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Monday, October 12, 2026
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The Use And Diversification Of Social Media Platforms

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Reporter
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Stephanie Mashigo, Social Media Manager at Eclipse Communications.

Research conducted by eMarketers indicates a sharp increase in social media usage, particularly TikTok and Facebook, states Stephanie Mashigo, Eclipse Communications’ Social Media Manager.

While this spike is expected to drop once lockdown measures continue to be lifted, features such as live streaming, video chat and gaming will undoubtedly be around for significantly longer. The decline in print media has resulted in a sharp rise in digital media, both online and social, as platforms of mass consumption. We look at how brands can adapt their communications strategies to take advantage of the power of social media.

More time online

GlobalWebIndex says there has been an increase in social media usage across all age groups:

  • 16-24-year-olds: 58% increase.
  • 25-34-year-olds: 50% increase.  
  • 35-44-year-olds: 42% increase.
  • 45-54-year-olds: 34% increase.
  • 55-64-year-olds: 32% increase.

Social media usage has surged by 50% in South Africa. Advertisement engagement has increased over the last few months. Currently, in South Africa, a user clicks on an advert on Facebook an average of eight times in a month1.

Important platforms

Facebook

With many businesses being compelled to close brick-and-mortar shops, Facebook launched its Shops feature, enabling businesses to display and sell products on the platform. The feature allows them to create digital storefronts at no charge, enabling customers to buy directly from Facebook, Instagram, or the retailer’s website. In contrast to Facebook’s Marketplace, which predominantly focuses on the sale of personal belongings, Shops is aimed directly at businesses.

With over 90-million small businesses on Facebook, the platform has also launched the Business Resource Hub to support businesses. Apart from providing information on topics such as preventing business disruptions, the platform provides several free templates to help businesses communicate to their audiences, including the likes of ‘yes, we’re still taking orders’, and ‘we wouldn’t be here without you.’

Instagram

Facebook-owned Instagram is emphasising its support of local businesses, releasing a new feature to help them make sales. It comes in the form of gift card, food order and fundraising stickers, which businesses can share on their profiles or stories. This allows customers to support them remotely.

YouTube

The online video-sharing platform launched its Video Builder Tool, which allows small businesses to create video content for free. While YouTube adverts usually require video editing skills and a large budget, the new tool has been integrated to help enterprises in their communication and content strategies in light of the current pandemic. The tool is essentially a free beta tool that animates static assets such as images, text and logos, and integrates music from YouTube’s music library.

TikTok

TikTok, although relatively new, has seen a rise in popularity, with countless brands making use of the platform to communicate with the public. It offers the opportunity for brands to be brave and think outside the box. It is highly popular with the youth, providing an opportunity for brands to future-proof themselves.

One example is the World Health Organisation, which is using TikTok to educate the public during the Covid-19 pandemic. Its TikTok account already has 2.4-million followers.

Your social strategy

  1. Conduct a fact check: make sure that business bios on social media platforms are updated to reflect any changes in operations should they be directly impacted by lockdown conditions.
  2. Post with purpose: now, more than ever, is the time to build trust with your audience. Humanise your brand authentically.
  3. Personalisation is key: personalisation begins with analysing your consumers’ behaviour/ interactions with your brand online and tailoring content to meet their interests.
  4. Expand influencer marketing: we’re living in uncertain times and people are turning to those they trust (like influencers) for information. Partnering with the right influencer, who shares the same vision as your brand, will ultimately help drive sales.
  5. Explore new content and platforms: brands need to be brave in the changing landscape and experiment with new forms of content, such as videos, and where they communicate their messages.
  6. Engage with your audience: calling for user-generated content or making use of polls will boost customer interaction on your platforms and increase your organic reach.
  7. Make sure your visuals are in context: social distancing has changed our perceptions (and reality) about many things. It’s easy to reach into your archive of brand imagery for social media, but in doing so you may unwittingly be sending a message that’s not entirely appropriate.
  8. Re-evaluate paid media strategies: data from SocialBakers show that cost per click and CPM for social ads is falling, as more advertisers stop their campaigns. As a result of this, organic post reach has increased by 0.5% over the past three months (data from Hootsuite), with the trend expected to continue. Organic strategies can pay off handsomely.
  9. Get leadership involved: executives are ramping-up their social media presence and giving their brands a trustworthy face.

From using social listening tools to gauge consumer sentiment to using this data to make informed communication and messaging decisions, now is the time for brands to take full advantage of social media’s power.

ECLIPSE COMMUNICATIONS
eclipsepr.co.za

Three Creatives From Africa Announced As Part Of Next Creative Leaders Competition Jury

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This year’s Next Creative Leaders competition jury includes Emuron Alemu, the Group Creative Director at Ogilvy Africa, Nairobi; Suhana Gordhan, the Executive Creative Director at FCB Johannesburg; and Molefi Thulo, Executive Creative Director at Ogilvy Johannesburg.

