Brands & Branding: Brand-building — key lessons & insights from Nashua

by Dr Doug Mattheus. Building a company starts by offering a solution to the needs of others. Building a brand is more complex, with many different approaches to success.

Introduction

The article below provides insights into what it took to build Nashua into such a successful office automation marketing company; leading with a range of innovative products and excellent service, it set itself apart and redefined the office automation sector in the 1980s, ’90s and the early part of the 2000s.

During that time, the catchy payoff line and consumer promise “Saving you time, saving you money, putting you first” registered with many South Africans as Nashua became a household name and market leader.

Bearing in mind that it was mostly a business-to-business brand that only later included cellular (thereby reaching out to the mass consumer), it was one of those rare brands that became a part of the fabric of South African society, in the process creating an engaging brand personality of trusted friend, professional yet approachable, and simplifying complex issues.

In order to identify the key lessons, innovations and breakthroughs that drove the brand’s development and success, I sat down with two former colleagues, marketing and managing directors Jac Moolman and Chris Scoble, who were pivotal in the success and profile of the brand. Having spent many years with the group progressing through the ranks to cellular marketing director, I added some of my personal experiences and summarised our conversations into a framework of marketing lessons in the broader sense. Based on the holistic approach Nashua applied to its marketing, they are as applicable and relevant today as they were then.

1. Marketing is both art and science

This is such a critical point: Successful marketing is a combination of a lot of hard work that goes on with product design and selection, pricing, and having the correct, loyal and cost-effective distribution channels, as well as effective and break-through communications.

The secret was that Nashua spent a lot of time in understanding the current pulse of society, and tapped into and maximised that. (At the time, television was new so people watched a lot, and were loyal and patriotic, and supported sport.) That insight and lesson is timeless and relevant for all markets. The challenge for today’s marketers and brands is to find that zeitgeist. Always be relevant!

Throughout time, Nashua continually used those insights and, in the process, became a pioneer, innovative and pushed the boundaries, racking up a string of notable firsts and achievements. Some of those ground-breaking and defining moments include:

  • Being the first office-automation company to advertise on television with its 1978 advertisement featuring the actor Orson Wells endorsing Nashua photocopiers (Nashua had to wait a year to get a slot from the SABC as it never thought an office automation brand would want to go on television).

  • Being the first South African company to put its name across the front of a provincial rugby jersey.
  • Having a deep understanding of the tax laws and rebates that offered incentives and allowed Nashua to host international events such as the Formula 1 and Motorcycle Grand Prix, and great national events with global competitors, such as the Nashua Wild Coast Golf competition.
  • Producing one of South Africa’s most-loved television adverts, “Little Boy”, that was voted the second most appealing advert in the world in 1992.

  • Being Ernie Els’ first sponsor and instrumental in the start of his fantastic golfing career.
  • Being the long-time sponsor of world champion boxer, Brian Mitchell.
  • Was always at the forefront of technology by being an early adopter of digitisation and integration in the modern office. It was the only office-automation company to diversify into, and make a huge success out of, cellular communications.

2. Understand the business that you are in and ensure that your culture is aligned to support it

At Nashua, there were two guiding business principles that were paramount and underpinned all that was done: business is built on relationships and Nashua is in the service business. In the case of the former, it prided itself on the great business relationships built with partners (suppliers, franchise holders, staff etc).

This was emphasised to an even greater extent with the obsessive focus that was placed on customer service, where there was a belief that you did not need a customer contract lock-in to do business if your service is superior. This customer-centric focus was also evident later on the cellular side; Nashua Mobile was the country’s most-successful independent cellular service provider that offered the services of all three cellular networks at the time (Vodacom, MTN and Cell C), based on its legendary service philosophy.

The correct culture is key to success, and was one of the most-important factors in achieving success, as the consumer promise that any brand makes has to be delivered by its people. Nashua understood that, and built and fostered the right culture. ‘People make the place’, and the result was a work-hard play-hard, performance-based culture, with travel often being the incentive. “Join Nashua and see the world” was an internal slogan that drove most employees to achieve stretch-targets beyond what they thought possible. There was a confidence and an unwavering sense of self-belief as many came to feel that nothing was impossible and out of reach.

Looking back, and in today’s marketing terminology, Nashua was one of the original challenger brands (although it never called itself that). Nashua was also one of those rare companies where the internal culture matched what was promised by the external marketing. There’s a saying ‘what happens inside a company will find itself outside’, and it is so true and important that brands have this authenticity and congruency.

