The Martini Shot: Revisiting the fundamentals of production

by Bobby Amm. With all the flux and change that’s going on in the advertising production sector, it’s good to revisit every now and again the international benchmarks on which commercials are made. A clear understanding of expectations and good synergy between the client, agency and production company are key to the success of any project.

Ten points

Here are 10 points for all parties to contemplate.

1. Meeting clients’ objectives

First and foremost, it’s essential that clients’ objectives be met as the goal of commercial production is to deliver the highest standards of technical and artistic quality to clients within their expectations of cost, time and policy. To achieve this, it’s vital that all of the client expectations are realistic, fair, fully disclosed and well-contemplated from the outset of the project.

2. A common vision for all parties

Sometimes misaligned expectations are the root of all problems that may arise on a production. All parties involved in the process should be encouraged to voice concerns, raise issues and debate solutions to ensure consensus and the achievement of a common vision.

3. Non-disclosure both ways

Non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) are becoming the norm for agencies and clients when embarking on a new project or campaign. NDAs should be reciprocal as the production company’s approach, bidding information and intellectual enhancements are specific to that project.

4. Bidding protocol

Before a project is put out to bid, it should be signed off by the client and a maximum of three production companies should be invited to bid. The companies invited to bid should be advised of other companies bidding as this helps to shape expectations and the desired outcomes. If the agency or clients want to invite more than three bids, the production companies involved should be informed in advance so that it may decide if it’s worth its while to participate in the process.

If the project hasn’t been signed off by the client and doesn’t go into production, production companies involved in the process should be able to charge a fee for the time and resources they have invested. In South Africa, this “pitching fee” is currently R20 000 per company invited to bid.

5. A written contract

To ensure a clear understanding of what the production company is producing for the ad agency, the production company should be contracted in writing. The contract should establish the rights and responsibilities of the parties and set out the expectation of the parties. The contract should provide for a mediation or arbitration process in respect of disputes that arise under it.

6. Fixed bid or cost-plus?

Production companies should either be contracted on a fixed bid or cost-plus basis. Under a fixed bid, the production company accepts all of the risk of the production (with the exception of some items the agency has elected to cover) and the fee remains the same, ie a fixed amount.

When there are many unknown variables that make it difficult to estimate the cost of a job, the agency or the production company may recommend using the “cost-plus” method. Under cost-plus, the agency pays the actual cost of making the commercial (which may be more or less that the original estimate) and a predetermined production fee (usually a percentage “markup” on the best estimate of costs). In each of these scenarios, both entities are protected from prices that can’t accurately be estimated.

Under either system, there should be a payment schedule that is agreed to and guaranteed by all parties involved, recognising that timeous payment is part of the contract.

7. Upfront payment

A significant portion of the budget (50% in SA) should be paid upfront to the production company at least seven days prior to the first shoot day. This is because some of the budget must be paid out prior to the commencement of the project or shortly thereafter to ensure all commitments are met.

8. Interest on late payments

Contracts should include that interest is payable if the agency fails to pay the production company in accordance with the contract. This is to reflect the fact that the production company will have to finance the production for the personnel and equipment it’s paid for or committed to. The rate of interest, and when it is due, should be clearly set out in advance.

9. Cancellation and postponement provisions

Unfortunately, cancellation and postponement of projects do happen and, as such, the provisions for cancellation and postponement should be agreed upon in advance so that, in the event of such, the production company may be paid all the costs it’s committed to, as well as the fees and markups that fairly compensate the production company for the work performed, time committed or other opportunities lost.

10. Choice of suppliers

As the production company is responsible for the services the supplier provides and, ultimately, the finished product, the production company should have full control of choosing its suppliers, including service and facilities companies. The production company can’t be held responsible for the output of suppliers selected by the agency, as may be required by certain products or brand specifications.

•~•~•

While many of these points may seem obvious, they’re sometimes overlooked or ignored completely which may result in frustration and a breakdown in the process. If production companies are to deliver on their mandate to marketers and their agencies to deliver a finished product, in which their artistry, unique skills and specialised talent fully realise the potential of the creative idea and breathes life into a marketing concept, then it’s important that the fundamental principles aren’t overlooked.

 

Bobby AmmBobby 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.

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An Accountant in Adland: Learnings from industry events [S1 E3]

by Siwe Thusi (@Siwe_Thusi) For many of us, attending industry events may be an awkward experience, mostly because we battle with internalised imposter syndrome and the pressure to say something smart or strike up that small-talk conversation using big words. To network or to be one with the catering table? It’s a marvel to watch. Anyway, I attended two events recently, and ruminate here on what I learnt.

The humans at an industry event

The AMASA Ignite Forum Discussion, with Gareth Cliff, Kojo Baffoe and Nedbank’s Tatiana Ndlovu on the panel, fueled my fascination with the relationship between marketing and advertising. Where does marketing start and where does it end, as marketing work continues to subtly spill onto the advertising agency’s plate?

Strategist brain

Scope of work is probably the best place to start. One thing that sticks out for me is the undertone of frustration that must exist for a newbie in advertising. For example, writing speeches for clients is the last thing most strategists imagine they would be doing but these are the briefs that come in. Comms are comms, right, and a speech is essentially a script, which does fall into our scope of work as advertisers, if we’re reaching for a justification?

What I’ve found, though, is that we advertisers are constantly using value-adds to try and justify that original pitch win, going beyond what is stipulated (cue: proactive) to prove our worth. But what this does tend to do is blur the lines of who is supposed to do what.

