by Herman Manson. Barclays Africa Group, the financial services group which includes Absa in South Africa, has completed its account pitch.
Tag archives: ad agencies
Old wooden clog factory converted into ad agency offices
by MarkLives. The Dutch building of RADAR’s new premises was first a wooden clog factory, then a button factory, and afterwards used and lived in by a variety of creative people.
Interview: Neuromarketing and what it means for adland
by Herman Manson. We ask Neural Sense’s Mark Drummond to walk us through his pitch on neuromarketing to marketers and agencies.
Grey is back, and heading north
by Herman Manson (@marklives) Volcano, an agency that this year entered its 21st year in operation the South African ad industry, has been resisting offers from the multinational networks for years. But, a year ago, WPP suddenly closed down its SA agency for Grey. Negotiations with Volcano started soon afterwards.
The Ad Contrarian: Four reasons for advertising’s radical remake
by Bob Hoffman (@adcontrarian) Marketers’ immoderate obsession with dubious metrics is having a profound influence on the nature of advertising. More than any other trend, this may be the one that has the longest, largest and most detrimental effect on the ad business.
The Switch: Pitching is like begging at an intersection
by Alistair Mokoena (@AlistairMokoena) Clients don’t enjoy advertising pitches any more than motorists enjoy stopping at a traffic light. We are all trying to leave a stranger with a lasting impression and we are all under huge time pressure.
There was a time not so long ago when all you saw at traffic lights were stories of poverty and strife and all you heard were heart-felt pleas for money and food. You still get a lot of that but in the main, begging has evolved, possibly in direct response to the impact of the global recession. The recession has increased the number of people begging and it has also left many would-be donors with little or no money to donate, resulting in a scramble for a smaller benevolent pie.
In their desperation to make ends meet, people begging have turned to … the power of branding. You can no longer paint them with the same brush. Their tools now range from a neutral plea for help to a bartering system where the donor receives a blessing, a clean windscreen, a garbage free car, gardening services, a joke, a trick, even a dance routine, in return for a small donation.
The Switch: The great talent migration
by Alistair Mokoena (@AlistairMokoena) As MD of one of South Africa’s larger agencies I’m struck by the similarities between the migration of animal species and the movement of creative talent within our industry. The migration of talent used to be limited to advertising agencies. Now we are witnessing lots of movement of talent from traditional advertising agencies to small below the line shops, digital shops as well as to the client side, and vice versa.
Some animal species migrate from North to South and back. Others migrate vertically from high altitude forests to low altitude forests. These species migrate mostly in search of food and warmer temperatures as well as for breeding purposes.
The wildebeest migration in the Serengeti and the migration of European swallows come to mind. European swallows spend their breeding period in Europeso they can access food supplies and longer days. In winter, they migrate to the warmer southern hemisphere.
Before embarking on their journey to Southern Africa and the Indian sub-continent, they go on a feeding frenzy, which provides sustenance for their long sojourn. They travel in a large group on this long journey that takes them through North Africa, down the West Coast of Africa, all the way down to the South. Come spring, the swallows migrate back to Europe for their breeding season.
As MD of one of South Africa’s larger agencies I’m struck by the similarities between the migration of animal species and the movement of creative talent within our industry. The migration of talent used to be limited to advertising agencies. Now we are witnessing lots of movement of talent from traditional advertising agencies to small below the line shops, digital shops as well as to the client side, and vice versa.
Many employers in our industry are starting to use employee propositions to differentiate themselves. Employment contracts and remuneration packages are becoming a lot more creative. We are starting to see a combination of flexi time, relative job security, career paths as well as participation in share schemes.
Ironically all of this makes staff retention a nightmare for many agency MD’s. What compounds this retention problem is the fact that, unlike our parents’ generation, this generation of employees does not value tenure and loyalty. Not only is the world their oyster, it’s also a travelator, constantly on the go.
What I’m learning pretty quickly though, is that this musical chairs phenomenon is pretty normal in our industry. As European swallows are attracted to Europe’s abundant food supplies and long days in their breeding period, creative talent is attracted to agencies that are seen to be on the up and up.
Agencies that win pitches attract masses of creative talent. Agencies that boast a “sexy” client list and have an impressive collection of silverware are also quite alluring to talent.
Another observation I’ve made is that talented people tend to have a following, which means, when they move agencies, others migrate with them. It matters not how hard you try, using water tight contracts, to preclude them from poaching key staff or to stop key staff from following their heroes. At the end of the day birds with bright feathers cannot be caged. Is this perhaps what Bob Marley had in mind when he sang “exodus, it’s the movement of the people.” There’s got to be a better way, methinks.
Letter from NY: “I despise the research of advertising” — Matthew Bull
by Matthew Bull (@StixBull) Look, let me not sit on the fence here. I despise the research of advertising, particularly at conceptual stage. It brings nothing but vanilla to the table.
Finding answers, but not in focus groups
by Herman Manson (@marklives) Already as an advertising grad trainee at O&M in London Craig Irving realised he had little understanding of people outside his office environment. Who were these people he was thinking up campaigns to sell stuff to?
Hitting the streets with first a voice recorder and later a video camera he began finding out. His rebellion against conventional qualitative Township Youthresearch methods created a nice little profit centre at O&M, and when he wasn’t offered his share, he picked up and launched his own business, the Consumer Insights Agency (c.i.a).
Brands like Unilever, Diageo, brandhouse, Coca-Cola, FNB, Woolworths, PEP, Old Mutual and Pick n Pay have all found benefit in using the agency, which has grown to a team of 20, to gain real insight into the people who buy their products, all around Africa.
The Creative Circle needs to manage relevance, says Chris Gotz
Chris Gotz, Executive Creative Director at Ogilvy Cape Town, recently took up the reins as chair of the Creative Circle, a body promoting creativity in the South African advertising industry.