by Erna George (@edgeo23) Julius Caesar once said, “Experience is the teacher of all things.” However, had Caesar lived today, I think even he would agree that there are more and more times when experience in itself isn’t always a benefit.
When those with experience allow their views to become inflexible and are closeminded to the ‘what ifs’ (other considerations), experience is a hindrance. Let’s face it: there are many who’ve been playing piano for years, gaining reams of experience, but this doesn’t make them a superstar — yet you get child protégées who command full audiences in the world’s best venues.
Experience is not a predetermination for success. There are times when experience must be balanced with ‘newbie’ (novice/freshmen/ newer-ling) input and insight. I’m probably echoing the feelings of many a younger person in marketing teams; however, I’m not saying that experienced people can’t deliver newbie insights, rather that the focus must be on balancing the effect of practised know-how and proficiency with relevance and fresh thinking.
Experience is an outdated term
Talking about my years of experience in the world of marketing matters nothing if I’m not putting this experience into today’s context. There are times when I say an absolute “no” to requests by my team but, if I’m not following this up with a strong and relevant rationale on why and/or an opportunity to engage my team on what-ifs, then I’m running the risk of being staid. Being set in my ways and saying no can become quite easy for someone who was around when ads were still being shot on 35mm or 45mm film. [Don’t roll your eyes, younger folks out there; I’m often surprised by how much has changed since I first started in the days of cc:Mail!] Even though I’m loving the digital age, which allows for more footage and flexibility, the years of 35mm film and making many ads along the journey have taught me loads of things that have become instinctual and which I can apply in today’s digital space.
Where I find my experience works often is within elements such as positioning or strategy. Younger team members are surprised at how quickly I can articulate an insight from the observations they share, or how clearly I can express a positioning and compare it to other brands’ positionings in the market. The reality is that I’ve had the benefit of working on multiple brands globally and this opportunity offered extensive practice.
I’d like to put forward that “experience” as a term is outdated and perhaps should be replaced with “practised” or “instinct”. When you practise enough, you reach a level of expertise where skills and thinking may be flexed easily into multiple scenarios. So, experience or being practised can’t be about absolutes — it must be translated into wisdom and principles that are easily applied in relevant ways.
Habitual behaviour and thinking hard to crack
Areas I’m told are frustrating are those of agency relationships and activity grids. When practised people are stuck on the roles agencies used to play in the “old days”, or the structure that used to work, I must admit even ol’ me rolls my eyes.
Agencies need to fit the brand and its requirements, be that as a lead agency vs one of multiple agencies. So what if the lead agency on a particular project is the digital agency which generated the concept proactively? Similarly, activating the same (or similar) old promo at the same time of year, or never touching the front panel of packs for fear of your (50-year-old) brand not being recognised, seems predictable and, dare I say it, a touch lazy. Holy grails must be interrogated and rearticulated as needed or thrown away when required.
Having too many holy grails, especially when budgets are under such pressure, present a great challenge and may be limiting to a brand’s potential. Don’t get me wrong; I’m a big supporter of planting trees and nurturing strong memory structures, but repeating without reviewing and proper rejuvenation becomes predictable and forms bad habits. If you do what you’ve always done, in today’s world, you certainly won’t get what you always got; you’ll go backwards. Understanding what must be protected and where must something new be tried is a constant requirement for great marketers — we can’t be beholden to one model. A fit-for-purpose and evolving model is what must be considered in terms of sustainability.
Continuous learning key for the experienced and the new
Our brands need to work for our ever-learning consumers and the ever-changing retail/shopper environment. Do you put significant effort into continuous learning, driving improvements or are you relying on experience? Alternately, are you relying on being young for relevance? Neither on its own is sufficient. I recently watched a TED Talks video and it stated that these days it’s arguable that IQ and EQ are as important as the new adaptability quotient (AQ).
Are you adapting your experiences and extending your learning? Being fully reliant on experience and stagnating in this time of fast-paced changes is about as good as younger starters believing they’re great at judging effective creative to millennials, simply because they’re millennials. Hard work is the only way to keep ahead. There are multiple TED Talks or tutorials online in addition to blogs and seminars; it doesn’t require a repeat of a degree. Engaging with experts (the agencies I work with are always keen to share their knowledge) and spend time with partners to deep-dive into fresh areas with an open mind.
Avoid instant judgement — both ways
Experience may leave one closeminded but so, too, may fresh thinkers who believe experience and practice are overrated. This judgement in either direction can be destructive. If those with much practice under their belts keep judging millennials for not working the hours they do, or not thinking or sourcing data in the same way, we’ll stay in a tug of war in which both parties ultimately lose the opportunity of the other.
As long as the brand stays at the heart, we can’t judge how each different party works. Rather ask how differences could inject relevant builds into what is on plan. While everyone must stay unprejudiced and continue evolving, no-one can know it all, be good at everything or be on top of everything, all of the time. Be honest about your gaps or weaker areas and surround yourself with those who compensate for these. Win-win all around.
Experience is no longer a pure rite of passage; we don’t get to be the most-valuable person in the room because we’ve been doing this longer. Neither is youth the antidote to failure in this century. What matters more is that what you add delivers the desired impact of brand growth or stronger consumer connections. Both must be unlocked — applied experience injected with fresh thinking.
Place practised wisdom in a space filled with curiosity and keep practising incessantly
Break habits to prevent predictability for your brand — build fit-for-purpose working models but remember this requires a strong foundation on brands blended with novel thinking
Adaptability is equivalent to IQ and EQ, and the ability to adapt and have a bendy brain may be generated from both youth and practice, so keep both in balance.
After starting at Unilever in a classical marketing role, Erna George (@edgeo23) explored the agency side of life, first as a partner at Fountainhead Design, followed by the manic and inspiring world of consultancy at Added Value. She has returned to client-side, leading the marketing team in the Cereals, Accompaniments & Baking Division at Pioneer Foods. Her monthly “Fair Exchange” column on MarkLives concerns business relationships and partnerships in marketing and brandland.
by MarkLives (@marklives) Andrew Human will be leaving creative awards organisation and festival, The Loeries, after 15 years as CEO. “I have decided it’s time to move on to a new challenge and I will be leaving the Loeries at the end of March 2020,” he says.