Another crucial aspect of this culture was that it wasn’t just reserved for the head office staff but permeated throughout every franchise across the country with a great degree of consistency. A further key to the marketing philosophy was that you had to be part of and contribute to your community — put something back and give before you get. This was particularly prevalent with franchises in some of the smaller towns in SA, where they were so involved and closely linked with the people and success of that town.

Nashua was an employer of choice with many bright, talented, passionate and driven people wanting to work there; the power of the brand attracted the best to experience the Nashua culture.

3. Invest in brand-building

Through the period, a lot of focus and attention went into building the brand, which then provided an ideal platform to sell off. Creating high awareness and being visible was paramount, and it was believed that people must be exposed to the brand every single day, whether it was through classical advertising, a Nashua truck driving past, someone carrying a Nashua shopping bag or franchises engaging at a local level — there was no ‘off-day’ and Nashua had to always be top of mind. As part of the communications mix, creative television adverts like the ones mentioned played a major role, but Nashua also understood the value and role of journalists and good PR, and was very aggressive in that area, often speaking on behalf of the entire industry as a thought leader.

Another area that was very successful in building the brand was that of sponsorship. But sponsorship without leveraging is merely ‘badging’, and Nashua employed a holistic approach with this. It is critical to understand and maximise all the audiences at a sponsorship, as a brand is often talking to people in their leisure time. This is something that many companies still get wrong today as they buy the (often-expensive) rights but do not maximise them. Nashua certainly understood that sponsorship is a personal type of marketing that allows you to buy the overt rights but also opens up staff, partner and customer entertainment opportunities, and allows you to appear bigger than you are. At that time, through clever negotiation and astute business skills, Nashua often created the appearance that it had massive budgets when, in reality, they were not that big but were used well and maximised. Part of the formula was to create unique events that were owned and immediately associated with Nashua, allowing the consumer to take the brand into their home (Nashua Marathon t-shirts, medals, Nashua hero autograph cards etc).

In later years, when sponsorship prices started to skyrocket as new entrants bought up properties, I made the point that the person with the biggest budget in town is just that — the person with the biggest budget but not necessarily the best. I encouraged my teams to rise to the occasion and asked, “If the budgets were exactly the same, do you feel that you would be able to out-market that person?” The answer was always yes. That again was the unwavering Nashua self-belief in action, as it bought small and maximised leverage.

Another important factor for brand success is the correct and clever use of media, especially with the amount that is spent on it. Nashua always aimed for an innovative and novel approach, eg using the findings of a study into the psychology of people at an airport to decide where to place the billboard (they are more excited about their upcoming trip and thus more aware at the departures side, as opposed to the arrivals side where they are tired from their trip and not that receptive). Working with TV cameramen to find the best angles for a live broadcast, experimenting with a primary and secondary logo and inverted colours, as they showed up better in media, and so on. Today, a lot of these practices are commonplace, and it’s more complex with greater media fragmentation and different media types, but that is the current challenge and no reason for excuses from smart marketers.

As a closing thought, with the amount of product and price marketing that I see these days (with absolutely no brand affinity and emotional attachment), modern-day marketers may heed the lessons from this era: there is always a place for great storytelling and ‘brand love’; so strive to make your brand a household name, like Nashua became then.

See also

 

Brands & Branding 2019 now available!
Brands & Branding 2019 now available!

Doug Mattheus is an independent business consultant and part-time lecturer/facilitator at USB-Ed, with 30 years business expertise in marketing, leadership, culture, strategy and organisational performance. His career started at Firestone in 1989. Since then, he has worked at Radiospoor, Nashua, Nashua Mobile, Ster-Kinekor and, until recently, was executive head of marketing at Cell C. Doug has four degrees: BComm, BComm Hons, MBA from Wits Business School (with a thesis on sport sponsorship), and a DBA from the University of Phoenix in Arizona, US (with a dissertation on organisational culture).

The article first appeared in the 2019 edition of Brands & Branding in South Africa, an annual review from Affinity Publishing of all aspects of brand marketing. Find case-studies, profiles and brand news at Co.RetailingAfrica.com. Order your copy of the 25th annual edition now!

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Black (owned) agencies left behind by MAC Charter

by Mxolisi G Buthelezi (@TheMxolisi) In her book, “Who’s Afraid of Affirmative Action”, Christine Qunta laments that, despite being in the majority, black people still find themselves in need of affirmative action in corporate South Africa. South African adland is no exception; it was only over 25 years ago that Herdbuoys became the “first black agency” in the country.