They are among the global jury of 88 creatives from 25 countries announced for the Next Creative Leaders competition, run jointly by The One Club for Creativity and The 3% Movement.

Next Creative Leaders (NCL) is a portfolio competition that identifies, celebrates and gives a global platform to talented womxn and non-binary creatives who are making their mark on the world with both their work and a unique point of view on creative leadership that’s changing the industry for the better.  

To make Next Creative Leaders as open and accessible as possible, there is no fee to enter the competition. Entries highlighting a candidate’s creativity, leadership and unique point of view must be submitted by the July 31, 2020 deadline.  

The complete list of 88 NCL 2020 judges from Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Mainland China, Costa Rica, Germany, Guatemala, Hong Kong, India, Israel, Kenya, Netherlands, New Zealand, Philippines, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, United Arab Emirates, UK and US can be viewed here.

For the first time in its five-year history, Next Creative Leaders has expanded its diversity and inclusion remit to accept entries from both womxn and non-binary creatives, and added regional honours.

Also new for 2020 is the addition of NCL Regional Honors. Along with naming 10 global winners based upon the highest scores from judges, The One Club and The 3% Movement have expanded the programme to recognise those in six regions: North America, Latin America, Asia Pacific, MENA, Africa and Europe, whose work and creative vision the judges feel deserve Regional Honour accolades.

Eligible participants are those who are stepping into leadership roles, including copywriters, art directors, designers, ACDs, newly-promoted creative and design directors with less than one year in the role, and creative teams who are doing game-changing work.

Entrants are judged on four to six pieces of creative work, with their background and information about how they, and their work, are pushing the industry forward and making a positive contribution in terms of diversity, mentoring and advocacy.  

Winners will be selected by a jury of top creatives and diversity advocates, including past Next Creative Leaders winners, and announced at an upcoming joint The One Club for Creativity/The 3% Movement event.

THE ONE CLUB FOR CREATIVITY 
oneclub.org

ACA Announces 2020/21 Board Directors and Executives

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Reporter
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On 24 June 2020, the Association for Communication and Advertising (ACA) held the 73rd Annual General Meeting (GAM) virtually to select the Board of Directors.

Wayne Naidoo was re-elected to the position of Chair, with Gareth Leck and Thabang Skwambane re-elected as Vice-Chairs. The Executive committee (Exco) is composed of the Chair and Vice-Chairs, Karabo Songo and Mathe Okaba.

The incoming Board is as follows:

Name and position Company Role
Wayne Naidoo: Chair Duke Group Chief Executive Officer
Gareth Leck: Vice-Chair Joe Public United Group Chief Executive Officer
Thabang Skwambane: Vice-Chair FCB Joburg & Hellocomputer Joburg Group Managing Director
Karabo Songo: Exco Brave Group Group Chief Executive Officer
Mathe Okaba: Exco Association for Communication and Advertising Chief Executive Officer
Adeshia Singh Singh & Sons Managing Director
Alison Deeb Metropolitan Republic Group Chief Executive Officer
Andrew Brand 99c Advertising & Communications Group Chief Executive Officer
Ayanda Mbanga Ayanda Mbanga Communications Chief Executive Officer
Carlo Murison Two Tone Global Group Chief Executive Officer
James Barty King James Group Group Chief Executive Officer
Jarred Cinman VMLY&R South Africa Chief Executive Officer
John Dixon Publicis Groupe Africa Chief Executive Officer
Karabo Denalane TBWA Hunt Lascaris Chief Executive Officer
Lebogang Masilela Brave Group Human Capital Executive
Louise Johnston Grey Advertising Managing Director
Luca Gallarelli TBWA\The Disruption® Company Group Chief Executive Officer
Mathieu Plassard Ogilvy South Africa Chief Growth Officer
Mona-Lisa Zwambila Riverbed Chief Executive Officer and Founder
Mpume Ngobese Joe Public Ignite Managing Director
Nombini Mehlomakulu Ebony + Ivory Director
Paul Middleton Ebony + Ivory Managing Director
Sarah Dexter MullenLowe South Africa Chief Executive Officer
Selae Thobakgale The Odd Number Chief Strategy Officer
Sharleen James King James Group Group Director
Susan Napier Wunderman Thompson Advertising SA Managing Director

The ACA Exco plays a key role in working closely with the Board of Directors and CEO of the Association in collectively directing the association’s affairs, whilst attending to the interests of its stakeholders, members and the broader industry at large. The Exco’s tenure runs in tandem with that of the Board of Directors.

At the meeting, Chair of the ACA Board, Wayne Naidoo, delivered the Chair’s Report for the preceding fiscal. Referencing the current crisis the world and South Africa finds itself in, Naidoo began his report with a quote from Rahm Emanuel (Ex Chief of Staff to President Barack Obama) who said, ‘Never let a serious crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that, it’s an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before.’

