Can it be said that digital is simply an ‘add on’ to a strategy or are brands looking at digital in the completely wrong way?

With any new media there is always concern and uneasiness regarding its use, but the growth of digital has now surpassed this child-like stage, where more brands are now choosing to allocate a larger percentage of their budgets towards the use of digital media over the use of traditional media than ever before. According to the Digital Media and Marketing Association “The outlook for the South African digital publishing industry is positive with excellent results being recorded in the first quarter of 2010.”

It can therefore no longer be said that digital is an ‘add on’ to a brand strategy due to its rapid growth over the last few years. Digital should be seen as a viable platform; just like that of television and newspapers and just like with any other platform the selection for a brand will ultimately depend on the overall objectives determined within the strategy. A brand should thus always utilise a media neutral approach.

If digital does however work for the brand there are various advantages of its use. Digital can be updated and changed whenever necessary, unlike that of traditional media, so if there is an issue with a website for example, it can be fixed almost immediately. Secondly, the concept of instant links back to the world of digital and directly correlates with the ideals of the new consumer who ultimately thrives on instant gratification.  Digital media is also much more measurable in terms of reporting, as information is more freely available and through Google analytics for example information is collected and organised almost immediately.

There are many other digital tools for tracking and measuring data and many can be utilised free of charge, making it a lower cost medium in terms of measuring. Lastly, digital is more focused on Return on Investment (ROI), however it is vital to ensure what the set criteria is in order to achieve that success. According to Ahmed and Tunnah, who are both involved in large corporate digital endeavours “If you don’t have clear criteria for success and a way to measure your progress against them, there’s no way you can be deemed to succeed.”

Conclusion

Digital should no longer be seen as an ‘add on’ to a strategy, because it has gone through a rapid growth over the last few years.  It should however be viewed as a platform, whereby it is selected so as to achieve specific objectives. A brand should never just push digital to fit into a specific message, as this will simply result in wasted time and limited results. Digital offers many advantages over the use of traditional media and therefore if it is determined that digital media is relevant in achieving the objectives, the desired goals must be identified so as to measure the brands overall success.                                                                   

 

 

 

  How does your brand operate?

Have you used digital as an ‘add on’?

Are you operating in a media neutral way?

LinkedIn has introduced a new feature for companies to be able to engage directly with their followers and potential customers. Now this will encourage more interaction online from corporates and companies are able to update their status on their company page and share with their network.

How it works:

1. You post a status update to share information which could be anything from announcements, product releases, promotions, or just news articles straight from your Company Overview page.
2. Your status update is then posted directly to each of your followers’ homepages where they can comment, like or share your update with their entire network. (Companies will need to be very active and provide interesting and relevant updates to their followers to really reap the full benefits of this feature.)
3. You can also monitor engagement metrics of your posts to see what type of posts best work for your business goals and through this analysis you could optimize your conversations.

This feature could generate lucrative leads to companies that use it smartly and also acquire a loyal clientele.

You can learn more on how to set up your company page effectively to best benefit from this feature by studying the How-To Guide, for all the do’s and don’ts.

We attended the the JOM (Journal of Marketing) Breakfast Debate this morning (07:30 am – 09:00 am GMT +2) at the MichelAngelo in Sandton, hosted by Jeremy Maggs (@maggsonmedia), presented by Future Group and sponsored by Sappi and  ABSA bank, marketing debates supported by Remata. The focal subject of the event was Design and Packaging.

We had a great line-up of panelists to address us on Design and Packaging from various industries that are very influencial in the entire process. The panelists were as following: Gareth Pearson – CEO and Shareholder at BMI Reasearch, Andrew Human – CEO of The Loeries Awards, Adam Botha – Creative Director of Switch Branding and Design, Mariette Du Plessis – Partner at Adams & Adams, and Karen Saville – Client Service Director at Y&R (Johannesbburg).

Jeremy Maggs opened the discussion by sharing a few consumer behavior studies done which reveal that 70% of purchase decisions by the consumer are made in-store hence the importance of outstanding packaging which gives the consumer a different experience in their “mood of purchase moment”.

Gareth Pearson then took over taking us further into detail of “Consumer Insight” by adding how consumers are looking for value and convenience as the main factors influencing their purchase decision. And with the “Green” movement, now consumers are also environment conscious which affects the packaging of products.

