On 23 October 2019, Modern Marketing attended a Smart Targeting Seminar hosted by Spark Media at the Bryanston Country Club, where Dr Carl Driesener – Senior Marketing Scientist from The Ehrenberg-Bass Institute – showcased that research achieves better results with targeting.

Driesener elaborated on components that contribute to brand growth:

– Building mental availability: making the brand easy to think of.
– Building physical availability: making the brand easy to find and buy.
– Distinctive assets: having recognisable and consistent branding.

Five steps for smarter targeting

1. Think inclusion, rather than exclusion: keep as many in as possible (do not exclude anyone in your targeting).
2. Make your target market descriptions evidence-based: know all your customers (target buyers from any and everywhere that your brand can be found).
3. Avoid the heavy buyer trap: story chasing history (you cannot get people who are already buying to buy more, get the light buyers).
4. Buy media on numbers rather than indices: focus on reaching more of your broad target market (rather hit 2 buyers once than hitting 1 buyer twice).
5. Do not sacrifice reach for engagement: reach more, target less, as it is difficult to recover from not reaching people.

Misconceptions about targeting:

– There’s no need to target heavy brand buyers: don’t ignore them but don’t solely focus on them because it is hard to get ‘heavies’ to buy more than they already do.
– Don’t make the decision for your customers – advertise to everyone, even the ones that the brand isn’t ‘suitable’ for.
– Check stereotypes: do not base your marketing on a certain gender, race or sexual preference.
– Think about all customers, including category buyers (likely to buy) not just existing buyers.
– It is the many ‘light’ buyers that most need reminders.

SPARK MEDIA
+27104928391
info@sparkmedia.co.za
www.sparkmedia.co.za

Ogilvy SA has appointed Neo Makhele as chief strategy officer and Mathieu Plassard as chief growth officer.

Makhele’s mandate will be to fuel the agency’s modern marketing orientation. She has been at Ogilvy SA since 2004, and most recently was Ogilvy SA group strategy director for almost six years. She is currently completing her MBA at the Berlin School of Arts.

Plassard will help build Ogilvy SA’s business strategy and future offerings, leveraging the strengths of Ogilvy, the Social.Lab, Collective ID, Superunion and Geometry. Most recently in his 20 years of experience in agency management and brand stewardship, he was CEO of Ogilvy.

Alistair Mokoena, Ogilvy SA CEO said, ‘Makhele and Plassard are two experienced individuals who are both passionate about their crafts. We are certain of their ability to anticipate client needs and evolve our capabilities to drive effectiveness and deliver great business results. We wish them all the best in their new roles.’

OGILVY 
+27117096600 
joburg@ogilvy.co.za
www.ogilvy.co.za

Partnering with commercial director, Mpho Twala from Rudeboy Collective, Riverbed Agency produced a TVC that spoke to the convenience of frozen vegetable and frozen potato brand Harvestime within a very familiar South African context of a young wife trying to impress her husband’s relatives.

While the word Makoti describes a young married woman or a new wife, it is also a word abundant in culture and expectation. Traditionally, Makoti plays a vital role in the home, having to take care of the dishes, washing and cooking, as well as her new family. ‘Harvestime recognises that in modern society, Makoti still wants to impress her new family with their favourite dishes, but as time is usually tight, we have gone the extra mile to do some of the work for her, so that she can spend more time adding her magic touch,’ said Jabulile Gwala from Harvestime.

Targeting young, emerging couples and mothers across LSM 4–7, the latest Harvestime TVC promotes Harvestime’s value without compromising on quality. These home cooks are driven to express love and care for their family and a desire to feel appreciated and admired for making a delicious meal or side dish.

Bridget Johnson, the agency’s ECD, said, ‘Everyone can relate to the stress and anxiety of meeting the in-laws for the first time. While it is a universal situation, our creative had to embody the cultural and typical South African nuances that we knew our audience would resonate with. Twala is a seasoned storyteller with a knack of landing authentic characters and humour that connects. As such, the casting was crucial. We wanted the audience to see their own family members in this story, and associate it with their own experiences.’

‘It is always such a privilege to create work that entertains and stirs up emotion – connecting in a meaningful way. Working with Mpumi Ngwenya, the creative lead on this brief, our creative team is proud to have crafted a little moment of connection on behalf of our client. It’s what keeps our jobs real,’ added Johnson.

RIVERBED AGENCY 
+27860994164
hello@theriverbedagency.co.za
www.theriverbedagency.co.za

According to Judith Middleton, CEO of DUO Marketing and Communications, digital platforms are so accessible, so many may consider digital marketing a quick and easy win, but this can be a costly mistake.

When we consult with clients, they quickly realise the extent of the behind-the-scenes work that needs to happen before we can even consider launching a campaign. We also understand the time it takes to get their digital assets campaign-ready. Once the legwork is done, the campaign can run its course, and what is left are monitoring, adjustment and reporting.