According to Naidoo, the industry has been in a crisis since before the existence of the Covid-19 pandemic and that there has been relatively little evidence to show that as an industry we have truly progressed, notwithstanding measures taken to address sensitive issues over the years. This has resulted in frustration for all involved given the time and commitment invested to ensure the wellbeing of the ACA and its members.

The ACA’s mandate is to protect and serve its members and to promote the value that the industry has to offer. While delivery by the various ACA portfolios was seen as successful, the report stated that progress in general has failed to keep up with the ever-changing environment. Naidoo noted that the industry has been ineffective in acting decisively with a view to ensuring relevancy and dynamism in a rapidly evolving climate. According to him, the answer and catalyst to this change has been obvious for a very long time: transformation, not simply legislative in terms of B-BBEE, but rather in all its guises. According to Naidoo, transformation brings opportunity, and opportunity delivers even more transformation, to the power of infinity.

‘As an Association, we’ve been strategically addressing key challenges over the years and have had a few delightful wins as a result, but again it’s just not sufficient if we need to be relevant and leadership-valued beyond 2020. We need hard action now. We need to walk the talk with more determination and visibly demonstrate that action speaks louder than words,’ said Naidoo.

To the extent that the pandemic has brought untold devastation to our dynamic industry, it also provides an opportunity to adapt what the industry can offer for the future. The report states that the situation provides for the perfect excuse to simultaneously address the longstanding and pressing issue of transformation, across agencies, supplier chains, clients and broader economic structures.

The ball has already been set in motion in addressing the issues with the active pace that is required, with the ACA reigniting the transformation mission with much enthusiasm. Naidoo went on to explain that a number of initiatives have been developed to support the actions required, and that these would start rolling out over the coming months.

All of this would not have been possible however without the support of the Board and several other valued industry and media partners according to Naidoo. He thanked the outgoing Exco (Gareth Leck, Thabang Skwambane, Boniswa Peziza and Mike Gendel) for their amazing support over the past year, as well as the staff at the ACA and CEO, Mathe Okaba, for her incredible partnership, passion and drive throughout.

In concluding his Chair’s Report, Naidoo added that, ‘Now more than ever, we have the opportunity to stand up and speak truth to power.’ He noted that it is no longer acceptable to have poor leaders, unfair practices and onerous pitch demands. ‘It is time to uphold and honour the MAC SA Charter, empower and support the youth and establish a broader and more diverse ACA membership base of new and upcoming agencies, imploring the industry to more actively participate in ACA activities.’

In closing, he stated that the time had come to truly listen to the critical change that is being asked for. ‘When we embrace these opportunities, we get to really transform – and in doing so, we have the opportunity to make everyone else rise alongside us. Let’s not allow this crisis to go to waste,’ concluded Naidoo.

ACA SOUTH AFRICA
+27117812772
ceo@acasa.co.za
www.acasa.co.za

Brands Turning To Smaller Agencies To Maximise Campaign Efficiencies

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Reporter
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According to Yaw Dwomoh, Chief Executive Officer at Idea Hive, it is easy to assume that price is the only driving factor behind the decision to go small, but many brands will be thinking beyond budget. Equating size with safety is a naïve way of thinking.

The move towards ‘smaller’ agencies could be attributed to brands effectively maximising on their campaign efficiencies while managing a conservative budget and exercising greater control over their campaigns.

The Covid-19 era has brought immense change to the world. We are living in unsettling times and operating in unchartered territories. Whether it is how individuals behave or how industries operate, it can be safe to say that the virus has and will continue to change it all.

Marketing and communication departments will be standing back to look at the pre-pandemic trend people started talking about way before everything changed. We will see marketing departments having to consider contraction in demand and profits and most importantly how to do things differently.

This shift in thinking gives brands access to nimble creative teams that counteract their large and slow-moving business models. Teams with a more niche skill set disrupt rather than develop and they are open to hyper-creativity and not just doing business as usual. In the case of 360-degree marketing, where this type of agility is crucial, more of the big brands will be looking to smaller agencies with varied capabilities.

If you oversee marketing and communications, it is easier to collaborate when you are constantly in contact with the team accountable for and working on your project. But what gives these new contenders the edge?

Here are the top reasons why big brands are choosing smaller agencies:

1. Forward-thinking ideas

If you are not changing, you are not moving forward. Small agencies can implement new ideas and services faster than their larger counterparts. They can also drop redundant services with ease, which means eliminating the extras that will benefit the agency and not brands. These updated service packages make it easier to implement new ideas that will place brands ahead of the pack.

2. Unique and specialist services

Many small agencies exist within a network of specialised professionals who can be mobilised when needed. This means brands gain access to a pool of skilled people (who can be hand-picked for their project), without paying for the maintenance of specialist business departments.