The recycling process has quite a huge impact on logistics therefore added costs to the manufacturing of packages. Even though the Green movement has slowed down over the years, government regulations are being discussed to be put in place and the packaging industry will self-regulate through the Waste Management Bill.

Also social media has an impact on packaging, one example being the QR  codes on Doritos pack which pack design and product testing were done resulting from the impact of Waste Management Bill. But regardless of some of the limitations that affect design of packaging, we still come up on top for creativity and innovation in the world with the 2009 World Star Awards being testimony to that as South Africa won 9 awards, Japan 7, Norway 2 and Singapore 1. We must not downplay how creative we are.

Andrew Human then filled us in on how new and innovative packages create a different experience for the consumer. The Loeries Awards focus on the following quality of packaging trends: innovation and relevance to brand and audience. He then shared a few winning examples like, packaging by Bushmills and Cabriere.

It appeared that the most package conscious manufacturers are the Alcohol and Perfume industries. Well it has been researched and discovered that Alcohol and perfume purchases are highly driven by their packaging. Consumers almost exclusively purchase based on the packaging, which affects the pricing of the product.

Another example of great packaging is the Café Royale Tequila packaging – great innovation where South America meets Italy was the theme of the design.

Adam Botha talks sustainability of packaging design, the impact of CPA and the challenge to be creative taking all those parameters into consideration. As packaging is the final point of contact before the consumer makes a decision to purchase, it’s important for your product to stand out driven by creativity as the consumer notices what’s different.

A few techniques you can use is illustration to create a hand crafted, sustainable look. This can also help to curb the new rules of the CPA as The new CPA legislation is challenging creative minds to stay within the boundaries therefore limiting designers from being more innovative.

Karen Saville from Y&R shares with us their Pick ‘n Pay on Nicol project with us and all the design elements that went into the project including their target of their entire concept and how they brought that innovation to life with the help of the contractors they worked with. PnP brought global best practice, briefed architects and went away from the box format.

Y&R focused on making the store a sensory and comfortable experience for the visitors by being involved in every detail of the store. They used iconography rather than wording to achieve a more pleasant and interactive in-store experience for consumers which will make them spend more time in the store and make more purchases there.

Thyme on Nicol restaurant is seamlessly intergrated into PnP on Nicol whereas Good Food Studio is sexier and focused on ingredients. “the more pleasant and interactive you make your in-store experience, the more time people will spend in your store.” ~ Karen Saville.

With all the creativity and innovation needed in the design of your packaging, the companies who succeed at this face a lot of copy cats of competing products using the same theme of their creative to try to steal the loyal consumer purchases made based on the winning packaging.

Therefore it’s very important to register your creative to avoid such, as most companies do not register their creative which would cost them way less than a legal lawsuit against copy cats would cost them. Product creative counterfeiting is the biggest growing industry in the world!!!, and that’s where legal firms such as Adams & Adams come in.

Mariette du Plessis educated us on the legal and regulations side of the whole matter at hand. Any packaging can be protected if it can be graphically presented. She used the Jack Daniels packaging as an example of a very distinctive and subjective design. The Coke bottle is also a great example of trade marking.

Words like “pure” and “natural” cannot be used on packaging. “Original” can only be used if you are the first to launch such a product in that category.  Due to the CPA we need to design packaging to be more transparent and give the right and full information for the consumer. The package must not just only say “green” but the brand must be able to support by giving more information.

Conclusion:

Packaging design is a highly influencing factor in consumer purchase, therefore for product manufacturers, design innovation must be an informed business decision. Not just the design, but also the green and organic factors are now being considered by consumers in packaging.

Innovation in packaging is determined by budget as packaging can cost up to 45% of the overall product cost. Design registration is very important to protect your creative design from copy cats.

Insights for the day: Be interactive, responsible, sustainable, innovative and creative.

Social Media marketing and management of this event was done by saidWot and Virtuosa.

 

Cape Town became Loerie Town when the creative industry descended upon the Mother City for The 33^rd Annual Loerie Awards, celebrating the best of South Africa’s communication work and providing delegates the opportunity to let their hair down after a year of hard work.

 

Loeries CEO, Andrew Human, is set on altering the perception of the festival from being seen as a weekend of partying and excess, to one that recognises the hard work of the creative industry and which is taken seriously by the rest of the country. There’s little doubt that the Loerie Awards should be taken seriously. Human feels that great brand communication benefits everyone, and the fact that every Apex Award winner this year was a Loeries winner in 2010 proves that good advertising is effective advertising. The Loeries recognises this and pushes the industry to produce even better, more effective work for clients.

