ADFORUM WORLDWIDE SUMMIT 2022 VIDEO FEEDBACK BY JOHANNA MCDOWELL - Mon 9 MAY the day ahead

Johanna McDowell, CEO of the Independent Agency Search and Selection (IAS), is attending the first post-pandemic, fully in person AdForum Global Summit, where they will celebrate the 20th anniversary of this prestigious event.

AdForum Wolrdwide Summit is a unique and hyper-focused event for agency CEOs to present their strategy and vision to the world's leading search and management consultancies

McDowell will be sharing live daily updated broadcasts via LinkedIn, followed by various report backs on her return. The IAS will host another of its popular AdForum Feedback Masterclasses on the 1 June, both online and at GIBS Business School, covid protocols allowing.

AdForum Worldwide Summit 2022 Video Feedback by Johanna McDowell - Sun 8 May Introduction

Johanna McDowell, CEO of the Independent Agency Search and Selection (IAS), is attending the first post-pandemic, fully in person AdForum Global Summit, where they will celebrate the 20th anniversary of this prestigious event.

AdForum Wolrdwide Summit is a unique and hyper-focused event for agency CEOs to present their strategy and vision to the world's leading search and management consultancies

McDowell will be sharing live daily updated broadcasts via LinkedIn, followed by various report backs on her return. The IAS will host another of its popular AdForum Feedback Masterclasses on the 1 June, both online and at GIBS Business School, covid protocols allowing.

Sun 8 May - Introduction

Johanna McDowell to attend the 20th AdForum Global Summit in New York City

Johanna McDowell, CEO of the Independent Agency Search and Selection (IAS), leaves shortly to attend the first post-pandemic, fully in person AdForum Global Summit, where they will celebrate the 20th anniversary of this prestigious event.

Said McDowell: “I am very excited to be attending in person once again.  Traditionally the New York City forum promises the most forward facing, global offering making for exciting insights and content.” 

This forum’s agenda has been built to reflect the trends of the industry in the aftermath of the pandemic and the birth of Web 3. The IAS will represent the interests of South Africa and Africa, from the 9-13 May 2022, throughout in-depth, interactive presentations from an impressive line-up of agency leaders.

McDowell will be sharing live daily updated broadcasts via LinkedIn, followed by various report backs on her return. The IAS will host another of its popular AdForum Feedback Masterclasses on the 1 June, both online and at GIBS Business School, covid protocols allowing.

Challenges for CMOs are opportunities for innovative agencies

What marketers require for their own business development are ideas that create growth and metrics that show where it comes from. That means they need agencies that can deliver.

Innovation, ideas and creativity have always been expected of creative and media agencies, but today’s chief marketing officers (CMOs) are looking for these qualities not just in content, but as part of an agency’s approach to viewing its business differently.

The marketer’s job has evolved significantly from a decade ago. Marketers now want agencies to act as business partners, providing overall marketing of the business rather than just campaigns.

The challenge for agencies is to help, support and guide marketers to achieve their business growth objectives. Obviously, telling a client how to run their business wouldn’t be welcomed, but the agency with a good understanding of the marketer’s business and its goals becomes a trusted and vital part of the relationship.

When Agency Scope questioned marketing professionals about their top challenges, 28% cited knowledge of consumers, their journey and their touch points and how to engage with them. So the ideal agency would provide innovative solutions in these areas, including the use of media channels and the way marketers could be reaching specific audiences. It is an agency’s understanding of this that provides the value CMOs need.

Big need for big data

Marketers in large corporates understand exactly who their clients or customers are, who they should be communicating with and where their growth is – or should be – coming from.

However, the issues of where and how to reach them are becoming increasingly tricky. It’s a data-dense area and I’m not sure marketers have all the data they need to analyse and sort into meaningful strategic objectives. If they don’t, they must rely on their agencies to help them with this.

Given the various channels and platforms customers can choose from, what used to be a fairly simple exercise now requires specialist knowledge of the channels.

Add to this consumers who are far more savvy, not only in using the various platforms but also in how to avoid marketing they don’t want to see. It’s trickier to engage with them, so the creativity required from agencies is how to navigate the consumer journey and be seen.

Media agencies in particular know where the triggers are that will engage consumers sufficiently for them to want to make the purchase, and marketers are relying on agencies to see this as a part of their function.

Change is a certainty

Another important area that challenges marketers and agencies is keeping up with the change in audience. That marketers had a handle on their customer profile five years ago does not mean they’re able to count on that today. So how have those consumers’ media habits changed? How have their buying patterns changed?

The pandemic eliminated certainties. Marketers are now asking: “Where are they doing their buying? How are they doing their buying? Are they back in stores, or has online shopping replaced store visits?” Again, an agency that can produce measurable data here and foresee trends is the one a CMO wants as a partner.

This raises another issue – budget. Marketers are only just starting to revert to their pre-pandemic budgets. Though budgets were slashed during the pandemic, agencies tell the Independent Agency Search & Selection Company (IAS) they’re expected to do more for less.

What do agencies do in terms of resources on a limited budget? How do they plan for this and manage it? It’s an important factor in the relationship with the marketer, who is most likely also running on smaller teams and budgets. Gearing up and re-employing people is only now starting to happen.

Agency Scope reveals that the average marketer has, on average, 13 different communications partners. How to manage all of them is something else CMOs are grappling with right now.

Between 2019 and 2021, “integration” ranked among the least important challenges for the agencies in Agency Scope. It’s now the fourth most important issue.

All indications are that a challenge for marketers becomes a challenge for their agencies. The number of channels available, the data generated by so many agency partners and the expertise required to navigate all this leave CMOs on the hunt for agencies with answers.

Johanna McDowell is CEO of the IAS and a Scopen partner.

You may also be interested in reading Trends for 2022 - The agency-marketer relationship

Challenging the champions: The value of the media agency

“How well do your agencies contribute to your business growth?” SCOPEN 2021-2022 posed this question to senior marketers when researching trends and challenges for agencies.

