#AgencyLeaders2018: Most admired creative leader in Jozi

by Herman Manson (@marklives) Today we reveal, as part of our annual Agency Leaders poll, which agency creative leader were most admired by their peers in Johannesburg during the course of 2018!

Every year since 2012, MarkLives has been polling South Africa’s top agency leaders to find out what they think of their competitors, whom they see as effective managers and great creative leaders, and where they believe their future competition is likely to come from. Last week we revealed the Cape Town results, and the national results come next week, and our remaining categories the week after.

The most-admired creative leader in Jozi

Peter Khoury
Chief creative officer
TBWA\Hunt\​Lascaris

Peter KhouryPeter Khoury of TBWA\Hunt\Lascaris is our most-admired creative leader in Jozi.

On what it takes to succeed in advertising, Khoury believes that, because change is inevitable, you need to understand how to embrace it as an opportunity, as well as a challenge. The South African advertising industry is proof of this and constantly punches above its weight, according to Khoury. Because we’re not afforded the luxury of budgets some brands and agencies might have, our creative ideas have had to be more innovative. For him, there’s a disproportionate ratio between the quality of an idea and its output. “You can’t just be 5/10; you can’t just be vanilla,” he says.

Being a successful ECD comes with its own challenges and, although not everyone was born to be, or even wants to be, a leader, Khoury felt prepared for his role when promoted because of the solid nurturing and experience he’d received working under and with the best local and global talent. “Without a good pedigree, it limits what you can teach,” he says.

Experience is also what has geared him up to handle leadership challenges and has given him the intuition to know a good idea when he sees it. While nurturing the integrity of a good idea, he believes perseverance, stamina, and intuition to be key factors for the success of an ECD, a role that continues to change. For Khoury, an ECD’s role is to continuously stay up to speed with local and global changes and trends and that, as a leader, it’s of particular importance to learn from those you employ and others leading the field. Humbling yourself and making an effort to remain tuned in will reap future rewards.

“Be real about what opportunities your challenges bring you,” he says, “Look on the outskirts of culture and experiment with things that aren’t traditional.”

— Profile by Sabrina Forbes.

Previously: Sbu Sitole, then creative director (now CCO) and co-founder at The Odd Number, won in 2017. Joe Public United’s Pepe Marais took top honours for four years in a row, from 2013 until 2016. In 2012, our inaugural poll, it was Pete Case (founder of Gloo, today CCO at Ogilvy & Mather South Africa).

 

The runners-up (tied)

 Pepe Marais August 2018 Neo Mashigo

Pepe Marais
Group chief creative officer
Joe Public United

Neo Mashigo
Chief creative officer
M&C Saatchi Group SA
Apart from being ranked first at the 2018 Loeries, Assegai Awards, New Gen Awards and the Pendorings, Pepe Marais — alongside Xolisa Dyeshana — shared joint first place in the Loeries ranking of top chief creative officers.

“Our industry is marginalised due to a lack of focus on bringing creative thinking to the table,” says Marais. “The majority of the work of our industry is nothing short of average, and this does not pave the way for growth in an already challenged economy. Our focus will continue to be on the improvement of our strategic thinking and creative product. There’s just no other way. Play your heart out, and all else follows.”

 Apart from being CCO at M&C Saatchi Group SA, Neo Mashigo is the co-founder and ECD of I See A Different You. He is former chair and a current board member of The Loeries, as well as a member of the Creative Circle committee. Before joining I See A Different You, Mashigo was ECD at Ogilvy & Mather Joburg and FCB Joburg.

“Reflecting on 2018, I think, damn, it was a fun unpredictable ride for us,” he says . “Our hot piece of work came from the Nando’s Kitchen — Nando’s #Rightmyname. When it comes to our people, I was forced to keep this list short but what’s beautiful is that we were led by the young ones, Tshegofatso Phetlhe, Tom Kratz, Keke Mahlelebe and Nomaswazi Phumo. Please don’t call them; they’re in good hands. Our proudest moment has to be winning the bid to design a new Nelson Mandela Bay Precinct with our Nelson Mandela Tower of Light concept. We can’t wait to see this one come to life. We go into 2019 on a creative high, being ranked top 5 at The Loerie Awards.”

Previously: In 2017 Ahmed Tilly, FCB Africa joint CCO, tied with Grant Sithole, Avatar South Africa joint ECD (now CCO). In 2016, there was no runner-up. In 2015, Fran Luckin, Grey Africa CCO, was our runner-up. In 2014, joint runners-up were Mariana O’Kelly, Ogilvy Joburg co-ECD, and Morris, then GCEO & ECD, FCB South Africa (now FCB Africa). There was no runner-up in 2013. In 2012 — our inaugural poll — it was Pepe Marais.

 

How the poll works

In November 2018, we invited a panel of 120 agency executives — creative and management, and ranging over a wide spectrum from small- and medium-sized to network agencies — to nominate their most-admired agency and agency leaders regionally (for Johannesburg or Cape Town) and nationally (South Africa). Execs couldn’t nominate their own agencies or staff members. All the nominations were then tallied up for the final result. The editors of MarkLives held two votes in the final poll.

Note: Runner-up(s) will only be named if they achieved a good nomination tally relative to the winner’s position. Contenders are named if they stand out significantly above other nominees but weren’t able to close in on the winner’s tally. The most-admired agency of the year is disqualified from the One to Watch category; votes cast in its favour in this category are discarded.