3. Commercial insight

Many small agencies are started by experienced industry professionals wanting to do things differently. As a result, clients receive advice that is informed by commercial insight and in-depth knowledge of what works and what doesn’t. The benefit: your project is handled by these same high-level professionals.

4. Undivided attention

Working with large teams can be difficult and in a fast-moving digital world, where the customer journey is no longer linear, urgency is a necessity for companies to make the most out of customer touchpoints and micro-moments with less back-and-forth.

Working with multinational agencies could subject brands to slower turnaround times as they serve hundreds of clients at any given time. Niche agencies dedicate their time to a limited number of projects from start to completion, paying closer attention to the scope, reviewing for challenges and in the end giving brands a realistic report. This ensures that work is not completed only for the sake of delivery.

5. Faster results

Bigger organisations come with more layers. This slows down approvals, processes and the overall completion of projects. If you are employed by a large organisation, you already know how this works and it’s unlikely you want to partner up with another business that has the same stifling bureaucratic processes. The good news is that creative vision doesn’t hinge on size. Small, agile agencies look for talent that can relate to your perspective and get the work done faster.

6. Flexibility

As niche agencies take the time to understand client needs and seek to maintain a healthy working relationship with a client, they are open to putting the clients’ ideas first and making recommendations. This makes them easier to work with on campaigns, no matter the magnitude. This lowers the risk of friction between teams from both sides and projects are not delayed unnecessarily.

In this rapidly changing world, brands will be looking for niche agencies that are interested in becoming an effective extension of their business rather than only pursuing work that will win them the next award. This approach pushes creative boundaries and gets better results.

IDEA HIVE 
+271113670672
sizwe.dlamini@ideahive.co.za
ideahive.co.za

Marketing And Advertising Industry Survey Respondents Express Thoughts About Their Future

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Claudia Schonitz, Head of Insights and Consumer Research, HaveYouHeard.

According to HaveYouHeard’s survey, which had 110 participants, all of whom work in advertising, marketing, production or a brand-related role at a company, employees in South Africa’s advertising communications services industry are more uncertain about their employers’ business continuity than they were at the beginning of the country’s Covid-19 lockdown. 

At the beginning of lockdown, a total of 65% of employees said they were either extremely confident (18%) or fairly confident (47%) about their company’s future. During level 4, this confidence ebbed to a total of 55%, being either extremely confident (16%) or fairly confident (39%). Some 12% changed their opinion to ‘poor’ and 6% to ‘very poor’.

At the same time, employees revised their projections on company income for the next 3-6 months with 56% saying it will decrease substantially (up from 37%), 16% said it would decrease slightly, 10% said it would stay the same, 7% were unsure, 8% thought it would increase slightly and 3% said it would increase substantially. 

Interestingly, there was little change in how employees predicted the pandemic and lockdown would impact their careers. 10% said it would have an extremely positive impact (up from 3%), 19% said fairly positive (versus 23%), 16% said no impact, 43% said fairly negative and 12% said extremely negative.

Not surprisingly, the industry’s employees – like most South Africans – are experiencing more stress. Only 8% said their stress levels had decreased while 80% were experiencing increased anxiety and stress.

As a result of the uncertainty, bleak outlook for business continuity and increased stress, some 16% of the industry’s employees are considering leaving the industry while 25% will seek greater control by starting their own company or freelancing, 14% studying, and 36% are actively looking for a new job within the industry. 

‘According to our respondents, the pandemic has had negative and positive consequences,’ said HaveYouHeard head of research and insights, Claudia Schonitz. ‘The cons include decreased billings, retrenchments and salary cuts (which have increased substantially), decreased staff morale and changes to the type of work commissioned. While the pros include flexibility and ability to change, improved processing and ways of working and better internal communication.

‘Also, trust in company leadership has stayed the same (34%) or increased (35%) since the start of lockdown. This, I think, bodes very well for the industry post the pandemic. It seems to me many will emerge stronger, more resilient and more agile on both an organisation and personal level.’

HAVEYOUHEARD
+27 11 268 1331
haveyouheard.co.za

Marketing Achievement Awards Now Open

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The Marketing Achievement Awards celebrate excellence in the science and art of strategic marketing, and in so doing sets a compass point for marketers to aim towards. The awards are endorsed by the Marketing Association of South Africa (MASA)

The awards are set to take place in February 2021 and all marketers from across South Africa, big and small, known and unknown, are encouraged to enter their best work so that they can be measured against, and recognised by, their peers.

The recent challenges which have thrown the world off course have highlighted how critical it is for marketers to find their own True North and guide their brands with determination and precision. This year, the awards organisers will look for the greatest minds, the truest ideas, and the boldest approaches.