 

Of course, it would be no fun if the Festival Weekend was all business and no pleasure. This year, the awards ceremonies offered a cult appeal with the inclusion of Riaan Cruywagen and David Hasselhoff as the masters of ceremonies. These ‘retro’ icons fitted in well with the juxtaposition of the use of the old style logo with the more modern slogan, ‘Don’t Hate, Create’, especially with Cruywagen adopting this ‘street’ lingo while dressed in his trademark grey suit.

 

It was also this kind of ‘out there’ thinking that resulted in this year’s Loerie winners walking away with the much-coveted statues. The Grand Prix-winning work showed just how creative South Africa’s creative industry can be, pulling off anything from a live activation silent marching band for VW’s Golf 6 (Ogilvy Cape Town), to the interactive ‘Flo Browser’ tool relying solely on user gestures for Musica (HelloComputer) and the hard-hitting ‘New Friends’ radio ad for Mercedes (Net#work BBDO). Interesting that the big winners were those who took a chance with riskier ideas, the likes of which we are used to seeing internationally.

 

Human is of the opinion that South Africa can compete internationally, especially in the medium of radio. He feels that we have untapped potential to succeed because our industry is much smaller than its overseas counterparts, meaning there is scope to gain a lot of experience rather than being pigeon-holed into one speciality.

Talking about being pigeon-holed, there was much discussion over the weekend about next year’s location for the festival, now that its three-year stint in Cape Town is over. However, the resounding opinion among delegates was that Cape Town remains the most relevant host, not least because of its chances of being named World Design Capital 2014. Cape Town mayor, Patricia De Lille, stated, “We will try to keep [them here] for at least the next three years.”

 

Considering that the 2011 Loeries are being touted as the best ever, perhaps that will become a reality. Regardless of where the festival is held, however, it’s something the organisers and the creative industry can be proud of.

 

 

Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who is currently worth $17.5 billion (just in case you weren’t aware), has recently added a few changes to Facebook. So before you start panicking and calling your children or grandkids for help, here are a few things you should know, just to help you out!

First of all let’s look at your newsfeed.

This has been made more efficient by removing both Top Stories (which showed the most popular topics) and Most Recent (which placed news in chronological order). The newsfeed now puts up one stream of all the stories relevant to the time they were posted, and according to Facebook “News Feed will act more like your own personal newspaper. You won’t have to worry about missing important stuff.”

Facebook has increased the character limit for status update s from 420 to an impressive 5,000 meaning that brands now have the chance to say more than ever before. There are also bigger pictures in your newsfeed and you can mark stories as top stories meaning that Facebook will automatically put similar stories at the top of your newsfeed.

What is the ‘Ticker?’

Ticker allows the user to link up with friends in real-time whereby you can see immediate updates and join in conversations at any time as the news feed seems to lag in terms of immediacy. The ticker has now created the ability for you to ‘listen in’ on conversations that were meant to be private with people you may not even know (i.e. friends of friends).

What are Smart Lists?

 

Smart Lists allow the user to create lists based on certain aspects of an individual’s profile for example your family, school, university and so on. Once an individual in the list updates their profile or posts a comment, the list will indicate the total number of new posts by that group of people.

What about my privacy?

It is important to note that through the addition of the ticker, it is now easier for people  to view pretty much everything you post, like or add. You can limit this by changing your privacy settings to “friends only” or “custom” lists. These settings can be accessed either through the privacy setting in the top right corner of your post or at the top right corner of your page. Remember that with the new Facebook, everything you do will be shared immediately to your newsfeed so be careful when authorising various apps, and make sure you understand and are aware of your privacy settings.

According to an article by Alexandra Reid “If you’re friends with a prospect on Facebook, what you’re watching, reading and listening to, and even what locations you check into, can impact their perception of you professionally and damage business relationships.”

An important aspect you should however take note of is secure browsing. According to Carl “By default, Facebook sends your access credentials in the clear, with no encryption whatsoever. Switching to HTTPS is important because a browser extension called Firesheep has made it especially easy for anyone sharing your open wireless network—at cafe or conference, for example—to sniff your credentials and freely access your account.”

In order to change this, it is important to go to your account settings, select the security setting and enable the secure browsing option.

What should brands be aware of?