See also

 

Herman Manson 2017Herman Manson (@marklives) is the founder and editor of MarkLives.com.

— One subscription form, three newsletters: sign up now for the MarkLives newsletter, including Ramify headlines; The Interlocker, our new monthly comms-focused mailer; and Brands & Branding, launching soon!

Thinking B2B: The seven key principles of B2B ATL

by Warren Moss (@warrenmoss) B2B brands always ask me: “Should we do ATL advertising?” and my answer to that is, “Of course — but it depends what for.” ATL has a big role to play in B2B marketing but it serves a completely different function than it does in B2C.

The role of ATL in B2C is primarily around driving awareness, brand-building and developing share of voice but, in B2B, really strong ATL can drive top-of-funnel engagement — and it should. In order to drive that engagement, we’ve developed a very specific framework which may be used to create quality ATL advertising in the B2B space. That framework is based on seven key principles.

1. Never commoditise

Never commoditise your advertising in B2B. B2C is the place to advertise your price, your cost-effectiveness, your saving or your discount. In B2B, the reality is that most products and services are pretty similar so, if you commoditise them, all you’re doing is driving a race to the bottom. Selling on commodities in the B2B space just isn’t effective because it makes your proposition around what can be commoditised instead of promoting why your B2B customer really buys from you, your company values, your people and the value that you bring them.

2. Is your USP a USP?

Never commoditise your USP in the B2B space. In classic B2C, you see companies advertising dedicated teams, the depth of their experience and 24/7 support structures, which works for them. In B2B, again, brand products and services are quite similar, so the USPs aren’t really defensible because competitor offerings are near-identical. There are one or two exceptions to this: a truly defensible USP can be promoted, while a ‘first-to-market’ offering should be strategically shouted from the rooftops.

3. Value exchange is key

The third key principle is that B2B ATL should always offer a value exchange. Too many ads say “Hey, this is what we do, here’s why we’re brilliant, so buy our product/service”, but they never offer the reader some type of genuine value, knowledge or information. Using ATL effectively in the B2B space is a way to help grow a business, and offering your target market genuine value in the form of content that may benefit them is a great way to differentiate your brand.

4. Give the reader a reason to reach out

B2B ATL should always have a call to action, not simply a link or a phone number. The call to action needs to be direct, too, giving the reader a firm reason to get in touch. “Contact us because X” or “Contact us to get Y” offer tangible benefits — with an attached name and contact method which promises to deliver a solution to a very specific problem.

A strong call to action also filters out potential customers who are unsure by qualifying exactly what they should contact you for. If they’re unsure, they’re possibly not at the right stage of the research or buying process for getting in touch, anyway.

5. Speak to the right part of the funnel

In B2B, it’s key that the ad speaks to the top or the middle of the funnel. There are better channels to communicate bottom-of-funnel content, such as white papers, emails or conversations. Putting up a billboard alongside the highway that tries to explain a complex product or service isn’t an effective use of time or budget. One that says “Buy this system to solve these five problems” offers a much-broader scope and builds awareness in a much-better way.

6. Context is key

It’s also vital that B2B ATL is always contextual. I remember getting off a long international flight and seeing billboards from a big bank, pushing B2B services with a call to action to visit a website. That placement and messaging shows a failure to understand the context of a person getting off a long flight, tired, irritable, facing the prospect of queuing at passport control, the luggage carousel and, possibly, customs control. They’re just in a rush to escape the airport or dash to their next flight, and having a brand ask them to stop and engage isn’t going to improve their mood or give them any value.

7. Know your audience

Lastly — and it seems a given but is often misunderstood — is the importance of always having a clear target market. Show a layperson the piece of communication and they should be able to tell you that the message is targeted at the CFO of a mining company. The definition of who the ad is speaking to needs to be so tight that there’s no chance of the message being wasted or lost in translation.

See also

 

Warren MossWarren Moss (@warrenmoss) is the CEO and founder of Demographica, a multi-award winning full service agency that specialises in the B2B category. He is the chair of both the Direct Marketing Association of South Africa (DMASA) and the Assegai Integrated Marketing Awards (Assegais), as well as the only African to judge the B2 Awards, which recognise the top performing B2B marketers in the world. Warren contributes the monthly “Thinking B2B” column, which looks at the latest trends in B2B communications and explains why it is fundamentally different from B2C comms.

— One subscription form, three newsletters: sign up now for the MarkLives newsletter, including Ramify headlines; The Interlocker, our new monthly comms-focused mailer; and Brands & Branding, launching soon!

#AgencyLeaders2018: The one to watch in Cape Town in 2019!

by Herman Manson (@marklives) Today we reveal,  as part of our annual Agency Leaders poll, which Cape Town agency fellow ad execs feel is the “one to watch” in 2019 — the agency from which they expect great things in the year ahead.

Every year since 2012, MarkLives has been polling South Africa’s top ad agency leaders to find out what they think of their competitors, whom they see as effective managers and great creative leaders, and where they believe their future competition is likely to come from. Next week will be the Joburg results, followed by the national results in two weeks’ time, and then our remaining categories.

The one to watch in Cape Town!

DUKE Facebook cover image 2019

DUKE

DUKE wasn’t a surprise pick as our Cape Town agency to watch in 2019. Since its launch in 2015, the agency has made steady gains in the market. The agency was founded by an old hand in SA’s advertising scene, Wayne Naidoo, who was previously Lowe + Partners SA CEO and Association for Communication and Advertising (ACA) of SA chair, plus our 2018 Runner-up Most Admired Agency Boss for Cape Town.