This platform is designed to recognise exceptional marketing achievements and as such, conveners will be looking for succinct entries that best demonstrate how customer needs have been identified and used to focus, align, and empower organisations to meet these needs and achieve results. There are several categories available and the entry format is a simple online process. 

The following categories are available for entrants to prove their strategic abilities in:

  • Purpose Led Marketing.
  • Strategic Sponsorship Marketing.
  • Brand Positioning.
  • Marketing Innovation.
  • New Product or Brand Launch.
  • Reputation Management (Corporate and Brand).
  • South African Resonance Marketing.
  • Brand Marketing B2B.
  • Integrated Marketing.
  • Resourceful Marketing (The ;Limited Budget, Unlimited Idea’ Category).
  • Internal Marketing.
  • Digital Brand Marketing (New Category for 2020).
  • Rising Star of the Year (Nominated).
  • Marketer of the Year (Nominated).

This year’s entry process has been fine-tuned to allow for winning case studies to be published. This way, the organisers can truly set a benchmark for excellence, inspire marketers to make a case for leading organisations with insightful strategy, and prove marketing’s value to the bottom line. For this reason, not only have the entry criteria been redesigned and more explicitly outlined, but a scoring system has also been introduced. Judges will thus be able to contextualise each entry and award a score out of 100 possible points, and importantly, ensure that all campaigns be treated equally, regardless of budget or scope.

To make the entry process easier for all marketers, entry kits have been created to walk people through the system. Moreover, the winning case studies will only be published in consultation with the entrants to ensure that confidential figures and metrics are appropriately presented.

Newly appointed Chairperson of the Marketing Awards Council (MAC), Mohale Ralebitso, will be spearheading the council, taking over from Yvonne Johnston who successfully chaired the MAC during her three-year tenure. As an entrepreneur and expert transformational business leader, Ralebitso’s resume spans over 22 years in marketing and financial services and boasts a litany of accomplishments.

Not only is Ralebitso the former CEO of the Black Business Council, but he has also held senior positions in financial services and advertising, including Marketing Communications and Corporate Affairs Director at Old Mutual Emerging Markets, Managing Executive of Absa Private Bank, Chairman of FCB South Africa, Chairman of The Jupiter Drawing Room (Johannesburg), and Director at TBWA\ South Africa. As such, he is well equipped to navigate this new world order that the marketing industry is stepping into and lead the MAC with precision.

Ralebitso said, ‘South African marketers have the power and ingenuity to deliver campaigns of the highest calibre; simple marketing that is imbued with insight and authenticity; and a true sense of direction that catapults brands directly towards their True North in spite of the constant state of flux we are living through. That is the kind of work that we are hoping to see. The Marketing Achievement Awards is a rarefied opportunity to honour marketers whose work demonstrates the intrinsic value inherent to this crucial discipline, whilst simultaneously raising the industry’s profile and elevating it to the position it rightfully deserves within South Africa’s businesses.’

This annual event will truly set the standard of excellence, allowing only those willing to step up and show their strength, be role models, and showcase best practices, to walk away as winners.

MASA CEO, Brian Yuyi said, ‘MASA is pleased to endorse and work with the Marketing Achievement Council for the success of the Marketing Achievement Awards in 2020. The Awards speak to our organisational purpose, which is to elevate the professionalism of marketing and represent and protect the business interests of all marketers in South Africa. Despite the challenging times we now face, we look forward to some exciting entries across all categories which will be proof, yet again, that the marketing profession will be at the forefront of an industrial and commercial resurgence in the new normal.’

Early bird entries close on 17 of August 2020, while final entries close on the 6th of September 2020. In the face of a pandemic, nothing is certain, however, the intention is for the Awards Ceremony to be hosted in early 2021.

MARKETING ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS 
marketingawards.co.za

Have An Effective First-Party Data Programme In Place

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Rogerwilco’s CEO, Charlie Stewart, states that the obsession with data can be blamed on the opaque promises made by the proponents of big data, with companies benchmarking against the likes of Amazon, Google and Facebook, who harvest vast tracts of our data.

By trying to emulate this behaviour, companies collect as much customer data as they can but rarely know what they’ll do with it. With the commencement date for the Protection of Personal Information (POPI) Act on 1 July 2020, the number of companies concerned about their data collection policies is set to skyrocket.

Charlie Stewart, CEO of Rogerwilco.

But while it’s good that regulators are trying to protect customer data, POPI is a cure, rather than the prevention. Imposing penalties on companies who are not playing safe with consumer data is essential.

But, companies should think about why they are collecting data in the first place. A 2017 Harvard Business Review article notes that less than half of structured data is used and just 1% of unstructured data is used in the decision-making process. Consequently, much of companies’ data ends up dumped on a server, underutilised and logged as another concern for the IT guy. And it’s here where this data is exposed to negligence or possible hacking, punishable by fines under POPI. 