“Until then, I will be closely involved in the process of leading The Loeries into the new season. “It’s been a wonderful experience and journey, and The Loeries has grown from a small office and award show in those first days to an association that is now recognised internationally.”
“Andrew has over the years worked tirelessly to make the Loeries a world-class stage for our creative industry to shine,” comments Tseliso Rangaka, Loeries chair and Ogilvy Cape Town ECD. “I look forward to working with Andrew in the coming months to find a worthy candidate that will help take the Loeries to even higher acclaim. I wish him well and extend the gratitude of everyone who has had the pleasure of serving with him.”
As part of the transition, the Loeries board has promoted Suzie Bowling to the position of chief operating officer. “Suzie has been with the Loeries for many years and I’m very confident in her ability to continue the journey of this amazing bird,” says Human.
In 2008, Human introduced the CreativeFuture Scholarship, to encourage and enable creativity at grassroots levels by assisting talented learners from disadvantaged backgrounds. “This is an incredible opportunity for youngsters and it covers just about everything a learner requires: fees, study materials, accommodation and living expenses. Plus, it offers mentorship, internship and, ultimately, employment,” say Human. “Without a doubt, this is the part of the Loeries that I’m most proud of, and I feel like all these students who have passed through our programme are part of our family.
“Incredible support”
“I cannot emphasise enough how important the input, experience and guidance of the Loeries board and Committee have been. We have also enjoyed the incredible support of the industry, wonderful partners and an amazing Loeries team. Without them, it would have been impossible to reach the goals we did over this 15-year period. I am grateful to each one of them.”
by Carey Finn (@carey_finn) Marcus Sorour (@marcussorour), a South African living in London and the recently appointed head of corporate communications for EMEA for technology company, F5 Networks, talks evolving skillsets, the role of social platforms, and media relations in the age of the influencer.
Q5: What skillsets are required of corporate communications professionals today, compared to 10–15 years ago? Marcus Sorour: Corporate communications and the channels available to reach stakeholders will continue to evolve; therefore, continuous education is crucial to be a trusted advisor within an organisation. From a skillset perspective, modern corporate communications professionals should have a well-rounded understanding of how to get the most from the tools and multiple channels available to them to authentically and credibly engage with both internal and external stakeholders.
Traditional corporate communications professionals will need to upskill in order to realise the benefits of an integrated strategic approach to informing, influencing, and listening to stakeholders across earned, owned, organic social, and experiential channels. This engagement should be underpinned by content that is mapped to the audience and optimised for search engines. Modern corp comms also requires an appreciation for measurement, as per the guidelines created by the Association for Measurement and Evaluation of Communication (AMEC).
I see corporate communications professionals playing an integral role in orchestrating internal and external stakeholder strategy, content and engagement by collaborating more closely with colleagues across marketing, sales and product development departments. I also believe corporate communications professionals should be able to coach spokespeople and organise content-related workshops to generate storylines. It’s important to bring in specialists from time to time but not everything needs to be outsourced, as running these workshops keeps comms professionals connected to spokespeople, and in sync with the storylines that work across earned, organic social and owned channels.
To keep up to date, I suggest exploring both formal and informal learning options. I listen to podcast series, read trade publications, attend meetups, watch webinars and reach out to people to set up coffee. I believe practice and simulation is also a critical part of the learning process, especially ahead of potential issues or crisis.
Q5: Speaking specifically about corporate spokespeople, what would you say businesses should look for in candidates for this role? MS: “The harder I practice, the luckier I get,” is a well-known quote from the world of golf; the same applies to spokespeople. An understanding of the interviewers’ requirements and deploying bridging techniques will allow even the most-inexperienced spokesperson to thrive. Not everyone is a natural spokesperson but the most-effective spokespeople are good listeners who concisely articulate a view of the market while effortlessly inserting their narrative into an answer.
Q5: How has social media and a global news cycle impacted corporate communications? MS: Social media and the global news cycle have both impacted every facet of our society and the economy; therefore, smart corporate communicators are using the digital tools and channels available to them to improve how they engage with stakeholders with credible content. Social-listening tools and analytics allow organisations to be more audience-centric and improve decision-making from both a business strategy and communications perspective. The global news cycle means corporate communications teams need to be agile and responsive. Organisations should be prepared for eventualities — from receiving praise to managing crises. Investing in crisis preparation and simulation is worthwhile, given a local issue could easily escalate if not managed decisively and thoughtfully.
Q5: How can companies effectively manage media relations in an age of non-journalist “influencers”? MS: As corp comms people, we are in the business of reputation management and influence. All stakeholders are potential influencers; therefore, the content available on company social media channels and websites must be current, relevant, and accessible. A newsroom page on a website is a good example of an owned channel to share information 24/7. In terms of influencer engagement, I suggest determining the actual influence of individuals or groups. It’s important to remember this exercise is not just a numbers game. In the business-to-business (B2B) space, not all influencers are prolific on social media — and you may find some of the most-important people you target are influential within niche communities or groups. A considered engagement plan mapped to the needs of the influencer will ensure your spokespeople and organisation build trust with an individual over time.
Q5: What advice would you share with youngsters looking to track into your career field? MS: I recommend creating a personal elevator pitch that serves as the basis for a CV, LinkedIn profile, and internship interview narrative. This document should be completed as soon as possible, as it provides a solid foundation to build on. I recommend reading trade outlets like MarkLives, listening to podcasts, and attending industry events. Landing an internship takes time; therefore, start early and tailor your outreach so you stand out from the crowd. Most importantly, keep knocking on doors until one opens. The more work experience you get, the better!
