please vote for the house light brightness.” A number changes, while the house lights change – brighter, dimmer, brighter, dimmer, as if people are voting for it… finally it settles on 10, for maximum brightness. I don’t know about you, but I prefer absolute darkness for that ‘total immersion’ effect, so I would already be irritated at this point.
The next screen is for choosing sound levels, and of course the gauge goes all the way up to 90% volume, and the soundtrack volume increases substantially. The next screen asks moviegoers to vote for the language of the film, with flags representing USA, France, Germany, Italy and China.
The graphic changes around, and eventually settles on German. The commentary changes to German and informs the audience of their choice, continuing (with English text on the screen) to say “Thank you for making your choices. Please enjoy the movie.”
The film begins — a fairly generic opening montage with a boat sailing over the sea, and a male German voice-over giving commentary. I’m pretty sure by this stage I would be halfway out the door. After a few seconds, though, the movie stops, and a title flashes on the screen: “If you don’t vote, you will have to live with someone else’s choices. Don’t let that happen. Vote on the 7th of May” — followed by the logo of IXSA and the other ‘guilty parties’ — Cinemark and Ster-Kinekor.
South Africans aren’t prone to applaud in movie theatres, but it wouldn’t surprise me if they did in this case.
The judges congratulated the producers of this ad for “boxing smart” — not trying to replicate a R5-million budget production, but keeping it simple and direct. To me that sums it up — too often big budgets result in ads that are too ‘clever-clever’ for their own good, and the message gets lost in the noise.
Congratulations to the winners. Enjoy your trip to the French Riviera, and I’m betting on it that you’ll be bringing back the trophy.
Ad 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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by Mongezi Mtati (@Mongezi) The social web, as we’ve learned from countless pictures of kittens, loves all things heart-warming and shares them aplenty, but woe betide any dishonesty. An example of this is the First Kiss video on YouTube, billed as 20 strangers sharing a kiss for the first time, which got the web all a buzz a few weeks ago.
Initial chatter
Some influencers and commentators constantly search for the next piece of news and information that they will be the first, or among the first, to share; the downside is that we get bombarded with stuff competing for our precious attention. The first time First Kiss appeared, it was just another link on the web, blending in with every other distraction.
Others follow and share content because it reaches them through trusted sources or friends closely linked to shared interests, and these infinitely connected online and offline networks have ensured that we group ourselves into nearly infinite niches. Most of the highly influential individuals in these networks are trusted because they are authentic and share honest opinions, not just the messages that brands want them to share —unless the message resonates with them.
Thus, the difference between the many times that the First Kiss link appeared on my time line, and the first time I actually opened it, was the person who shared it.
The big reveal
Two days after First Kiss was released, TIME, among others, revealed that it was actually a clothing ad by WrenStudio. The 20 ‘strangers’ in the video? Actors,musicians and models who start out with only some of the awkwardness of people meeting for the first time that an average Joe or Jill would experience. This helped to draw us in and inadvertently make us watch a three-minute ad which has—not without much criticism— gone viral (the video, according to TIME, had more than 24 million views when the magazine wrote about it and, at the time of editing, has over 75 million views).
When criticism can evangelise
Within a day of the video being uploaded, Mashable reported that it was a collaboration between Wren Studio and the filmmaker, Tatia Pilieva, for advertising Wren Studio’s Fall2014 collection.The secret was out, and people shared their disappointment at the idea of a brand pulling their heartstrings to spread a message about a brand through content that resonates with them.
This specific post was shared 18 000 times from Mashable alone and this time, unlike most of the other posts, it linked back to the brand and viewers had a clearer idea of what they were watching. There was also a tweet from Wren Studio on 11 March specifically connected the film to the brand.
Many such posts increased the visibility of the fashion brand and spread its message to potential customers, and the YouTube video now has over 75 million viewers.
The parody
If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then parody should rank up there with being celebrated for creating a message that the world thinks is worth spreading. Parodies are built upon the assumption that people are familiar with the original item of content being parodied, or create that familiarity.
With respect to First Kiss, the social web reacted almost immediately and many parodies made the rounds, from cute to NSFW (not safe for work):
There’s this one by VICE magazine in which it got 20 strangers who are not actors, musicians and models to kiss. As you would expect, VICE referred to the original film, and it’s highly possible that some of their now 640 000 viewers only found out about the original one only after seeing the parody from VICE.
With in two days of the first few posts going live, the South African-based flashmob community called Jozi Flash had put up a Facebook event inviting people to a similar—real life—experiment.