In 2018, the agency saw more than 70% year-on-year growth as a result of organic and new business wins, including Woolworths (Frozen, Produce, Fresh, W.Lab, Dairy), Jive, Pioneer (Imbo, Pasta Grande, Safari, Bokomo and Wild Island), RisCura and project work for Rhodes Foods.

It was ranked third-best small agency at Loeries and was shortlisted for AdFocus Small Agency of the Year. The agency model to date has been based on the employment of a core senior team with senior freelancers when required. It currently counts 18 employees.

Naidoo believes transformation will play an even greater role in the year ahead and expects major client shifts to occur as a result (DUKE is a level 1 BBEEE agency). As bigger multinationals consolidate and shed jobs and people, more independents will open and the credible independents in the marketplace will gain even more traction while the fly-by-nights will be found out, he says: “More exceptional freelance talent will enter the market, supporting more-agile and leaner agency models.”

Naidoo also expects procurement to play an even greater prominence in the awarding of advertising accounts, wrestling control from CMOs.

“A tumultuous South Africa will lead to increasingly interesting and culturally relevant work, especially with the industry’s more-mature grasp of the channels,” he predicts. “The battle for ground will subside between consultancies and agencies as they find their more-comfortable places in clients’ lives.”

Previously: FoxP2 was named the one to watch in Cape Town for 2018, and the VML and Y&R Africa Group for 2017 (at the time, the SA operations of the Y&R network, including Y&R South Africa, NATIVE VML and Labstore South Africa, were integrated under a single management team). NATIVE VML (now VML South Africa) was also our one to watch for 2016. For 2015, it was Publicis Machine — for the second year in a row — as its previous incarnation, Machine, took the title for 2014.

 

The runner-up

There is no runner-up for 2019. For 2018, it was Old Friends Young Talent (OFYT). There were no runner-ups for 2017 and 2016. For 2015, it was Saatchi & Saatchi BrandsRock and, for 2014, it was MetropolitanRepublic Cape Town.

 

How the poll works

In November 2018, we invited a panel of 120 agency executives — creative and management, and ranging over a wide spectrum from small- and medium-sized to network agencies — to nominate their most-admired agency and agency leaders regionally (for Johannesburg or Cape Town) and nationally (South Africa). Execs couldn’t nominate their own agencies or staff members. All the nominations were then tallied up for the final result. The editors of MarkLives held two votes in the final poll.

Note: Runner-up(s) will only be named if they achieved a good nomination tally relative to the winner’s position. Contenders are named if they stand out significantly above other nominees but weren’t able to close in on the winner’s tally. The most-admired agency of the year is disqualified from the One to Watch category; votes cast in its favour in this category are discarded.

See also

 

Herman Manson 2017Herman Manson (@marklives) is the founder and editor of MarkLives.com.

— One subscription form, three newsletters: sign up now for the MarkLives newsletter, including Ramify headlines; The Interlocker, our new monthly comms-focused mailer; and Brands & Branding, launching soon!

Where is the love this Valentine’s Day?

by Nomfundo Dukada. It’s that time of year and brands have been rolling out their picture-perfect Valentine’s Day communication campaigns. But one thing that’s stood out for me is the heteronormativity of the messaging on some of these campaigns #redflags.

“Heteronormativity”

The term “heteronormativity”, coined by Michael Warner, is the belief that people fall into distinct and complementary genders — making the assumption that heterosexuality is the norm or default sexual orientation.

It’s imperative for brands to be more inclusive in every way or, at the very least, avoid outright exclusivity. Can you hear the echoes in the C-Suite, “Another battle? First, it was dealing with racial diversity in the workplace, now this?” The answer is yes. A very big YES. Simply put, not every biologically male and female person identifies as cis-gender.

As a brand, if you can’t successfully create a campaign that goes beyond gender identities, you need to go back to the drawing board. Literally. Brands need to think about what “love” means to the consumer, regardless of what gender they identify as. The most-powerful campaigns are based on common human truths. Your job in any campaign is to use your resources to bring insights to life and unpack them in a way that is relatable and relevant in order to strengthen brand affinity and drive sales. The recycled ‘HIS’ and ‘HERS’ teddy-bear concepts leave so much to be desired.

Good work by brands

The two brands that have done good work in terms of being inclusive in their communications around Valentine’s Day are McCain (UK), with the “Here’s to Love” campaign, launched in 2018 after the success of the “We are Family” campaign prior.

Ackermans’ #IAmMe

Closer to home, I would have to say Ackermans is doing really well with its 2019 #IAmMe campaign from 99c.

McCain celebrated the different kinds of relationships that we form outside of ourselves — family, friends and even our pets. It challenged gender stereotypes and depicted society in the way that it truly is by showing gay and mixed-race couples. We see these scenarios everyday, so why should the media be any different?

“McCain [said] that since the launch of the ‘We Are Family’ campaign last year [2017], the brand [had] seen a 10% increase in brand meaning and brand perception, plus a 14% increase in brand difference,” Marketing Week reported a year ago.

Internal love

Ackermans has taken internal love and added gorgeous women of all shapes. The messaging isn’t the usual “dress up for HIM/Bae”; it’s all about self-love (surely, if other brands have any access to insights and consumer trend, they would know that #selfcare is a trend that’s synonymous with self-love). Plus the use of relevant celebrities such as Rami Chuene of The Queen (one of the highest-ranking TV programmes on DStv in the country at the moment, popular with both young and older audiences).