Carey 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 new regular column “Q5” aims to hone in on strategic insights, analysis and data through punchy interviews with experts in media, marketing and design.
by Bradley Elliott (@BradElliottSA) The number of channels that marketers are using to target consumers has grown and, with it, the messaging has changed, from a ‘broadcast’ model to a more intimate, personalised model. Big data is a tool that gives brands insights into their customers, and an opportunity to build a relationship that relies on trust. At the same time, there has never been more need for creativity in marketing. We speak to advertising veteran, Danni Dixon (@dannidixon), who now heads up marketing at Investec South Africa.
Full podcast transcript
Bradley Elliott: Welcome to Only Connect, a MarkLives.com podcast. I’m your host, Bradley Elliott, founder of Platinum Seed and Continuon. I can’t believe it but we’re in Episode Five, we might be becoming, a real podcast, finally. I have the pleasure of interviewing Danny Dixon today, who is the head of marketing at Investec South Africa and we’re touching on the attention economy, how advertisers are vying for people’s attention. Attention is still a very finite resource, if you want to call it that, and the access to information or amount of information we are served every day is vying for that attention. How do we actually create marketing campaigns or cut through? So, strap in and let’s get started. We’ve partnered with MarkLives to create a podcast called Only Connect. Basically, what we’re trying to explore is what [the pain points of] CMOs, CEOs, heads of marketing are, what are their sort of views on the landscape of marketing as a whole, and, importantly, how do their partner agencies better serve them? Can those agencies better serve them? Danni Dixon: Great, great purpose, I love it!
BE: There’s a lot going on in the market, obviously, and in the world and, with that rapid change, I just don’t think we are all keeping up. So, maybe you can just tell me a bit about your journey so far, and how you got to where you are now, as head of marketing at Investec. DD: Well, I started my career in advertising — I started at Hunt Lascaris — at the turn of the century, when they were one of the biggest and the best. It was just an amazing starting ground to really understand the power of creativity. I then went on my own journey of having my own agencies. I had two fairly big agencies, one called Red Shoes agency, and one called Hello World agency. Red Shoes became a brand experience agency, and Hello World was more a through-the-line agency. It was always about the power of the idea and that the power of the idea can break through the attention economy in whatever channel and medium that could be. But I found [with] having [an] experience agency, you’re always competing with the above-the-line agency ideas. So, I then started Hello World to (…) on the idea. I then got a call from John Hunt to come back to lead Hunt Lascaris, which I then did for a few years and a great team at Hunt Lascaris helped to get Hunt Lascaris back into the no. 1 creative space in [South Africa]. By then, I’d done 20 years, well, of advertising, and felt like I needed a change and the idea was take time out, which, of course, never happens. Within a day I was at FCB, helping them on their Absa pitch. While I was at FCB, I got a call from… Investec and the only reason why I came was Reg Lascaris had actually recommended me. I walked in the building and, the moment I walked in, I just loved the energy and the culture, and I felt this is a place for me. I’ve been here for almost three years. I spent the first year and a half in a business unit in property, and got to understand the business side. Then, the last year and a half, I have been head of marketing for the whole of Investec SA, and it’s been an amazing journey.
BE: What specifically about the culture of Investec, when you walked in, what particular nuances of that culture did you enjoy so much? What was so striking about the culture that got you in there? DD: To [pace] of advertising and the challenges that advertising is facing, it’s just so massive. Being part of a global network was really hard. Margins had decreased and the ability to reward your staff just got even harder — to do great work for clients was really hard. I felt, in the end, quite frustrated and suffocated. The difference when I walked in here was that kind of entrepreneurial spirit, and, if you can show that your ideas are strategic, and it’s going to push the business forward, there’s a lot of support. Then, obviously. to have the resources, the people, the money, the right agencies to actually execute on those ideas — it was just amazing. I mean, we are in tough times but this is a great opportunity to do good things.
BE: That’s a really nice mantra. Not an easy space to be in, that’s for sure. So, today, we’re talking about the attention economy. Obviously, with the influx and the wealth of information that’s come about in recent times, we really are struggling for the attention of customers and consumers. The wealth of information has increased, but our mental processing power stayed the same, the number of seconds in a day stay the same. So, it’s about how do we spend that attention? First off, I’d just like to understand how have you seen this sort of transformation of marketing over the last 10–12 years, with the influx of channels and platforms, especially in the digital space, and the vying of those for consumers attention when it comes to marketing? DD: I think it’s changed fundamentally. I think it began in the early 2000s, with the introduction of digital. So, it’s not even the last 10 years, I mean, we’re getting close to 20 years. As the amount of the channels increase and, as we talk about the attention economy, it’s just got bigger and bigger and I think that people can only consume so much, but the game of marketing does actually remain the same. It’s how we’re going to play it. From my side, and I thought about what you said about the attention age and have we moved away from it, I think we’re always going to compete and, the more that we compete, that’s the sign of any economy, whether you’re looking at pricing, whether you’re looking at — that competition exists. As marketers, we can pay to be imaginative and to create the right strategies that are going to inform consumers about our brand. I have as my mantra, [what] David Aaker said, is that we have to earn the right to have a conversation with our audiences. How do you add value to their lives or inspire them or give them something that is of value to them? When you get that strategy right and you understand who you’re talking to, that’s when you can get into that sort of hyper-targeted messages. So, the days of putting a message out there for everyone is definitely over. But how you focus on your audiences and use a combination of data and real-life experiences is often the balance we have to find as marketers. I absolutely agree with you that attention is definitely a challenge, but how we do our job is how we have to solve getting their attention.
BE: I love so many points that you touched on there, because I’m a strong believer in using data and let’s call it the behavioural sciences, or behavioural economics, to actually get the attention of people, especially in an overtraded and commoditised sort of environment. So, as you mentioned, we can’t just be broadcast. As marketers in the past, we were very broadcast — let’s just broadcast our message. But actually using that data and I know Investec had a big data campaign, I think, a year and a bit ago if I’m not mistaken. DD: At the time, it was Aqua and that data campaign was what I really wanted to tell you: as a brand, you have to know what you stand for, and how you create that impact in your market. So, that was the beginning of the brand journey that we’ve been on, which is about: we see you, we are more than the sum of data. That was the campaign that was launched about three years ago. Then, in the beginning of the year, we did our next evolution around that, which is all about human cognition. I think all brands talk about human storytelling but, for me, being human is absolutely critical, and understanding and being a human brand is very different than sort of this mass broadcasting space.