According to the Facebook event, people are invited to meet at a busy shopping centre north of Johannesburg, with details to be disclosed on 12 April [if you’re thinking of participating, this New York Times article has good advice on how to practise safe kissing — ed-at-large].
Influencer engagement in the spotlight
The social web has created the misconception that going viral should be the ultimate goal of most campaigns, and if it happens, everyone celebrates. Wren Studio created great content that people wanted to share, either because they thought it was worth showing their friends and/or because they wanted to reveal its good points or flaws through critiquing the campaign. But awareness won’t necessarily translate into sales, as the brand may have garnered a negative reputation or the wrong niche markets have been reached.
Mongezi Mtati (@Mongezi) is the founding MD of WordStart (www.wordstart.co.za). Apart from being a kiteboarding and sandboarding adventurer, Mongezi connects companies and brands with measurable word-of-mouth. He contributes the monthly “The Word” column on word-of-mouth marketing and social media strategy to MarkLives.
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a trendMARK feature by Francois van Dyk. There is a revolution around the corner facing PR and communications professionals, as modern, more reliable effectiveness measurement standards are introduced.
Barcelona, the second largest city in Spain and capital of the autonomous Catalonia region, conjures up romantic and exotic images. From the great Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí’s Roman Catholic basilica, La Sagrada Familia (a UN world heritage site), to its beautiful beaches, which list the city as number one by National Geographic in its top ten city beaches. And let’s not forget its famous Barcelona Football Club! This city has been a centre of activity for more than 2,000 years.
It also happened to be the place where communications and Public Relations measurement changed forever , when the globe’ s foremost communications experts adopted the Barcelona Principles of PR Measurement in 2010. The 2nd European Summit on Measurement may not have been memorable for the local Catalonians, but it’s certainly a momentous occasion in the history of PR and communications.
Born of frustration with the traditional—and crude—system of Advertising Value Equivalency (AVE), traditionally used to measure communications effectiveness, the participants at the summit outlined the way forward: to develop a set of standard principles for identifying the true value of communications activities.
AMEC (The International Association for Measurement and Evaluation of Communication) and the IPR (Institute for Public Relations) initiated these efforts. Many proposed principles were then reviewed and refined by delegates from more than 30 countries — including members from AMEC, the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), the Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management, the IPR Measurement Commission and the International Communications Consultancy Organization (ICCO). This was a concerted, industry-wide effort to bring professional standards and consistency to PR measurement.
Seven basic principles of measurement were identified and accepted:
1. The importance of goal setting and measurement
2. Measuring the effect on outcomes is preferred to measuring outputs
3. The effect on business results can and should be measured where possible
4. Media measurement requires quantity and quality
5. AVEs are not the value of Public Relations
6. Social Media can and should be measured
7. Transparency and replicability are paramount to sound measurement
What was clear was that it would take a great deal of effort to promote these values and educate practitioners as well as clients as to the tru evalue these principles represented.
In preparation for a PR Measurement Summit held in March 2013 in Washington, DC, Ragan Communications and Nasdaq OMX did a global survey on measurement amongst 1,500 Public Relations professionals— with very interesting results.
Though 66% of respondents were not even aware of the Barcelona Principles, only 32% of respondents continued to use the unpopular Advertising Value Equivalency (AVE) to measure communication sactivity. Many did so reluctantly, under pressure from clients.The research further highlighted that 66% of practitioners believed that the lack of an industry standard to measure the value of Public Relations was a huge frustration. Interestingly enough though, was that62% believed there could not be a standard, as PR programmes differed too much and all had unique and different objectives.
Certainly international practitioners are taking notice of the importance of providing true measurement, and by June 2013, when the 5th AMEC summit on measurement took place in Madrid, membership of the body had grown to represent practitioners in more than 40 countries. The biggest priority identified by attendees at the Madrid event was the importance of educating the industry and brands globally, to adopt and refine the principles into standards and guidelines for measurement.
Just how far South Africa appears to be trailing global opinion wase videnced at several AVE workshops held in August 2013. Looking for a standardised online AVE, online monitoring company Brandseye initiated workshops, facilitated by independent consultant Taryn Walker, with participation by industry experts and brands in Cape Town and Johannesburg. It showed a definite divergence of thoughts with the Cape Town participants very willing to adopt a standard methodology to calculate online AVE, while Johannesburg participants mostly rejected developing a standardised online methodology – citing the obvious issues with AVE in traditional media. A subsequent survey done as part of the workshops however showed that less than half (47.8%) of the respondents believed it necessary to measure online marketing efforts in terms of rand value.