Fundamentally then, South African companies need to think about the purpose of the information they’re collecting. Will it be used in planning, reporting or in personalising marketing going forward? If there is no clear answer, rather avoid it altogether.

Not all data is created equal, so think about what you want to collect. Many companies target new customers by purchasing B2B emailing lists or buying third-party data from Google and Facebook.

Yet few have an effective first-party data programme in place. Who is the customer? Do they have an email address and telephone number? What did they buy? What are the demographics and psychographics at play? These are the building blocks needed to get to understand current customers and to personalise future campaigns effectively.

And if any evidence was needed on the value of pleasing existing customers versus targeting prospects, another Harvard Business Review article claims it can be five to 25 times more expensive to acquire a new customer than it is to retain an old one.

The value of first-party data is coming to the fore. A first-party data strategy can lead to the paradigm shift needed to turn away from continuously searching for new clients instead of servicing current clients effectively.  

Customer Data Platforms are one of the hottest tickets in the burgeoning martech industry, which already gobbles up around a third of all marketing budgets according to Forrester. Yet, in South Africa, all too many brands still invest their martech spend into Data Management Platforms and other adtech platforms that focus on third-party sources. The folly of this was exposed earlier this year when Google announced that it would be phasing out support for third-party cookies, which are instrumental in the pursuit of new audiences. 

Clean data is good data

In this so-called data ‘land grab’, companies often pour hard-earned records down a CRM black hole. It should come as no surprise then that a study from SiriusDecisions found that 25% of the average B2B database is inaccurate. It doesn’t help to spend the time and effort in acquiring vital customer information if you don’t invest in making sure the data is accurate, and keeping it so. Don’t let it be your business that sends out emails addressed to the wrong person or to decision-makers who have left the company. 

The more considerable concern around POPI is, of course, the safety of customer data. News of significant data breaches has become a regular occurrence, and it seems that cybercriminals can exploit almost any preventative measure. However, this is no reason to make it easy, especially for smaller companies who store data on their servers or simply in spreadsheets on employees’ devices. The move to a reputable and certified cloud-based data platform or CRM solution will pay-off in the long run. And while it may not guarantee protection from a security breach, you can at least demonstrate that you took active measures to protect your information.

Respect the client

Finally, don’t use your collected data in a way that customers might find disturbing or unprofessional. I recently visited a website where the chatbot greeted me by my company’s name, without me feeding it any information. Although this shouldn’t come as a surprise with the amount of cookie data available, it still struck me as highly inappropriate and downright creepy. Being POPI compliant doesn’t eliminate the need to be respectful towards your clients.

It’s important to remember that the steps above will not make you POPI compliant. Instead, it should serve as a reminder to utilise collected data effectively, rather than setting the collection of data as the goal. 

ROGERWILCO
+27219758181
info@rogerwilco.co.za
rogerwilco.co.za

Taking Marketing From Evolution To Execution

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Haydn Townsend, Managing Director for Accenture Interactive in Africa.

According to Haydn Townsend, Managing Director for Accenture Interactive in Africa, the way customers experience and engage with brands today is very different. To successfully take marketing from evolution to execution requires us to start thinking and doing things differently.

Globally, executives have woken up to the fact that we now find ourselves in an evolved marketplace where customer experience (CX) has emerged as the key driver of sustainable business growth. In fact, a study commissioned by Accenture Interactive, Expectations Vs Experience: The Good, The Bad, The Opportunity, indicates that a mere one-point increase in experience scores can translate into millions of dollars of annual revenue (the ‘good’).

The ‘bad’ is that the customers’ expectations are not driven by their average experience, but by their best one. Simply delivering good enough experiences, is therefore simply not good enough anymore. Therein however lies an ‘opportunity’, which, as indicated by the same paper, is still greatly underutilised. Today, companies who continuously transform their CX efforts to consistently wow their audiences at all touchpoints, are the ones who most successfully win, serve and retain their customers.

The three lenses we need to look through to stimulate the right thinking

When planning on taking products or services to the market, we first need to evaluate it from the following three angles:
• Viability: will the product or service add tangible value to the business?
• Feasibility: can this product or service be taken to market quickly and cost-effectively?
• Desirability: will customers truly want or need this product or service?

Three cornerstones that form the foundation for doing things right

To meet the ever-increasing expectations of modern customers, companies must deliver always-on, immersive CX that shape and transform an individual’s entire path-to-purchase in real-time. To rise to the challenges and deliver in this complex new marketing landscape, companies require scale, and that scale needs to be delivered via three critical components:

1. Technology

Every time that a customer engages with your brand, it creates a data point. A data point that must be collated and analysed to help you personalise and improve your CX. When you have 10,000 or so customers, this becomes a daunting task. The right technology will increase your capacity to interpret complex data sets exponentially and to do so in real-time, which in turn, holds a multitude of business benefits.