A comment from an audience member at the Ignite event was quite interesting: “Distrust is a big thing that has come to the fore, where clients (marketers) and agencies don’t trust each other.”

I thought to myself: “I can see where that could come from.”

Pitch contracts are a guide to what needs to be done by both. Pitch documents are a proxy of what needs to be done to move the business’s profit-margin ability to create value, and the distrust could come from things not being clear.

I also realised that industry think-tank events or discussions are also awkward because of the callout culture that rears its head there. Marketers should be doing this; agencies should be doing this. This all ends up being a creation of smoke and mirrors, where no one can pinpoint the actual problem.

Accountant brain

Wait, wait, wait. But this is what we BOTH are: we are business partners to businesses. Businesses that are finding their way and finding their future, a task which requires both marketers and agencies to stop answering existing questions and to figure out the new questions that we need to ask. The ‘I’m not paid to think; I’m paid to do numbers/write’ attitudes at industry events aren’t going to lead businesses into the future. (Also, when did thinking/doing numbers/writing become mutually exclusive?)

And… while the war between marketers and agencies at industry events rages on… consultancies like PWC and Accenture are doing audits for clients and showing them how ineffective communications currently are to the business bottom-line. This is how they will win in the fourth industrial revolution. Because consultants sell you on performance, and this is what matters to businesses.

The humans at a Super Bowl event

Every year at my agency, we’re treated to a really cool star-spangled banner event for clients and staff at which we freely give our South African opinions of US ads. There’s a room full of industry veterans and industry newbies alike who, without the titles, are just humans who appreciate ads and are vocal about them. This becomes very interesting in terms of resonance and is a proof-point of how advertising has made the Super Bowl a global event.

Strategist brain

The reason that the Super Bowl is the Super Bowl is because of the ‘eyeballs of everybody’ — not just some interested in football but everybody interested in the Super Bowl property. The game, the performance, the ads. My realisation was that a sport (American football) holds US advertising accountable for the quality of work it puts out. I wondered what would happen if, in South Africa, we had a sporting event very year that held advertising to that same standard.

Maybe the last time we came close to something like that was the 2010 FIFA World Cup, but how many moons will we wait for an event of that magnitude to come around again? In addition, we still have such a split of eyeballs in this country and the one place where that is evident IS sports.

My favourite Super Bowl work in recent years has been Tide (“It’s A Tide Ad”) and Volvo. Why? Because it was highly strategic for work to literally play with our eyeballs. Either making us look for something (Tide) or look away from something (Volvo). Yes, the entertainment value is key, but what are you telling me to do and how are you holding my eyeballs captive for 30 seconds?

Super Bowl: If creativity is a muscle, shouldn’t we be working it more than once a year? is an article headline by current head of strategy of BBH LA, Agathe Guerrier; she made me realise that not having a big event like the Super Bowl in SA is a saving grace when she wrote that “keeping creative excellence, big ideas and big budgets, for just one moment in the year has led to advertising not practising those qualities more often.”

I think, in SA, we practice how we play. We don’t suddenly hide all our creative superpowers and bring them out to gear up for that one event. We are an always-on machine; every brief “is the year’s best creative opportunity”.

There was a very evident underwhelmed audience commentary at our agency event which could attest to Guerrier’s theory — this year’s Super Bowl was the worst performing in terms of good work and audience interest. We can’t work a muscle in the same way once in a while and expect it to do well.

Accountant brain

According to an article by Net Imperative, the 2019 Super Bowl in-game expenditure number was US$382m. This would be the third-largest amount in history, trailing only the 2017 and 2018 games. There was a total of 49 minutes, 45 seconds of national commercial time from paying sponsors, the NFL and CBS-owned networks. Taking the exchange rate of around R14.44 to the US dollar at the time of writing, that’s a R5.5bn dent in the combined Super Bowl marketing budgets of the brands that were showcased. Audience size divided by media cost would give you some idea of what the value of underwhelmed eyeballs was.

Next time on An Accountant in Adland…

The past weeks have been filled with pitches at the agency I’m currently at, involvement in a music album launch and trips to Pretoria. All are a curious case of people and behaviours, and those “wow, that’s different” thoughts.

But that’s a Cannes of words for Episode 4.

 

Siwelile ThusiSiwelile Thusi (@Siwe_Thusi) is a qualified South African chartered-accountant-turned-creative-strategist at FCB Africa and a working photographer. Since mid-2015, she’s been in strategic planning, working on some of South Africa’s big brands in different categories and industries in the ATL space. She contributes the monthly column “An Accountant in Adland” — exploring where, when and how the two ‘disciplines’ overlap… and why they should! — to MarkLives.com.

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Fair Exchange: Mind the gap — passion, commitment & knowledge

by Erna George (@edgeo23) I’m deeply concerned by those who don’t possess the hunger to progress (and progress doesn’t always mean being promoted); I’m even more concerned by those who want to be progressed without being willing to prove their mettle and value. Non-action is almost that much worse for me.

Working with the agency to get a good activation idea but not communicating it internally or leaving amplification messaging/channels too late? Halfway job. Interviewing for the same role a second time and not showing movement vs the criteria shared with you for judging good marketers in the first interview? Disinterested or overconfident.