What is clear, is that a major drive is necessary to get the South African Public Relations and communications industry up to speed with the global industry. It is difficult to get rid of old habits, but should meaningful analysis and measurement not be adopted, the local industry could soon have all their efforts being questioned by international, and subsequently local brands and clients. It is crucial to keep an eye on international developments, as the following issues will become a major part of any successful communicator’s future:
1. The measurement wave is coming
The USC Annenberg’s Generally Accepted Practices (GAP) for Public Relations study found that spending on communication measurement increased from 4% to 9% as part of US PR budgets between 2009 and 2012. This was despite 80% of practitioners indicating that the overall PR budgets remained flat or even decreased. As William Thomson,1st Baron Kelvin, the 19th century mathematical physicist and engineer famously said, “If you cannot measure it, you cannot improve it.”
2014 will see new measurement standards based on the Barcelona principles gaining momentum with the top five global PR agencies committing to a major initiative to introduce these new standards fort heir clients.
Interest in true communications measurement has grown to such an extent that the next AMEC conference in June 2014 will, for the first time, not be a “European summit” but an “international summit”.
2. There is no “silver-bullet”
Alas, the will not be a magic formula to replace vanity measurements like AVEs and its uglier cousin PR Value – which relies on multiplying AVEs due to a higher perceived level of editorial credibility. Measurement gurus Mark Weiner and Don Bartholomew, in their 2006paper “Dispelling the Myth of PR Multipliers and Other Inflationary Audience Measures”, argue that utilising multipliers is hurting the credibility of the PR profession.
AVE remains popular because it is a very easy, albeit inaccurate, metric. It is easy to equate an agency’s monthly retainer to an AVE target – but high advertising value media is targeted, which could be totally irrelevant for the client’s target market. Add a multiplier, and AVE targets can easily be achieved, with little or no actual effect on the intended audience. Real measurement requires looking at each individual activity and thecosts involved versus the return on investment received (ROI), and each may require its own measurement parameters and formulas.
3. Complex measurement will be simplified
As the new measurement principles are quite complex, ways will be found to simplify measurement methodologies and reporting. The fundamentals are that a specific communications goal must be set, and measurement criteria identified, to determine the success or failure of the communications activity. Outcomes are of utmost importance – i.e.did the audience buy more of the product? Did they have increased brand awareness? — and so on. Outputs, for instance the number of media items published, Facebook likes, Twitter followers etc. become less important.
It is crucial that communicators learn and incorporate the accounting language, so as to explain the utmost importance of marketing and its various fields to the management of an organisation. Obvious starting points are turnover, cost-of-sales, expenses, net profit etc. These all have financial attributions, which is the lingua franca of the accountants and senior management of organisations. According to Christopher Boyer, a renowned US digital marketing specialist, the success of marketing, advertising and Public Relations comes down to certain key performance areas, including:
Behavioural — getting consumers to act;
Attitudinal — changing people’ s perceptions; and
Financial – increasing the bottom line.
The successful and thriving communications experts of the (near) future will be those who can connect their efforts directly to the business results; in other words, the bottom line.
by Herman Manson (@marklives) The Telkom advertising account has been put out to tender. The tender went out on 14 March 2014 and closed 8 April 2014. Bidding agencies must have the capability to operationally support a business with media spend of R25 million per month, according to the tender document.
The new tender comes shortly after Telkom’s new Chief Marketing Officer, ex-Vodacom executive Enzo Scarcella, took up his position at the parastatal. Scarcella was appointed as CMO and December 2013 and took up his post in February 2014.
The Telkom account is currently serviced by Y&R South Africa. The Telkom Mobile account is serviced by JWT. Telkom’s Ratile
Motlhoioa (to whom we were directed for information by Telkom spokesperson Pynee Chetty) confirmed that the two accounts will be consolidated.
Y&R South Africa won the through-the-line contract for Telkom in May 2012. At the time it was announced that the account would be held for a three year period.
JWT was involved in creating the new corporate identity of Telkom Mobile that was revealed in March 2013.
Motlhoioa confirmed that both Y&R South Africa and JWT had been given three months notice on their respective contracts.