It will, for example, enable you to understand exactly who your clients are and help you to deliver exactly the right message, to the right person, at the right time and on the right platform. This will, in turn, ensure that your campaigns are more targeted and focused, which will naturally yield a greater return on investment (ROI).

Another common aspect of marketing that can be addressed via technology is media buying. Traditionally, companies have made use of media buying agencies, who not only charge a premium for their service but who also earn commission from the media they’re buying from. Today, through the use of technology, we can set up trading desks for companies so they can buy directly from the relevant media, at a significantly reduced cost.

2. Processes 

Gone are the days where marketing can be regarded as a business component that is not accountable for achieving measurable, bottom-line results. In fact, the ultimate success of a marketing campaign today is measured by whether it has been executed in the quickest and most efficient way that generated maximum sales at minimum cost.

To achieve this today is much more difficult than it used to be a decade or so ago, as society moves on much quicker. Your ad could be the top meme today, and completely forgotten tomorrow. So, your content always needs to be current and relevant.

To effectively execute such a marketing campaign that ticks all the boxes, that is relevant and that can be rolled out with speed and efficiency, requires formal marketing governance. In other words, you need a solid structure of processes, procedures and policies in place to support and optimise the management of all your marketing functions. This will, in turn, ensure that your business and marketing objectives are aligned, that the success of your campaign is determined by quantifiable metrics and that swift decision-making and prioritisation is enabled.

3. Scale

Seamlessly executing integrated multi-channel campaigns requires a scale of capacity and you need the ability to determine how to allocate your human and technological resources optimally. Basically, you need thinkers and doers and technology can be a great enabler to enhance the efficiency of both.

For example, technology can provide the thinkers and creatives with the relevant consumer data to help make sure their ‘big ideas’ are on the money for your specific target audiences. Technology can also improve the productivity of doers. Say for instance you sell cars in 150 different countries, you will have to consider whether translating your content for all these markets are best done by your staff or through using artificial intelligence (AI).

Apart from leveraging your existing resources optimally, it is also worth asking whether you have enough resources to quickly and effectively implement end-to-end marketing campaigns across your different markets. Let’s continue using the example of a company that sells cars in 150 countries. To deliver always-on CX and convert your customers, your content will have to resonate 100% with hundreds of thousands of different clients who speak at least 150 different languages and have different cultural and social backgrounds.

In practice, this means the original ‘big idea’ must be adapted for each market, the ads must be translated in different languages, using a voice and tone, as well as a look and feel that will appeal to each market. At this point, we have not even touched on the functionality to track and monitor the performance of your campaign at each touchpoint yet, not to mention the ability to adapt it as and when necessary, for sustained performance.

Essentially, to move from marketing evolution to execution, you must consider whether your products or services add business value, whether it can be taken to market easily and cost-effectively, and whether your customers will love it. When you can respond positively to all that, you will need enough technology, people and scale of resources to take it to market.

ACCENTURE SOUTH AFRICA
accenture.com/za-en

Data Gives Relevance To Creative, While Creative Brings ‘Life’ And Personality To Data

By
Reporter
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Shaune Jordaan, CEO Hoorah Digital.

According to Shaune Jordaan, Hoorah Digital CEO, personalisation, measurement and similar digital capabilities are the savvy marketer’s best defence against the clutter and the noise, allowing for the prioritisation of the customer experience (CX). 

Brand and customer loyalty, once the currency in which great advertisers and marketers traded, is on the decline worldwide. Today, consumers have multiple options at their fingertips. So when the choices are overwhelming, what can brands and businesses do to ensure they stand out from the rest – in a way that drives measurable results? 

It’s a question that every marketer and advertiser worth the title in their email signature has grappled with, and one that is anecdotally answered with some version of ‘standout creative’. But as digital increasingly becomes the go-to investment channel for marketers, it’s critical to be able to put it to its best possible use. That means particularly incorporating the personalisation and measurement capabilities because they’re key in any integrated strategy that puts the customer first. 

Data gives professionals in the business a tool that takes the guesswork out of marketing and advertising, helping them create targeted campaigns that reflect a deep understanding of who the customer is, their location, as well as their needs and preferences. That ability to creatively engage customers in an authentic and relevant way significantly boosts potential return on investment for the brand, usurping the primarily useless (easy to ignore) marketing ‘fluff’.

Data has the potential to help marketers make magic. But to get to that point, it must first be transparently and effectively collected, analysed and interpreted in order to produce the kind of results that are relevant to the objectives of the brand, and the needs of the customer. Once that has been achieved, personalisation can be applied. This gives marketers the information they need to create much more personal and ‘human’ experiences across moments, channels and buying stages – effectively adding value by delivering a seamless, targeted customer experience.

Ultimately, data and creativity need to live side by side. Data gives relevance to creative, while creative brings ‘life’ and personality to data. And the sum of the two is growth: the data ensures that you are reaching the customer in the right way, in the right place, at the right time, while the creative delights and surprises in a winning combination to which the metrics will attest over time. 