I’ve often said that relevance and staying connected are critical to success in marketing. Without a broader interest in the people and the world around, being a great marketer is a challenge. The behaviours I have most-often observed that become barriers are:

  1. The passion gap (no reference to the colloquial meaning in the Western Cape!)
  2. The commitment gap
  3. The knowledge gap

The passion gap

If passionate about a subject or anything, people will be engaged in learning and doing. People who are passionate about what they’re working on, or what they do, will find a way to connect with agencies, colleagues, customers and consumers to help them develop skills, resolve snags and move ahead; they want to find ways to grow in their chosen profession. Not only this, they will drive the agenda for this growth — set goals and set about achieving these. There’s greater self-reliance in getting ahead but the connection to others is not left by the wayside.

Once I had a person on my team who refused to connect. Whether it was low self-confidence, fear or arrogance, they stayed in their silo and their progress was stymied. I even remember the day when someone from another brand team, who’d joined a few months earlier, popped by and knew everyone by name except the ‘silo-person’.

While it’s not only about being known (although networking is critical), in this case it’s about being connected to people who have access to another perspective, to the heartbeat of the organisation, so you may be relevant and have a 360-degree view of the context. If you’re not known for your drive, no new or exciting projects will come your way.

Passion is a reflection that something is important to someone and this means you will do the basics, such as budgets and post-launch monitors, with as much fervour as the more-glitzy stuff, and time will fly because you are having fun. It’s about motivation and means fewer clock watchers who arrive at 8.30am, take lunch for an hour and leave promptly at 4.55pm — and this behaviour really only is noticed when your delivery is mediocre. Being motivated leads to commitment and time will be less of a barrier.

The commitment gap

Now I want to be clear that, when I reference commitment, I am not meaning loyalty. Loyalty is for friendship, marriage and labradors — all important stuff but not necessarily for every workplace. My view is that loyalty may be fraught with very emotional and romantic views, and may result in unrealistic expectations and feelings getting hurt. Commitment is a clearer two-way street; there is something in it for each party.

In return for your commitment on the job, you get (or should request) training, access to knowledge and experience. It makes the relationship more equitable. Keep the rational in play as, when things go wrong and, heaven forbid, the business is forced to retrench, you must know what you did get out.

It means that there’ll be a transactional element to your career but, if you have a stake in something, you often give something very worthwhile (and memorable) in return (think personal branding). Businesses often can’t be loyal to every employee in the same way, especially when the chips are down, so keep your eye on the deal but behave like the best. By giving ‘the right stuff’ (even offering to capture the minutes of the marketing forum or doing the co-ordination for the team sales presentation), you can ask for more — more exposure to consumers, more invites to the table on big meaty brand discussions. Show your contribution and it’s often reflected in how the business responds to you and your growth.

Your choice: loyal lapdog or being committed to the long-term growth game called your career?

The knowledge gap

My critical challenge is those in marketing who are arrogant enough to think they know better. Those who fill their backpack with one-dimensional experiences: working one category only for years on end, only shining in activations or only perking up when it’s social media posts review time.

When you can only reference one category for portfolio strategy discussions or talk incessantly of ‘when you worked at Company Y on Brand Z who is the best at social…’, shoot me now (or, rather, your career).

Arrogance is the killer of curiosity and progress. Stretch your mind; read more; explore more; and never think that it’s enough. Are you reading new articles on LinkedIn? Who are you following? When last did you do trade and consumer in-home visits? Are you learning new marketing skills via some formal or informal platform? Without a yes to some or even one of these, be worried about your relevance to the marketing industry.

It is scary; you have to be humble to learn or admit you don’t know. And, if you still believe you know more, consider at least asking more questions in meetings so at least we don’t meet your arrogance at the doorframe. Many do only pay lip-service to wanting to learn and I recommend you tread carefully on this road, as those with great learnings to share don’t appreciate their time being wasted.

All in all, this is about action and reflection of the place you want to one day be. Now, reflecting on where you want to be is not acting as if you’re in charge; it’s about:

  • Reflecting passions and chutzpa to take on what needs to be done — sitting back is good enough if you want to stay (comfortably) put
  • Being committed to the purpose — your progress + business wins = YOUR win
  • Learning with a curiosity that is second to none extending categories, brands, media and people into new spaces

Mind the gap! You don’t often see it if you’ve too little experience, or you don’t see it coming if you’ve lots of experience yet are too disconnected to the broader marketing and consumer world.

 

Erna GeorgeAfter 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.

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#AdForumSummit LA: Clients wants media back in creative agencies

by Johanna McDowell (@jomcdowell) LOS ANGELES: Day 4 of AdForum Worldwide Summit Los Angeles was very varied and a chance to see much more of LA. One of the special things about these trips are the cities we visit, and LA is no exception. It is a sprawling city, quite flat apart from the hills surrounding it. It also has the largest port in the US, which we saw later in the day when we went aboard the 1935-built liner, The Queen Mary, now retired from service and used for events, hotel stays and conferences.

MullenLowe Group LA

We saw this agency three years back when we visited LA on the second leg of the 2016 AdForum Worldwide Summit in New York, and it is even better and has grown a great deal since then. It’s a smart agency that provides a “cheat sheet” at the start of the meeting so that we know the agenda and the people who will be speaking to us, etc —an obvious communication piece that so many agencies forget.

In the US, MullenLowe has grown from US$80m to US$186m in the past 10 years. It believes in:

  • Culture
  • Craft
  • Clients who become partners

We were shown some wonderful creative work for American Greeting Cards, Burger King (asking Wendy to the Prom), and The Hidden Flag, the LGBTQ social campaign in Russia.