BE: So, how do you feel Investec does that, then? DD: We’ve got a long way to go but we’re certainly on the journey of figuring this out. If you look at our current campaign — and remember I said to you we always try and create work that is hopefully of value to our audiences, and our clients are facing huge challenges, not only in the world of politics and economy but also in terms of their wealth? So, it was a content-led campaign; we get about 25 pieces of content, and we learnt a lot from that campaign. I think, as we go on this journey, it will probably get more personalised — we could probably have done 100 pieces of content to different audiences. As technology catches up in the personalisation area, I think there will be more and more of that. But it was a good test of understanding what’s keeping our clients awake at night, and giving a point of view on how to add value.
BE: In terms of that value exchange, and the conversation that you’ve brought up quite a few times now, you’re adding value through your content but how do you actually get that content to break through to get people’s attention? And what does that value look like to you? DD: For us, the value looks like the human side. So, yes. it would be nice to be able to find these kind of answers — in fact, the campaign had a (…) in it. When you ask that question, you would get a million, you know, it could be 55m URLs around the answer. But, through a simple human conversation, we could help you, and just the value that the human relationship plays in the life of your decision-making. Because that’s what the campaign was mainly about, how you got people’s attention to watch the content. Very good question. We can try a number of them. We have what we call the ‘smackables’, the trainers for the content pieces. The way that we created the website, we did a lot of testing; we actually had two different websites. We tested what worked, which content people were watching if we change the content and, as the campaign evolved, we kept changing, we learnt so, so, so much. What we thought was going to be didn’t actually come out that way. In hindsight, we would have done things differently. Interestingly enough, on the website, the less-creative website did better. It did brilliantly, so we’re learning things as we go and, actually, we could do better. But we’re very happy with the results. For example, our (…) online had 2m completed views. That’s wonderful. But we live in a world that you can track that. You can understand the brand (…) that comes from that.
BE: What you touched on right at the end there, around the views and completed views, that was almost going to lead into my next question. So [do] you believe, fundamentally, marketing hasn’t changed, and that we—it’s always been our job to get someone’s attention? What I would like to understand from your side, and it’s a tough question, maybe/maybe not, is how do we actually measure the quality of attention? Completed views is a metric that people look at, and reach, and engagement. But how do we actually measure how impactful our messaging is? How [do] we measure the quality of that attention in your mind? DD: I guess it goes back to that, adding value. And that’s what you’re saying about quality? Once you’ve got the attention, it comes down to persuasion. Persuasion, education, inspiration, you can call it, whatever your objective is, and ours was very much around inspiring partnership with Investec. One of the biggest measurements for us was brand lift and brand awareness, but it was leads into the business; it had a commercial side to it. So, what is the consumer journey that consumers went on/our potential clients went on to get to us? How quickly could we influence that? So, we would get into that persuasion space. Again, we learnt so much on the media that we chose, on the amount of times they would have to click on a banner before they watched the content, how many times they searched for us, until they finally filled out the lead. We’re learning; we’ve still got so much to learn, and it comes down to strategy. Strategy has never had a more-important role. I always call that your Swiss Army knife; there are so many tools on that Swiss Army knife, and every single one of them are important. Which one do you use, when? I wish marketing was a science. It’s not; it’s a journey. So, as we measure, we don’t have a single view on measurement. But we do try and get to a commercial number at the end of the day.
BE: The role of marketing is becoming more commercially driven, and more cross-functional across the business. So, [with] that in mind, what does the future of marketing look like to you? DD: It will definitely remain being in the human space, being an authentic brand, but we are going to focus on that seamless integration of the online-offline world; we want to understand personalisation a lot more. We’re going to look to create new ways to reach our clients in a highly targeted way. We are very client-focused and client-segment-focused. But, at the end of the day, as we get more channels, and fight for more attention, it will come back to goals remaining — trading worth of value(?) and connecting those dots to create something magical for our clients. That’s why I say, marketing, from that point of view, hasn’t changed. It’s just in the method you use.
BE: 100% — I agree with that. It’s about understanding our customers’ leads to more personalised messaging, which leads to a build of trust, right? Once you’ve built up trust, that inevitably lands up adding more value to both relationships. DD: Yeah. And you’re absolutely right about our consumers and understanding them. Data doesn’t always do that. Data is helping (…) tell a better story. But for us to understand our clients and what inspires them and what is it that they are connecting to [so] that we can be a part of their lives, we have to be meaningful in their live.?
BE: On a final note, we ask everyone this question: [are there] any great books or resources that you vouch or stand by, that you just love — it can be in marketing, business, anything that keeps you inspired? Any great resources that you’d like to recommend? DD: So, my inspiration is David Aaker. The work that they do — in fact, the strategy that they have, the storytelling ability, that definitely inspires me. I am a big fan of creative work that works. You should be inspired every day to do better and keep living the magic of creativity.
BE: Well, Danni, I’ve really enjoyed chatting to you, and thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate [it] , and I’ve really enjoyed chatting to you. DD: Thanks, Brad, so will I meet you at the leadership day?
BE: CMO Summit — I’ll be there. I’m chatting, I think, on the first day… I’m chatting on 3 [September]. We’ll connect and it’ll be nice to grab a coffee and meet face to face. Yeah, have an awesome weekend and thanks again. This has been Only Connect, a MarkLives.com podcast… Until next time, keep connecting!
Transcribed using otter.ai and then edited lightly.