Admittedly, the industry has done some real work to recruit young black talent, especially in the last 10–15 years. This talent, though, is coming into the multinationals and locally owned, white-owned agencies — spare me the drivel about their BEE/BBBEE certificates. Any agency may exploit the legal loophole and get a group of stokvel mamas from Alex to be its BEE partner.

Regrettable reality

This regrettable reality was brought home to me by the attitude of a CMO from one of the leading FMCG companies, who — when challenged about the lily-white composition of its panel of multinational-owned agencies — said she’d actually brought the agencies’ BEE certificates to the meeting to brag about their BEE levels.

Twenty-five years into democracy, transformation can’t continue to be the sole responsibility of multinationals and white-owned agencies. Besides, they have a jaundiced view on the matter. What happened to all those young black kids who were brought into the industry through affirmative action (yes, I said it)? Without it, most wouldn’t even have set foot in those agencies. Surely today those bright lights should, like their white counterparts, be shining brighter at the helm of the industry? So why aren’t they playing a meaningful role in the industry?

The Bantu Affairs department during apartheid years created ‘suburbs’ in black townships to silence the noise from black professionals and the nouveau riche in those dark days. This was done with an effort to appease these ‘uppity’ blacks who knew their ‘rights’, spoke well and had some money.

‘Allows’

The ad industry has learnt very well from this system. While black agencies, in the main, barely survive enough to even have a significant role to play in bringing about transformation, the industry ‘allows’ a few black-owned companies to ‘shine’ — so much so, when critical questions are asked about real transformation (not BEE-ed agencies), everyone quickly points to these three (yes, as in 1, 2, 3 agencies) to prove that the situation isn’t that bad. Really, you just have to work a little harder, that’s all.

“I mean, if these guys can make it, so can you, Mxolisi, my buddy,” says a multinational agency leader as he condescendingly pats my shoulder. He can’t understand why my agency couldn’t grow like those other three in all these years, 10 years to be exact… He doesn’t know about the 30+ that closed shop in the same period.

Did you know that black-owned media agencies, those I could find, don’t even bill R100m pa combined, yet one multinational media agency has been billing over R3bn pa for the past five years?

The question

The question has to be asked: “Did BEE and the MAC Charter contribute to the demise of black-owned agencies?” The charter focuses more on transformation by multinationals and white agencies, with no obvious benefit for being a black-owned and -managed agency. Why? Don’t black-owned agencies have a role to play in further transforming the industry?

This was made glaringly clear to me when my agency joined the industry’s self-regulatory body, the Association for Communication and Advertising (ACA), about four years ago. I started serving on the board and found over 20 board members. Should you stumble into one of the board meetings of these captains of South African advertising industry, you’d be left impressed by the ostensibly high level of racial representation… until you realise that the majority represents multinationals and white-owned agencies.

When it comes to issues of transformation, it’s clear that we’re not reading from the same script, yet the message out there gives the impression that we are. Though I must be honest: after three years of lobbying my colleagues, we are moving forward and I’m proud of the willingness by most to find real solutions. It would make a huge difference if, for example, clients are actively encouraged to start looking at including black owner-managed SME agencies in their scope and pitches.

I was reminded of this when an ex-colleague, who happens to own a 100% black-owned media agency, called me the other day. He also serves on the board of one of the industry associations and, like me three years ago at my board, he’s the lone dissenting voice in meetings. I guess he was just making sure he hadn’t lost his marbles — and I identified deeply.

It’s in clients’ enlightened self-interest…

…To help change this situation. Recently, South African Tourism (SAT) tried. The contemplated 30% ‘forced marriage’ of large agencies with black-owned agencies was a brave attempt and it must be commended for this. The industry’s response to this was very telling — and disappointing. You just have to download the submitted bidders list and see who their 30% partners were. Most agencies deliberately went outside the industry to find these partners. I’m not even going to mention other ‘creative’ ways employed, mainly by large multinationals. Yinde lendlela esiyihambayo, kwasho u Madiba…

Black agencies can’t play a role in transformation…

…Because they’re too busy trying to survive. When these young stars come into the industry, they have no choice but to assimilate into the multinationals and white-owned agencies. And I don’t blame them. That’s the reality out there.

I got my break at HerdBuoys as an intern before we even had BEE, and way before the pioneering black-owned agency merged with/bought into a multinational. The culture was different. I know this because I went on to work for multinational and local white-owned agencies. At this rate, I long for those ‘backward’ days before this BEE mess.

Maybe, just maybe, black agencies could also play a role in diversifying the industry at large. After all, isn’t this what clients and the industry preaches?