MullenLowe’s commitment to hyper-bundling has paid off, especially with its Media Hub — bearing in mind that 67% of clients (globally) wants to see media back in the creative agencies, according to the AgencyScope study. Media Hub has really pushed MullenLowe forward in this area.

[Full disclosure: Scopen Africa was launched in South Africa in 2016 in partnership with the Independent Agency Search & Selection Company (IAS). IAS now owns 26% of Scopen Africa (Grupo Consultores Africa). The IAS, in association with the AAR Group (UK), was founded in SA in 2006.*]

With creativity in media being more important than ever before, MullenLowe Media Hub deviates from traditional media talent to harness unique perspectives. Its goal is to “pierce culture”.

It went into some detail around its methodologies, which have all been tried and tested and its examples of Netflix (Santa Clarita Diet) and female affluents in US and China were proof-points.

Popping Culture — where PR comes in via the hyperbundling with SALT. We heard about “cultural news jacking” and the case study of Jet Blue’s Pie in the Sky campaign.

We also heard about the car brand, Acura: launching a luxe brand to millennials while being outspent 5:1.

Profero, the digital arm of MullenLowe, was founded in London in 1997 and has 11 offices in the world, alongside some of the MullenLowe offices.

YETI is the production studio that was set up by MullenLowe and it provides full production facilities for the agency in-house. A whole floor is devoted to production and it has succeeded in producing top-quality work on all platforms at speed and at prices that clients welcome, especially given the amount of content that’s needed these days. It’s also built a test kitchen within the studio which can accommodate all its food clients’ photographic needs.

An excellent first start to the day, with nothing left to chance, including a wonderful breakfast!

The Shipyard

This is an agency with offices in Columbus, Ohio, and in Southern California. Appropriately, this took place on the Queen Mary — a clever choice of venue for this meeting — well done to the agency for stepping out.

Focused on data and creativity, the agency is results-driven, to the extent of including the results highlights in its “cheat sheet”. An important insight: “In the end, data is only valuable if it is organised.” We have heard this said before and we do wonder how much data has been organised over the years — biggest headache.

Interestingly, its client service lead is an ex-client from a financial services organisation, who shared some insights from that experience of having a large in-house marketing department plus agency relationships.

Agency Mania and Scopen workshops

We had a brief interlude between agencies with some input from Bruno Galpois of Agency Mania and César Vacchiano of Scopen, who shared data with us about clients and what they are looking for with agencies, where the relationships matter, etc. All of this data and learnings really helps us as consultants to navigate the agency/client world more efficiently.

And then there was another long drive back to the final destination of the day in Venice, LA: a charmingly pretty place next to Santa Monica. More on that tomorrow.

See also

*Disclosure updated at 2pm on 16 April 2019.

 

Johanna McDowellJohanna McDowell (@jomcdowell) is managing director of the Independent Agency Search and Selection Company (IAS), which is partnered with the AAR Group in the UK. She will be presenting detailed and in-depth reports and case studies on each agency from this 2019 AdForum Summit at her masterclass presentation in Johannesburg in May.

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#Marketers: Charl Bassil — the making of a marketer

by Carey Finn (@carey_finn) “It starts in Lebanon,” says Charl Bassil, vice-president of global marketing for premium vodka brand, Absolut, of his own story. “And it’s an important part of the story, because a lot of it is about reconciling multiple identities.” Having recently relocated to Stockholm, Sweden, to take up his position at Absolut, Bassil previously served as marketing director* of Pernod Ricard SA for nearly six years, following over a decade at SABMiller.

“Bridge between cultures”

Bassil’s father moved to South Africa after World War II, settling in Klerksdorp. It was there that he met Charl’s mother, also of Lebanese descent, and together they worked in agriculture. Bassil, an only child, was born in 1973, growing up in a large migrant community which, he says, was a key factor in the formation of his own identity: “When you’re the bridge between cultures, you feel like you have to work harder to prove yourself.”

Some people know they want to be in marketing from the get-go. Others find themselves there after sowing a few different career seeds. Bassil falls into the latter camp. An engineer who once dabbled in logistics and distribution, one thing that’s defined his work throughout is his propensity to nurture — both people and brands.

Having excelled in school, Bassil thought that a degree in mechanical engineering might unleash a mathematician or scientist that waited within. While he graduated cum laude, what Wits University brought out was a keen interest in SA politics — and making a difference. Walking away from an opportunity in mining for a post in production management at Procter & Gamble, Bassil found himself increasingly gravitating towards service. His support for striking workers landed him in hot water with management, but the loyalty it earned from his team helped them break line-efficiency records, and gave him his “first taste of winning when you work for people”.

Imposter syndrome

Fast-forward a couple of years and Bassil had followed recommendations to move into the logistics and distribution side of the business, before joining Bain & Company as a consultant in 1999. After battling a bout of imposter syndrome, he came to realise that “even if you come from a small town, from a small school — it’s up to you to define yourself.” He says that a year spent in London as part of the job opened his eyes to the chronic underestimation of abilities that South Africans, though relentless in their pursuit of professional goals, seem to face within themselves. “We think that, because we’re from the tip of Africa, people in London and New York know better than us, and I soon realised that wasn’t the case.”