Approached for comment Y&R SA issued this statement: “Y&R South Africa was awarded the through-the-line advertising services to Telkom in May 2012. Changes within the client’s business led to the appointment of Enzo Scarcella as Chief Marketing Officer, who started in February 2014. Over the past month, Scarcella advised the agencies of Telkom’s need to consolidate three key business units, namely Telkom Mobile (serviced by JWT), Telkom Consumer and Telkom Business (serviced by Y&R). Given the fact that Telkom follows the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) the business is required to be put out for public tender.” Y&R South Africa confirmed that it will continue to work on the account until the end of May 2014.
Tender requirements set by Telkom (PDF document) included that the agency head office must be located within a radius of 100 kilometres from Telkom’s Johannesburg Head Office and that no conflict exist with the following service providers; Vodacom, MTN, Neotel and Cell C.
According to Motlhoioa the tender and pitch should be completed in the next two and a half months. Motlhoioa could not confirm which agencies made the short list to pitch citing confidentiality issues.
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by Uno de Waal (@Unodewaal) For Design Annotator this week, we’ve chosen the following:
A photo essay on Khayelitsha, photographed for us by Kent Andresen
Brilliant art book design and layout by CT based Gabrielle Guy
The immediately recognisable and multi-layered digital collage artworks of Karin Miller
Vibrant, proudy South African work by graphic designer and illustrator Karabo Poppy Moletsane
Colourful knitwear inspired by Xhosa culture by designer Laduma Ngxokolo
The Forgotten Kingdom – the first feature film to be produced in Lesotho
A South African thriller, iNumber Number, by the award-winning Donovan Marsh
Aweza, a language app aimed at getting South Africans of all languages talking to each other
Third Space, a sound installation by Malose Malahlela
And of course, our very first Show & Tell evening of creative talks!
Photo Essay: Khayelitsha on Film by Kent Andreasen
Kent Andreasen is a photographer and cinematographer from Cape Town whose work we adore. We jumped at an opportunity to send him to Khayelitsha earlier this year to capture the sights and street life all on film in his distinctive style. From the manicured to the makeshift, the result is a visual short story of the township through the points of interest that caught Kent’s fantastic eye.
Book design is a kind of art in and of itself, and nowhere more so than in the case of art publication design. Cape Town based graphic designer, Gabrielle Guy, specialises in the layout and design of art books, publications and custom monographs. She has worked with many of South Africa’s most renowned artist, galleries, curators and arts editors, and has developed a reputation for her careful attention to detail.
Karin Miller has develop a style of digital collage that is at once recognisable. With a background in information design, Karin’s artworks are an eclectic mix of graphic design elements, historic iconography, pop reference and Eastern-esque patterns. Her work playfully explores all the dinner table taboos – race, politics, religion, sex – through a humorous visual language of juxtapose iconography and appropriated images.
Karabo Poppy Moletsane is a Pretoria-based illustrator and designer with a BA in Visual Communication from The Open Window School of Visual Communication. Through her vibrant work, she tells the South African story and series such as ‘Sho’t Left’ – A Zine on South African Occupations show off her brilliant skills in both illustration and design, as well as her love for all that makes South Africa ‘so full of zest, culture and innovation’.
Laduma Ngxokolo is a young South African designer who incorporates his own Xhosa culture into his knitwear designs. Laduma started his brand MAXHOSA by Laduma in early 2011 and has since continued to captivate audiences both locally and internationally. His main objective is to capture his culture in his knitwear to maintain his heritage that he finds is dying out.
Directed by Andrew Mudge, The Forgotten Kingdom tells the story of a young, unemployed man by the name of Atang Mokoeyna who lives in Johannesburg. When his estranged father passes away, Atang travels home to his ancestral land to bury him and unexpectedly, becomes drawn to the mystical beauty and hardships of the land and people he had forgotten.
‘iNumber Number’ is a South African thriller written and directed by the award-winning Donovan Marsh of feature films Spud, Spud 2, and Dollars and White Pipes.
The film tells the story of an honest but ambitious undercover cop Chili Ncgobo, played by S’dumo Mtshali, who is cheated out of a major reward by his corrupt superiors. He infiltrates a cash-in-transit heist gang, and instead of busting them, he decides to participate in a one off score. He must face off against his partner who refuses to let him do it and one of the gang members who recognizes him as a cop.
iNumber Number opens in cinemas nationwide on 25 April 2014. Find out more here.
Aweza | A Multi-Lingual South African Translation App
“One Nation, One Conversation” is the tagline of Aweza, a language app that is trying to get South Africans talking to each other. With 11 official languages in South Africa, it is difficult to have a conversation with all South Africans you meet while travelling across our amazing country.
The team at Aweza is here to ensure that this is not the case going forward with their multi-lingual language app tailored specifically for South Africans that translates phrases in all 11 languages. A first in the world of translation apps.