Johanna McDowell, SCOPEN partner and CEO of the Independent Agency Search & Selection Company (IAS), says the purpose of the question was not to compare creative agencies with media agencies, but to determine value delivered to the marketer by each.

“The question is subjective,” says McDowell, “and, quite frankly, a difficult one to answer. How does the client know whether the creative or the media placement was what determined a campaign’s failure or success?”

In the case of media agencies, their metrics will include how well a campaign fared in the media and how well they reached their target audience. “Only the marketer can say whether their agency’s input had a real impact on business, so their answer is largely intuitive,” she says.

Media agencies are able to give an overview on the client’s share of voice, based on their budget and the total spend in the market. This then can be related to the brand’s share of market depending on the stage that the particular brand is at – looking for growth, maturity stage and so on,“ continues McDowell.

AGENCY SCOPE shows that South African CMOs believe that media agencies contribute an average of 34.1% to a client’s growth, where the global average is 24.2% – a good sign for local media agencies.

Cesar Vacchiano, President and CEO of SCOPEN International, points out that data from each country is different and cannot simply be compared to another. “In Brazil, with its integrated full-service model,” he says. “marketers attribute 60.1% business growth to their agencies.”

No decisions without media experts

McDowell is firm in her assertion that no agency can be expected to be solely responsible for the growth of a brand, owing to the sheer number of factors outside the realms of their influence.

“The marketer has a number of areas to take care of,” she says. “They must look after the product, the distribution channels, price, and all the other promotional activities attached to the brand.

“The agency can only do so much,” McDowell maintains, “but the fact that CMOs can say that they believe their media agency contributes 34.1% to their overall growth means it is quantifiable.”

With years of experience across all sectors of media and marketing, McDowell is adamant about one thing: “In the complexity of media channels and the ever-increasing platforms arising today, I would not make a single decision without consulting a media agency expert.”

Aggregating value across channels

Where media agencies shine is where they examine all of the channel opportunities. One of the questions AGENCY SCOPE posed to CMOs was, “How many communications partners and platforms are you dealing with?” The answer was a hefty average of 13, making aggregation of value extremely complex.

“CMOs essentially count on the media agency to collate that information,” McDowell notes, citing the AGENCY SCOPE result that shows 57% of marketers prefer all of their media channels, including digital, to be managed by their media agency.

Vacchiano concurs, highlighting that marketers are not always best placed to determine the extent of the value they’re getting from each channel. “Media agencies house experts on all of the media options available to the client and they are able to optimise the allocated budget across all the channels.”

This, both McDowell and Vacchiano agree, is an area in which it is too easy to waste money without specialist recommendations. “Any decisions made without consulting the media director and agency is potentially money thrown away,” McDowell insists.

“With the complexity and fragmentation of media channels coupled with new ones coming on stream, how can a marketer – whose function it is to be obsessed with creating more opportunities for their brand – be expected to understand the intricacies, even if they had the time?”

Quite simply, CMOs have no choice but to rely on experts who are trained to look at a client’s budget and note the best way to buy the audience that marketers needs to reach.

“There are champions of this game, whose challenge is to make sure a target audience is reached,” McDowell says. “They’re found in the media agencies.”

You may also be interestted in Media agencies aren’t changing but growing

Johanna McDowell joins WITS Business School Masterclass panel. Marketing Talk: What Makes Great Advertising?

What makes an advert great? What makes an ad stand out from the crowd, especially in today’s cluttered media environment? How do advertisers choose the right platform with such a wide choice? How should marketers approach the digital divide in South Africa? Where is advertising headed in a digitised world with so much online content competing for our attention?

Wits Business School along with their Master of Management in Strategic Marketing programme, held a webinar in which experts will considered some of the great campaigns in South Africa’s recent history, as well as what it will take to produce an effective advert in the future.

A lively stimulating discussion with the following panel:

Mr Sylvester Chauke, Founder & Chief Architect: DNA Brand Architects

Ms Johanna McDowell, Founder and Chief Executive - Independent Agency Selection

Mr Brandon Lemuel Mncube, Head Of Group Digital Marketing - Brand - Sanlam

Mr Thulani Sibeko, Chief Brand & Marketing Officer - Standard Bank Group

Mr Lawrence Dube, Executive Corporate Business Manager at Wits Business School will facilitate the conversation.

Winning teams are more than just pitchers

The primary way a client appoints an agency is through the good old pitch process, writes Johanna McDowell, CEO of the Independent Agency Search & Selection Company (IAS) and Scopen partner. But is that because clients don't know there's a better way?

Although the pitch process is part of agency life – in fact, the lifeblood of agencies to a certain extent, the whole experience has become very draining over the last 12 to 18 months. The stories we’re hearing from across the industry is how agencies put together a heart-and-soul pitch, an energetic presentation... and the client ghosts them.

Ghosting is currently very prevalent in the industry across all advertising and communication disciplines, where agencies will put proposals together, often accompanied by creative work. Post presentation, nothing happens.

Scopen research shows that 86% of accounts awarded happens via the pitch process. However, what has grown in the last two years is the use of workshops. Instead of weeks of putting together a full-on pitch, the two parties collaborate in a workshop to determine their combined potential.

From an IAS viewpoint, this is a healthy development in the industry. Even while the percentage of participation in workshops is smaller, we believe growth in this area would show huge benefits.

The third preferred way of awarding business is to work on projects, either from an idea suggested by the client or an agency being proactive enough to come up with an idea that would excite the client. In fact, where an agency approaches a potential client with a suggestion and proposal, they may well get some business even if the client has an agency of record. Per-project work can lead to more work, and is a good way to get a foot in the door.

What South Africa is missing out on

Here’s what clients want to see: An initiative that’s relevant, from an agency that takes the time to really consider the business it is targeting. Approaching armed with research on the potential client’s market sector, along with a proposition that is different, attractive and interesting, results - nine times out of ten – in the client appointing the agency.

When reviewing Scopen research, it’s quite disappointing to see how poorly South Africa performs in relation to its international counterparts when it comes to winning new business. What’s required is a shakeup that indicates a hunger for business and zest instead of blandness in approach.