With Facebook’s new social plugin it is now possible to drive additional traffic to your site. The social plugin is installed on the businesses website and must then be permitted access by a Facebook member. Each time a user visits the businesses website a notification (stating that the page has been read) can be returned back to Facebook whereby a post will be shared on the users’ wall, and newsfeed. This facility is available to developers via Open Graph

A new button referred to as the ‘Subscribe Button’ could also assist in benefitting brands and their engagement with consumers (followers). The subscribe button allows the individual to subscribe to updates by public figures of the brand, who can share posts for the individuals who have subscribed. Additionally the brand can subscribe to regular influential visitors assisting in mutual relations. The subscribe button shares similar resemblance to the follow button on Twitter and works in a similar way.

The Ticker can be used to a brands adavntage as long as a brand has a cohesive strategy whereby updates are placed thoughtfully and interaction with consumers is relevant. Brands need to create relevant, consistent and interesting stories so as to keep the user interested and willing to engage regularly with the brand.

Conclusion

According to SodaHead a public opinion forum, 86% of users are against the Facebook changes with many saying that Facebook is overloading the user with too much information from both the Newsfeed and Ticker, being compared to a kind of Twitter feed, but it’s important to remember that “We are its product, not its customers,” says Andrew Brown editor of Cif belief, with its customers actually being the advertisers.

Sport Sponsorships in South Africa has grown with 5.2% in 2010 alone and is now a $46 billion market. This is according to David Sidenberg from BMI, who was one of the panellists at the Journal of Marketing breakfast debate on 25 August. One reason for this is that Sponsorship is becoming a popular marketing tool, which leads to a big amount of brands Sponsoring teams or events, which in turn then leads to a need for larger chunks of the budget to spend on sponsorship to compete with the increasing noise. A reason for the popularity of Sport Sponsorships is explained by ABSA’s Lynn Naude, who says that ABSA invests in Sport Sponsorships because “It allows us to cater for all markets”.  Thus, a large benefit is reaching your audience and creating an association in their minds between the Sponsor and the rights holder. Barends adds that Sport Sponsorship can also give a brand personality and help them to engage with heir consumers, and so create awareness.

In the case of creating brand awareness, Sport Sponsorship has become popular due to the amount of Television Broadcasting time dedicated to Sport. Unfortunatily, there is a correlation between the amount of exposure on Television and costs. So what if your brand can not afford this large investment in Sponsorship? According to Barends, “if you want to be seen, but you do not have the budget, you must be creative”. He uses the example of Sponsoring a Sport Union or Federation, rather than the team or club. This will allow your brand to be associated with specific products instead of the big event. Vosloo gives a further example of Total forming a female team to extend their publicity.  Sidenberg adds that product placement is also not used as effectively as it could be in South Africa.

But according to Naude as well as Nadia Vosloo (Brand and Communications Manager at Total SA) there is a range of benefits associated with Sponsorships, and brand awareness is but one of them. Sponsorships may also develop due to a need for Corporate Social Investment (CSI). A good example of this is the Sponsorship of community sport events by Total, which leads to a reduction in crime but also builds brand loyalty from a young age, or the provision of vegetable tunnels in Kwazulu-Natal to fight pollution and feed 100 children per day. According to Lyndon Barends, CSI is usually a part of Sport Sponsorships as it also provides the team members with the opportunity to break away from their daily activities. And although individual sportsmen and women are sometimes associated with a specific Sponsor, this is becoming a risk as these individuals can have a influence on the Sponsor, as they generally have access to large audiences via social media.

Ultimately, a perfect fit is needed between the Rights Holder and the Sponsor to make the partnership work. This fit is determined by the brand DNA as well as the objectives of the Sponsor. The objectives may vary from brand awareness, to increased sales, to engagement with the target audience to CSI. In some cases a natural fit exists between the Rights Holder and Sponsor, as the case is with Total and Motorsport.

So at the end of the debate, when the question was asked if Sport Sponsorship is worth it, the short answer was “Yes”.

 

“Creativity is key to making a success out of any campaign”

– Xolisa Dyeshana -

 

These were the words that sparked the conversation at the Journal of Marketing breakfast debate on 30 July 2011, which lead to some interesting views on how Direct Marketing should be used. Direct marketing today is no longer about a junk pamphlet in your post box, it is about finding clever and attention grabbing ways to get the message across to a very specific group of people. According to Lynn Madley, CEO at Euro RSCG and one of the panellists at the debate, the shotgun approach does work in some cases, but targeted communication works much better. She also adds that brands should speak to consumers in a way that they want to be spoken to and Social Media plays a large role in this.

