A warm welcome from Jeremy Maggs to everyone at The Smartest Event of the Year

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

Part 2 of the conference, saw a panel of Marketing panellists from leading companies and brands in South Africa.

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

For those working in the media and marketing space it’s been a full throttle year.

From the exhilaration of the World Cup and its brand bonanza, to the increasing power of digital media and the looming threat of a media tribunal – this sector was not one for the fainthearted.
So how did it play, what did it mean and most importantly how will it play next year as we hunker down for another 12 months in the communication trenches?

Join leading broadcasters Chris Gibbons and Jeremy Maggs as they chair two intellect-heavy panel discussions as their guests review and reconcile the media and marketing year.

Leading practitioners in both spaces will argue, debate and discuss successes,failures, trends and opportunities.

If you’re involved in any way in the industry this is one big morning you can’t miss.

And there’s more….

The Future Group’s fourth edition of The Annual, SA’s leading hardcover review of the advertising, branding, media and marketing
year will be launched at this event. We’ll also announce the ad agencies’ agency of the year.

And then there’s lunch!

Registration from 07h30 – tea, coffee and sticky buns will be served
Proceedings start at 08h45 sharp, ending at 12h45 followed by lunch

Visit the website for more info: theannual.co.za

We are here today at the second Ad Forum evaulating the work of 8 top agencies in relations to the World Cup. The invited agencies will be showing a piece of work and the expert panel (Oresti Patricios, Gordon Muller, Andy Rice, Sizakele Marutlulle along with Jeremy Maggs) will have an opportunity to question them. Our agencies taking part today:

MetropolitanRepublic – Wimpy
Trying to infiltrate the World Cup into the brand, didn’t use soccer but tried to use the patriotism of the country.
We wanted to ignite the brand of Wimpy and the world cup was the perfect opportunity. More than just the add also built a microsite  www.nationalbreakfast.co.za to hold all our viral elements. We also used billboards at the airports, we did a tie up with Engen where Wimpy was situated around the country. Found out that there are various legalities with putting ads on YouTube and therefore the microsite was the perfect solution.

Black River FC – Mini “6 Colours to stand By”
The initiative  for this ad was really to create some buzz and the idea was to get as many flags out there as possible. Mini manufucters give out flags for your mirror for free.

The intention really was to ge South Africans amped. The brand was the catalyst for making the public want to own the flag. We wanted South Africans to love the brand.

Nandos “Ama-Visitors”
Foreign visitors misconception about South African we wanted to have some fun with it. Created various ads showing these stereotypes and how ridiculous it is.  The brand is about commenting about things in society quickly in  a way that Nando’s have become known for.

King James – Kulula.com “the campaig for the ‘you know what’”
Initially pricing campaign – wanting to advertise flights for R499. Sort of expected Fifa to come at us but that just made our jobs easier at the end of the day.
Ran a second add where we removed the icons that Fifa complained about. This campaign success was really on Twitter and Facebook with all the conversations going and free publicity. Once we realised how powerful the anti-Fifa sentiment was here in South Africa we  followed up to trademark the sky on April fool’s day and continued the campaign right through the World Cup.

DDB SA- McDonalds “Four Shadows”
Objective to recruit children to be players escourt during the World Cup. Really wanted to leverage the dream that children have.

We actually added on activities where we went to rural communities and schools to give kids across the country to enter. The purpose of this was really to promote the healthy lifestyle more than just the menu items.

Ireland Davenport – MTN “Africa United Campaign”
Challenges was to do something that will work for a lawyer in Cape Town but also a fanpark in Ruwanda. Created a huge expectation for football in Africa and have high hopes to use this campaign going forward for future. After all the xenofobia attacks in South Africa this campaign was meant to really struck a cord with all.

Volcano – Sony “Imagine football in 3D”
Campaign based on Kaka but one of our challenges was how to show 3D to people watching on 2D.
The activition was key and you have to see this to experience it really therefore we built a huge 3D Dome at the Nelson Mandela Square to showcase our products.
This was not just focused on South Africa but important that it works for South Africans.

The Jupiter Drawing Room (Cape Town) – Hyundai “Gees”
Struggled with Hyundai as it seen as a non-competitive brand in this market. Objective was to improve brand tracking and sales during this campaign. We come in intentionally late to try and understand what the people on the ground is feeling. We have more traffic on our site than Volkswagen and since April we have been outselling Toyota. Hyundai is associated with the World Cup because we wanted to try and push product. The thing that changes perception in the mass market is that people want to buy cars that they have seen on the road

Ogilvy  – SAB “Superfan”
Great idea of reconciliation and making these people ambassadors for the brand. The fans is the liveblood of the sport and SAB reflected that in this add showing the true dedicated fan.