The founder of Continuon and Platinum Seed, Bradley Elliott (@BradElliottSA)has created a number of businesses in the digital and technology sectors. He believes that marketing needs to be reinvented so that it becomes more useful to humans and brands. He’s also a collector of fine whisky. Bradley contributes “Only Connect”, exclusively to MarkLives.com. In this podcast, he chats to custodians of the world’s top brands about what matters most to them.
by Leeya Hendricks (@LeeyaHendricks) I was fascinated to read about robotic furniture recently — Silicon Valley’s response to the mounting need for better living space management. But space-saving is only half the story; self-storing/transformer furniture provides fascinating case studies of a new generation of successful data-gathering products.
Your ceiling — the next frontier of trust?
Space is a challenge for modern city dwellers who enjoy living in densely populated, culturally rich urban areas within walking distance from work and all amenities. Due to high demand for real estate, most will never realise their dream of comfortable urban living.
Now, with the incredible self-storing furniture of Bumblebee, Ori and others, even junior workers who can only afford a tiny studio apartment can revel in space that feels twice as big. Say hello to tables, cupboards and beds that either tuck themselves away or change into something different, depending on their human roommate’s needs at any given time. Done sleeping? Your bed will now hoist itself up into the ceiling. Need to declutter? A storage robo-basket will descend from up high at your command, receive the book you’re done reading and reattach itself to the ceiling, out of sight and out of the way.
The good AI in your bedroom
Self-storing/transformer furniture provides fascinating case studies of a new generation of successful data-gathering products. How is that even possible, you ask, after 2018’s Cambridge Analytica/Facebook data-harvesting scandal? Simply because these products open up new frontiers of customer value, sufficiently great to overcome public-trust issues.
Within robotic furniture units are tiny cameras that feed into vendors’ artificial intelligence-powered management systems. The AIs classify and catalogue objects stored in the units and build a searchable inventory, so humans never need to search for their keys or baby’s favourite book again. In addition, it learns their storage habits, revealing which items they use more frequently and which ones they could toss at no big loss.
This is data gathering that doesn’t veer into the shady territory of non-consensual ‘surveillance’. It has a clearly delineated and valuable purpose: to find out your product needs and usage patterns, which it then analyses for opportunities to improve usage.
Less is more
This made me think of the much-less successful ways in which marketers currently still use analytics to shape customer experiences. Many focus on personalising digital experiences, assuming all customers want personalisation, and build customer journeys around that. But, if we put more emphasis on analysing customer profiles, we may find that many people want less clutter, less stuff, less sharing of personal data, and more of what’s relevant to them.
It’s not a crisis by any means. As budgets get tighter and margins are squeezed, different paths of innovation inevitably come to the fore. Less is more. And when that happens, sharing personal data to improve that experience will be less of a stretch.
Regaining trust through transparency
But users are becoming increasingly more sensitive to privacy issues.
It’s true that they will share information when they are clear on defined benefits to new products, but even that isn’t enough. Clearly outline the permissions customers are required to give when using your product and be sure to highlight what sharing may lead to, whether it can be seen as ‘tracking’ or ‘spying’ or not.
Where there is clear benefit and clear communication, everybody wins!
Leeya Hendricks (@LeeyaHendricks) is a designated chartered marketer, global marketing strategist, digital driver and a Women in Tech leader. She holds a BA degree in fine arts, a BA honours degree in brand marketing management, an MBA in business management and is completing her PhD in management sciences, focusing on customer value and business transformation. She is senior director of marketing Europe at Gartner UK, responsible for customer acquisition and data-driven strategies. Leeya contributes the monthly column “Gestalt”, about putting customers first for sustainable business success, to MarkLives.
by Jason Stewart (@HaveYouHeard_SA) When we are most scared, tired and just over it, we usually head home to bed or call our moms — the places we feel safe, secure, comfortable and protected. This is an over-simplification but an apt analogy for the topic of this article.
One of the toughest
There’s no doubt that, while life in 2019 is considered much better than at any other time in humanity’s history, it is also one of the toughest — emotionally and mentally. We’re not only inundated with distractions; we’re trying to cope with a changing national and global structure that mostly held strong since the mid-1940s but now seems to be unravelling. Never before have we had so many things to choose from, buy and enjoy but, equally, never before have we had so much strain on our disposable income.
Our mental and emotional wellbeing, knowingly or not, is under siege. When that happens, we look for safety, security, comfort and protection. One of the easiest ways to find that is through nostalgia — things that remind us of our past (or that of others) when life was romanticised by our brains in a warm sunny glow and everything just seems to have felt better.
To understand this, we need to understand what nostalgia is: a ‘hack’ our brains play on our memory to make our pasts seem rosier and happier than they were. It is a human coping mechanism to be able to let go of pain and stress so that we don’t carry it with us, excluding traumatic experiences, of course.
Romanticising
If you think back to any time of your life, you will find it hard to remember or reexperience the social anxiety, awkwardness, fear or other negative emotions you were subjected to in that moment. When you remember those times, you remember them in a glow or warmth. Films and movies also add to our distorted memories by romanticising the past.
In 2009, one year on from the financial collapse of the world, the search term “Sci-Fi” dropped dramatically. This is because, when we are experiencing stress, most of us retreat. When times are good and we are confident and comfortable in life, we are keen to explore, experiment, take risks and generally head out into the galaxy, never looking back but only forward. But when we are at risk, overwhelmed, tired and anxious, we are looking for refuge and seeking to head back home, rather than out into the wild unknown. With the majority of the world feeling this way, this is the reason why we are seeing people respond to and seek out nostalgia.
But why does this matter? Because it’s the reason we’re seeing an explosion of consumable nostalgia, that of bringing the past more and more into the present. It’s the reason “Baby Shark” was such a hit for adults (it was fun, made us forget stress for three full minutes and it made us feel as happy as we believe we were when we were five).
Bring back the past
It’s why we’re drawn towards styles, designs and aesthetics that bring the past back into today. If you browse any fashion list of today’s top fashion, you’’’ see how nostalgia is part of almost every aspect.