See also

 

Mxolisi Goodman Buthelezi by Jeremy Glyn.Mxolisi G Buthelezi (@TheMxolisi) is the founder/CEO of June15 Advertising and an ACA board member. He writes in his personal capacity.

“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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Back2Basics: Your B2B brand — distinctive or different?

by Mark Eardley (@mdeardley) I’ve been reading a lot in the B2B marketing media about “distinctiveness”. It’s all proclaiming the higher branding power of being distinctive, rather than merely different. I’m troubled by this. It strikes me that a potent B2B brand, one that’s unarguably far more effective at triggering deals than a sales team, has to be distinctive and different.

Your brand makes a promise of achievement for customers but a promise is only worth the trust we have in it. So, your brand must make a trusted promise, and it must make that promise to everyone who influences buying decisions in all your markets. It must win positive consideration so that influencers want your firm on a list of prospective vendors, whether that’s next week or next year.

Winning positive consideration

You are what your markets think you are. Market-perceptions of your offering are your brand. More specifically, influencers’ perceptions are your brand, and their perceptions are based on how much they trust a brand to deliver on its promise.

Though I’ve said it before, your brand becomes a trusted promise when all the different influencers see it like this:

  1. Relevance: It’s obvious to me why I should support buying from you.
  2. Evidence: My risk is minimised by your proven ability to deliver results I need.
  3. Difference: I can justify selecting you over and above your competitors.
  4. Prominence: Your reputation is understood and respected in my industry/line-of-business.

To earn the positive consideration that stems from a trusted promise, you must be ‘distinctively different’.

Being distinctively different: winning hearts and minds

Unless you want to compete on price alone, you must differentiate your offering and its deliverables from your competitors’. That’s about differentiating what you offer and what you achieve. It’s all rational, practical stuff about process and purpose, and you may read more here on how to differentiate.

But, as a fast recap, here’s a simple illustration of what a differentiated brand should look like:

SIMPLIFY EXEMPLIFY AMPLIFY
What you offer What you achieve Who benefits, how they benefit
PROCESS PURPOSE PROMISE

To be distinctive, you must amplify your promise — who benefits and how — above that of your competitors. You’ve got to elevate it above all the me-too chatter. Crucially, being distinctive means promoting a crystal-clear promise that heightens influencers’ immediate emotional response to the benefits you deliver.

Emotional in B2B? Our most-affecting and -enduring memories are emotionally rooted. A distinctive brand promise embeds itself because of its emotive foundations, its clarity and its immediacy — people get it right away. And they remember it.

However… They don’t buy inappropriate, overpriced, poorly supported, inferior products with unreliable lead-times just because of your promise’s emotional appeal. They don’t think, “Wow! That product’s totally crap but it’s so pleasing — let’s buy it!” They don’t lose their minds just because you won their hearts. Fact-based differentiation always matters.

B2B marketing - different vs distinctive. Credit: Mark Eardley

Covering the bases for growth: long term, short term

If you’re selling infrequently purchased products, right now, very few of all your potential customers are at an advanced stage in the buying decision cycle. If they are and you don’t know it, your brand is a failure. Pack your stuff and leave the building.

They might be aware of you. So what? They’re not considering you. You’re not even sitting on the bench. Result? No sale.

So, the challenge for your brand is to ensure all potential customers think well of you. You must be widely known and widely respected. Why? Because growth comes from building market share. It comes from getting more customers, rather than selling more to existing ones. Unless you’re constantly introducing new offerings, selling to existing customers doesn’t create growth. Once all the up-sell and cross-sell is done, you hit a wall.

Continuing growth depends on the power of your brand to drive positive consideration across all your markets, now and in the future. But growth is incremental. The short term develops into the long term. Growth doesn’t just emerge fully formed at some point in the long-term future.

If a strong, distinctive brand doesn’t drive sales today, what reason is there to think that it will do so tomorrow? If it isn’t winning hearts and minds immediately, it never will.

PS There’s nothing at all new or trendy about being ‘distinctively different’. Here are two print-ad examples from 2006 of some distinctive brand-building of my own devising.

Turnstar job offer print ad 2006 by Mark Eardley Turnstar warning bullet print ad 2006 by Mark Eardley

See also

 

Mark EardleyMark Eardley (@mdeardley) advises B2B companies on how to govern their marketing to attract and retain profitable customers; several of his clients have grown to become market leaders. Apart from his new column for TGIFood, he and Charlie Stewart have written Business-to-Business Marketing: A Step-by-Step Guide (Penguin Random House), which offers practical, actionable advice on how to make marketing make money. His monthly “Back2Basics” column on MarkLives covers how B2B companies and their agencies should manage their marketing.