2002 saw Bassil start a new position at then SAB, as executive assistant to the chairman, fellow Lebanese South African, Norman Adami. After a year under Adami’s tutelage, he was encouraged to move into marketing, an area of business likened to farming by his boss. The role, he was told, required nurturing — and Bassil, as his success with Castle Lager would show, was a nurturer.

Headhunted by Pernod Ricard SA, Bassil’s achievements at his next workplace included building up the marketing team from 9 to 42 staff members, introducing consumer insights at the core of the business, relaunching several brands, among them Absolut, and winning Marketer of the Year at the 2016 IAB Bookmark Awards, testament to his ability to bring about growth through hard, people-oriented work.

Absolut One Source

“It was quite tough to get the global team’s support for Absolut,” Bassil says. “We were seen as mavericks in the beginning, but we hit on this idea of one source in terms of the product, and one source in terms of Africa being the source of all humanity, and launched the One Source Absolut campaign, which won Gold at the Cannes Lions, and did very well for us a business, taking the brand from 16 000 to 110 000 cases.” That achievement, he said, caught people’s attention, and an invitation to head up Absolut’s marketing team followed.

Moving to Sweden with his family has brought home the realisation that, though bridging cultures may be challenging, one’s experience as an outsider may allow connection on a deeper level, he says. According to Bassil, authentic connection is one of the things that he enjoys most about marketing — making his new role an excellent fit. “What’s really attractive about Absolut, as a brand, is its inclusiveness, its philosophy of creating a more open world.”

Bassil’s position sees him leading a core team of 50 staff members spread across the globe, and one of his goals, he says, is to “nurture this tribe to be seen as the marketing team that everyone wants to work with”. He plans to make sure their work continues to be seen as something meaningful that adds value to consumers, and is respected by the creative community. At the same time, he will be looking to boost the commercial success of the brand, particularly in its stronghold in the US, where he says it is are experiencing headwinds from competitors and other product categories.

“Message of positivity”

“I’d like to leave a legacy that says, as a brand, we’ve made the world slightly better, either through our sustainable operations, or through the message of positivity that we’re spreading. In a world that’s increasingly divided and polarised, I think there’s a need for more positive messages — not cheesy messages, but real, authentic ones, around what happens when diverse people come together. When you open your table and make everyone feel welcome, really great things can happen.”

See also

*Corrected at 0.09am on 16 April 2019. We regret the error.

 

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. She is a a contributing writer to MarkLives.com

MarkLives profiles South African marketers in its regular #Marketers column.

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#Campaigns: #ThisIsGlugGlug

by MarkLives (@marklives) This week we feature insight into the brief, creative idea, production challenges and results of the “#ThisIsGlugGlug” campaign for Sasol from FCB Joburg.

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Client: Sasol
Ad agency: FCB Joburg
Title: #ThisIsGlugGlug

Information supplied by FCB Joburg.

 

Brief

The South African retail trading climate has evolved at a swift rate over the last 10 years. With increased urbanisation, digitalisation and globalisation, a high and sophisticated level of competitiveness and increased consumer power of choice has been established.

The retail fuel forecourts and convenience channels are operating in an extremely competitive landscape. Switching costs from one fuel station to another is low for the customer expecting high levels of service and offerings, leading to a very low loyalty threshold for fuel brands. Low switching costs and high expectations gave rise to exclusive grocery/food partnerships with fuel retailers. Competitor activity is symptomatic of the increased number of well-established partnerships between oil companies and retailers.

Recognising that the country’s fuel market has moved toward the introduction of more stringent clean-fuel standards, through its technology innovation hub, Sasol Energy employs its technological knowledge to develop products for a constantly changing market and has been successful at producing world-standard products fit-for-use in the market place.

Creative summary

It was no small task for FCB Joburg to develop a campaign for a global brand such as Sasol. With a tip of the hat to the advertising legends of decades gone by, FCB Joburg borrowed some of the magic that it had brought to life for Sasol in 1991 from a commercial with a little boy, his dog and a toy sports car… Glug-Glug.

Sasol has so many technical attributes that make it a superior fuel. Today, we remind people who know us about the magic of Glug-Glug and we introduce Glug-Glug to a new generation of South Africans. It is hugely exciting and a massive privilege to be part of this story. — Ahmed Tilly, FCB Joburg chief creative officer.

Resources

Start: 3 April 2019, to run for three months.
Media:

  • DStv, SABC, ENCA, e.tv
  • Sasol social media
  • Outdoor – billboards and street poles

Production

Star Films

FCB Joburg Sasol #ThisIsGlugGlug TVC screengrab collage 1“When we saw the script, it was love at first sight — a delightful story about a little girl who believes in the power of magic,” says Ashley Kadish, Star Films producer. “The biggest challenge for us was finding the perfect little girl. We needed someone who was young enough to still believe in magic, to be endearing and enchanting, but at the same time she needed to have insight into what the commercial was all about and to understand the deeper mechanics of the script. It was to be a challenge to expect a seven-year-old to be able to perform consistently over three days. We got lucky and found the perfect little diva. By the end of the three days, she had us all eating out of the palm of her hand.

“Time was also a big concern for us. According to South African labour laws, we could only have our lead little girl on set for a certain amount of hours and, as she was in every scene, we needed to have worked out each scenario in exact detail before the shoot even began.”