This campaign is sure to have been creating talkability around positive body image and, hopefully, it will influence consumers to purchase the product and to strengthen brand affinity. After all, Whitney Houston said it best: “I found the greatest love of all/Inside of me/The greatest love of all/Is easy to achieve/Learning to love yourself/It is the greatest love of all.”

Love is such a beautiful thing to be celebrated. Here’s to seeing more such powerful and impactful work — there’s definitely a lot more to unpack instead of sticking to the same traditional messaging.

 

Nomfundo DukadaNomfundo Dukada is a millennial, doing it for the culture. She has over 11 years’ experience in advertising and marketing, having worked on both agency-side at TBWA\Hunt\Lascaris, FoxP2 and Lowe Bull as a suit and on client side in retail. She has worked on campaigns for various brands such as Western Cape Government, Bisquit Cognac for Distell, Ballantine’s for Pernod Ricard, to name only a few.

“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.

— One subscription form, three newsletters: sign up now for the MarkLives newsletter, including Ramify headlines; The Interlocker, our new monthly comms-focused mailer; and Brands & Branding, launching soon!

Media Design: Albert, Das Plakat, Field, Süddeutsche Zeitung

Shane de Lange (@shanenilfunct)’s weekly analysis of media design from South Africa and around the world:

  • Commercial print: Albert creates a happy medium where mind-bending design and cutting-edge science meet, opening a space for a broader audience
  • Iconic: Das Plakat effectively documented a decade of commercial art production at the beginning of the 20th century, defining what we call graphic design today
  • Online: Field is an online magazine that ironically encourages us to get away from our screens and explore the outside world
  • Independent print: Süddeutsche Zeitung celebrates the legacy of one of the most-successful sex toys in history

Find a cover we should know about? Tweet us at @Marklives and @shanenilfunct.
Pinterest icon Want to view all the covers at a glance? See our Pinterest board!

Print

Suddeutsche Zeitung, Issue 5, February 2019Heart-Love-Polygon-Geometric-Flat-Design-Icon-Illustration by lekkyjustdoit courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos   Süddeutsche Zeitung (Germany), issue #5, February 2019

The story of the humble vibrator is the theme for the cover of the latest issue of Süddeitsche Zeitung. One of the most-successful sex toys in history is succinctly and tactfully represented here, visually implying vibrations, striations, and reverberations. The design of the cover is oddly visceral, given that it is a fairly formal and abstract representation suggestive of the Op Art antics of Bridget Riley.

Displaying the German words “kimm schoen”, meaning “you know”, the cover explodes with shelf appeal, bringing a common experience to life and celebrating the legacy of the vibrator (as the headline states: “der siegerszug eines vibrrators”). The cover illustration is by Swiss graphic designer, Erich Brechbühl, who no doubt took his inspiration from Lance Wyman’s iconic identity system for the infamous 1968 Olympics in Mexico, Not only pushing the envelope for cover design, but also pushing the proverbial button in more ways than one.

 

Albert Magazine, Issue 4, February 2019Heart-Love-Polygon-Geometric-Flat-Design-Icon-Illustration by lekkyjustdoit courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos   Albert (Germany), issue #4, February 2019

Based in Berlin, Albert is a journal published by the Einstein Foundation, focused on discussion and support for pioneering scientific research. Each edition has a theme based on a scientific discipline and how cutting-edge science is pursued in Germany. Albert aims to speak to a broader audience, not limited to the confines of the scientific community alone. This is where good design supports science, with each cover looking more avant-garde than scientific, with spreads that look like they came from a showcase of contemporary layout design.

The latest issue, the fourth edition, sports an iconic image of Albert Einstein obscured by mesmerising Op Art-like visuals, reminiscent of work by Victor Vasarely or Bridget Riley once again. The theme is “Ausbruch”, which can mean departure, start, breakup, or crack — all words that may be related to Einstein’s scientific work, strikingly depicted on the cover. Aside from the legacy created by Einstein and his approach to theoretical physics, mind-bending design and science meet with this journal, designed and art directed by Fons Hickmann M23, a prolific and influential design studio that focuses on the design of complex communication systems in support of the production of culture. Albert ticks all the boxes, from art and design to science and mathematics.

 

Online

Heart-Love-Polygon-Geometric-Flat-Design-Icon-Illustration by lekkyjustdoit courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos   Field (US), February 2019

Field Magazine, online, February 2019Started by writer and photographer, Graham Hiemstra, alongside web developer and designer, Chris Stillitano, Field is an online magazine for folks who love the outdoors and appreciate contemporary design. Field is all about the aesthetics of being outdoors, from landscapes and environments to architecture and fashion, coupled with the latest tech to improve the overall experience of nature. Ironically based in New York, a city that epitomises the built environment, Field publishes fresh content weekly with the hope of inspiring people to explore, and delight in various experiences away from the city.

Produced by a small team working remotely from various countries across the globe, with contributors from differing fields and disciplines, Field is an example of modern living. In today’s world, one shouldn’t have to be confined to a desk in front of a screen under cold fluorescent lights in an open-plan office for 8–10 hours per day. Technology and media allow for other ways of living and working. So, too, we can’t keep staring at screens; it simply isn’t conducive to a healthy, vibrant, and meaningful life. Field is the perfect remedy, for urbanites who live for weekends in search of adventure. From hiking to snowboarding, there’s bound to be content for anyone looking for inspiration to go outside, to get away, and find out about the latest outdoor technology and gear at the same time.