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EXCLUSIVE: Avatar expands with new Durban office

by MarkLives (@marklives) Avatar Agency Group (formerly Avatar South Africa) has announced that it is opening a new office in Morningside, Durban.

Avatar Durban joins Avatar Johannesburg and Avatar Cape Town, as well as a public relations agency, Avatar PR, and media agency, Avatar Media, as being a member of the group. The new office will assist in managing the group’s Durban clients locally, which include the recently awarded Aromat, Knorox and Chicken Express accounts, and more.

“The move to Ethekwini emagagasini, as Durban is affectionately known, is long overdue. We have been working on several projects in the province for some time and believe there is room in the market for a mass-market-thinking agency like Avatar,” says Zibusiso Mkhwanazi, M&N Brands group CEO.

“Looking for change”

On the timing of the new office, Mkhwanazi notes: “There are many mass-market brands in Durban looking for change, with very limited options available to them. The size of the Durban market is an opportunity for a digitally born, mass-market agency like Avatar. It also exposes our current client base to on-the-ground growth opportunities and presence in the KZN [KwaZulu-Natal] province. Our office network in three cities, including Cape Town, also allows us to have deeper insights and even better creative output in the key cities that drive SA’s economy.”

Asked if Avatar is treating this office as a standalone agency or as another door into the main agency, Mkhwanazi says that it makes sense for the agency, in a mass-market context, to keep core creative and strategy in Joburg. “Our network of offices also work together in the ideation process to test ideas in different parts of the country to contribute to the strategy and big idea. Our Cape Town, and now Durban, team roll[s] out work in the respective offices using our fast-track teams. Being owner-managed means we have very close relationships with our clients nationally, with local account management teams supporting us to ensure our clients get the daily love and care they deserve.”

According to Mkhwanazi, the Durban office is already operational with a small team but managed from Joburg. The group is on the lookout for a general manager for the new office.

See also

 

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Q5: Cracking open the beer market, with Silke Bucker [interview]

by Carey Finn (@carey_finn) Silke Bucker (@silke_7), brand director of Castle Lite Africa, talks change in a gendered drinking environment, as well as where the beer is going.

Q5: The alcohol industry still has a reputation as a bit of a boys’ club. This is changing but what’s your take — how far does it still have to go?
Silke Bucker: It is definitely changing and I am excited to be part of the change. At AB InBev, we are very much focused on changing that reputation, and diversity and inclusion [are] something we drive through developing a strong pipeline of talent that is treated fairly and equally. That being said, alcohol is competitive and it is important for women to ‘lean in’, have a voice and back that with some hard work and business impact.

Q5: What has been the biggest shift from your previous role as marketing manager for the brand in Africa to brand director?
SB: The responsibility that Castle Lite starts and ends with me. I have an amazing team working with me on this brand, a phenomenal and very smart marketing vice president and an entire business focussed on this growth engine — but, at the end of the day, the ownership lies with me and that is a big responsibility. Not just a responsibility to the business, but a responsibility to consumers and how we use this brand to shape culture across the African continent. It excites me but there is a big change from being a part of the team to making the final decisions.

Q5: What markets is Castle Lite hoping to tap in 2020? What can we expect from the brand?
SB: Castle Lite is currently in 11 markets across the continent, making us the biggest premium beer brand in Africa. We are in different growth phases in most of these markets and 2020 really is about solidifying the brand in our key markets and continuing to push boundaries with our work.

Q5: Give us a few figures: what’s the gender split among consumers of Castle Lite?
SB: Castle Lite is the biggest beer brand amongst females in South Africa and still growing. Roughly, about a third of our volume is from women. It is clear that the easy-drinking liquid, the lower alcohol and lower kilojoules and the brand image [are key drivers] with men and women — these are shared needs; [it] does not matter in which demographic you sit.

Q5: What is the key for beer brands to appealing to a broader female market?
SB: It is really important to stay true and credible to your brand and its purpose. Castle Lite has always been about unlocking moments of extraordinary enjoyment and. when we think of social occasions, these are shared by men and women. It is easy for us to show an inclusive beer-drinking occasion because it aligns to our purpose, our liquid and our values. That is not the same for all beer brands, and that is okay. As long as big brands don’t exclude any groups or portray them as “less than”, communication can still be aimed at a primary consumer, occasion or benefit. For us, it is about enjoyment, it is about the balance between having fun and moving forward, and it is about inclusivity.