So don’t think this means brands won’t matter, or that data will replace the need for creativity. The reality is that they’ll matter even more. The technology at our disposal allows us to now serve our customers in a more personal, more sophisticated way. By helping us get this right, the data enables us to engage our customers in a much more meaningful way, ultimately growing that much-coveted brand loyalty. 

HOORAH DIGITAL
www.hoorahdigital.com

Brand Relevance Beyond A Crisis

By
Reporter
-

According to Jennifer Perry, Senior Director, Cognitive Science and Audience Strategy at Acceleration, agile brands are building the human understanding it takes to create long-lasting experiences that will linger with consumers after the current crisis.

The Covid-19 pandemic means that most organisations are preoccupied simply with keeping the lights on and their doors open. But those that are looking beyond the current crisis will be able to emerge with greater brand equity. Tomorrow’s leaders are already laying the foundation for future success.

In a survey conducted by Wunderman Thompson, 92% of respondents said they admire companies that are taking action to alleviate the impact of the coronavirus. This points to the emotional link consumers make with brands. Given the fact that this pandemic affects all consumers in one way or another, it is an opportunity for brands to respond in a way that reflects empathy and understanding of their audience’s needs.

Like any relationship, engaging with consumers is a two-way street, which involves not only what businesses ‘want to say’ but also what consumers ‘want to hear’. Brands must always be prepared to engage in a personally relevant, contextual way, but this is especially true in our present situation.

This is not just about speaking to an individual’s functional requirements, but also their emotional needs. Businesses that wish to engage with consumers more meaningfully during this crisis and sustain brand equity beyond its end, need to humanise audiences through a clear understanding of their emotions and motivations. 

To engage with and nurture prospects, businesses need to shift their thinking away from ‘Who can we target right now?’ to ‘Who can we effectively influence?’ and ‘What do we have to offer that is personally relevant?’ This will enable brands to isolate their ‘most winnable’ consumers — those whose businesses have the best chance of influencing, in light of the audience’s functional and emotional needs.

They can begin with three questions about their current strategy:

1. Is there a gap in the brand’s audience strategy?

Without brand personas that connect to performance marketing, they will not be able to target ‘winnable’ audiences in a consistent and differentiated way that immediately appeals to the consumer. Since people are engaging digitally more than ever, brands have only a few seconds to reach consumers in the moment and capture their attention with a relevant message.

2. Is the brand missing relevancy?

Behavioural propensities offer table stakes data, which will isolate the consumers that a brand wants to target, but this won’t tell it how to engage meaningfully, with relevance and in a way that influences them in an optimal manner. The strategy has to address the distinct decision patterns related to the brand.

3. Is the brand lacking differentiation?

If businesses have a strategy based on syndicated data, they are no better than their competitors. With this approach, everyone accesses the same information and it is not customised according to the brand’s unique ‘winnable’ audience. Similarly, this impacts the brand’s ability to differentiate and become a relevant one that directly addresses consumers’ needs.

Having answered those three questions, a brand can consider four pillars for success in building out an empathetic and customer-centric audience strategy: 

Humanisation

Businesses need to deeply understand consumers’ decision-making by mapping out their motivations and emotional context. They need to identify how the market differs by segmenting audiences who ‘think alike’. Brands should analyse their current brand equity against each segment’s needs, to assess areas of strength to best influence, isolate moments of truth, and solve for barriers in the experience.

Differentiation

Businesses will need to address how they can differentiate among audiences with distinct motivations. They will need to develop tailored messaging strategies to influence key audiences by emphasising their relevancy through the ways in which their brand is ideally positioned to deliver on those unique needs.

Actionability

Brands should be able to identify winnable customers with distinct motivations and have a clear engagement plan across the journey, impacting messaging and targeting as a relevancy layer to demonstrate ’empathy’ or a ‘more human’ understanding of the audience. This cannot be achieved using functional data alone. It needs to be derived from consumer insight, on an emotional level, and it needs to be scalable. Brands need to connect their data, analytics, and research teams to bring this to life and connect to consumers’ motivations. 

Cohesiveness

The strategy should provide a guiding light, impacting all areas of the organisation. The brand experience — in other words, the way the brand shows up — should be cohesive and should consistently reflect the brand’s deep understanding of customers’ needs across all touchpoints and in every engagement. 

Gearing towards the future

Essentially, businesses that wish to engage with consumers more meaningfully during this crisis and sustain brand equity beyond its end, need to humanise audiences by developing a clear understanding of their emotions and motivations. These are the fundamentals of developing a clear, deep, and actionable audience strategy, and one that underpins an empathetic and highly relevant brand experience.

ACCELERATION
+27 11 267 0700
acceleration.biz
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