 

Iconic

Heart-Love-Polygon-Geometric-Flat-Design-Icon-Illustration by lekkyjustdoit courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos   Das Plakat (Germany), 1910–1921

Das Plakat, vol 1 no 1, 1910 and vol 1 no 1, 1921Published in Germany from 1910 to 1921, Das Plakat was a magazine produced by The Association of Friends of the Poster (“Der Verein Der Plakatfreunde”), cemented into the annals of history by the editorial and curatorial talents of Hans Sachs, a dentist by profession. Sachs was a passionate collector of posters, obsessed with French posters in particular, and one of the most-influential private collectors in Germany. With Das Plakat, Sachs became a guardian of sorts, responsible for promoting the German commercial arts on an international scale.

Das Plakat, meaning “The Poster”, was influential as an illustrated periodical focused on modern poster design, bringing together various formats of print media by promoting the commercial arts and advertising graphics in the form of a magazine. The periodical showcased the best posters from Germany and other parts of Europe. The quality of printing was second to none, effectively documenting a decade of commercial art production, defining what we now call graphic design which finds its roots in the early stages of commercialisation and industrialisation in Europe.

In the beginning, around 200 issues were printed to cater to the 80 members of the association at the time, but this number increased as more members joined. Nearing its final year in print, 10 000 copies were printed. The demise of Das Plakat started in 1920, when the association started to dissolve, caused by an inadequate structure that made it unable to adapt to its own rapid growth. It simply got too big too quickly and crumbled under its own weight. The final issue of Das Plakat was published in 1921, after the growth of the association caused its death due to a lack of control and inadequate infrastructure.

References

 

 

Shane de LangeShane de Lange (@shanenilfunct) is a designer, writer, and educator currently based in Cape Town, South Africa, working in the fields of communication design and digital media. He works from Gilgamesh, a small design studio. Connect with him on Pinterest and Instagram.

Media Design, formerly Cover Stories and MagLove, is a regular slot deconstructing media cover design, both past and present.

— One subscription form, three newsletters: sign up now for the MarkLives newsletter, including Ramify headlines; The Interlocker, our new monthly comms-focused mailer; and Brands & Branding, launching soon!

#AgencyLeaders2018: Agency diversity & transformation CT

by Herman Manson (@marklives) Today we reveal, as part of our annual Agency Leaders poll, which agency is considered to have contributed the most to agency diversity and transformation in the minds of their peers in Cape Town during 2018.

This agency, in the minds of its regional peers, made the most-significant contribution to agency diversity and transformation in the Mother City. While many of our voters would have focused on BBBEE as a primary criteria informing their votes, a positive contribution to gender and LGBTQI diversity came into play in some votes. While many of those polled noted BBBEE and gender equality as key metrics, they also noted a lack of information into LGBTQI diversity at agencies.

Instead of only naming the agency here, we invited it to share with us what agency diversity and transformation means to it — the business, its people and its clients.

Every year since 2012, MarkLives has been polling South Africa’s top ad agency leaders to find out what they think of their competitors, whom they see as effective managers and great creative leaders, and where they believe their future competition is likely to come from. Next week will be the Joburg results, followed by the national results in two weeks’ time, and then our remaining categories.

Agency diversity & transformation (Cape Town)

Ogilvy Cape Town

Luca Gallarelli
Luca Gallarelli, Ogilvy Group (South Africa) MD.

by Luca Gallarelli (@Gallarelli) Diversity in an advertising agency is neither a target nor any kind of endgame. It’s the lifeblood of the industry. Or it should be.

As I wrote in this space a year ago, “the very nature of what we do relies so fundamentally on embracing diversity”, and a client recently spoke about the value of what she called ‘Super Teams’ that created magic and a constant stream of impactful work and, she noted, without exception were diverse in all of race, gender, world view and other.

Ogilvy Cape Town has just received an accolade from our peers for making great strides in transformation. We’re grateful for that but also a little wary.

It’s true that the makeup of our management team, in terms of gender and race, is unrecognisable from as little as five years ago. And, in spite of the well-publicised difficulties in attracting and retaining diverse staff in Cape Town, our Woodstock building is finally starting to look and feel like it exists on the African continent. We are also expanding our sources of new talent and changing the way we induct and train that talent. As a result, our thinking and creative output consistently feels more connected, diverse and successful (delivering a Cannes Grand Prix for mass-market, social-impact work). And we’re damn proud of our teams behind this work, and in particular, our ECD Tseliso Rangaka [our 2018 Most Admired Creative Leader for Cape Town], for becoming Loeries chair.

That’s undoubtedly all good, and a source of some satisfaction, especially as it has been achieved while we re-engineer the agency in line with the global Ogilvy Next Chapter mandate, but we know we haven’t yet come close to making this simply ‘lifeblood’ stuff.

It should be obvious that sameness is the enemy of creativity and that genuine transformation — reflecting our incredibly diverse environment — will deliver profound rewards (and more Super Teams) and yet in many areas it remains an applied, scorecard type of process for which we get an award. It is an ‘agenda item’ and it feels labored when it should really be a default.

I suppose that’s understandable, but we all pine for the day when different outlooks, views, key demographics and personality types proliferate at every level, and in every role, and (without being churlish to MarkLives) the accolade we’ve just received will no longer exist.