 

Carey FinnCarey Finn (@carey_finn) is a writer and editor with a decade and a half of industry experience, having covered everything from ethical sushi in Japan to the technicalities of roofing, agriculture, medical stuff and more. She’s also taught English and journalism, and dabbled in various other communications ventures along the way, including risk reporting. As a contributing writer to MarkLives.com, her regular column “Q5” hones in on strategic insights, analysis and data through punchy interviews with inspiring professionals in diversive fields.

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#BrandFocus: Snacking made right — from generous joy to sustainability

by Sabrina Forbes. “We are a treat. We are chocolate. We will always ultimately deliver on that. It is an indulgent treat, but how do we make it more permissible? How do we make it [more] guilt-free?” says Lara Sidersky, Mondelēz International category lead: chocolate, South Africa and Central East Africa.

Brand positioning

Mondelēz International is home to many iconic brands and has over 80 000 employees in 150 countries. In SA, the group employs 700 people and Cadbury Dairy Milk (and its entire range), Stimorol, Chappies, Halls, Oreo, Dentyne, and Lunch Bar, to name a few, are household brands. About a year ago, the group launched a new brand positioning, “Snacking made right”, and SnackFutures, the innovation arm that looks at local and global trends, is constantly adapting its R&D programmes to deliver more of what the people want.

Health and wellness are a massive trend worldwide and, in markets like India, for example, the chocolate category has launched products with 30% less sugar due to demand [and the threat of sugar taxes on chocolate — ed-at-large]. Another trend, according to Sidersky, is the rise in the demand for convenience. Her team is always looking for ways to make snacks more accessible on the go, be it with smaller packs, easier-to-open packaging or products that may be resealed for later. ‘Premiumisation’ is also on the increase, with consumers asking for more indulgence in the snacks they choose to treat themselves with, saying that, if they’re willing to pay more, they should be given more.

A major role of Sidersky’s is working with her team on how to get the best chocolate message out there to the right audience, because every chocolate under the Mondelēz International stable has a different purpose. Originally, the message of “joy” was what the Cadbury brand focused on. Eating chocolate is still an uplifting occasion that’s filled with joy but now the team has gone deeper into what its products mean in consumers’ lives.

Generosity

Cadbury turned 80 in 2018 and, looking back to when the brand was founded by John Cadbury, it’s clear how Cadbury himself believed his products could make a difference in people’s lives and make them that little bit happier, if even just for a moment, while enjoying one of his chocolate creations. Sidersky, her team, and its above-the-line agency, Ogilvy South Africa, has taken this as a basis and have repositioned the brand as one of generosity.

“It’s all about how we believe that, in every one of us, there is that spirit of generosity. It doesn’t mean that it’s big, grand gestures; it’s the small ones that just make that little bit of difference. It goes back to our product intrinsic that there’s a glass and a half of milk in every slab. We believe there’s a glass and a half in every one. It’s not just that one, it’s that one and a half, that little bit extra we all have,” she says.

Sidersky’s main target audience is mothers who’re working hard to get by and find solace in not only treating themselves but also their kids with a bite of chocolate. The May 2019 TVC that launched the generosity positioning for Cadbury speaks directly to this message.

Recently, Cadbury Dairy Milk announced the launch of a festive season campaign that gives back to underprivileged children, GenerosiTrees. Sidersky believes the positioning of a brand that gives back to those who need it most is something that resonates with South African consumers. The #TheLittleGenerosityShop campaign, launched in May this year, saw the brand collect over 90 000 donated toys, books, and games for children’s homes around the country.

Another brand within the stable that’s making strides is Lunch Bar, a 50-year-old heritage brand with the unforgettable Makhatini TVCs bringing back fond memories for many South Africans. With 13% market share, Sidersky says that Lunch Bar plays a key role in its consumers’ lives, especially during lunch time where a large portion of blue-collar workers are choosing Lunch Bar instead of something else.

Marketing

When it comes to marketing platforms for the chocolate message, she says that —although the category now spends 25% of its budget on digital — TV, activations, and out-of-home advertising still play an important part, especially for heritage brands such as Cadbury Dairy Milk. As for the creative agencies, regional contracts stipulate the requirement to work with both Ogilvy SA (a 12-year relationship) and media agency, Starcom South Africa (six years so far), while RFPs for other, more project-based jobs (such as activations) are sent to a pool of preferred agencies.

“Snacking made right” is all about creating the right snack for the right moment, made the right way, according to Navisha Bechan-Sewkuran, Mondelēz International manager: corporate and government affairs, Southern, Central, and Eastern Africa. It’s about helping a mother fill the gap in her child’s lunchbox, or giving a couple an after-dinner treat; it’s also about being there when busy executives are on the run and only have time for a quick cup of tea and a bite. “Under each of those elements, we look to see what the current trends are in terms of the snacking industry and we find that consumers don’t want to choose between having a healthy snack and having an indulgent snack. They want to have a snack to fill a gap, to fill a moment, or to celebrate an occasion. That’s why we look at things from a view of the right snack at the right moment,” she says.