Our experience and understanding of the past are also becoming more enriched through the fragmented and multiple new content platforms that bring the past to life through podcasts, TV shows and more, allowing for more use and inspiration to draw from.
Finding nostalgia in fashion is probably the easiest and most obvious. The below image is directly from the Teen Vogue 2019 Fashion musts — all styles ‘stolen’ directly from different eras.
Even technology hardware and products are designed taking into account what we loved and trusted when we were young. Using the big cute-eye profiles of teddy bears and puppies makes robots look friendly and safe. Take the eyes away, and we may start doubting the cuteness of this tech.
Key lesson for brands
Understand the type of nostalgia that would work for your target market, based on the context of their age, the product and the emotion or experience
Humans respond to stories; nostalgia is just another of those stories. Is your brand story interesting, or could you perhaps leverage a similar story to connect you with your audience?
Jason Stewart is co-founder of HaveYouHeard (@HaveYouHeard_SA), a full-service agency. Zeitgeist of Now, his new column on MarkLives, is inspired by the agency’s proprietary tool developed to understand the invisible but powerful forces that influence people, products, culture and societies. If we appreciate these, he argues, we become more-effective marketers.
by MarkLives (@marklives) JOHANNESBURG/NEW YORK: Luca Gallarelli — who announced his resignation as group managing director of Ogilvy South Africa on Friday, 6 September 2019 — will be replacing Sean Donovan as TBWA\South Africa group CEO, effective 1 December. The latter was promoted to TBWA\Asia president earlier this year.
Comments Gallarelli, “TBWA has always stood out as a collective supremely confident in who it is and what it represents: uncompromising in the talent that it attracts, uncompromising in the quality of relationships that it fosters with its clients, and uncompromising in its quest for creative excellence. As someone who is deeply passionate about the creative product, this is something that I want to be a part of. Furthermore, the opportunity to work across a group of outstanding companies with an unparalleled breadth of capabilities and the proven ability to integrate was too compelling to pass up. I am humbled at the opportunity to be a part of this iconic agency collective’s story.”
Says Donovan, “We are delighted to have Luca coming on board to lead the group. He excels at creating environments where creativity can thrive, and understands the needs of both smaller, entrepreneurial companies and complex multinationals. He’s going to be a fantastic leader for clients, our people and our product. Most importantly, he is the right cultural fit—he’s ‘one of us.’”
Gallarelli joins the company after an almost 15-year stint at Ogilvy SA, where he ultimately became group MD across three different campuses and responsible for an agency group of 800 people; prior to that, as MD of Ogilvy Cape Town, the agency grew to 300+ employees and won a 2018 Cannes Lion Grand Prix for Carling Black Label’s Soccer Song for Change. Ogilvy SA tied with TBWA as the Creative Circle’s 2018 Agency Group of the Year, too. He was also a member of Ogilvy SA’s holding board, as well as Ogilvy Africa’s advisory board, from 2014, and was selected in 2015 as one of 15 global leaders to participate in the Ogilvy SMP Senior Management Programme.
“Time of positive momentum”
This appointment comes at a “time of positive momentum” for the TBWA\South Africa Group, according to the statement: Two weeks ago, TBWA was named Loeries Regional Agency Group of the Year for the second year in a row. In June, TBWA\Hunt Lascaris was named SA’s leading agency at Cannes Lions, for the second successive year too, taking home a Cannes Gold Lion for its radio campaign for Town Lodge, and the first-ever Lion for work created in isiZulu.
Says Troy Ruhanen, TBWA\Worldwide CEO, “Luca’s passion for creativity, coupled with his business acumen, fits the TBWA mould perfectly. He is the ideal successor to Sean, and we can’t wait for him to join our world-class SA group.”
by MarkLives (@marklives) The winners of the 2019 Gold, Silver, Bronze and Shortlist Clio Awards were announced late last week, with South Africa taking home one Gold, two Bronzes and four Shortlists, and Egypt two Silvers. Grand winners will be revealed at the 60th Annual Clio Awards on Wednesday night, 25 September 2019, in New York City.
The 14 Clio juries, which included five South Africans — Sabine Heckman (FCB Africa creative director), Molefi Thulo (Ogilvy creative director), Darrin Hofmeyr (BlackGinger CG supervisor), Meja Shoba (Ola! Films director ) and Lourens van Rensburg (7 Films director) — reviewed thousands of submissions in film, design, print, out of home and more and awarded just over 500 trophies.
“From around the world”
“It’s so fascinating to sit in the jury rooms each year and hear the perspectives of creative leaders from around the world,” says Nicole Purcell, The Clio Awards president. “Whether it’s the design jury critiquing an innovative visual execution or the Clio Music jury digging in to why a particular piece of music makes a spot more compelling, each group has a vision for where the industry should be heading and we get to use the awards as a platform to send that message.
“This year, being our sixtieth, we heard the jury’s reflections on the history of our industry, what enduring themes have stood the test of time and how to best pave the path forward so that we can all be proud when we look back at this work 60 years from now. With all of that in mind, they determined the best-in-class submissions that earned this year’s trophies and will build upon our competition’s elite history.”
African winners
Country
Trophy
Entry title
Medium
Entry Type
Brand
Entrant company
South Africa
Gold
Philips #ShaveToRemember
Experiential/Events
Product/Service
Philips & Nelson Mandela Foundation
Ogilvy South Africa
Egypt
Silver
Mutilated Words
Print & Out of Home Technique
Public Service
28 Too Many
Impact BBDO
Egypt
Silver
Zero Tolerance Ribbon
Integrated Campaign
28 Too Many
Impact BBDO
South Africa
Bronze
#ShavetoRemember
Film Technique (Direction)
Product/Service
Philips & Nelson Mandela Foundation
0307 Films
South Africa
Bronze
Just Do It: Caster Semenya
Film Technique (Direction)
Product/Service
Nike
Park Pictures
South Africa
Shortlist
#ShavetoRemember
Film Technique (Cinematography)
Product/Service
Philips & Nelson Mandela Foundation
0307 Films
South Africa
Shortlist
After Tears
Film Technique (Music – Original)
Product/Service
Metropolitan
0307 Films
South Africa
Shortlist
Altron “There When It Matters”
Film Technique (Music – Original)
Product/Service
Altron
Barking Owl
South Africa
Shortlist
The Phonetic Can
Direct
Product/Service
Coca-Cola
FCB Joburg
The Clio Lifetime Achievement Award for David Droga and the Clio Brand Icon Award, which will be granted to Barbie, will also be awarded on the trophy ceremony, hosted by Andy Cohen.
by Sabrina Forbes. “The Gautrain brand is a people’s brand, or [that’s how] we would like to think of it, at least,” says Ingrid Jensen, Gautrain Management Agency (GMA) executive manager of reputation.