Today, traditional media is used in Direct Marketing to drive the audience to other platforms, like social media. Brands are warned to not be on social media for the sake of being on social media, but rather to have a well thought out strategy to work from. Because social media gives consumers the power to voice all their opinions, it’s better to just watch and respond if really necessary if your brand does not have the ability to provide quality content on a regular basis. On the other hand it is also important to remember that in this age, due to social networks, reputations are fragile. You need to know what is going on with your brand online and few brands can get away with not having a social media presence – brands need to engage on a personal level.

From a direct marketing point of view, what can be more personal and more direct than engaging on social media platforms? It provides the brand with the opportunity to become more than a brand – to become the consumers’ ‘buddy’. This will of course be strongly regulated by the new Consumer Protection Act (CPA), which defines direct marketing as a personal approach to directly or indirectly promote goods or services.

So, engaging directly and becoming the consumers’ buddy is important as we are no longer in the business of marketing, but in the business of engagement. And this again is important as the success of any direct marketing campaign can be measured by the interaction received from the audience.

That leaves one final question: Do consumers today, in this multi-tasking era, have the attention needed to participate in prolonged campaigns?

 

*A note of thanks to the panellists, whose wise comments contributed to this article.

Lynn Madley (CEO: Euro RSCG), Andrew Ambrogioni (CEO: Action Ambro’s) Danie Strachan (Senior Associate: Adams & Adams) Brian Mdluli (CEO: Direct Marketing Association of South Africa) and Xolisa Dyeshana (Creative Director and Partner: Joe Public)

 

LinkedIn is often ignored in most business social media marketing strategies as companies frequently mention Facebook and Twitter before bringing up the “professional networking platform”.

“As companies increase their social media marketing budgets to encompass almost 20% of their entire marketing budgets (in the US), and with online advertising comprising another 15% of marketing budgets (in the US), LinkedIn and other social media sites are vying for a potential third of marketing budgets over the next few years” - Neal Schaffer : ‘Social Media Today’.

LinkedIn Statistics:

LinkedIn has grown considerably to become one of the most important social networking sites. Stats indicate that:

• LinkedIn is the fastest professional networking site.
• LinkedIn now has 101 million members worldwide (LinkedIn Ad Platform: 2011 Stats).

The main difference of LinkedIn (from Facebook):

• It is a platform created as a closed and trusted networking site for business professionals.
• Its main targeted market is in the hearts and minds of the professional demographic.
• Compared to Facebook (described as the center of consumer culture for businesses), LinkedIn concentrates on establishing professional relationships between businesses.

Three main LinkedIn benefits (for your business):

With LinkedIn competing for the attention of businesses to include it as part of online strategy, they have number of nifty features that set them apart from other social networking sites.

• LinkedIn Company Pages

Competitors such as Facebook have recently upgraded their company/business page platform, and so has LinkedIn with the ‘enhanced’ company pages (announced November 1, 2010). These LinkedIn Company pages are more customizable (able to add Twitter feed, Office location map, add Blog feed & Careers tab) although not as extensive as FBML customisation from Facebook.

LinkedIn also allows users to “Recommend” company products and services (opposite of “Like” – on Facebook), add comments to the recommendations, and see who in their network made what company recommendations.

Example of well optimized LinkedIn company page below

• LinkedIn Groups

The LinkedIn Groups, compared to Facebook Groups for example; offer more significant engagement with the professional community as there is plenty of room for discussions, and sharing the discussions among industry leaders not like the small status update boxes on the Facebook groups platform.

LinkedIn Groups also have the ability to send daily and weekly digests which Facebook Pages lack. This therefore creates even more engagement from Group members.

However, the main problem with LinkedIn Groups is that they are a private world: Unless you were a member of that Group you couldn’t see inside it – although this may change soon with the talks of LinkedIn Groups being given the option to make them ‘public’ or ‘private’.

• LinkedIn Ads

LinkedIn has their own Pay-Per-Click advertising in 3 types: Banner Ads, Media Box Ads and Direct Ads.  Neal Schaffer from ‘Social Media Today’ states that we must always bear in mind that: “Facebook has companies and LinkedIn has professionals (professional demographic)” – so when targeting your ad audience it is important to consider this.