Note that the agencies in South Africa who are consistently successful know exactly what they’re doing - and that’s why they win. Winning agencies make a point of finding out all they can about a client.

With the research and tools available to everyone today, there’s no reason why one agency should be armed with more intelligence than another. Businesses that have been following Scopen research understand the client and the effort required to win – and they’ve have become measurably more successful.

Opportunity may not knock...

Bottom line, then, must be: Don’t rely solely on a pitch process or statutory RFP. Compliment that with workshops and a project using idea others haven’t already given to a client. Use the tools and resources available to note how others work and what a client wants, and chase the business instead of waiting for that knock on your door.

Sometimes opportunity doesn’t knock. It gets distracted by an energetic team with great ideas and a desire to win business.

Why Nando’s, MTN and Chicken Licken are a marketer’s dream. By Jeremy Maggs

A new survey shows — not surprisingly — that Nando’s, MTN and Chicken Licken are the companies creatives want to work with

A new survey that rates perception of brands and marketers by creative and media agencies shows fast-food chain Nando’s is the company they would most like to work with.

MTN, which has just undergone a major brand repositioning, is also named, as well as another fast-food brand, Chicken Licken

The results are not surprising because all three are acknowledged for allowing their agencies to continually push the creative envelope. The upshot over many years has been high public brand recognition and regular awards success.

The "Scopen Marketer Scope" survey engaged more than 200 professionals who work in the creative and media space. More than 150 were in creative agencies and 50 in media agencies all belonging to holding groups or independents operating in SA.

Johanna McDowell, CEO of the Independent Agency Search & Selection Co and Scopen partner, says: "Until now, research has been about asking marketers for their perceptions and input around what they think of their agencies, and while we’ve had opinions from creative agency professionals, we’ve never really asked them what they think of marketers."

To determine their quintessential client, agency professionals were asked to define the characteristics that their ideal or exemplary candidate must meet. Nearly 40% overall said considering the agency as a real partner was the most valued characteristic, with an even higher ranking by media agency professionals.

This attribute was followed by 27% saying a marketer’s willingness to assume risks and being open-minded was important, with a chief marketing officer’s trust in the agency deemed third most important.

Following these, importance was also placed on "adequate recognition and compensation" by media and creative entities.

Respondents also said they valued clients who constantly sought to innovate, and valued transformation and those who prepared good briefs for agencies on work needed. This has been a constant complaint by agencies for years: they are forced to navigate in the dark.

Surprisingly, just more than 40% of respondents rated marketers on their digital advancement. This gap should be of concern to both agencies and marketers, given the direction that brand marketing is heading in.

McDowell says: "Once the ideal client was defined, we then asked these same interviewees to name two client companies that most closely match the defined qualities." Nando’s, Sanlam and Unilever were the three most mentioned companies.

Scopen researchers then asked which they consider to be their "brand or marketer of the year 2021", specifying they could choose only one. Chicken Licken and Nando’s were the two brands most mentioned.

The report also reveals that agencies value client decisionmakers being involved in day-to-day meetings, not juniors. This is a constant complaint, both from agencies and marketers, in that heavyweights arrive for the pitch process and are rarely seen again until the account needs to be renewed or there is a crisis to manage.

In the overall marketer performance ranking, Mazda came out top, followed by insurance group Hollard, for having attributes that sustain a long-term relationship, or, as McDowell says, "a brand that is the marrying sort". Other brands on that list include Mondelez, Shoprite, Nando’s, AB InBev, Standard Bank and Ford.

In response, Heidi Brauer, head of marketing at Hollard, said on social media: "Our little-big brand has done well to get such recognition from agency professionals. Small budgets can be beautiful constraints."

The best agency to work for in SA

The Scopen Best Agency to Work for SA 2021-2022 offers a view of the breakdown of the 156 creative agency members and 50 members from media agencies. While there’s very little between the ages and number of years in their sectors, some of the key factors that determine who would move agencies and why set them quite far apart.

Personality – or job - traits show up in response to whether flexibility and work from home opportunities would be a factor in changing jobs. Just 7.1% of creatives against 16% of media people see this as important. From an IAS perspective, this is interesting because previous research has shown that creatives thrive in a lively office environment, whereas media specialists are happy working quietly and even alone.

Areas that would entice more creative agency professionals to make a move are company culture, the challenge of the job and work-life balance. They’re a work-hard, play-hard group for whom pride in their work and the value placed on their company by the industry is somewhat more important than for media agency employees.

The latter, however, score credibility – notably, how they perceive their bosses or company leaders – a fairly hefty 32%, while their creative agency counterparts score this just 21.9%.

The only certainty

The old adage holds true that change is the only certainty in life. When probing the predisposition to change, 14.2% of creative agency people and 20% of media agency personnel are thinking of moving to another agency. A reasonably high 36.1% of creatives said they would “definitely not change”, while 42% of media staffers noted that they would “probably not change”.

Where would those who felt the urge to move on be most likely to go? To a client-advertiser, said 36.4% of creatives; while 30% of media shifters would do the same – but 30% of this group said they’d join an agency. Note here that just 9.1% of creatives quizzed would join a start-up, while 20% of media people would be keen. None of the latter would be looking to become a business consultant, where 13.6% of their creative counterparts would.

Overall, when a professional considers changing their job, the key criteria among the largest sector (31.6%) is salary driven, followed by the hunt for opportunities for professional growth (25.2%).

And the winners are …

Having looked at the “how” of the Scopen study, when we asked the question of respondents, “If you were to move to a new position in another agency, which are the three agencies to whom you would be most attracted?” we come to the top three agencies. 

Overall creative agencies of choice are Joe Public – by a fairly good margin – followed by TBWA very narrowly pipping Ogilvy at the post. King James and M&C Saatchi Abel are fourth and fifth respectively.

