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?

The answer is simple: Be available on the platforms that consumers want you to be available on. These days, that is just about everywhere.

When it comes to digital platforms, Yvonne Johnston recons that the consumer is making the choice to interact: “They are not just there, they choose to follow through and click on your banner”. Gordon Muller warns against this view by adding that consumers do not choose to see your banner or PPC advertisement, it is just there. They choose only when they click on that banner or start a conversation with you on Twitter, for example. So the ultimate goal would be to get that engagement from them and you can only do this if you understand their head space, explains Johnston. Digital platforms, specifically social media, provide marketers with the opportunity to understand this headspace better. We can see what consumers think about brands, and if it is negative, we can interact with them and attempt to change their mind and according to Johnston there is no better brand ambassador than a person that used to be negative about the brand and then changed their opinion.

This power of digital and social media has led to an increase of media spend going towards these platforms and ultimately a decrease on spend going towards above the line (ATL) media, says Jennifer Grace. She further stated that there is value in digital and this is proven by the statistics, but still digital should not be chosen over ATL media but instead be integrated. Donald Liphoko adds that this is why ATL is used to tell consumers where the conversation is; we use ATL to drive consumers to digital. He continues to say that digital is seen as more accountable than traditional media, although we do not know what the true value of a like or tweet is. Marketers are also still wary of using digital as the brand risk is high – “consumers can say what they want online”

In reality, consumers are already saying what they want online, whether your brand is listening and responding or not. Brands cannot afford not to be available on digital platforms if this is where their audience is and although there is risk involved, this can be managed and monitored. Grace also mentioned that although marketers are still wary of digital media, digital media also sees ATL as a threat, but instead should be tapping into it and integrating more. Muller agrees by stating that “We didn’t create TV agencies when we were first introduced to TV as a medium, so why do we have digital agencies? Digital should be integrated.”

Although integration seems to be the ideal, a member of the audience pointed out that “Digital is usually only used as afterthought, but actually requires upfront planning. In reality digital gets 2% of the planning but causes 120% of the headache, so most of the time it’s just cut out.” Muller added that although this is true it is similar to the example of your neighbour relieving himself on your lawn every morning – “It’s not your fault, but it is your problem.” He then continued to explain that the only way around this is through forward planning and not viewing ATL and digital as two separate campaigns.

In conclusion, there are three things to remember:

• The campaign allows you to communicate what you want to, but remember that the audience is always looking – you should be where they are looking and when they are looking.
• Be relevant, topical and funny – keep up with the times, change according to the audience and resonate with those who are looking to participate.
• Remember that every media decision should be logically explainable – the issue is no longer about where to communicate, but about how to communicate.

This is a summary of the information shared at the Journal of Marketing breakfast debate.

The panellists were:

• Jennifer Grace: Head of Media at Native
• Gordon Muller: GSM Quadrant
• Donald Liphoko: Director at The MediaShop
• Yvonne Johnston: Head of Marketing at the SABC

Interesting mobile facts for South Africa:

• 57 percent of South Africa only access the web through their mobile phone
• In South Africa cell phone banking is used by 28 percent of the total population whilst only 16 percent of the population utilise Internet banking
• In South Africa 65 percent of all smartphone owners use apps to improve their lives
• On average a user spends 9% more time using mobile apps over the use of the Internet
• Games and social networking apps combined are equal to 79 percent of consumers overall app usage time

The Mobile App
The trendy word in mobile today is the App. As consumers move into the notion of the super consumer, many feel the need to be in control of everything they see, view and interact with. Applications have thus gained a greater importance with apps for almost everything from fun apps (which may have no real use, like the infamous broken screen app) to business related apps which improve overall mobile operations speed and performance.

Mobile apps are creating more possibilities for the mobile phone, and brands like for example; LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter have taken advantage of this trend, by creating their own personalized apps. Mobile apps assist in brand integration and allow the consumer to stay connected whether it is off-line, online or though mobile and many brands will start developing apps as a way of communicating with consumers.

What is hAPPening in South Africa?
Vodacom has recently decided to create the brands own app store with over 140000 applications.  ”We think that this will drive the growth and innovation within an already thriving local South African mobile ecosystem,  ” they said.

MTN seems to have picked up on this new development and has announced that their own app store is “currently in the works,” with an apparent launch in less than six months time.

This trend has not only risen within mobile networks, as 5FM has created an app for BlackBerry which allows users to listen and stay connected to 5FM where ever they go, and FNB have launched both FNBConnect (used to locate ATM’s and has some of the VASP functionality) and the first South African integrated mobile banking application.

Conclusion
The growth of apps in South Africa and worldwide, continues to be on the increase and why not take advantage of it? Smartphones and browser-enhanced cell phones keep consumers connected 24/7 and it seems only obvious that to stay connected with the consumer is to talk to them where they already are.