Continues Kadish: “Another challenge for us was the availability of the Bayana Bayana team [South Africa women’s national football team, sponsored by Sasol — ed-at-large] and, as they were not available for our shoot dates, we set up a studio shoot prior to the actual shoot to capture the strikers in position interacting with the little girl and the crowds. Obviously this was done ‘in the cold’ and the director once again needed to work out exactly how the action would play out on the final shoot day at FNB Stadium. The Bayana Bayana team were filmed against a green background in a studio, with very little to play off. Once we got to post-production, we recreated the stadium in 3D and married the two separate shots seamlessly together. We shot 75 people in the actual stadium and then, in post production, layered them, along with 3D people to make the stadium look full and alive.”

“With the help of an amazing post-production team, the commercial looks seamless and effortless. We had a lot of fun working on this project, and are very excited to see the final product up on our screens.”

Left Post Productions

FCB Joburg Sasol #ThisIsGlugGlug TVC screengrab collage 2“I enjoyed working on Sasol, particularly because I enjoy working with Tebza [Tebogo Malope],” says Saki Bergh, Left Post Productions senior film editor and owner . “He really understands filmmaking and what you need to shoot to tell a story. He collaborates well, so we started talking about the ad long before it was shot so, by the time I started editing, I was not catching up.

“An added bonus on this project was a trailer that Tebza shot on 16mm film of the little girl in the main TVC to show how big an imagination she has — working with film again that had such a unique look was great. I had to frame-cut to help make it even more magical and imaginative.

“Working with a creative director with such integrity and talent like Ahmed made the process a pleasure and enjoyable,” concludes Bergh.

Credits

Client

Sasol
Sasol retail marketing
Energy retail VP: Mohamed Carrim
Marketing & sales services manager: Audrey Jones
Marketing & communication specialist: Tracy Roberts
Communication & stakeholder specialist: Leonilda Koster

Agency

FCB Joburg
Business unit director: Struan de Bellelay-Bourquin
Account director: Leandra Rajcoomar
Chief creative officer: Ahmed Tilly
Associate creative director: Bonginkosi Luvuno
Copywriters: Yenani Madikwa, Nhlanhla Ngcobo
Art director: Fezi Mpembe
Strategic planner: Kabelo Lehlongwane
TV producer: Iolanthe Grobler

Production

Production company: Star Films
Director: Tebogo Malope
Producer: Ashley Kadish
Executive producers: Adam Thal, Ksenija Strydom
DOP: Adam Bentel
Art director: Dimitri Repanis
Editor: Saki Bergh
Post-production: Left Post Production, Geppetto’s Workshop

 

 

MarkLives logo#Campaigns is the new weekly MarkLives column featuring insight into the brief, creative idea, production challenges and results of South African communication campaigns, both ongoing and recent. Have a campaign worthy of being featured in #Campaigns? Submit a short motivation to 2mark and we may well be in touch. Please include links to campaign material, when it ran/is running and why you believe it should be featured.

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#AdForumSummit LA: New industry player to change things up

by Johanna McDowell (@jomcdowell) LOS ANGELES: There are always some good surprises at AdForum Worldwide Summits and, by that, I mean when an unexpectedly good agency suddenly becomes known to us pitch consultants for something unique. On Day 3, Wednesday, 10 April 2019, this happened twice.

Team One

AdForum Worldwide Summit logoFirst up was Team One, an agency within the Saatchi & Saatchi division of the Publicis Groupe. This is a full-service agency for premium brands, with 500 people all based in offices in North America.

Team One has a proprietary multiyear study of the Global Affluent Tribe, which it runs in order to understand the values and behaviours of this influential group it studies in US and in European countries. With offices in LA, Dallas, New York City, Chicago and Atlanta, Team One is ensuring its unique position with this particular target audience or tribe — and, of course, will be able to roll campaigns out globally as the need arises.

We learned about XR (extended VR) and we were exposed to case studies for Ritz Carlton, Lexus, Lexus Plus, Haagen Dazs, Indian Ink, The WhateverParty, and Little Bits. It is looking to increase its client portfolio with luxury brands in categories such as home, beverage, health, electronics and ecommerce. We encouraged it to be specific in its intent regarding the particular luxury brands that it would pursue.

It has maintained a strong independence within the Publicis Groupe due to its unique offering. We saw some excellent creative work for this sophisticated audience but we learned that it’s not only about luxury brands; it’s equally important to understand the goals and social conscience of this particular tribe.

The Stagwell Group

The Stagwell Group was next and we learned that this relatively new, privately held group of born-digital and data agencies has recently acquired MDC, the holding company for traditionally creative agencies such as 72andSunny, Anomaly, CPB etc.

Group CEO Mark Penn explained that it saw the needs of marketers changing and that the traditional holding companies were not keeping up. In fact, he commented that the holding companies were fracturing. So it created the alternative in an economy where spend in traditional media is declining but growth is happening in digital media — and that is where Stagwell has invested. It experienced 14% growth year-on-year across the group, which is now three years old.

The group’s digital capabilities ensure that the modern marketer has all the tools needed to break through into the digital first world. Interestingly, it has not had to pitch very often, something he sees quite differently within the newly acquired MDC agencies. In addition, the investment philosophy of The Stagwell Group is to buy complementary agencies which will not compete against each other as that makes no business sense.

The group has been built on four principles:

  • Agencies must be born digital
  • Data-driven
  • Practitioner-led ie CEOs working on their businesses every day
  • Integrated-solutions-driven

The MDC acquisition expands the creative opportunities that the group was lacking and one of the most-important first steps will be to focus on the integration of these agencies into the Stagwell philosophy.