Sound Development City is a project that sends 10 – 13 artists selected from around the world on a three week expedition to two European cities every summer. The focus on the trip is experimentation, research and finding inspiration in unknown conditions and new experiences.
Last year, South African sound artist Malose Malahlela was invited to take part. Malose’s project was entitled Third Space: an audio walk which brought the sounds of Johannesburg to Europe. Participants listened to recordings made by Malose back home while they walked through their cities. During the audio walk Johannesburg becomes the imaginative city that exists as a third playground.
Show & Tell | The First in a Series of Creative Talks Hosted by 10and5
On Wednesday, 16 April we are hosting our very first ‘Show & Tell’ event to kickstart an ongoing series of creative talks that we’ll be hosting throughout the year.
For the first edition, taking place at the Vega auditorium in Randburg, we’ve got a stellar line-up of speakers who will each deliver a 20-30 minute talk on their chosen topic. They are: concept design duo Jana + Koos, Creative Technologist Nathan Gates and photographer Mack Magagane.
by Alistair Mackay (@almackay) Take a look at the election posters currently hugging lamp-posts across the country and it’s easy to spot a theme:
Together We Move South Africa Forward.
Together for Change. Together for Jobs.
The sentiments of South Africa’s two largest political parties are echoed by other parties and government brands as well: AgangSA promises to “build a winning South Africa together,” the Western Cape is “better together” and the City of Cape Town is now all about “making progress possible, together.”*
Makes sense
In politics, it makes sense for brands to celebrate community and togetherness: political parties have the hard job of uniting South Africa’s diverse people so that they can build a majority in order to govern. But there is more to this than political necessity.
We have had our fair share of divisive political characters on the left and on the right, too, but (with the possible exception of the EFF, whose support remains to be seen in the 7 May 2014 elections) their support largely fizzled out. I don’t think it’s any coincidence that the DA struggled to gain real support until it dropped its adversarial stance on politics. As cheesy as it sounds, South Africans believe in togetherness.
The adherence of our key political players to the theme of togetherness points to the fact that the South African dream is alive and well. We are a nation founded on the ideal of reconciliation, and that ideal resonates with us to this day.
Pushing the envelope
Castle found its way into our hearts by pushing the envelope of racial integration. The iconic SA beer is known and loved by all for its early portrayals of multiracial friendships and good times — around the braai or watching sport.
Nando’s brings us together by making us laugh at ourselves, rather than at each other. It is particularly skilled at building a common sense of SA community through light-hearted humour.
And many of Coca-Cola’s most successful campaigns in SA have been about crossing divides, helping each other out and sparking new friendships.
It’s important to take stock of that in this current climate of protest and anger. Despite our terrible and persistent inequality, we believe we can solve our problems together and that the goal of creating a united and fair society is worthwhile and achievable.
Bring us together
What does that have to do with brand-building? Most obviously, it means we feel inspired and motivated by brands that help bring us together.
There are huge opportunities for brands to capture some of that glow that brands such as Castle had in the 1990s — and not just through television advertising but through marketing that physically brings people together.
What is the 2014 version of advertising that crosses racial divides? How about music festivals that mix musical genres and crowds? How about brand-sponsored life-swap reality shows? How about brands creating volunteer networks and campaigns that encourage and facilitate consumers to help out in poorer communities?
Segmentation strategy is difficult
It also means that segmentation strategy in SA is difficult. We don’t like to be treated differently, and we recoil from brands that pick up on any differences. That creates a tension for marketers. On one hand, they need to make their marketing tailored and relevant to very different kinds of people. On the other hand, they can’t present that tailored approach as definitive of any particular group of people.
A recent campaign by KFC generated fierce debate because of exactly this. The ad told the story of a SA school girl in Thailand, feeling overwhelmed by the strangeness of Thai culture and customs, who made a friend and connected over some KFC — which ‘tastes like home.’
While it is clear this ad is trying to show that KFC is a classic, nostalgic and well-loved food for South Africans, it came across as racial stereotyping to some.
Tough tightrope to walk
It is a tough tightrope to walk. If KFC did not feature predominantly black people in its advertising, it would be irrelevant to modern SA and its own consumers. The brand has done an admirable job over the years in trying to get closer to its consumers and to tell stories from their perspective — tailored and relevant. But the SA dislike for being singled out still rears its head.
There is a way out of this mess, and it isn’t just multiracial, feel-good montages. Marketing that only speaks to commonalities across all of SA will get bland quite quickly.