Tlago Ramalepa, Gauteng Management Agency PR and media specialist.
Create the idea
Just over a decade ago, according to Tlago Ramalepa, GMA PR and media specialist, the initial job was to create the idea of what this rapid-rail network would ultimately become — well before launch. As much as it would be a public transport system, it was also a social economic development system with spinoffs, such as job creation and spatial development, that would affect many lives — during construction, approximately 3 800 jobs were created for women, 20 300 for youth, and 29 900 for historically disadvantaged individuals. An extra 10 000 jobs were created at the commencement of operations.
The initial question, however, was how do you get buy in from not only government but also the public when creating a type of public transport service not yet seen or experienced in South Africa?
By looking at the impact the Gautrain would have, the agency decided to open up the initial phases of the branding exercise to the public, allowing future users to play a role.
The brand went out to tender in 2005, short-listing three design agencies: Brand Activation, Enterprise IG, and IWW. Each agency developed a brand CI that went out to government employees and the public to vote through radio, print, and digital channels before being presented to the Gautrain Political Committee. By doing so, Ramalepa believes it proved its positioning as a product for the people, a system to enrich the lives of every day South Africans and not just a seat to bring ‘bums’ from point A to point B.
Through intensive research over the past 10 years, says Ramalepa, the Gautrain has structured its business on three core brand pillars, each of which play a major role in how the brand communicates with its consumers and relevant governmental players:
Pride: The GMA took something that didn’t exist and made it successful, changing the face of public transport in Gauteng — a proudly South African project rooted in South Africa. Even though a lot of the skills and expertise originally came from foreign companies and individuals, the GMA wanted the ownership of the Gautrain to be inherently South African, according to Ramalepa, and this has been achieved.
Relationships: At the time of its inception, many people raised concerns that it wouldn’t work. This created a need for the GMA to build solid relationships with not only concessionaires but also government and the community. Ramalepa says it’s incredibly important to get community buy-in with a project like this, which is why the brand continues to push the “For people on the move” positioning in all their marketing communications.
Freedom: The proof here is how the busiest Gautrain routes are Centurion to Park Station in the morning, and Rosebank to Centurion in the afternoons. The Gautrain has given those people forced to travel from the north to the south of Gauteng, and vice versa, an alternative to sitting in traffic. From studies, Jensen shares that, by using public transport, one can save up to 11 days a year that would otherwise be spent sitting in a car.
As a brand that positions itself as being for the people, it’s important for the GMA team to continuously add value to users. This is done by partnering with relevant companies to keep the Gautrain top of mind in different situations. Partnerships include Discovery Insure (fewer car accidents to pay out), Gallagher Estate, DStv Delicious, and the Radisson Gautrain Hotel. Media partnerships include Tiso Blackstar Events, with the Sunday Times Goodlife Gautrain Taste Experience and Leaders on the Move.
Lifestyle choice
The primary marketing focus is to position the Gautrain as a lifestyle choice. The team strives for the Gautrain to be a part of any discussion that’s happening around the table; at the same time, much of the communication is about the train’s impact, with “time is money” being the key focus. From 2020, a core strategy will also be spreading an environmental impact message and boosting existing environmental management SMMEs doing great work, helping them grow. For a brand as big as this, Jensen believes these issues must be talked about and responsibility taken for the environment.
“We’re a very ambitious team of people, so a lot of the work that we do is mostly done internally,” says Jensen. While all strategy, ideas and conceptualisation is done in-house, Flow Communications runs social media, IWW handles creative execution, Meltwater and Newsclip covers media monitoring, and Catalyst does research.
It’s a process to manage a brand of this size and perception audits are important to determine people’s opinions and the value they place on the brand — the right research gives Jensen and her team scientific means to manage its reputation.
“Something else that we do in research, which we find important as well from a reputational management point of view, is our brand valuation. It’s not an analysis or an evaluation of the brand but we actually put a monetary value to the brand. We did this mainly to negotiate partnerships and what we get out of [them] but also for us to get an idea of what the rand value of the brand is actually worth. Currently, it’s standing at R293 000 000, an increase of 18% from the first brand valuation,” says Jensen.
Proposed build
Currently, the GMA is working with the Department of Roads and Transport on extending the service and has submitted a feasibility study to National Treasury. Once that has been approved, it can begin the preliminary works and then be able to advise on a deadline. The proposed build will have 19 stations and will be double the current route in terms of distances, covering each of the four corners of Gauteng and finally linking places such as Fourways, Mamelodi, Boksburg and Soweto.
According to Jensen, the Gautrain team follows what the Paris Metro, New York Underground, and London Underground are doing in order to learn and improve its own services, even though it’s difficult to compare the services and number of people per day of these well-established, 150–200-years-old systems. Bombela Operating Company operates the Gautrain service, with one of the largest shareholders being RATP Dev (Régie Autonome des Transports Parisiens, the same company that operates public transport in Paris). The GMA is also a member of Global Air Rail Alliance (GARA), which works with air link systems that connect cities to airports.
A big learning Jensen believes is going to be relevant in the near future is understanding how the London Underground manages to keep various transport services independent while sticking to a very strict branding guidelines set by government. This is important for the GMA, as it’s something on the horizon with the Gauteng Transport Authority Act, a new legislation that will force Gautrain, BRT (Bus Rapid Transport System), Metrorail and Metrobus to comply with the same branding.