Apps allow for greater consumer-brand interaction and consumers like to download different apps that make their lives easier. Apps may assist brands to break through endless ad clutter and to connect directly with their target markets. Who would have thought that smartphones and browser-enhanced cell phones would surpass the capabilities of the computer, but it seems that targeting of consumers on smartphone apps is the smart choice for brands today.

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.

“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]

The panelists for this debate included:

• Chris Vick (advisor to Minister Tokyo Sexwale)
• Rich Mkhondo (MTN Corp. Affairs)
• Dr Sarah Britten – Author and has worked with Kulula & SARS
• Peter Mann (CEO of Meropa)
• Jacqui O’Sullivan (GM of Sasol)
• Peter Bruce (Editor of Business Day)

There is growing reliance of Public Relations (PR) in the broader marketing mix and this discussion aims to understand why PR is still important for brands today. Jeremy Maggs lead the discussion and here is an overview of all the questions and answers from the session:

Is PR about engagement?

• Rich Mkhondo – There is a divide between PR and what companies want to inform their clients. The objective of PR is to build a bridge between that divide. Public Relations Practitioners are used as sounding boards for brands and there is skepticism from clients.

What is good PR Spin?

• Jacqui O’Sullivian – Bad PR characteristics give good PR a bad name, and they are characterized by poor communication, no PR objectives but good PR understands transparency.

“Spin is not the enemy, ‘bad’ spin is” – Jacqui O’Sullivan (General Manager of Sasol).

• Chris Vick – Spin must look at ethics and values rather than just aim to paint the brand in good light, therefore ‘integrity’ is key.

• Rich Mkhondo – In terms bad PR campaigns, the onus  should rest with companies/brands to tell the PR companies the truth before ‘spinning’ the story

How is digital shaping PR?

• Sarah Britten – It is interesting how the digital space is changing the print media for example Twitter as an avenue of WebPR.
• Peter Mann – There is a risk once a PR campaign is sent out from the news room as it can no longer be controlled and people are able to use Twitter and Facebook to share news.
• Jacqui O’Sullivian – We need to leverage of social media and the rest of the digital space (there needs to be a social media strategy in your PR campaign).
• Sarah Bitten – PR Practitioners have to watch, learn and engage with social media when it comes to PR campaigns

When does PR go wrong?

• Peter Bruce – Most PR is wasted because it hits the wrong targeted market. PR campaigns must be well structured. We need to have a good understanding of role players in the brand marketing mix.
• Chris Vick – PR campaigns go bad when we do not understand the objectives of PR campaigns and neglect to build relationships with the journalists that help you run the PR campaigns.

How do you develop a good PR ‘spin campaign’?

Jacqui O’Sullivian (GM of Sasol) answered with the following key points:

• Sit with right people (advertisers, PR practioners, marketing department) – get the key players to understand one goal & one vision.
• Shape the right message in no more than 5 characteristics.
• Do not be too corporate (or too informal) in communicating and remember who you are talking to – target market.
• Respond early to avoid bad reputation.

How do you develop a good online PR strategy?

• A good PR strategy must cover both : ‘traditional media avenues (newspapers) and new media channels (digital)’.

How is new media such as Twitter changing PR?

• Peter Bruce – Twitter is a very powerful tool for PR management in that it adds value to brands and also provides more regular engagement with the market.

Why do brands need PR strategies over just advertising?

• Chris Vick – No one wants to invest in one strategy and in addition, no one needs a PR strategy only when they are in trouble but rather all the time. There should be continuous brand reputation management.

• Jacqui O’Sullivan – It’s all about continuous PR reputation management to manage your brand on and offline.

How can small businesses do PR?

• Dr Sarah Britten – Small businesses may use the digital space (e.g. Twitter; Facebook) to manage their company PR and be able to readily communicate with the market.

Will social media take over PR – (the need for PR practitioners)?

• Social media space might not take over and surpass traditional PR but the social media space needs to be managed well as PR Practitioners have no control over this space.

Where is the PR industry going?

• PR is still relevant and still plays an important role in brand reputation management.
• PR will be heavily influenced by social media marketing moving forward and therefore PR strategies must continue to engage with it. We must aim to work with the social media space in order to leverage off it for effective PR strategies.
• PR remains an integral part of brand communication and in needs to become more strategic (effective reputation management).

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.

Agencies Agency of the Year

It was time to announce the agency chosen by other agencies, who stood out head and shoulders above the rest. Congratulations to the Agencies Agency of the Year award goes to Ogilvy JHB.