But segmentations need to have a strongly psychographic slant. Tailor your campaigns and your marketing to mind-sets, beliefs and expectations. And hope, like hell, that each customer segment has a cross-section of SA’s demographics in it.
Then it’s possible to build a sense of togetherness without losing all the specifics that give marketing its relevance.
*Disclaimer: a joint venture of Yellowwood and King James won the City of Cape Town account in December 2013 and developed this payoff line for the City.
Alistair Mackay (@almackay)is marketing manager and head of content at Yellowwood, (@askYellowwood) a leading marketing strategy and brand development consultancy. He has experience both as a brand strategist and as the digital media manager for the Democratic Alliance, and believes that innovative, insightful and generous marketing is both good for business and social change in South Africa. He contributes the monthly “Brand Politics” column, exploring lessons brands can learn and apply from politics, to MarkLives.
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by Herman Manson (@marklives) There are plenty of ad award shows in the world but few are centred on Africa. In 2013, the Cristal Festival launched an African awards festival to complement its ones in the Europe and Middle East & North Africa (MENA) regions. This is attracting attention from across the region and from those looking to escape the long shadow of South African-based agencies and networks.
Counterpoint to a South African bias
The Loerie Awards, South Africa’s preeminent awards show, has set out to expand its pan-African base but retains a SA bias due to the sheer volume of entries from SA agencies.
Cristal is a counterpoint; it held its first festival in 2012 in Abidjan, Ivory Coast and this year it takes place 26–28 May 2014 in Nairobi, Kenya. The organisers aim to double the number of entries and delegates this year, from 2013’s 200 delegates and 500 entries.
Cristal Festival CEO Christian Cappe says East Africa is quickly emerging as a creative and advertising hub.
Cristal used to be known as the Meribel Ad Festival. It launched in France at the Méribel ski resort in 2001, later renaming itself as the Cristal Festival and moving its location to Courchevel, France.
In 2005, Cristal expanded to launch the MENA Cristal Festival for advertising originating from MENA markets. Three years ago, the European arm of the Festival became global in its ambitions and acceptance of entries.
Three aims
The Festival has three aims, says Cappe, which is to encourage and award creativity; allow delegates from multiple nationalities to network and do business; and for participants to enjoy both the festival and the accompanying conference.
The conference is especially where the Loeries is vulnerable — it recently introduced a one-day seminar — but, for Cristal, it’s a major selling point and encourages training and networking for and among delegates. In terms of the SA market, since Cristal doesn’t count towards the Creative Circle’s points system unlike the Loeries, for example, it can expect fewer entries. (Creative Circle chairperson Justin Gomes has already indicated that it is unlikely that the Creative Circle would endorse new entants to count to its points system, which it uses to rank agencies.)
Raising the creative bar
Cappe says Cristal challenges agencies from across the continent to raise their creative bar, which will lead to greater success in other bigger, more expensive global festivals.
The jury is drawn from both the continent and further afield. This year, the jury president, Danny Searle (vice chairman and chief creative officer BBDO Asia), hails from Singapore. Other jurors come from France, Egypt, Kenya, Tunisia, Mauritius, the USA, Nigeria, Morocco and SA (represented by Brad Smale, managing director Africa — IPG Mediabrands, currently based in London).
How entries are judged
Entries are judged based on the creative idea, as well as the quality of execution. All gold winners are eligible for the Advertisers Grand Cristal, judged by a panel consisting of clients and advertisers. A second Grand Prix will be awarded by a panel made up of senior creative and agency leaders.
Gold winners at the African Cristal Festival will also automatically be entered into the global Cristal Festival, without any additional charges.
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by Herman Manson (@marklives) Luca Gallarelli — who took over as MD of Ogilvy & Mather Cape Town in November 2013, following the departure of Gavin Levinsohn for Australia — believes there remains significant areas for growth and expansion at the agency, which employs 300 people and generates between R100–R120 million in annual revenue.
Luca Gallarelli
Needs to up its game
For one, the agency needs to up its game in winning new business. “We pitch a lot but we don’t win a lot,” says Gallarelli. “New business keeps an agency on its toes and increases our value offering to existing clients. We need to be better at winning new business.”
Part of the problem is legacy perception; the agency is not always perceived as quick and nimble, which are two characteristics he would like to add to the existing ‘solid’ and ‘strategic’.
“Have we done enough to address legacy issues in the pitch room?” Gallarelli asks. He seems to think not.
