by MarkLives. What are the expectations for the marketing and advertising industry in 2018? Next up is Odette van der Haar of the Association for Communication and Advertising.
Tag archives: by Odette van der Haar
Big Q 2017: Odette van der Haar on the coming BBBEE transformation
by MarkLives. What are the expectations of South Africa’s marketing and advertising leaders for the industry in 2017? Next up is Odette van der Haar.
The Big Q: Odette van der Haar on political minefields & bottom lines
by MarkLives. We ask Odette van der Haar: Should corporate leaders expose their political thinking and address issues of national importance?
Motive: Tenders, pitches and the ACA Code of Conduct
by Odette van der Haar. In the absence of ubuntu, the ACA, member agencies, GCIS, Treasury and dti spent almost three years drawing up five rules.
Effective creativity – mutually exclusive or myth?
Is creativity and effectiveness mutually exclusive, what is the relationship and can it be defined? This question was put to a number of captains of industry who served on the 2013 APEX awards jury and this is what they had to say…
Vice Chairperson of the APEX awards jury and Chief Executive Office of award-winning agency, TBWA – Ivan Moroke said that the relationship between creativity and effectiveness has been debated by marketing moguls and advertising gurus for decades and agrees that creativity and effectiveness are indeed linked. He added that the impression that creativity is only relevant if one talks about producing brilliant, ground-breaking adverts, is false. Applying creativity is intrinsic to delivering effective advertising – one needs merely to broaden how we define and apply creativity. And, likewise, effectiveness shouldn’t just be associated with the kind of advertising that delivers business results. Effectiveness should be measured alongside creativity. Moroke provided a good example – “Even if the central idea is not driven by explicit creativity – these days creativity is often applied somewhere else in the communication mix in order to deliver the message effectively to the audience. The Apple brand is a typical example of this.”
This comes as little surprise. With innovations in mobile devices, the fragmentation of media channels and tsunami of social media that has changed the way we interact – little wonder that advertising agencies have had to apply creativity in ways beyond a pretty picture.
The entrepreneur as a model for account management
A MarkLives column by Odette van der Haar (@odette_roper), CEO, Association for Communication and Advertising For those outside of the advertising and communications profession and of course those who are already members of the profession, defining what account management actually entails is difficult because the role is so diverse. In short, there is “sales” and there is “customer service” and then you have the Account Manager with one foot in each department – essentially, the Account Manager is the representative of the agency to the client and the intermediary between the creative (and other departments) and the client.
For the right person, the role of an Account Manager (or Account Executive as it is sometimes known) can be most invigorating and fulfilling however, for the wrong person, it can be rather unbearable, masochistic nightmare.
Why the two extremes?
This is a job that most of us in the advertising and communications profession can agree requires more resilience than any other. It is also probably the most under-estimated job in the business. In short, the job of the Account Manager is to represent the client’s interest at the agency and to be the agency’s interface at the client. As the face of the agency, Account Managers have to be masterfully diplomatic, tactful and Odette van der Haarattentive however knowing when and how to say “No” is a must-have skill. The job, when considered at face value, is definitely not for sissies, instead, razor sharp go-getters who have a knack for business and who are not afraid of manoeuvring unique and sometimes difficult personalities to ensure they all work together effectively, will most likely succeed in this job.
The ideal Account Manager will make it his (or her) business to gain intimate knowledge of the client’s business – and this, well beyond the marketing department as well as the business of advertising and communications. He/she will run client accounts as profitable businesses to ensure a profitable return for the agency and the clients.
Effective media planning in a recession
by Odette van der Haar (@odette_roper), CEO, Association for Communication and Advertising Media planning is an ever-shifting discipline. It is a continuous process of reviewing media data (ratings, demographics, rankings, clicks) combined with a great deal of research and, of course, negotiation to deliver the best media schedule for a campaign. In a recession, a good media planner becomes even more crucial.
This is because clients and agencies are held to deliver value, a return on investment and/or a return on objectives. It is also because different channels are clamouring for marketing spend, making it critical for the media planner strategically develop the communications campaign strategy.
In the run-up to the APEX awards which are all about on defining effectiveness in advertising and communications, I thought it appropriate to scrutinise what makes for effective media planning in a recession.
Building metrics to ensure effectiveness in ad campaigns
by Odette van der Haar (@odette_roper), CEO, Association for Communication and Advertising What does effective mean? In the business of advertising and communications, we define it as ‘delivering a measurable business result.’ With the squeeze on budgets and the general malaise in the economy, the ability to prove effectiveness of any communications campaign has become more critical than ever.
The APEX awards have long been established as the standard by which effectiveness can be judged. However, the principles that govern APEX are not applicable only to award entries – there is in fact a leading agency that runs a mini-APEX process for every single campaign that it executes because effectiveness is paramount and ingrained in the culture and business practise of the agency. This discipline intended to ensure that campaigns are not only creative and deliver brand resonance but that they also deliver business results in a tangible and measurable manner that is meaningful to the client. The success of the agency is a testament to exactly this.
It is important for marketers to understand the interplay between creativity and effectiveness, allowing the agency to deliver holistic creative solutions whilst also working with the agency to build-in the kind of metrics that will allow for the effectiveness of the campaign to be measured.
The rise of “independent pitch consultants” and how to deal with them
by Odette van der Haar. A lack of knowledge, experience and understanding of the business of advertising and communications, as well as how agency partners function complicates tender and pitch processes and has created the need for assistance from “independent consultants”.
Tenders and Pitches – a Guide for Marketers & Agencies
by Odette van der Haar. It is no secret that tenders and pitches are an integral part of the advertising and communications profession.