The picture is slightly different when network agencies are split from the independents, with TBWA coming first among the network agencies followed by Ogilvy and King James. Among the independent creative agencies, Joe Public is obviously the winner, with The Odd Number and Promise Group in second and third place respectively.

First place in the media agency sector is The Media Shop, with Wavemaker not too far behind and Mediacom coming in third. The network media agencies dominate this particular study.

Pointing out that this is the first time the study has been done in SA, César Vacchiano, co-founder and global CEO of Scopen, says: “These are interesting results for SA. Results could well have been influenced by the pandemic given that SA was in the depths of the third wave when we conducted this research. It will be interesting to see how much has changed when we repeat the study later this year.”

Media agencies aren’t changing, but growing

 The changes in our industry have been massive – and not just due to the pandemic, either. We’ve seen print take something of a knock, and digital rise and grow unlike any platforms before.

In fact, ACENCY SCOPE 2021-2022 shows that globally, digital has grown 2.9 percentage points (+7.6%) in the last three years, with China and Mexico apportioning the highest budget to the sector than any other country, at 50.1% and 47.9%, respectively.

At home, the IAB South African Digital Ad Spend Report for 2020 revealed that despite a super-sluggish economy, the digital industry experienced an 18% year-on-year growth. This is life-changing on many levels, not least the question of how the media agency has had to change to keep up.

Do what you’ve always done … and then some

In fairness, the media agency role isn’t changing so much as taking on far more of what they have always done: Making certain that the channels and media opportunities they recommend to their clients are the most appropriate and best performing, and dispensing budgets accordingly.

A media agency’s job years ago was doing precisely this – only choosing from a handful of television channels; a fair selection of magazines and newspapers; some outdoor; and umpteen radio stations.

Without digital in the mix, choices, strategies and costs were manageable. Today, there’s digital, a sector that has mushroomed and continues to proliferate as the “next big thing” comes along. It is made more complex because of so many more channels and platforms, and the media agency must keep an eye on all of them.

In its early stages, digital platforms often bypassed the media agencies and worked directly with marketers – and some still do. This scenario is not without its issues, though. AGENCY SCOPE shows that 57% of clients prefer their media agency to look after their digital initiatives along with their current responsibilities, to ensure they’re getting the best deals, that the channels’ performance is up to scratch.

The media agency’s role has had to expand to take up all these new opportunities and be on top of what is relevant now. They’ve also had to review the so-called “tried and trusted” platforms to ensure each client is getting the best option for their spend.

Many of the print options that would have been recommended without question in the past don’t exist anymore, so media agencies staying current with the sector is even more important now.

The bird’s eye view

Viewing this from a client perspective, where media is not their core business, staying current in this age of vast choice is almost impossible. Clients must, by necessity, rely on their media agency.

To ensure prime recommendations, media agencies have had to become far more agile to ensure the pace at which they make choices matches the rapid growth of choices being offered.

In my view, the media agency has become a far more valuable marketing partner than ever before. This is not to say they were not always exceptionally valuable – but the scope they must deal with now makes them a marketer’s right hand. Perhaps this will result in a greater recognition of the role of these agencies in managing the complexity of the numerous media opportunities.

With digital spend in South Africa at 37% of a company’s budget, the bottom line question must be: If an agency is performing its primary function, should it be expected to be monitoring the digital media ecosystem while also ensuring the appropriateness of the non-digital spend?

There’s no right and wrong, but the scope of each marketing partner must be coordinated. AGENCY SCOPE shows some clients are working with an average of 13 different communication partners including agencies, consultancies and digital platforms. It doesn’t take much for these numbers to bloat, putting paid to the agility required.

The media agency takes care of the largest part of the client’s expenditure – media buying and running campaigns is a pivotal role. Backed by SCOPEN research, I’m of the opinion that they have the overall view of how the budget is being spent and why.

In choosing a team of partners able to give a marketer the edge, I would want my media agency to have an eagle-eyed view of the landscape I’m investing in

The value of feedback

In psychology, “feedback” is loosely considered information about a process or interaction that is provided to enable a person or entity to make adjustments that eliminate problems or optimise functioning. The same is true for marketers, agencies and pitches.

The cornerstone of the intermediary process is feedback, and it was a founding feature of the Agency Search & Selection Company (IAS). It was seen as important to be able to help agencies understand how they performed, which areas they were weak in and how they could up their game for future pitches.

Agencies that get feedback have a chance to meet or exceed standards and improve their performance based on real issues. Without it, they’re left guessing at what they could have done differently and what needs to change to create a winning pitch.

We’ve worked with agencies that have applied the learnings that feedback offers and have gone on to hit a winning streak of pitches.

Feedback that makes a difference

The vital feedback from intermediaries is about how an agency communicates during the pitch, presenting their credentials in the best light and appealing to the core brief. The fact that intermediaries are part of the discussion when a marketer is narrowing down its choices means we have inner-circle information to guide agencies.

Interestingly, many marketers are reluctant to give direct feedback to agencies, often to avoid a challenging discussion or disagreement. For an intermediary, however, it’s not personal. We are not naming a winner, merely sharing feedback on the client’s choice without fear or favour.

We have no axe to grind with either party, so feedback is dispassionate and based on real data and events throughout the pitch process.

Why timing is vital

Over the years, we’ve learned that the timing of an intermediary’s feedback is crucial. Share an assessment too soon and you’re dealing with a group of people who have put their hearts into the pitch process and have lost, leaving emotions raw. The time, resources and particularly the energy agency personnel put into the pitch includes actually seeing themselves working with the new client, and disappointment runs through so many levels – creativity, strategic thinking, the developing of unique touch points and more.

Feedback too early is difficult to absorb through the emotion and would be wasted. But because intermediaries keep an audit of every part of the process, we are able to give all feedback in due time, when the team is ready to absorb the information and use it for growth and development.

The feedback proves valuable in the short and the long term. As Andrew Shuttleworth, co-founder and COO of Brave Group, says: “We really needed help from the IAS with our chemistry sessions and we recently applied its feedback from a previous pitch into a recent process. It worked extremely well for us.”