We welcomed to the panel:
Media Panellists:
Adrian Ephraim – Independent Online
Yusuf Abramjee – Primedia Broadcasting
Deon du Plessis – The Daily Sun
Gordon Patterson – Starcom Mediavest Group
Barry Sayer – Continental Outdoor Media
Andy Rice – Yellowwood Future Architects
Anastacia Martin – Mail & Guardian

The Smartest Event of the Year saw a panel of the top minds in media come together to discuss the worries, past events, and future happenings in media for 2010.

The first half of discussion brought up great topics from the World Cup 2010’s involvement, to racial discrimination reporting in news.

There was as shift in marketing from an excitement of the 2010 World Cup, where we now see that not as many companies bought into the marketing field as they should have.

Main opening points:

• Newspapers saw a decline in sales, as most people stayed at home during this period, rather watching at home, as consumer behaviour showed that consumers felt prices would go up, and transport would be an issue during the 2010 World Cup.
• People are also looking for an easier mobile solution.  They’d like to get newspapers on their phones.
• Yusuf Abramjee thinks the radio industry has done very well, and the World Cup boosted it.
• Adrian Ephraim saw a spike in mobile platforms with people at home, and news on the go.  Everything is gravitating towards a digital platform. A shift needs to take place in the print environment, and it needs to become more techno savvy.
• Deon also thinks every facet will adapt where necessary, be it on online or wherever.
• Andy Rice thinks that 2010 isn’t the year to remember from a commercial point of view. Most were caught unawares, in the context of a global recession. People forget that people go back to the brands they trust in times of recession, and they did not adapt their strategy towards it.
• Gordon made a point that most radio audiences are declining. It comes down to content. Not enough effort has been put in to find the want of the consumer. Circulations have declined and will continue to decline, because of pressures that aren’t being communicated. It will fuel the interest in traditional ABL media.
• Yusuf: Newspapers will be focusing more on the niche, and might become high end luxury product.
• Andy Rice: The synergy when you put a media strategy together that blends the best of old and new.  It is fed by digital agencies, as traditional media people need guides. It’s about strategy, content and tone.
• Deon: “The middle of the market moves and warps. 8 years ago when we launched, even 30 years ago to now, shows that LSM 1 and 2 will disappear. We have moved from those markets to a LSM 5 and 6 market.”  Newspapers must move on, and stay on trend.
• Yusuf feels that generalizations should not happen. We need to take stock of what we are doing, right and wrong.  There are major problems within the print industry.  “I wonder if the prolem is not about race?”
• Why do we have to follow international news, why not set a benchmark of following our own agendas?
  Barry Sayr’s response is that international media just does it better.
  Yusuf says “with race agenda it is always diverted to another argument.  There is a lot of room to sell good news”
• Adrian Ephraim “We can’t discard the effect of the New Zealand story for South Africa, and can’t make it about race.”

Questions

Do we have a proper understanding of what audiences want?
Deon: A new charter for us has been done, so we do in depth research regularly.
Andy Rice: I think the media who as businesses live by the survival of brands who advertise there, don’t learn the lesson of brands about differentiation.  There are to aspects to media, the WHAT and the HOW.  The brand differention is what media fails to spot, let’s deliver media in a completely original format.
Gordon: Media need more frequency of engagement. Research is controlled by the media owner, and should actually be owned by the clients who buy, as we end up with this two thirds view of the market, which is just a lie. It affects all agencies, and products that people buy. Clients need to take the responsibility.

Honesty in media – are they really honest?

Barry feels that news and media should be honest and live integrity.  Everything is blown up, with a glossy glow and hyperbole. People want an experience though.

Andy feels that different genres interpret different news worthy articles differently.

Why do digital and traditional platforms not merge to work collectively?

Deon: “it is happening right now.”

Gordon: “We have 2 economies in SA. Digital is routed in the upper LSM, but moving downwards.  Specialization happens because there are too few people in the industry who fully understand it, those who know it, and are in it.”

Adrian: “the attitude is changing. All of a sudden media platforms are becoming interested.  There is a whole world newspaper can’t afford not to be a part of. These platforms need to be educated.”

Jeremey: Do you think you’re selling the concept of digital enough?

Adrian: “We’re still grappeling about it., because the options out there are so ever changing.”

Andy: It’s about, within the media groups, that journalists. It is the digital media’s agency own responsibility to market themselves and get the message of what needs to be done out there. Or sell themselves as evangelists, but those with answers.

Barry: From an outdoor adv point of view, we have to take a broader point of view. You can see a lot of integration internationally with outdoor advertising platforms and digital platforms. Even billboards are becoming immediate and can compete with radio and TV.

What are your things to look out for 2011:

Adrian: More innovation. Tell stories differently.
Deon: The year to sell more and get more ground back.
Yusuf: The legacy of 2010. Local government elections. Corruption. Malema. Govermnet delivery.
Andy: Braver agencies.