Combination of elements

“Snacking made right” also filters down to the making of every product, be it through sustainable sourcing, environmental awareness, and production quality. The positioning is a combination of all these elements. Bechan-Sewkuran agrees that the group has the responsibility to ensure it’s feeding families only the best-quality products, sourced in a way that does the least harm to all involved. An example is sourcing cocoa. Legally, it’s not allowed to procure cocoa directly from farmers but is done through various cocoa boards, but Mondelēz does focus on ensuring it has a strong team on the ground to work beside the farmers.

Working directly with farmers on factors such as environmental issues, using land to grow sustainable and efficient crops, education on the ability of land to support a certain number of cocoa trees, insights into the importance of not infringing on the natural forest areas, and access to drought-, virus- and insect-resistant seeds all play a role in the greater scheme of ensuring that, in terms of the supply chain, it will have a sustainable source of cocoa well into the future. Currently, the group sources its cocoa from farmers in Ghana, Ivory Coast, Brazil, Indonesia, and India, with West Africa remaining its biggest import source.

“Quality is a huge thing for us in terms of our products. There’s a huge focus on our quality programmes. We won’t let any products go out until we are 100% satisfied that they pass our standards,” says Bechan-Sewkuran.

Giving back

A programme that ensures responsible, and environmentally friendly cocoa farming was launched in 2012, and more and more Mondelēz chocolate products will soon include this Cocoa Life badge on packaging as proof of its sustainable source. By 2025, 100% of the cocoa sourced globally by the group will be this way, showing consumers that the products they’re consuming are adding value back to farmers. There is a similar programme with wheat suppliers, and there are plans to ensure that, by 2025, all packaging will be 100% recyclable.

According to Bechan-Sewkuran, in terms of giving back (apart from the generosity campaigns mentioned above), the group has to date invested R37m in an aquaponics school-feeding system, with another R25m pledged for the next three years. Two solar-powered aquaponic sites in Port Elizabeth and Johannesburg use a closed system, where water high in ammonia from fish faeces is fed through hydroponic feeding troughs to grow vegetables; the water is filtered by this process and added back to the fish tank. Produce growth of up to three times the normal rate of soil-based gardening has been experienced, and is fed to children from schools in the surrounding areas.

“From a South African perspective as well, we have a very big programme called Health in Action that talks to the whole wellbeing angle. We, over the past four years, have been implementing the programme in schools where we talk educate children about good nutrition,” says Bechan-Sewkuran.

Mondelez International Health in Action South Africa

 

Sabrina Forbes“#Agency/BrandFocus” is an ongoing weekly series updating the market on ad agency performance, including business performance, innovation, initiatives, the work, awards and people.

Sabrina Forbes (IG) is an experienced writer covering the food, health, lifestyle, beverage, marketing and media industries. She runs her own full-stack web/app development and digital-first content creation company. For more, go to moonwrench.com. She is a contributing writer to MarkLives.com.

— Sign up now for the MarkLives newsletter, including Ramify.biz headlines, emailed every Monday, Wednesday and Friday!

Frank: Freaking out — is it us or them?

by Mimi Nicklin (@MimiNicklin) Every day, I read someone else’s panicked LinkedIn status talking about how we need to adapt to the “changing media landscape” or “diversified consumer behaviour”. Yawn. Why are we all up on stage freaking out about the medium?

People are people; talk to them as such, wherever they happen to be — authentically, gently and without driving them bonkers! It’s really not that hard.

Yes, you can collect their data, and analyse it, and retarget them into submission but, to be frank, it’s sad when the professionals no longer care about the creative work they’re placing, in lieu of their fear for clickthrough numbers, and percentage completion rates on a spreadsheet.

Did you sell anything?

You might meet your clients’ KPIs this month but did you sell anything at all? A belief, a concept, loyalty or stock in store? Does anyone remember seeing it, or were they watching it auto-play while they double-checked if the broccoli were ready?

Now, I love a good media strategy but I’m bored to tears of defending bad ones. Why did we stop selling ideas and start selling space? Who is winning here, other than our trusted Excel spreadsheets?

As I see it, it may all end in a heartbeat nowadays so, if you don’t plan longer term than this campaign’s digits, you might just get fired. Today, you save your bacon but, tomorrow, someone might ask you to justify why Nike gets you all excited to think outside the media click box but our wonderfully loyal and trusted client today doesn’t.

