by Alistair Mokoena (@AlistairMokoena) Managing a portfolio of accounts is not easy. The answer is a well thought-out portfolio management strategy which recognises that different accounts have different roles to play in the agency’s game plan.
Tag archives: by Alistair Mokoena
The Switch: Do you want a loerie or an ostrich?
by Alistair Mokoena (@AlistairMokoena) The loerie bird has, in essence, become the hallmark of creative excellence in our industry. But what if I told you there is another bird out there, of equal significance? A bird that can teach us a few valuable lessons about running a successful business?
The Switch: There IS place for the wise and old in adland
by Alistair Mokoena (@AlistairMokoena) All you ad execs who are 50 years and older, please stand up so I may come to you for wise counsel?! One of the things that strikes one when one joins the advertising industry is that it is full of young people, as well as a preponderance of women, just like a pride of lions.
The Switch: Gearing up for success in an organisation
by Alistair Mokoena (@AlistairMokoena) What I’ve learnt in my time as a leader is that the best advice often comes from talking to staff about what they would do if they were in charge. So, instead of reading more business books, I’ve taken to having lunches or a few beers with colleagues.
The Switch: The quick agency/marketer guide to surviving a pitch
by Alistair Mokoena (@AlistairMokoena) Every profession has its defining moment, a moment when stakes are at their highest. We refer to these moments as the moment of truth. For marketers, the moment a consumer interacts with a brand for the first time constitutes a moment of truth. For those of us in the advertising world, the moment we present work to a client is our moment of truth.
The Switch: Why adland needs pen pals
by Alistair Mokoena (@AlistairMokoena) My prediction is that we will continue to see many more agencies close shop while others downsize. We will also see clients in-source some services and recycle or “sweat” their advertising material. It’s a jungle out there. Yes, strength can help you survive, but it takes a lot more to thrive.
The Switch: The power of the inner circle
by Alistair Mokoena (@AlistairMokoena) We’ve all received an email from a client on a Monday morning telling us about advertising insights they picked up at a braai with friends or at a family dinner. That email usually ends with: “Why don’t we make ads like that?”
The Switch: At a coffee shop, drinking tea
by Alistair Mokoena. The raison-d’etre of a coffee shop is not to sell coffee but to provide an experience that is created around conversations. This is based on a very simple but powerful insight.
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.
The Switch: What is the currency of aspiration?
by Alistair Mokoena (@AlistairMokoena) The love of money is problematic. Many of the problems we face today can be linked to a desire to possess more. This is an important debate for us advertisers, as almost every client brief we receive asks for aspirational communication.