— In July 2018, Luca Gallarelli was promoted from MD of Ogilvy Cape Town to MD of the Ogilvy Group (South Africa).

~•~•~

Previously: Ogilvy & Mather Cape Town won the poll in 2017, the first time we ran this specific category.

 

How the poll works

In November 2018, we invited a panel of 120 agency executives — creative and management, and ranging over a wide spectrum from small- and medium-sized to network agencies — to nominate their most-admired agency and agency leaders regionally (for Johannesburg or Cape Town) and nationally (South Africa). Execs couldn’t nominate their own agencies or staff members. All the nominations were then tallied up for the final result. The editors of MarkLives held two votes in the final poll.

Note: Runner-up(s) will only be named if they achieved a good nomination tally relative to the winner’s position. Contenders are named if they stand out significantly above other nominees but weren’t able to close in on the winner’s tally. The most-admired agency of the year is disqualified from the One to Watch category; votes cast in its favour in this category are discarded.

See also

 

Herman Manson 2017Herman Manson (@marklives) is the founder and editor of MarkLives.com.

— One subscription form, three newsletters: sign up now for the MarkLives newsletter, including Ramify headlines; The Interlocker, our new monthly comms-focused mailer; and Brands & Branding, launching soon!

Market Research Wrap: Understanding today’s youth market

by MarkLives (@marklives) Our weekly wrap of the latest market and consumer research:

  • Spatial fluidity in today’s youth market
  • Consumer health in SA
  • Evolution of event marketing

Transitioning platforms

Generation Fluid White Paper coverA new in-depth white paper, produced by Joe Public Shift, takes a closer look at the youth in South Africa and discusses trends that should be impacting SA’s shores in the near future. Market Research Wrap will present excerpts from “Generation Fluid: Understanding the dynamics of today’s youth market” in a four-part series. [Cheryl Hunter]

The traits presented in the paper are ‘universal’, according to Joe Public Shift; however, as with many other trends/insights, SA is often slower to catch on but many of the trends are expected to play out more strongly in future.

So, what’s the first trend that makes Generation Z any different from the generations before them? Spatial fluidity — young South Africans are fluid in the way they perceive the world and the spaces around them. This generation is one of reimagination, where spaces are reconstructed to create something meaningful. When it comes to spatial fluidity, the line between the online/digital and physical/tangible is increasingly becoming blurred.

Gen Z has an undeniable desire for authenticity and that desire, along with the pervasive digital world we live in, has caused a fluid blend between the two contrasts. Against this backdrop, physical spaces and the role they play are being reimagined as many traditionally digital brands turn to these locations to create meaningful, authentic connections with their youngest consumers. For example, Google has opened up pop-up Hardware Stores in selected cities around the world, where visitors may engage with its newest products.

There is a pressing need for brands to transition seamlessly and fluidly across physical and digital platforms.

 

Convenience impacts consumer health

Euromonitor logoConsumer health in SA recorded strong growth in 2018, with increased access to information and a widening product range fuelling demand for self-medication as the cheapest and most-convenient option. This is according to Euromonitor’s latest report on “Consumer Health in South Africa”. [Cheryl Hunter]

Chemists/pharmacies remain the leading distribution channel for consumer health, although supermarkets registered solid growth over the review period, with more grocery retailers now stocking a wider range of consumer health products.

Demand for convenience, whereby shoppers can find all they need under one roof, has led to a widening range of products in these stores in categories such as analgesics and cold, cough and allergy (hay fever) remedies.

Self-medication and a challenging economic climate have impacted growth. However, access to information through health blogs and online health forums, supported by increased smartphone ownership, will contribute to value growth.

 

HBR The Event Marketing Evolution coverThe Eardley Analysis

The Event Marketing Evolution
Harvard Business Review

B2B events drive more business value than other marketing activities.

Some things don’t change. Events still rank as the most-effective tactic to attract and retain customers. One finding from this first-rate Harvard Business Review (HBR) study should really resonate with B2B marketers:

Fastest-growing companies are investing the most in events. Respondents who have seen revenue grow 30% or more over the past two years have been increasing their event activity.

And these are big companies: half the survey’s 739 respondents say their companies generated more than US$1bn in revenue in 2016, with 29% generating revenue in excess of US$5bn. Only 8% had revenue of less than US$50mn.

  • 93% say their organisations place a priority on hosting events, including 57% who give it a high priority
  • 85% say their organisations also prioritise sponsoring events

Powerful insights

Although sponsored by an event-management technology company called Splash, the study doesn’t go overboard on promoting the firm’s wares but rather offers detailed insights into running events that will drive sales. And those insights are provided by some seriously heavyweight B2B marketers, such as Eric Stahl, Salesforce senior VP of product marketing, and his colleague Erica Kuhl, VP of community, who started the firm’s Trailblazer Community more than a decade ago and continues to oversee it. Their commentary alone — especially about measuring results — makes this a must-read report for event-marketers.

From a selection of 15 different types of events, here’s the top five:

Harvard Business Review Event Marketing Evolution top 5 types of events

As you’d expect from HBR, the study is exceptionally well-presented and firmly focused on achieving business results.

Mark’s mark out of ten (is it worth reading?): 10/10
How long: 30 mins

 

This weekly “Market Research Wrap” column offers readers a weekly overview and critique of the latest market and industry research.