Feedback for winners

Of equal importance is the intermediary’s meeting with the pitch winners to ensure the elated team is clear about why it was awarded the work and what it promised to deliver during the highs and lows of the pitch.

Even with the value of feedback clear to all, many pitches are still not run by intermediaries. They should be – when they are, everybody wins.

Notes from a Masterclass - the impact of the pandemic on client-agency relationships

Delegates from both agencies and marketing organisations were in attendance at a highly engaging masterclass session last week Wednesday, 9 February 2022, with a panel consisting of Claudia Walters, Mazda head of marketing and communications; Suhayl Limbada, KFC Thailand CMO (but until recently KFC South Africa CMO); and Justine Cullinan, Nando’s GM marketing — brand strategy and communications.

Key learnings

In the early months of the pandemic, during hard lockdown and with no sign of any vaccines at that stage, all three marketers had to focus on the following particular areas:

• Acceleration in ecommerce

• Efficiencies in logistics and delivery, supply chain management

• Greater agility

Depending on the sector, there were immediate budget cuts — one of the marketers commented that even the budget for 2022 is less than the budget of two years ago.

In the food sector, marketers experienced a coming together of the industry bodies eg the restaurant association, supplier associations and so on, so much greater levels of collaboration as a result.

First few months

In those first months of the pandemic, the marketers certainly became even more operationally involved than previously but their important role was to be able to share insights on how consumers were experiencing the pandemic and how these experiences were affecting their respective brands.

When it came to relationships with their agencies in the early days of the pandemic, discussions revolved around ideas on how to communicate in this new environment and with all of the restrictions. In some cases, there were so many great ideas that the marketers found additional budget to support these.

Online shoots

The cost and time benefits of shooting online, instead of on set and with a great many people, was a key learning and certainly one to take forward, maybe not for every commercial but certainly for some. One commercial was turned around from start to finish in 24 hours — not the greatest fun but it was worth it for the result.

Existing scopes of work were scrapped; it was all about starting again!

One of the marketers put in place a 100-day plan for ways of working with all suppliers. Retainer discussions had to take place, in some instances, and with the inevitable cuts, if required.

The agencies had to become part of the client teams on an even more intensive basis, and it was vital to check in and look after each other to make sure that people on both sides were coping with the impact on their lives.

What does the future look like?

It’s still very volatile and will remain like that for a while. One of the marketers talked about how important it’s become to show the value of marketing to the internal teams, so that they can see that marketing works.

The marketers talked about the value of collaboration, true agility, purpose, human connections, and brand-building. It’s also important to be aware of how people’s behaviours have changed: health has become more important, along with the need to eat healthily.

So how do client-agency relationships look for 2022? What else could agencies be doing to help their clients through this difficult time?

• More flexibility and speed in turnaround times

• Agencies must evolve as the brands evolve

• Planning ahead, with the ability to provoke new thought over the next 10 years

• Focus on making a real impact

• Simplify processes and outputs — stay focused on thinking of the big idea

• Stay true to your values

• Be brave and distinct

Budgets — up or down?

While the marketers commented that they might have good budgets, especially where sales have been good, the money needs to be spent wisely. Marketers have had more time during the pandemic to study their media expenditure, for example, and where the money is being used. With so many channel options, this is being looked at very carefully.

On the subject of media, marketers want to know about the new media channels and how best to ‘show up’ there. Marketers know they need to invest in their brands — agency expertise in content, on the right platforms, is crucial — especially if budgets can’t afford TV campaigns. It’s all about finding the right audience, concluded one of the marketers.

Agency Scope 2021/22: Nando's top company & Chicken Licken top campaign

Revealed in the most respected companies and best campaigns chosen by marketing professionals and agency professionals who formed part the 465 interviewees who participated in the rigorous questioning that the Agency Scope study comprised.

According to Johanna McDowell, CEO of the Independent Agency Search & Selection Company (IAS) and Scopen partner, this fourth edition highlights leading South African marketer’s choices after in-depth probing and analysis.

Co-founder and global CEO of Scopen International, Cesar Vacchiano, says: “I have the pleasant task of announcing the Most Respected Companies winners, led soundly by Nando’s. Nike, Coca-Cola and Chicken Licken followed by Unilever, FNB, Woolworths, KFC, OUTsurance and Checkers.

With the in-depth analysis required to collate the interview responses from 239 top marketing leaders from 158 companies, 156 creative agency professionals, 50 media agency professionals and 20 media owners, he asserts that Agency Scope brings a set of data that removes the traditional ‘personal favourite’ as a winner once all the feedback is analysed.

Best campaign

“The Best Campaign, determined by a review of the last two years by each respondent, is Chicken Licken,” McDowell notes.

"Nando’s came in second in this instance and Sanlam rounds off the top three, with not much between the seven other campaigns that make up the top 10,” she says.

McDowell lists the remaining top 10 winners in Best Campaign in the following order:

·        Nedbank

·        Checkers

·        Standard Bank

·        Heineken

·        KFC

·        Castle Lager

·        OUTsurance

“The four brands that completed the top ten were extremely close,” she says.

Two new analyses were included in the results this year when Agency Professionals  were asked to mention their Ideal Client and their Brand/Marketer of the Year.  These accolades were both won by Nando’s along with Doug Place, Nando’s CMO, winning runner up Marketing Professional of the Year for 2021/22.

Consistent wins the race

“The key phrase with all study participants in listing their choices was ‘consistency’, which has always been one of the pillars of success of a brand and its campaigns.”

Vacchiano and McDowell congratulate the winners, noting that the top ten companies and campaigns made this body of research and exciting one to review.

“The South African data forms part of the body of research conducted in 11 other markets across five continents,” say Vacchiano. “We look forward to seeing how other brands stack up as we continue our analysis.”

Agency Scope 2021/22: Nando's top company & Chicken Licken top campaign

Agency Scope 2021/22 most respected company is Nando's and its best campaign is Chicken Licken.