Happy with organic growth
Gallarelli is happy with organic growth at the agency, saying it is realising the value of long-term relationships with clients. He is particularly excited about building out the group’s specialist agencies: Ogilvy One and Ogilvy PR, in particular, are experiencing rapid growth.
As PR’s role shifts to align with social media and move closer to the consumer, more and more talent is expressing an interest in PR. It’s becoming more integrated into both the digital and traditional advertising mix and plays a role across divisions at the agency.
Its digital and data arm, Ogilvy One, is also growing in importance, as digital becomes the centre of customer engagement. The division make the agency group smarter, says Gallarelli, resulting in more granular campaigns through the smart use of data.
Grew up in Port Elizabeth
Gallarelli grew up in Port Elizabeth. His mom was an artist, so he grew up around paint, pencils and other tools of her trade. She instilled his early interest in the creative world. Then, while attending Grey High School, he had an English teacher who would show his students the Cannes reel every year, something Gallarelli remembers with fondness.
It doesn’t take a giant leap of imagination to see how their combined influence would help steer Gallarelli towards a career in advertising.
But PE offers limited scope to see the ad industry in action. Gallarelli imagined the route to a career in advertising lay in creative, and signed up for a graphic design course at tech. Six weeks in, he realised it wasn’t for him, so he did what everybody else did in the mid-90s, and signed up for a computer science course instead (he holds a Computer Science degree from Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University).
Business side to advertising
A friend one year ahead of him, thanks to the graphic design course crash, headed to Cape Town for an interview at Red & Yellow, suddenly realised there was a business side to advertising as well, and put in a call to Gallarelli with the good news, who promptly followed to do a Post Graduate Higher Diploma at the AAA School of Advertising.
Gallarelli says it’s at AAA that his passion for advertising really was fired up, and where he could finally see application for his computer science learning in advertising. Code as creative and all that, and while he says it, I imagine the creative department sniggering, but Gallarelli is definitely having the last laugh on that score.
In 2002, Gallarelli had a tough time finding a job. He spent six months at Hirt & Carter doing systems development, then got a break at Ogilvy & Mather Rightford Searle-Tripp & Makin as an account executive, working on BP and Pilsner Urquell (for SAB).
Lured away
Gavin Levinsohn, ironically, lured him away to The Jupiter Drawing Room (Cape Town). The agency had just won Sanlam and was on a fast growth curve. Due to the growth pace at Jupiter, Gallarelli, by his own account, landed senior account roles sooner than he might have otherwise. His brand portfolio included Musica, Brandhouse (Bushmills Whiskey launch), Galaxy & Co Jewellers, Primi Piatti Restaurants, National Brands (Willards Chips, Big Corn Bites, Real Juice Company) and Bokomo, among others. It certainly helped set his on the career trajectory he had hoped for.
Jacques Burger landed him back at Ogilvy Cape Town as a business director handling Cadbury, Weylandts, VWSA (SEAT) and Foschini Group. By 2009, he was a director handling Carling Black Label (SAB) and Coca-Cola in SA. In mid-2012, Gallarelli was appointed deputy managing director at Ogilvy.
By mid-2013, Levinsohn was discussing his departure inside the group and Rob Hill, chief operating officer, and Abey Mokgwatsane, CEO of Ogilvy & Mather South Africa, sat down with Gallarelli to find out if he wanted one of the top jobs in the local ad industry.
“I said yes immediately”
“I said yes immediately,” says Gallarelli. “This is the job I have always wanted. I aspired to it when Mike Abel led this agency, when Jacques Burger led the agency and when Gavin [Levinsohn] led this agency. To be a caretaker of the Ogilvy Cape Town legacy, to create a story within the Ogilvy story, makes this one of the most exciting jobs in advertising.”
Gallarelli, aged 36, says that Ogilvy Cape Town has a long history of appointing younger agency leaders, pointing to several of his predecessors who were also in their mid-30s when they landed the job.
A key focus for Gallarelli will be putting staff at the centre of what the agency stands for and creating an environment where individuals would like to work and give their best. The agency expects a lot from its people, says Gallarelli, and so it should give back as well. It will help “liberating the talent of people to produce their best work,” says Gallarelli.
On a practical level
On a practical level, it means allowing staff a greater say through committees, bringing managers on board who share people-centric values, getting the management team to set the example of this approach inside the agency and generally empowering staff.
Ogilvy’s digital education arm, the Ogilvy Digital Marketing Academy (ODMA), will be reshaped to allow staff to pursue individual modules on an ongoing calendar, making it less exclusive. This removes certain limitations imposed by the previous course model and Gallarelli hopes it will extend the initiatives influence throughout the building.