Other features to look at once you have created your company page on LinkedIn include the “Follow Us on LinkedIn” button and a host of Applications that may be added to your page (these will be discussed in our next blog post).

For more LinkedIn reading visit:

http://www.socialmediatoday.com/nealschaffer/252062/linkedin-vs-facebook-business-2011-battle-begins : [LinkedIn vs. Facebook for Business in 2011]

http://www.booleanblackbelt.com/2010/09/linkedin-demographics-and-visitor-statistics : [BooleanBlackBelt LinkedIn Stats]

http://www.slideshare.net/amover/linked-in-demographics-and-statistics-2011 : [LinkedIn Ad Platform: 2011 Stats]

Today’s Journal of Marketing (JOM) debate session was titled “Radio: A good media buy? Or goodbye to the medium” (held at the Michelangelo Hotel). With the MTN Radio Awards 2011 coming up, this was a fitting debate topic.

Our panelists were:

• Natasha Basson – GM of Brand & Communication, MTN SA
• Terry Volkwyn – CEO Primedia Broadcasting
• Gordon Patterson – CEO of Starcom Mediavest
• Rachelle Jaques – Sales Manager of the Media Connection
• Omar Essack – Executive Director: Broadcasting – Kagiso Media

Jeremy Maggs lead the discussion and here is an overview of all the questions and answers from the session:

Is radio as a medium dying?

• Terry Volkwyn – We don’t think radio is a dying medium but it does face challenges from digital media. The most important factor for radio is that the medium is driven by advertising and this is pivotal to its survival.

• Gordon Patterson – Radio is not dying, infact stats show that listening minutes are increasing over South Africa and radio has the advantage of ‘direct reach’ to clientele.

• Natasha Basson – Radio is not dead but when marketers advertise, they should advertise by programme and not by station.

What are the limitations of radio advertising?

• Gordon Patterson – The limitation is that marketers are planning/targeting TV advertising by station but they should plan by programme (people tune in to a station because of the programme not because of what station it is).

“In addition, broadcasters are now in a habit of discounting sales and advertising services and this is hurting industry player (for example SABC making loses due to discounting)” – Gordon Patterson – CEO of Starcom Mediavest.

• Natasha Basson – Another limitation the industry has is that research is limited in terms of knowing more about their ‘listenership’ (who they are and more about their demographics).

How do small businesses owners benefit from Radio advertising?

• Gordon Patterson – They need to know which radio stations are in their area and analyze the cost effectiveness of advertising with each station. It is also important to look at the budget and consider advertising with local radio stations.

• Terry Volkwyn – My advice would be to approach a radio direct sales team and calculate the cost per response.

• Rachelle Jaques – The benefits of small companies is that they are flexible and there is a lot of room to be creative in advertising.

“Using community radio stations for small business advertising may be most beneficial however they are limited to the community” – Rachelle Jaques – Sales Manager of the Media Connection.

Do Brands use radio to build the brand or just for product promotion?

• Natasha Basson – Depending on your strategy, national radio broadcasting stations are often used for company branding campaigns (e.g MTN) whereas regional broadcasting stations help in ‘sell brand products’.

What should clients expect from radio advertising sales individuals?

• Terry Volkwyn – We make sure that the sales team is fully trained and give professional consulting so they approach clients (advertisers) effectively.

• Omar Essack – A good radio sales team must understand their clients’ needs and strategize the ways in which they can reach the sales conversion. They must offer the client the most relevant channels to reach the most optimum strategy for the advertiser.

What is radio advertising added value?

• Omar Essack – Radio advertising added value are the extras added on to the service offering such as in depth reporting of results.

• Rachelle Jaques – Added value is not an advertising discount but more of a ‘tailor-made’ service – monitor, watch and respond to the client’s needs anytime.

• Gordon Patterson – this is addition support that makes sure that radio stations run a campaign that works.

When can you tell that a campaign is not working?

• Natasha Basson – It takes roughly 24hours to see if a radio campaign is going to be successful or if it needs extra attention to reach its benchmark – especially if it is an interactive radio campaign.

 

In conclusion, the last question the panelists addressed was “How will radio work for businesses?” It was generally agreed that radio advertising will work effectively when advertiser focus on leveraging on the relationship the radio station has with the community in order to unleash the power of its advertising potential.