Cheryl HunterCheryl Hunter (@cherylhunter) has written for the South African media, marketing and advertising industries for more than 15 years. A former editor of M&M in Independent Newspapers and contributor to Bizcommunity, AdFocus, AdReview and the Ad Annual, she has also produced for various television networks and currently consults on communication strategy and media liaison.

 

Mark EardleyMark Eardley (@mdeardley) advises B2B companies on how to govern their marketing to attract and retain profitable customers; several of his clients have grown to become market leaders. His monthly “Back2Basics” column covers how B2B companies and their agencies should manage their marketing.

— One subscription form, three newsletters: sign up now for the MarkLives newsletter, including Ramify headlines; The Interlocker, our new monthly comms-focused mailer; and Brands & Branding, launching soon!

EXCLUSIVE: Distell consolidates, appoints bespoke WPP agency

by Herman Manson (@marklives) Distell has consolidated its account, awarding it to a new WPP bespoke agency, Team Liquid, which is led by Paul Jackson and Fran Luckin (both from Grey South Africa). Previously, the company worked with with as many as 28 large agencies, plus a host of smaller ones.

The seven big brands moving to Team Liquid are Savanna, Hunter’s, Amarula, Viceroy, Bain’s, Scottish Leader and Hunter’s Edge*. WPP will also service a number of Distell-owned local brands in Kenya. Contractual details are still being finalised.

Agency model

According to Andre Beyers, the Distell Africa marketing director who led the project alongside pitch consultant Yardstick, while Distell still generates the bulk of its revenue locally, its aim is to grow globally, and especially elsewhere in Africa. It had been interrogating its agency model and the large number of agencies working across its brands and portfolios. The previous model was found to be no longer efficient, and didn’t offer the mass/scale the company requires on expenditure. Agencies have themselves been transforming and integrating. Distell, in short, was behind the curve, and the account consolidation aims to propel the business ahead once more.

Beyers says Distell has been spending between 50-100% more on agencies than it should have, so the consolidation will result in significant cost-savings. Both Richard Rushton, Distell CEO, and Donovan Hegland, Distell director: global marketing, were involved in the process.

WPP competed with Publicis Groupe for the account in what was, says Beyers, a close race. WPP moves Distell closer to the main market (especially in South Africa’s northern provinces), access to a global talent pool and established relationships with social media companies. The account move fits into Distell’s digital transformation strategy, he adds, which he believes will bring the brands closer to consumers.

Two tranches

The pitch took place in two tranches, one holding the group’s seven biggest brands, for which WPP is now the preferred supplier. The remaining brands are all held in the second tranche, but no decision has yet been made on how or even if to proceed. Current agency relationships remain in place here.

* Correction 6 February 2019: Hunter’s Edge and not Esprit as previously reported.

 

Herman Manson 2017Herman Manson (@marklives) is the founder and editor of MarkLives.com.

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#SPOTLIGHT: Mental health & wellbeing in SA adland

by Herman Manson (@marklives) Mental health and wellbeing have long been a subject of discussion in virtually every industry you can think off. Yet, in the South African advertising and marketing industries, at least, little headway seems to have been made in going beyond talking. Not even our ad industry body, the Association for Communication and Advertising (ACA), could offer any input on the issue. Industry leaders, to a large extent, wouldn’t discuss the issue on the record.

While agencies and industry bodies have released research on the state of mental health and wellbeing in the Australian and UK industry markets, among others, much of the local industry hasn’t engaged with the subject matter in any substantial way.

Everymind, an Australian-based institute, describes mental health as a “positive concept related to the social and emotional wellbeing of individuals and communities” and notes that it relates back to enjoyment of life, finding the ability to cope with stress and sadness, goal fulfilment and having the capability to build and maintain relationships (also in the workplace).

Bullying and sexual harrasment

Bullying and sexual harassment are two key issues impacting on mental health and wellness. How many ECDs, specifically, are walking the aisles of some of SA’s well-known ad agencies, unchecked and with heavily censored HR reports, building a reputation for extreme abuse? If they’re ever bounced from the agency to their next unsuspecting employer, it’s done with a smile and clap on the back.

The UK-based timeTo report for 2018 shows the scale of sexual harassment in our industry [pdf file] in the UK: 26% of those surveyed had been sexually harassed while working in the advertising and marketing industry — 34% of female respondents and 9% of male respondents. Some 72% of those who have been sexually harassed have been harassed more than once. Distrusting reporting systems, 83% of those harassed said they didn’t officially report their experiences. Bosses and managers were by far the most-common perpetrators (82%). Asked if they believed perpetrators of sexual harassment often get away with, 66% of respondents agreed.

Employment and workplace

Understanding mental health and wellbeing is obviously complex, and perspectives will differ between individuals, as well as in communities. Although employment and the workplace (environment) are two single factors among many influencing our state of mind and wellbeing, they do take on an outsize influence, given the amount of stress and anxiety a workplace may generate plus the amount of time we spend there and the number of relationships we need to maintain.

The research study, Mentally Healthy 2018, conducted by Everymind, Never Not Creative and UnLtd in 2018 into mental health and wellbeing of the media, marketing and creative industries in Australia, found that burnout and stress are two widespread issues facing industry professionals. The report found that 20% more participants in media/marketing/creative industries showed mild-to-severe symptoms of depression, compared to national data, and 29% more showed symptoms of anxiety.