Revealed in the most respected companies and best campaigns chosen by marketing professionals and agency professionals who formed part the 465 interviewees who participated in the rigorous questioning that the Agency Scope study comprised.

According to Johanna McDowell, CEO of the Independent Agency Search & Selection Company (IAS) and Scopen partner, this fourth edition highlights leading South African marketer’s choices after in-depth probing and analysis.

Co-founder and global CEO of Scopen International, Cesar Vacchiano, says: “I have the pleasant task of announcing the Most Respected Companies winners, led soundly by Nando’s. Nike, Coca-Cola and Chicken Licken followed by Unilever, FNB, Woolworths, KFC, OUTsurance and Checkers.

With the in-depth analysis required to collate the interview responses from 239 top marketing leaders from 158 companies, 156 creative agency professionals, 50 media agency professionals and 20 media owners, he asserts that Agency Scope brings a set of data that removes the traditional ‘personal favourite’ as a winner once all the feedback is analysed.

Best campaign

“The Best Campaign, determined by a review of the last two years by each respondent, is Chicken Licken,” McDowell notes.

"Nando’s came in second in this instance and Sanlam rounds off the top three, with not much between the seven other campaigns that make up the top 10,” she says.

McDowell lists the remaining top 10 winners in Best Campaign in the following order:

·        Nedbank

·        Checkers

·        Standard Bank

·        Heineken

·        KFC

·        Castle Lager

·        OUTsurance

“The four brands that completed the top ten were extremely close,” she says.

Two new analyses were included in the results this year when agency professionals were asked to mention their Ideal Client and their Brand/Marketer of the Year. These accolades were both won by Nando’s along with Doug Place, Nando’s CMO, winning runner up Marketing Professional of the Year for 2021/22.

Consistency wins the race

“The key phrase with all study participants in listing their choices was ‘consistency’, which has always been one of the pillars of success of a brand and its campaigns,” says McDowell.

Vacchiano and McDowell congratulate the winners, noting that the top 10 companies and campaigns made this body of research and exciting one to review.

“The South African data forms part of the body of research conducted in 11 other markets across five continents,” say Vacchiano. “We look forward to seeing how other brands stack up as we continue our analysis.”

SA media agencies must widen focus to be more competitive

The recent release of the SCOPEN research into the state of play at South African media agencies has revealed a need to “leave their comfort zone and go far beyond their actual offering”.

That’s the word from Cesar Vacchiano, CEO of Scopen International and author of the Agency Scope South Africa 2021/2022 report. He says, “There are lots of opportunities to develop so that their clients discover everything they have to offer and that will allow their fees to increase”.

Vacchiano’s five takeouts from the survey he believes media agencies need to know are:

1. According to clients’ responses, South African media agencies are just focused in media planning and buying. They are not yet offering solutions in new territories such s social media, influencers, branded content, digital production and marketing automation

2. Media agencies are being more active in new business now than in the past

3. Marketers/media agencies relationships are longer than marketers/creative agencies relationships (closer to 5 years against closer to 4 years)

4. Media agency’s fees are three times smaller than creative agency’s fees. But when paying incentives, one quarter of marketers pay an incentive to their creative agencies while one third of marketers pay an incentive to their media agency

5. Even though marketers believe that media agencies contribute by 34% to their business growth and that creative agencies contribute by 26%, 14.8% of marketers are thinking of changing their media agency, very similar to the 14.5% that are thinking of changing their creative agency

Vacchiano points out the differences between the findings for South Africa, and those globally.

“In other countries media agencies are offering diversified services. They are especially strong in data, and have invested in hiring the best planners and creative leaders to offer strategic planning and creative solutions as well. These movements are allowing media agencies to have a higher position in marketers’ minds and sometimes even being perceived as leading agencies ahead of the marketers’ creative partners,” he says.

In terms of the relationship between creative and media agencies, Vacchiano says we co-operate far less here than in other countries.

Data and clients’ feedback shows that creative and media agencies collaborate together far less in South Africa than in other countries. “We see more and more often creative and media agencies combining forces (talent and capabilities) when pitching for clients’ business.

“Media agencies have the data, understand the trends better, consumer, media … and creative agency’s have the strategic and creative talent. So both teams working together using data, identifying insights and producing big ideas combined with media agencies’ expertise produce 360º proposals for clients that are very difficult to find when each entity works separately and presents independently in creative and media pitches.”

And while the lines are blurring globally, in South Africa both types of agencies offer differentiated talent and services.

Increased digital growth, much of it spurred by Covid-19, presents major opportunities and is bringing interest and investment. But, says Vacchiano, “The challenges are still huge mainly related with marketers better understanding of digital media, its possibilities and effectiveness”.

The research undertaken during Covid-19 has presented difficulties, such as fieldwork.

 “Interviewees just dedicated one hour of their time to our videoconferences as programmed in their diaries. When we met with them at their offices, it was more relaxed and sometimes interviews extended to share more points of view,” he says.

“However marketers were very open to participate because they understand now that AGENCY SCOPE is a study that allows agencies to understand marketers’ needs better and that it is used by agencies that subscribe it to offer a better service to their clients. They talk more openly because they know everything is confidential and just big research with a solid statistical base to analyse the state of the industry accurately.

“We have also noticed that agencies have had difficult times in approaching prospective clients. It wasn’t easy to do so when everybody was working from home. On the other hand, they have been focused on helping their existing clients trying to solve their needs quicker than ever (many in new territories) and demonstrating that they were capable of offering solutions in digital territories, brand purpose, sustainability.”

Differences in the current research saw researchers, for the first time in South Africa, approaching media owners for their opinions about media agencies.

“They (20 of the leading media owners) have rated media agencies across a number of relevant attributes. There are some interesting results, which have been shared with the media agencies that have subscribed to the study.  This is definitely something we will be doing again in future.”

The hows, whys and what defines integration in South Africa

The imminent release of Agency Scope 2021/22 - the fourth study South Africa - reveals a profusion of "secrets" from the inner sanctum of marketing and agency leaders.