“What they’re trying to do with the act is… trying to stabilise and integrate different public transport modes in Gauteng. Previously, there was no one body that did it; everybody did their own thing in terms of ‘this is my route and this is where I am going to stick’. There wasn’t an overarching body,” says Jensen, who is concerned about the ability for the Gautrain to differentiate itself now that the act has been promulgated.
“It’s not just a train”
When asked what top lessons Jensen has learnt personally in her nine years working at GMA, she says: “You need to stay focused on the purpose of what you’re doing and stay focused on the fact that Gautrain is there to enhance social economic development. It’s not just a train — you can find public transport anywhere — but Gautrain makes a difference in people’s lives. And for me, focusing on that and staying humble around it has been a huge lesson.”
“#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.
by Bobby Amm. There has been much publicity and controversy recently around the new Copyright and Performers’ Protection Amendment Bills, which have already been approved by parliament and are now awaiting the signature of the president, Cyril Ramaphosa, before they become law.
Groups on both sides of the debate are vigorously lobbying the president’s office in an attempt to influence his final decision and to determine what happens next. At the moment, the big question is: will the bills be passed or will Ramaphosa send them back for additional impact assessment and redrafting?
Manifold and complex
The issues of contention contained within the two bills are manifold and complex, and they affect a wide variety of industries in South Africa, most significantly the creative industries. Coalition groups of authors, publishing houses, sound engineers, musicians, filmmakers, scriptwriters, actors and animators (among others) have been meeting with copyright lawyers and other experts to discuss the potential impact of the bills. The international community, which is seeking to increase investment in SA, has also voiced concerns that the bills limit the creative sector’s ability to protect their rights, thereby substantially weakening SA’s internal and export markets for creative content.
We at the CPA have been interested to find out how the bills in their current form will impact on the advertising sector, and have engaged with attorneys and lobbyists to establish just what’s at stake:
Advertising agencies and clients, as owners of copyright, are more impacted by the new bills than production companies, which are essentially commissioned to make commercials but cede copyright once the commercial has been paid for in full.
The copyright bill introduces the “fair use” principle to SA which, in effect, allows for the free use of copyrighted content. The concept comes from the US, where allowance is made in certain instances to circumvent copyright protections and republish or rebroadcast content; however, the SA application differs in that it omits the considerable punitive damages that US courts can implement in copyright infringement cases. As a result, there’s hardly any risk for local offenders, which will place all content at increased risk. Tech giants are encouraging these changes to legislation to enable free access to content that they currently have to pay for.
They aim to increase the “value gap”, which describes the growing mismatch between the value that some digital platforms (online user upload services such as You Tube) extract from content (films and music) and the revenue returned to those who create and invest in this content.
The copyright bill introduces a new concept of “royalties” which are now payable to certain co-creators of content. According to the bill, a royalty means “the gross profit made on the exploitation of the work”. These co-creators are divided into three categories:
Literary or musical works (writers, copyrighters, composers etc)
Visual artistic works (photographers, animators, visual effects etc)
Audio-visual works, including cinematograph films — performersThe bill doesn’t say how these royalties are to be determined but it does indicate that, using the example of performers, they “shall be determined in a written agreement in the prescribed manner and form, between the performer and the copyright owner or between their respective collecting societies” and further “where the performer and copyright owner cannot agree on the performer’s share of the royalty, the performer or copyright owner may refer the matter to the Tribunal for an order determining the performer’s share of the royalty”.
Prevents
The bill prevents copyright owners from contracting outside of the legislation (ie asking co-creators to include future royalty claims in their initial fees) and, more incredibly, the details of how these royalty payments will be calculated and paid to the relevant co-creators. The bill proposes the establishment of “collecting societies” which have yet to be established, thereby potentially delaying payments which will be due, if the legislation is passed, for many years to come. To make the situation even more tricky, there is currently limited understanding of what the definition of “royalty” means — for example, will advertisers need to pay these royalties and, if so, how will the “gross profit made on the exploitation of the work” be extrapolated and applied?
All this uncertainty doesn’t bode well for producers of films and television commercials as they are currently unable to assess the costs and risks involved. It’s clear that the legislation hasn’t been well thought-out from a practical point of view and little consideration has been paid to the cost implications. These incalculable royalty payments could increase the cost of producing commercials in SA and increase the risks of the copyright owners.
Another unintended consequence is that the bills could act as a strong disincentive to foreign investors in film and advertising, who won’t feel comfortable that they’re able to manage their budgets effectively and confidently plan for the future.
Join the lobby
If the bills are passed in the coming weeks, advertising agencies and production companies will need to take legal advice on how to move forward when it comes to contracting with co-creators. If they are sent back for redrafting, our representatives will need a seat at the table to ensure that our interests are protected going forward. We must all urgently join the lobby to push back against legislation that, although well-intentioned, will ultimately do more harm than good.
Bobby Amm is chief executive of the Commercial Producers Association of South Africa (CPA), the trade association of production companies that produce television, cinema and internet commercials for the local and international market. After a brief stint in journalism, she began her career in the industry at the Consultative Committee for the Entertainment Industry in the early 1990s. She first joined the CPA in 1997 but left three years later to join a production company. After finding that she missed the big-picture perspective of the CPA and the interesting issues which continuously perplex the production industry, Bobby returned to the CPA in 2003. She contributes “The Martini Shot” column monthly, covering developments, trends and insights into the commercial production and film services industries in South Africa, to MarkLives.
After starting at Unilever in a classical marketing role, Erna George (@edgeo23) explored the agency side of life, first as a partner at Fountainhead Design, followed by the manic and inspiring world of consultancy at Added Value. She has returned to client-side, leading the marketing team in the Cereals, Accompaniments & Baking Division at Pioneer Foods. Her monthly “Fair Exchange” column on MarkLives concerns business relationships and partnerships in marketing and brandland.