Higher levels of depression

The creative industry itself showed higher levels of depression (at 61%, compared to 53% in marketing and 46% in media). “Stress was a key contributor that may impact on mental health with 57% of employees showing symptoms of stress and 18% showing signs of severe or extremely severe stress,” the authors found. Almost half the industry worked more than the average eight hours a day and a third worked on a weekend more than once a month.

Over in the UK, NABS, a support organisation for the advertising and media industry, found that two-thirds of industry professionals who participated in its survey has considered leaving due to poor wellbeing. A staggering 60% said work has had a negative impact on their wellbeing over the previous 12 months and 46% said they wouldn’t feel comfortable talking to their line manager if work were having a negative impact on their mental health.

Time to act now

Agencies need to have clear policies and procedures in place encouraging mental health and wellbeing, plus addressing harassment, with additional focus on addressing sexual harassment specifically. The time for sweeping such behaviour conveniently under the carpet has passed — it’s time the industry got its act together.

We would like to hear your story and use our platform to create change in our industry. Please email us at ourstories@marklives.com

See also

 

Herman Manson 2017Herman Manson (@marklives) is the founder and editor of MarkLives.com.

This year, MarkLives is shining a #SPOTLIGHT on health and wellness in the ad and marketing industries. We would like to hear your story and use our platform to create change in our industry, so please email us at ourstories at marklives dot com.

— One subscription form, three newsletters: sign up now for the MarkLives newsletter, including Ramify headlines; The Interlocker, our new monthly comms-focused mailer; and Brands & Branding, launching soon!

#AgencyLeaders2018: Most admired ad agency in Cape Town

by Herman Manson (@marklives) Today we reveal, as part of our annual Agency Leaders poll, which ad agency was most admired by its peers in Cape Town during the course of 2018.

Every year since 2012, MarkLives has been polling South Africa’s top ad agency leaders to find out what they think of their competitors, whom they see as effective managers and great creative leaders, and where they believe their future competition is likely to come from. Next week will be the Joburg results, followed by the national results in two weeks’ time, and then our remaining categories.

The most-admired ad agency in Cape Town

Alistair King and James Barty outside King James Group Cape Town building
Source: www.kingjames.co.za

King James Group CT

King James Group CT took the top spot for 2018 after missing out in 2017 to 99c. The agency turned 20 during the course of 2018 and had plenty to celebrate.

Year-on-year growth at the Cape Town agency stood at 24%, while staff numbers grew to 195 (from 182 in December 2017). New clients signed in 2018 included TymeBank, Netflix, G-Star RAW, Sunglass Hut, Luxottica, USB-Executive Development, Trematon Capital, Stellenbosch Graduate Institute, Masterstart and Bluewater.

“We see the continued growth in specialist offerings within our collapsed structure — more agility, smaller budgets, with higher emphasis on measurement and ROI,” says James Barty, group MD and also our 2018 Most Admired Ad Agency Boss for Cape Town. “Economic recovery into 2019 may bring back more bravery into the work but, luckily, new technology brands like TymeBank, Netflix and the like will continue to invest in order to disrupt.”

“We seldom set expectation for ourselves but choose to rather do what intuitively feels right for us at the time and talk about it afterwards,” notes Alistair King, co-founder and CCO and our 2018 Runner-up Most Admired Creative Leader for Cape Town. “You cannot anticipate the decisions you’re going to make and the reasons why. But our immediate plans are to continue to bolster our senior management with the skills we currently feel we need to make us bullet-proof in a skill sense. We have a number of big appointments happening in the strategic and digital area in particular which will make us even stronger in this critical area of our business. We don’t anticipate 2019 being an easy year, but we’ll continue to tackle it as we have always done — with high ambition and energy.”

Creative highlights included the much-awarded 2-Minute Shower Songs and Uk’Shona Kwelanga WhatsApp drama, both for Sanlam.

Previously: In 2017, the most-admired agency title went to 99c. In 2015 and in 2016, King James was named our most-admired ad agency in Cape Town. In 2014, King James tied with Ogilvy & Mather Cape Town. In 2013, it was Ogilvy Cape Town. In 2012, our inaugural poll, it was King James.

 

The runner-up

King James Group CT completely dominated this regional poll, so there is no runner-up for 2018.

Previously: In 2017, the runner-up spot was shared by King James Group CT and Ogilvy Cape Town. Ogilvy & Mather Cape Town was also our runner-up in 2015 and in 2016. FoxP2 was runner-up in 2014 and 2013. In 2012, our inaugural poll, it was Ogilvy Cape Town.

 

How the poll works

In November 2018, we invited a panel of 120 agency executives — creative and management, and ranging over a wide spectrum from small- and medium-sized to network agencies — to nominate their most-admired agency and agency leaders regionally (for Johannesburg or Cape Town) and nationally (South Africa). Execs couldn’t nominate their own agencies or staff members. All the nominations were then tallied up for the final result. The editors of MarkLives held two votes in the final poll.

Note: Runner-up(s) will only be named if they achieved a good nomination tally relative to the winner’s position. Contenders are named if they stand out significantly above other nominees but weren’t able to close in on the winner’s tally. The most-admired agency of the year is disqualified from the One to Watch category; votes cast in its favour in this category are discarded.

See also

 

Herman Manson 2017Herman Manson (@marklives) is the founder and editor of MarkLives.com.

— One subscription form, three newsletters: sign up now for the MarkLives newsletter, including Ramify headlines; The Interlocker, our new monthly comms-focused mailer; and Brands & Branding, launching soon!

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