Eager to share what their organisations have learned since the previous study, 465 interviews disclose the way in which our industries changed, driven by the pandemic, and where we stand in comparison to our foreign counterparts.

Johanna McDowell, CEO of the Independent Agency Search & Selection Company (IAS) and Scopen partner, says an important area that experienced massive change is integration, defined by marketers as having expertise in five different disciplines.

“As we’ve noted in the media, marketers are operating in a much more complex ecosystem, with many working with up to an average of 13 different partners,” she says. “When asked which disciplines marketers take into account in their definition of an integrated agency, almost 100% named digital and advertising, which is largely in line with previous figures.”

McDowell notes that the percentages for the disciplines of PR, Media, Activation and Events decrease in number of mentions, but the rest of the disciplines remain stable from 2019.

President and CEO of Scopen International Cesar Vacchiano says that large companies give more importance to disciplines like ‘relationship marketing’, than other companies when defining an integrated agency. “Conversely, smaller marketers give less importance to activation and sales promotions’ when defining Integration. The evolution of marketing automation and the barriers of COVID for activation are the reasons for these responses.”

To determine the model of integration companies are employing, business leaders surveyed were asked whether they have a lead agency that coordinated their communications requirements.

“Seven out of 10 in South Africa have indeed identified a lead agency to address this need,” says Vacchiano, highlighting that large and medium-sized companies declare the highest percentage, being 75.4% and 70.4% respectively.

“At 69.9%, South Africa is the market with the highest number of marketers that identify one of their agencies as their ‘lead partner’ in Marketing-Communications-Advertising-Media.”

No more silos, say data-reliant business leaders

This leads to an issue that needs attention. “It’s clear that media and creative in some companies operate in silos, each with its own leader. Clients view this as a challenge as they believe integrated data is what business decisions rely on,” he says.

In South Africa, creative agencies are currently undertaking digital transformation to address the issue of data silos, but media agencies are not. “In other countries,” Vacchiano affirms, “we see both creative and media agencies addressing this issue.”

Media agencies appear to be lagging in South Africa and McDowell says this leads to the IAS wondering if media agency margins are so low that they cannot afford the quality tech talent required to drive this transformation.

Food for thought...

As the industry awaits the publication of Agency Scope 2021/22, Vacchiano and McDowell agree that the shining stars of responses to the rigorous examination of industry leaders undertaken by researchers would be the huge growth in the digital sector; and the way in which agencies and clients stepped up during harsh lockdowns and trying conditions to produce work and relationships that are “quite remarkable”, says Vacchiano.

“Client satisfaction with their agencies at this level makes for relationship longevity. Marketers realise that they have strong partnerships with their agencies, who in turn are strong partners for their brands,” he says.

South African marketers are becoming more high profile because of their contribution to the growth of their brands and the work that they are doing, and it is now commonplace for CMOs – and not just their agencies - to be named.

“This makes choosing the best of the best a difficult task, as can be noted in the pictures of most admired creative agency professionals.

“The top ten actually turns out to be the top 12, because the margins between the candidates were so close, it was impossible to choose. And this,” McDowell asserts, “bodes well for the health of our industry.”

Agency contracts should be safety nets, not hostage situations

There is a shift in the marketing industry from the once-stringent “here are the service-level agreements (SLAs) and our terms” towards an agreement between agencies and their clients that protects, rather than directs.

Contracts are about marketers making sure the agency is committed to it, and vice-versa.

Today’s contract does not necessarily mean a retainer, and may be a simple clarification noting the agency of record that will work on a project-to-project basis. This would, of course, include the agency agreeing not to take on work from a competitor without prior discussion with the client and following the standard non-disclosure accordance.

When it comes to the media agency, however, the role of a contract is critical, as its work includes ongoing expenditure on behalf of its clients and the legalities of the outlay and payment that need to be defined in a firm contract.

Given the varying needs of marketers and agencies and the types of collaboration we’re seeing today, there are four or five basic contract outlines that would ensure harmonious working relationships. These range from a simple letter of appointment to solid financial commitments and SLAs.

Always, though, it is the essence of the contract that sets the tone for what working together will look like.

When marketers ask: “How will the agency work with us?” the contract outline may include agreeing on a timeline per project; the time a campaign will take to develop, including reverts; who will be working on the campaign and what resources the client will need from the agency.

This covers the basics of setting up of the relationship and should be followed with an indication of the scope of work, broken down into platform specifics such as campaign, packaging, design, digital and social media.

Some clients may say they don’t believe in contracts with agencies, but it must be made clear that a contract is not designed to trap a marketer and tether it to an agency.

Instead of seeing a contract as a tie that binds, participants should view it as a guide to the mechanics of how the working relationship will be conducted in the best interests of all parties.

Again, media agencies will operate under different parameters by necessity, but even these are far more flexible than they used to be.

If it takes a while for an agreement or SLAs to be put in place, it’s usually due to the need for both parties to really explore all the work they’re going to do together. Even after agencies are appointed, the contract may not be signed immediately. The letter of appointment is important, and if it takes six months for a contract to be signed, it would only be to benefit both parties.

Today’s contracts are about flexibility, commitment and trust. Importantly for all parties concerned, agility is everything right from the word go – and harmony must be the aim.

Trends for 2022 - The agency-marketer relationship

As with most industries, current trends are either driven by the pandemic, or in response to it. As intermediaries, the IAS has noted some interesting shifts in the way marketers and agencies have surfed the various waves as they rolled in, and how they're looking to stay on the crest in 2022 and beyond.

Chief among current trends is reviewing the number of agencies a marketer works with. The average in South Africa is around the global average of 13, including digital, public relations, communications and more.

Importantly, the IAS is working with marketers looking to review their providers and decide the best way forward. Where there is an overlapping of services, there’s a view to keeping agencies in their own lanes – namely, the core competencies for which they were hired.

This brings with it a trend that sees agencies assessing their offerings and ensuring they have the resources required to meet marketers’ needs now and for the foreseeable future.