Capture hearts

What happened to telling people a story by capturing their hearts, not their increasingly fast fingers? Give the young ones a set of TikTok tracks they think is ‘lit’, and give us millennials something that makes us laugh, or cry, or feel anything other than frustrated on good old Instagram or YouTube. But take note that doing it in a 6” slot that screams at us, with a flashing gif of a stock photo, an RTB and a web address, may get you your numbers because the audience “watched it through to completion” — yet did anyone watch it? Maybe, with one eye, half of one ear and 223 other thoughts at the same time. But we didn’t care and we probably didn’t click.

So, let’s stop freaking out on stage and go back to trusting what we know — that creativity sells — and stop freaking out our consumers with increasingly shouty ads described as ‘content’.

Stilted content at speed doesn’t sell, whatever medium we put them on. Stories do.

 

Mimi NicklinBased in Dubai, Mimi Nicklin (@miminicklin) is managing director of RAPP MEA, an Omnicom company. An experienced leader — she’s led global and regional brands from Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa on both agency- and client side — she believes in the systemisation of empathetic leadership and influence. Mimi considers leadership to be 100% about serving her team, rather than the other way around, and is avidly committed to creating change for good in the industry. She is also a keynote speaker and thought leader. Her new MarkLives column, “Frank”, focuses on being frank and open about issues in adland.

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SA TV Ratings: SABC 2 — primetime top 20 for Sep 2019

by MarkLives (@marklives) The hottest primetime shows on SABC 2 in South Africa revealed: TV ratings for September 2019.

SABC 2 logoSABC 2, September 2019

Top 20 Programmes All Adults 15+
September 2019 Prime Time 5.30pm—10pm
Adults 15+ years U:35830 S:8557

Source: BRCSA September 2019

Day

Date

From

To

Station

Programme title

Genre

AR

Viewers

Share
Thur 19/09/2019 2100 2129 S2 Muvhango Dram 14.33 5 134 853 41.9
Mon 09/09/2019 2057 2101 S2 Music Musi 7.03 2 517 934 17.4
Wed 04/09/2019 1800 1830 S2 7De Laan Soap 6.35 2 274 289 22.1
Tue 10/09/2019 2127 2131 S2 Behind the Scenes:Mandela Day Docu 6.18 2 213 738 31
Mon 23/09/2019 2130 2159 S2 Giyani Dram 5.32 1 906 692 19.6
Wed 04/09/2019 1830 1900 S2 Nuus News 4.07 1 457 466 11.6
Fri 06/09/2019 2130 2200 S2 Mmalonya Dram 3.99 1 428 475 15.1
Fri 20/09/2019 2130 2200 S2 Dimilione Tsa Keriri Dram 3.98 1 427 246 13.7
Thur 19/09/2019 2130 2200 S2 Speak Out Actu 3.5 1 254 817 13.3
Sat 28/09/2019 2029 2057 S2 Ga Re Dumele Sitc 3.41 1 220 211 11.9
Sat 21/09/2019 2000 2027 S2 Ses/Tsw/Sep News News 3.24 1 161 897 10.3
Sat 21/09/2019 2057 2100 S2 Live Lotto Draw Vari 3.15 1 128 903 10.9
Thur 19/09/2019 1859 1955 S2 Noot Vir Noot Musi 3.05 1 092 632 8
Sat 21/09/2019 1956 1959 S2 Filler:Noot Vir Noot Docu 2.91 1 042 718 9.9
Sat 14/09/2019 1900 1954 S2 American Ninja Warriors Vari 2.84 1 015 951 9.1
Fri 06/09/2019 1730 1759 S2 Venda/Tsonga News News 2.68 958 745 10.5
Mon 16/09/2019 1900 1959 S2 Voetspore Maga 2.61 933 718 6.9
Sun 15/09/2019 1800 1859 S2 Fokus Actu 2.34 839 882 8.5
Wed 18/09/2019 1859 1928 S2 Koskaskenades Vari 2.13 763 386 5.7
Wed 04/09/2019 2159 2225 S2 Our Moments Docu 2.05 735 723 11.8

 

Broadcast Research Council of South AfricaThe Broadcast Research Council of South Africa (BRCSA) is a non-profit, industry body that was incorporated in 2015 to cater to the audience research needs of the radio and television industry in South Africa. In 2016, it changed its policy about giving away TAMS and now only monthly reports, highlighting the top 20 or 30 primetime shows on several popular channels, are available.

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