Dion Chang, Trends Analyst ended of a very interesting morning with his 10 things for 2010.

• Peak experience
  We all have high point  and low points in live. 2008/2009 will be remembered for the financial crisis the world experienced. Brands need to adapt to this changing consumer mindset.
• Shift in value system
  2009 very demanding year that govern a change in our lives which led to a questioning of value system on a very personal level.
• New world order
  Consumers are taking back the power, taking more responsibility over their purchase decisions
• Shift of power
  Move away from power-hungry, greed-based leadership model towards a more ethical and responsible style of leadership
• The female century
  Along with shift of power also a shift from left brain, logical thinking towards a more right brained, intuitive approach
• Social media
  Boundaries such as a race, geography and culture become less important and shared interest matters more
• Tribes
  No longer able to box people in set categories and think that they will react the way you want them to – throwing traditional marketing on its head
• Pick and mix society
  People have freedom to pick and choose products, gadgets, lifestyles etc which has led to multi-coloured spectrum of individuality
• Ambient awareness
  Information overload leads to the development of filter/alerts to help us cope with this
• Empathetic economy
  Civil society demands more ethical traits as we reach a fork in the road concerning our economy

The 2nd last speaker at The Annual was Dr Alan Knot-Craig former Vodacom CEO that discussed issues and possible predictions in relations to the Telecommunication Environment in 2010:

• Mobile operators will reduce some of their tariffs by some 20%. The opportunity will be lower input costs for business and consumers but challenge on the other hand to incentives private investors to continue investing in infrastructure.
• Television broadcast to mobile phones may become reality and impact current pay TV
• Broadband speeds should increase by 50%
• Lower margins will squeeze out competitors
• Vodacom as a brand may disappear and Vodafone will enter the arena

Glen Lomas – CEO, DDB South Africa had a refreshingly different outlook from some of the previous speakers at The Annual. Some of his advise for marketers that are still debating what to do and say around the World Cup:

• Don’t lose your head
  Wonderful to get excited but keep your head especially when it comes to budgets in this economy
• Event fans, not football fans
  Most people watch it as a spectacle, not necessary because they are football fans
• Don’t force football relevance
  If the fit isn’t natural don’t force it – most common error
• Leave a legacy post 2010
  If you just state how excited about the World Cupyou are in your marketing, what are people going to be left with after this? Time is limited and your window of opportunity is small. Be impactful, brief, to the point, know that the attention span of people are limited, use it wisely.
• Own some real estate
  Not everybody is going to the game, use things like rural fan parks, cinemas, radio with relevant sponsorship
• Capture the mood
  People want to have fun, raise the spirits
• Be real, bare your soul
  Nothing worse than to be fake, do one activity that shows your real brand value
• Take everyone you know – not just your clients

Matthew Buckland – General Manager Publishing & Social Media, 24.com had some intersting facts to share not just about 2010 but also the years beyond.

• Media is undergoing a foreign change – technology is shifting power away from the editors, publishers, mass media
• Media is experience competitors from their own readers – citizen journalist
• Media experiencing competitors from non media companies like National Arts Festival, publishing via blog & website
• Idea – All companies on the web is essentially media companies
• Everyon’s a reporter – virally passed along
• Mass media increasingly not the major influence on society it once was
• Rise of individuals and entrepreneurs – open source
• Mobile entering the mainstream
• Most online publishers expect their mobile sites to surpass their traditional sites in the near future

Challenges

• Focus on developing filters and aggregators to deal with information overload
• “Switch off” holidays will be required

Dr Iraj Abedian CEO, Pan-African Investment and Research Services takes a very close view on the economy and what will happen in 2010.

• The end of recession in South Africa
  Credit extension fallen sharply and will reverse in 2010

• Further dollar weakness will mean stronger demand for gold, and general commodity price appreciation
  US dollar is on a one way track

• Continued rand volatility with an appreciated bias
  This complicates business planning and exports
• Increased electricity and water tariffs, and other public utilities, leading to higher cost-push inflation.
  Last 25 years South Africa has underinvested in our public infrastructure and it’s impossible to catch up with that in a year or two

• Expect tariff increases and a lot of political debate around it
• The return of ‘high deficit’ fiscal regime with prospect of rising taxes. However public debt is relatively low, and foreign public debt is relatively small, immunized against Rand volatility

• Fairly stable monetary policy with low interest rates
  Interest rates failing at last

• Rising demand for ‘social delivery’ in the face of public sector’s limited delivery capacity
• The return of macroeconomic policy uncertainty
• Growing focus on economics of income disparities
• 2010 Soccer World Cup will showcase South Africa’s infrastructure resilience