As more office doors open after the vaccine rollout, marketers and agencies are mostly back in their creative, vibrant, people-centric environments where they feed off each other’s positive energy. However, marketers and agencies are facing more complex issues today that were not as pronounced prior to the pandemic.

Among these is an increase in specialisation among agencies, based on the rise in digital platforms and their opportunities for brands. Where bigger agencies may not have the agility smaller ones have to meet brand needs, there’s much that can be done and a willingness to take the necessary steps.

The IAS is working with marketers on right-housing, the process that requires them to review their internal and external capabilities, as well as those of the agencies they work with. There’s a definite shift away from the ‘purely creative’ agency of the past, towards partnerships with those who are adept at strategic planning, are able to offer technology to support the strategy, and will work with marketers to produce the best approach.


Finally, a noteworthy 2022 and beyond trend is the move away from project-based relationships to retainers. While this can be in part attributed to the deepening of relationships between marketers and agencies we saw during the pandemic, it makes sense to retain the services of an organisation as a partner rather than run the risk of the agency being able to work for the competition on a project basis too.

For the IAS, the past 24 months have been busy ones and we foresee no slowing down, as we navigate the new and exciting specialist skill sets and collaborative spirits.

Agency Scope 2021/22: Trends, tactics and triumphs

The fourth edition of the unparalleled study Agency Scope 2021/22 South Africa brought 465 interviewees face-to-face with researchers in video interviews, comprising 239 leading marketing professionals from 158 companies; 156 creative agency professionals; 50 media agency professionals; and 20 media owners. A total sample size 465 individuals - the largest sample for Agency Scope in South Africa to date.

The South African data forms part of the body of research conducted in 11 other markets across five continents. In pitting local trends against global, president and CEO of Scopen International, Cesar Vacchiano, and Johanna McDowell, CEO of the Independent Agency Search & Selection Company (IAS) and Scopen partner, note areas of universal equality – and then some enormous differences.

Digital sector

“Notably there is increased investment in the digital sector,” says Vacchiano. “Globally, digital has grown 2.9 percentage points or +7.6% in the last three years. China and Brazil are the markets with the highest digital budget (50.1% and 45.1%, respectively), and the IAB South African Digital Ad Spend Report for 2020 reveals that despite the state of the economy, the digital industry experienced an 18% year-on-year growth.”

Current digital ad spend accounts for 38% of marketing spend in South Africa and digital spend is divided largely between three sectors, being digital paid media (33.1%), social media and influencers (23.4%) and search engine optimisation (15.5%).

Programmatic, CRM, e-commerce and marketplaces and “other” make up the balance.

Investment in the sector continues apace, according to Vacchiano, who notes that there are more partners working with marketers in a far more complex ecosystem, helping clients with their communication mix. “On average,” he says, “each advertiser surveyed works across its communications, marketing, advertising and media projects with an average of 13 different partners.”

Says McDowell: “The complexity of managing this number of partners requires robust leadership to establish which companies are responsible for which space, and how to keep them in their own lanes.

Collaboration

“The companies themselves must be highly focused and leaders must manage collaboration between them. One way of doing this would be for the CMO to run it; the second would be to appoint a lead agency that the CMO can rely on to assist with this hugely important aspect.”

In this regard, Vacchiano notes a standout in Agency Scop 2021/22 research is the satisfaction clients expressed with their agencies, noting appreciation of the lengths agencies went to in intensifying working relationships through the pandemic.

“Clients are acutely aware of and grateful for the strength of their partnerships with their agencies. The leadership shown through the massive challenges is noted and lauded by brands,” he says.

“Worldwide, the work agencies did for some brands truly set new standards in creativity, brand-building and strategy, and clients highlighted their satisfaction in our interviews.”

McDowell adds that travel restrictions increased the availability of senior executives on the client side enabled more access to the C-Suite. “This has been a boon to agencies who took the opportunity to demonstrate their capabilities and successes at the highest level.”

Agency Scope 2021/22 analysis has also brought to light how marketers invested their spend. Globally, investment is about 50% on brand building, long-term brand development and big campaigns; with around 50% in shorter-term, performance and sales driven lead generation initiatives.

“What this tells us,” Vacchiano posits, “is that reinforcing brands in the minds of the consumer is of equal importance to marketers as the short-term wins from leads and sales.

“The takeaway from this part of the research is that opportunity for big branding campaigns should not be ignored.”

The science of success, the art of intermediaries

Miguel de Cervantes, the Spanish author of Don Quixote de la Mancha, noted that "experience is the universal mother of sciences". This being so is the art of experience in business is to collaborate with those who broaden your knowledge base.

In an industry of rapid change and speedy decision making, both marketers and agencies are likely to come up against a gap in their knowledge of the exact capabilities a potential client or provider offers.

Rather than tilting at windmills, working with an experienced intermediary means gaining access to their vast experience with any number of agencies, locally and globally.

The intermediary must be able to bring all this to the table when marketers are looking to either appoint a new agency or renew their existing agency with a view to enhancing performance.

Understanding the global market

Specialist intermediaries constantly interact with creative, digital and media agencies as part of their function. The IAS, for example, brings many years of experience in staying up to speed with trends, capabilities, and what international agencies and clients are experiencing.

Agency Scopen has also added far more intimate knowledge of current global methodologies and strategies favoured by multinationals, as well as ongoing industry studies.

As a market leader, we see the IAS’s function as being a catalyst in the growth of the intermediary space. This drives a rise in value that marketers gain by engaging with intermediaries in a partnership that brings insights into every sector and platform in the industry.

For agencies to get the most out of intermediary engagement, we encourage them to see how they can work with an intermediary to be presented in the best possible light to potential clients. It is in the best interest of the industry as a whole that intermediaries assist agencies to develop their pitch and polish their credentials appropriately.

The bottom line for all participants is that intermediaries are there to protect, promote and amplify what each brings to a potential new relationship or the injection of enthusiasm into an existing one.

Any specialist intermediary will tell you that the science may often be reflected in numbers, but the art lies in vision, collaboration and the longevity of robust relationships.