While he assumes the economic environment to remain tough, with a devalued rand, interest rate hikes and increased cost to consumers, Gallarelli believes this could benefit FMCG clients, even if it proves detrimental to producers of big-ticket items such as cars.
Has stolen some advantages
Gallarelli says that, while the agency has stolen some advantages on the competition, especially in terms of digital integration, it needs to act like it’s in the number two or three position, and never believe it is coming close to its true potential. Gallarelli’s starting point is that the agency, which emerged as the most admired in the country in a MarkLives poll among agency executives, is only 50% there. This leaves a lot of work to do.
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by Alistair Mokoena (@AlistairMokoena) All you ad execs who are 50 years and older, please stand up so I may come to you for wise counsel?!
“Recently, I was recently in the bush, photographing wild animals. After impeccable spoor tracking and what felt like the longest 10-minute drive ever, we finally spotted a larger-than-life male lion with a beautiful dark mane, standing tall and proud a few metres from a watering hole. This was Simba, the rogue nomadic male who’d been recently jettisoned from his pride by younger male lions, and now found himself alone and vulnerable in the wild. For a moment, I imagined casting a lion for a Heads & Shoulders ad.” — Words and pic by Alistair Mokoena.
One of the things that strike you when you join the advertising industry is that it is full of young people, as well as a preponderance of women, just like a pride of lions:
Older male lions always get jettisoned from a pride by younger ones, leaving the pride with lots of females and cubs, and these evictees struggle to face life on their own — traditionally, lionesses do all the hunting, so males can’t fend for themselves, and the dark brown manes of the males also make it difficult for them to camouflage themselves and avoid other predators.
Their only chance of survival is in partnering with other males, with whom they socialise and they hunt.
Bad indictment on our industry
But why is the industry hostile to older and wiser folk? Because they are expensive and probably not digitally savvy. This, in my view, is a bad indictment on our industry and needs to be addressed. As someone once said, “You judge a nation by how it treats its senior citizens.”
The typical agency employee is a woman who is just under 30, and it’s a battle to find ad people 50 years and older. If you’re over 50, chances are that you are a non-executive chairperson, an agency founder, a driver or the newspaper guy.
So where are all the men and where are the senior citizens who have 30 years or more experience in advertising? Have they crossed the fence and joined corporate because the average agency doesn’t have a pension fund? Have they jumped ship and started a competing agency or have they become pitch consultants? Have they formed training companies or have they traded their sketch pad for a classroom chalkboard?
Flawed agency model
An agency model that says your salary-to-revenue ratio should be a certain percentage and no more is flawed. Undoubtedly, a series of 5% salary increases and promotions over a 30-year career will definitely result in you being a top earner. But does this make you a liability?
There are exceptions to every rule. I do buy the principle that an agency should not be top-heavy. I also buy the principle that you should have few giants and many juniors; however, wisdom and experience should not be easily turfed.
Lessons learnt are a valuable asset. Young bright-eyed, bushy-tailed advertising folk need mentoring and coaching by a seasoned pro who has faced tough challenges such as constant rejection, peer pressure to sniff the proverbial white powder, and peer pressure to have more malt than blood in your body. Who’s gonna tell young creatives that it’s not cool to miss reviews and rock up late to client meetings?
Throw more responsibilities
If our preoccupation is to sweat our human assets, why don’t we throw more responsibilities at these older folk instead of rejecting them for being ‘expensive’? Add training, mentoring, staff morale and new business to their day job. In other words, make them do three people’s jobs so you can justify keeping them.
You will be surprised at how easy this will be for them. Given the opportunity to draw on all their years’ experience enables them roll many positions into one.
When all is said and done, every agency needs a moral compass, someone who keeps them honest and focused on what matters. Who will you pick for this role, a youngster who relies on theory for counsel or an old and wise ad exec who’s seen this movie a million times over the years?
My money is on the latter.
Alistair Mokoena (@AlistairMokoena) is a Unilever-trained Chartered Marketer with lots of blue-chip marketing experience. He’s currently MD of FCB Johannesburg and one of his favourite pastimes is driving around in the bush, photographing wild animals. Alistair contributes the monthly “The Switch” column to MarkLives.com.
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OwenKessel side, stays on as ECD. Janine Wilson from Leo Burnett becomes GM. Viby Prakash is head of account management, Kristina Couzyn head of strategy and Colin Huber the financial director.