We were shown a case study for Gillette, which was presented to us by the client lead from P&G. It was a refreshing change and, so far, the only agency to bring a client into one of our sessions this week. The client explained how quickly Stagwell agencies worked to reverse a potential decline in the Gillette brand. The agencies turned around work in a month, which normally would have taken many more months at the traditional agency group where the brand used to be.

P&G had to change the way it worked, too, in order to accommodate the speed of the Stagwell agencies — which was an interesting insight.

Two of the agencies, Code&Theory and Observatory, presented case studies for Falcon and Chipotle respectively.

A very enlightening session and an exciting new player in the industry who will definitely change things up.

Dentsu Aegis Network

Our final session of the day was with Dentsu Aegis, the media agency group formed only a few years ago and now acquiring selected creative agencies eg FoxP2, McGarry Bowen etc. It sees itself as a global marketing solutions network, purpose-built in and for the digital economy. Flexible and integrated by design, DAN intends to provide solutions for 60% of brands in the world which want to reduce the number of agencies on their rosters.

The various agencies in the group took us through case studies for brands, such as Oreo’s with Game of Thrones, Westworld.

DAN is the group for clients to call when they want solutions that are:

  • Data-driven
  • Tech-enabled
  • Idea-led

An excellent presentation, high energy and, with Nick Brien at the helm in the Americas, we saw a very clear path and positioning for the network.

We had a fabulous dinner at the Lobster, a well-known Santa Monica restaurant — definitely a highlight of the week.

See also

 

Johanna McDowellJohanna McDowell (@jomcdowell) is managing director of the Independent Agency Search and Selection Company (IAS), which is partnered with the AAR Group in the UK. She will be presenting detailed and in-depth reports and case studies on each agency from this 2019 AdForum Summit at her masterclass presentation in Johannesburg in May.

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African Echo: West Africa’s ‘golden child’ pays it forward

by Sizakele Masombuka. As someone whose impression of West Africa had been formed by a two-month exchange student programme to Nigeria, I’d never understood why Ghana was described as this region’s ‘golden child’. For me, West Africa was the wild, wild west: a land of extremities and orchestrated chaos. A recent trip gave me the opportunity to discover why for myself. It’s the people.

Yes, the heat was as I remembered — an almost suffocating embrace — and the hustle and bustle of families and friends meeting up with each other was a familiar sight. However, as my colleagues and I waited in disgruntlement after what seemed like eternity for our luggage to be released, it dawned on me that we were part of the only few who were evidently unhappy with the situation. Our fellow passengers — locals — were only too pleased to humbly wait until the delay was resolved. Yes, that something mystically special about Ghana is her people.

What’s yours is mine

Historically, the cornerstones of Ghana’s economy include the manufacture and export of digital technological goods, automotive and ship construction, and the export of resources such as hydrocarbons and industrial minerals. These gave it one of the highest GDP per capita in West Africa and positioned it as 2011’s fastest-growing economy. The country’s domestic economy revolves mainly around the provision of services and agriculture.

With a stable political history dating back from Kwame Nkrumah’s notable rule from 1957 (shortly after Ghana reached independence) to 1966 when he was overthrown, Ghana has always represented a beam of light within Africa’s diaspora. With Nkrumah’s assistance in forming the Organization of African Unity to his strong pan-African values, it’s no surprise that Ghanians are such proud advocates for their country and culture. More than this, it’s evident that there’s a deep belief in the success of the country and each individual born of it.

Ghanaians emphasise communal values such as family, respect for the elderly, honouring traditional rulers, and the importance of dignity and proper social conduct. The institution of family and shared success really struck me, as it’s not only an idealised value but one that’s practiced among Ghanaians. Many of the locals spoke of moving to the city from the rural areas and sending for family members to come join them once they’d reached financial stability. These members would then do the same when their time comes and so forth.

Values as a currency

While one might argue that as people who’ve had to survive under the pressures of capitalism and imperialism, Ghanaians have had no other choice other than to band together and make do, much like South Africans have. Yet, there is a marked difference in how Ghanaians and South Africans have survived their transformations. Heralded as the closest to first-world status as any African country can get, South Africa has allowed its people the luxury of embracing the idea that individuals can make it under capitalism and has provided its people certain advantages to do so. By contrast, Ghana and many other African nations suffer from limited access to any means of economic liberation. Still, they embrace value systems that have remained unscathed by greed and the need for individual glorification.

Learning from Ghana

I don’t mean to romanticise Ghana; a lack of social services, unemployment, inequality and patriarchy are problems that the country needs to address. But it has taught me that values are the glue that bind a society and the measure by which it can hold itself accountable.

It has made me realise the onus is on each society to define, own and implement these values. Consider the infinite possibilities that await this continent if attitudinal and psychological shifts were to take place, if we were to think and act like Ghanaians?

Nkrumah said: “The independence of Ghana would be meaningless unless it was tied to the total liberation of Africa.” Perhaps this is true; perhaps not. But one thing is certain, Ghana is indeed worth its weight in gold and its future is very bright.

Sources

 

Sizakele Masombuka is a senior account manager at FCB Africa. A theatre student and filmmaker turned ad exec, she is passionate about how storytelling can bring about understanding, revolution and change.  African Echo seeks to unpack markets in Africa, highlight business opportunities and share insights into what works and what rebounds.

“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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SA TV Ratings: SABC 1 — primetime top 20 for Mar, Feb 2019

by MarkLives (@marklives) The hottest primetime shows on SABC 1 in South Africa revealed: TV ratings for March and February 2019.