TNS research was tasked to give delegates good insight into 2010′s biggest marketing campaign for South Africa – the 2010 World Cup

• Major points:
  It started in 2005.
  Governmet spent R34 Bil over the 5 year period
• o   R31b is considered investment spend
• o   Only R20b is useful in terms of long term sustainability
• ACSA spent R17b over a three year period.
• At it’s highest, spend reached 0.4%GDP
• Overall benefits at the end of the event – R93b (62% before 2010 and 28% in 2010)
• Created 130 000 more jobs
• 415 000 indirect jobs
• R7.4b paid in wages
• Estimated number of visitors – 300 000
• 3.18m people attended matches
• 52 000 flights handled by ACSA
• Gautrain had 13 000 weekday travelers
• 94% of people in the study thought the spirit of the country was very high.
• 80% love the Waka Waka song.
• 8 billion unique people saw at least one part of the game
• Adspend was up 21% over the period
• Moderate contribution of +0.2% to GDP for 5 years, 1% up
• Earlier completion of infrastructure
• Uplifted our image

Marketing panelists:
Graham Pfuhl – Multichoice
Ian Penhale – SAB
Zayd Abrahams – Coca-Cola
Serame Taukobong – MTN SA
Bradley du Chenne – Telesure Investments
Happy Ntshingila – Absa

Have the basics of marketing changed?
Bradley: Basics haven’t change, but things happen a lot quicker. We have to gind new ways for engagement and innovation.

Zayd: New media is part of our toolkit to connect with people, but it is part of a packet
Happy: Basics have been lost in terms of companies telling people, to people telling companies. In the world of today, there are a lot of accountants making decision, because today is a world of costs. You have to look at things a whole lot differently, because price determines. In the same sense you have to find ways to do things more cheaper.
Graham: New media allows us to understand our customers a lot better. It makes you stay on your choice

Do we know our consumers?

Graham: If we hadn’t used research, we wouldn’t know what people thought.
Serame: If you take new approaches to research, then you find out what people think

Happy: a substantial part of research can be attributed to gut feel.

Zayd: the critical thing is to get ROI on all your efforts. The most important thing is to gain insights from the market.

Why are marketers cutting down on sponsorhip?

Bradley: In the near future, sponsorship is under threat because marketing budgets are under threat. It does allow you to connect with the consumer.
Ian: ROI is difficult to talk about in terms of sponsorship

Zayd: things that we now pay for is things we have done with our market since we’ve been in the country.  Now there is a price to it. The challenge comes in with the strategic partnerships that have been signed years ago, and to align them with current goals.

Happy: Contrary to popular belief, ABSA’s sponsorships have been consolidated to what works best. It’s no longer about pushing the brand, to leverage and push some of your business through those sponsorships.

Salame: A few years ago, it was a good medium. But as the years go on, no investment was made to grow these properties. You have to move to where your customers are.

Graham: The big thing on sponsorships is this: do you just chuck money at something and leave it.  To make your money work for you, you have to sweat those sponsorships. In total it is a relatively small portion of marketing.

Do marketers have a broader role in society in terms of social responsibility?

Graham: Marketers do have obligations, but we don’t necessarily do it well.

Ian: Originally it was around building brands. The product dictates the role the brand has in it. It is an increasingly important way of marketing going forward.

Happy: The issue of the business of business going beyond business should not be the marketer’s job, but the relevant department’s. To leave the marketer to do what they are meant to do. The reality is our paradigm has changed. Brands are under threat across the world, so from a brand point of view, you have to integrate the responsibility into the campaign. Consumers want to know if the brand cares about them.

Serame: Companies should influence the negative and positive about communities.

Where is the relevance of customer equity and retainability for brands?

Graham: Retaining the base becomes more and more volatile towards the lower LSM’s.

Happy: We battle to try and hang on to what you’ve got. That’s why you spend lots of money on retaining, but while one door closes, another opens.

Corporate Brand vs Brand viewpoint – shouldn’t they be aligned?

Bradley: Have to become more aware of the roll the corporate brand can play

Zayd: The brand is the company, is the consumer, is the message

Serame: It’s important that the corporate and consumer brands are aligned.

One thing that keeps you awake at night:

Graham: Please can we get more creative.

Serame: Brand engagement is not a fad, and partners should really understand it

Happy: I wish everybody could impress within the company you work for that the marketing role is the role of every person within the organization.

Zayd: Going back to the basics of what is marketing, and making sure that all the basics are in place for the future

Ian: We live in world of increasing change and expectation, and we’re underinvesting in people. The marketing will look different in the future

Bradley: Best we understand user feedback