The Journal of Marketing session, held at the Michelangelo on 12 Feb, saw host to a discussion about, Outdoor, our of home and Mobile media.

The panel included:

• Ashley Dewat – Channel Strategy at Ogilvy
• Barbara Cooke – Acting Executive Director of the OHMSA
• Jacques du Preez – MD of Provantage (Pty) Ltd
• Kevin Kirby – COO of ComutaNet
• Lyn Jones – Marketing Manager of Continental Outdoor Media

Jeremy Maggs lead the discussion, and came out guns blazing. Here is the overview of all the questions:

Why is Ambient media still relevant?

There are new platforms out there however the outdoor space drives consumers to the new platforms.

Someone has to drive those consumers to the many plethora of different options. (Lynn)

We know that with above the line media, it’s getting harder to reach consumers, and more ineffective year after year.  Out of home media can’t be switched off, and you are exposed, always.

 

Is there quantifiable research?

There has been some research, but the medium has grown faster than most.  We look at the numbers and the members. As a proportion of the media mix, we have grown immensely. (Jacques)

Kevin’s opinion is that these mediums have less wastage.  It’s a media category that requires for more work and studies to be done, so it makes it more difficult.  Homework must be done – targeted media must be researched well.  You need to know who the audience is, and what they want and above all, you need to understand what the creative concept it about.

 

Barbara – The bigger picture is that around the world, we are seeing fully integrated advertising research thus we can have payment by results. SA doesn’t have that yet, but it is on its way.  Tenders are out today (12 Feb), and will be looked at internationally, also best practice proposals will be looked at.  It has taken so long because the industry hasn’t focused on growing the whole industry, but rather the slices of it.

Digital is becoming the most flexible media.

 

If all of the research has not been available and going out for tenders, why is it only being done now?

Lyn – Research has been done, and is good, but looked at the industry in a segmented view, and didn’t look at out of home in its entirety.  We need to get to the stage where we measure the whole industry.

Have you been disadvantaged not having the full holistic research available?

Yes, but the industry needs to take responsibility.  The industry needs to take control, as they feel they have funded the research of other platforms too, and would rather take the research for out of home completely on our own.

What tough Q should brand managers be asking of the industry?

Investment and planning tools are needed. The expectation they should have, is to come up with the tools, and the planning to facilitate the spend.

Barbara, what would you say is the current perception of the outdoor industry?

I have no idea what they are thinking, but I would like them to think that it’s an exciting industry.  I think this is possibly THE most exciting medium, as it is growing so fast due to the population becoming more and more mobile.

The youth especially are spending more and more time outdoors, from clubs to bars, to generally outdoors.

Is pricing is unstructured due to supply and demand?

The industry is facing many challenges due to pricing, but you will get people who would want to undercut.

It is about creating value, and people are prepared to pay for quality.

Most members offer good value, but people need to ask the right questions. You need integration, and there is a premium for good exposure.

The price discussion has to follow the strategic discussion.

 

How does the client know which site is best?

It’s all about knowing what the strategy is behind it.  You need to be able to match your offer to the strategic environment.

How do you know where the good sites are?

Immerse yourself in the market – get out there and find out where you would like it to be.  GoogleEarth is helping a lot with this, and gives a visual element to the market.

Each sites needs to be measured, and it can be told how many people pass that site a day.  There are empirical ways to gate it.

Barbara – The outdoor industry is not the different to any other industry – know your consumer.  So reach and frequency must be measured against a target market.  It needs to be measured on a continuous basis. The mantra is “know your consumer”.

Do media agencies have the upper hand?

The issue is that both owner and agency should be wanting to add top added value to the client’s objective. The problem comes in, in the lack of transparency in the funding model.

It’s difficult to manage, as from an economic point of view you want to be in the game, but you have to be guided from an ethical stance.

Transparency is definitely needed.

A price war is healthy, this is a free market, and the outdoor industry is freer than anybody.  But the consolidation of buying points have become very narrowed down.

Where is the industry going?

Firstly from an outdoor perspective, every marketing point is based on location, through all mediums.  This industry is going to continue to grow.

Outdoor is constantly evolving.  It is going to grow as the population grows more mobile.  Technology will start melting in more, with a digital input.

The right creative use must be encouraged.

New infrastructure development gives many more opportunity.  It provides opportunities to target audience in a more integrated and upmarket way. But the industry must have a positive engagement with government, to help them understand what is possible.