SABC 1 logoSABC 1, March 2019

Top 20 Programmes All Adults 15+
March 2019 Prime Time 5.30pm—10pm
Adults 15+ years U:35679 S:8175

Source: BRCSA March 2019

Day

Date

From

To

Station

Programme title

Genre

AR

Viewers

Share
 Wed 27/03/2019 2030 2101 S1 Uzalo Dram 25.64 9 146 109 65.4
Thur 28/03/2019 1959 2030 S1 Generations the Legacy Soap 23.5 8 384 931 62.7
Tue 26/03/2019 1830 1859 S1 Skeem Saam Dram 20.28 7 234 779 61.9
Tue 12/03/2019 1900 1929 S1 Xhosa News News 12.06 4 303 878 34.7
Mon 11/03/2019 1900 1929 S1 Zulu News News 11.71 4 177 526 33.5
Tue 26/03/2019 1759 1829 S1 Nyan Nyan Real 11.18 3 988 657 40.1
Sun 24/03/2019 1901 2104 S1 Total Africa Cup of Nations Qualifier So Spor 9.87 3 520 950 30.9
Sun 10/03/2019 1930 2000 S1 Thiba Dram 9.5 3 388 698 31.4
Mon 11/03/2019 1930 2000 S1 Thandekas Diary Real 9.12 3 253 431 26
Thur 07/03/2019 1930 2000 S1 Throwback Thursday Musi 8.82 3 145 644 25.9
Tue 12/03/2019 1931 1958 S1 Selimathunzi Vari 8.37 2 984 716 24.2
Fri 08/03/2019 1930 1959 S1 Live Amp Musi 8.24 2 940 805 25.4
Wed 27/03/2019 1759 1829 S1 Reno-Race Vari 7.89 2 814 105 29.6
Wed 13/03/2019 2101 2159 S1 Khumbul’ Ekhaya Maga 7.65 2 730 906 26.3
Tue 12/03/2019 2129 2200 S1 Cutting Edge Actu 7.57 2 700 751 27.4
Mon 25/03/2019 1801 1828 S1 My First -R Docu 7.48 2 668 657 29.8
Sun 03/03/2019 2001 2100 S1 Emoyeni Dram 7.39 2 636 827 26.1
Sun 24/03/2019 1829 1901 S1 Soccer Build- up Spor 7.21 2 570 741 25.5
Wed 27/03/2019 1931 1959 S1 Africa by Women: Pathologh/ the Forgotte Dram 7.08 2 524 960 19.9
Wed 06/03/2019 1928 1959 S1 Heroes Dram 6.98 2 489 203 22.4

 

SABC 1 logoSABC 1, February 2019

Top 20 Programmes All Adults 15+
February 2019 Prime Time 5.30pm—10pm
Adults 15+ years U:35679 S:8315

Source: BRCSA February 2019

Day

Date

From

To

Station

Programme title

Genre

AR

Viewers

Share
Tue 05/02/2019 2030 2059 S1 Uzalo Dram 25.61 9 137 762 70.7
Tue 19/02/2019 2000 2029 S1 Generations the Legacy Soap 22.98 8 198 822 62.4
Thur 21/02/2019 1829 1859 S1 Skeem Saam Dram 17.75 6 333 785 57
Tue 26/02/2019 1901 1929 S1 Xhosa News News 11.28 4 025 793 35.7
Sat 09/02/2019 1541 1759 S1 Absa Premiership Kaizer Chiefs vs Orland Spor 10.7 3 816 649 46
Sun 17/02/2019 2000 2059 S1 Side Dish Dram 10.42 3 718 469 33.1
Mon 25/02/2019 1901 1931 S1 Zulu News News 10.41 3 714 540 32
Sun 17/02/2019 1930 1959 S1 Ngempela Dram 10.21 3 643 295 32.8
Wed 06/02/2019 2100 2200 S1 Khumbul’ Ekhaya Maga 8.8 3 140 805 28.9
Tue 19/02/2019 1800 1829 S1 Nyan Nyan Real 8.59 3 065 883 35.1
Tue 19/02/2019 1930 2000 S1 Selimathunzi Vari 8.44 3 010 778 25.5
Sat 09/02/2019 1800 1858 S1 Friends Like These Vari 8.32 2 969 100 34.9
Mon 25/02/2019 1931 2000 S1 Thandekas Diary Real 7.98 2 847 023 24.6
Thur 28/02/2019 1929 1959 S1 Throwback Thursday Musi 7.69 2 744 598 23.3
Sat 09/02/2019 1930 1959 S1 Real Goboza Maga 7.65 2 729 957 28.1
Wed 20/02/2019 1928 1958 S1 Lungelwa All Shall be Well Dram 7.55 2 694 036 23.1
Fri 15/02/2019 1929 1957 S1 Live Amp Musi 7.11 2 537 716 22.6
Wed 06/02/2019 1930 1959 S1 The Virgin Vegan Dram 7.09 2 530 725 21
Wed 27/02/2019 1800 1829 S1 Reno-Race Vari 6.76 2 412 964 28.7
Wed 27/02/2019 1929 2000 S1 Africa by Women the Dance Dram 6.66 2 374 558 21.2

In 2016, the Broadcast Research Council of South Africa (BRCSA) 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.

 

Broadcast Research Council of South AfricaThe Broadcast Research Council of South Africa (the BRC) 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.

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