However, the key is getting the fundamentals right. Several of our clients assist customers on their cloud journey, and they will be quick to warn that the planning usually takes longer than the actual migration. This analogy also applies to business-to-business (B2B) digital marketing. Getting the fundamentals right can make or break a campaign.

Thanks to platforms such as LinkedIn, a company’s website, and its own social media channels, more and more B2B technology companies are turning to digital marketing to promote their services and solutions to potential customers.

However, the fundamentals are extremely important, but what do they entail? The first step is to conduct an audit of all your digital assets, most importantly your website. Your website is your online shopfront where you affirm with future customers who you are, what you do and why they need you. Your social media channels are next as well as your other owned, earned and paid channels.

A website audit looks at aspects such as your content, tags and meta descriptions, forms, goals and analytics. In our experience, businesses often want to launch a campaign but are unaware that their website may have very little to no information on that specific service or product. This happens when a business extends its services, establishes a new business unit or division, or acquires a new competency. At the very least its website will initially have a page dedicated to this new service, but the depth of information and spill over to its blog and other owned channels are often lacking.

Here is where putting yourself in your future customer’s shoes is a crucial exercise to ensure you tick all the boxes. Ask yourself – if I am a future customer will I A) Understand what this company is about? In other words, is your business’s value proposition clear? B) Will I find more information about the service or solution being marketed on its website? What about other channels such as its blog, social media channels and articles in the media or third-party endorsements? C) Will I be able to find out more information, enquire about their service, obtain a quote or book a demo with a click of a button?

Now for the behind-the-scenes fundamentals. Digital marketing allows for rich analytics, but for a business to reap the benefits of these insights, it must ensure that the analytics and goals are set up correctly and tested. It can be an eye-opener to look underneath the bonnet, so to speak, when it comes to the backend of websites. In our experience, goals are often left forgotten, the analytics need to be updated and forms do not pull through. We interrogate everything under the bonnet, we prod, and we adjust until we’re satisfied that the engine works optimally.

These are some of the crucial fundamentals we look at during the planning stages of a digital marketing campaign. Of course, there are other aspects to consider too. It is during the planning stages that a trusted partner who understands the B2B technology landscape, as well as digital marketing, can ensure that the fundamentals are in place. Such a partner will also make sure that the campaign is well-planned, optimally executed and thoroughly monitored and adjusted so that it delivers the agreed ROI. 

DUO MARKETING  
+27101403720
contact@duomarketing.co.za
duomarketing.co.za

The Marketing Association of South Africa (MASA) detailed its important contributions to the marketing profession and industry and also announced a leadership change at its 13th Annual General Meeting. 

Current CEO, Greg Garden who has contributed significantly to MASA and its achievements, announced that at the end of his three-year term he would be handing over the baton. Garden assured MASA of his unwavering and ongoing commitment to the association and his full support to achieve a smooth change of executive leadership.

He will give increased focus to leading the Marketing Research Foundation (MRF) and the MAPS project, whilst continuing to work closely with MASA into the future in full support of its purpose and goals.

The meeting included the completely overhauled Professional Marketing Designations South Africa programme, the introduction of the MAPS Products and Brands research initiative to replace AMPS, and helping to safeguard marketing self-regulation through the establishment of the new Advertising Regulatory Board (ARB). 

To ensure continuity and business as usual, MASA announced that its current Chairman, Sechaba Motsieloa, had accepted its request to serve at an Executive level as Interim CEO to bridge any gap until the appointment of a long-term CEO. The recruitment process for a new permanent CEO will commence immediately under the guidance of Motsieloa. 

‘MASA has grown in strength over the past three years,’ said Garden. ‘We have a heavy-hitter Board of top marketers made up of highly recognised individual members and corporate CMO’s – the strongest in our history. As a Professional Body and Association, we have made several significant strides in terms of key deliverables to our members and the broader marketing industry.’

Amongst others these include:

– The repositioning of MASA as the only SAQA-recognised and approved Marketing Industry Professional Body, with Marketing Designations registered at the Strategic, Operational, and Tactical levels. MASA has established itself, based on strong governance structures, processes, and content, as one of the most credible non-statutory Professional Bodies within the South African business landscape.

– MAPS, the new marketers Brands and Products Survey has been developed by the Marketing Research Foundation (MRF) with strong direction and guidance from MASA. Subscriber funding has been raised to enable MAPS to launch at the start of 2020.  Moreover, MASA has established very positive co-operation with the Broadcast Research Council (BRC) and the Publishing and Outdoor media bodies to work towards the delivery of joint collaborative research in the interests of better, aligned and integrated data for all marketing and media stakeholders.

– MASA was foundational in protecting the critical principle of self-regulation in advertising and communication for the marketing industry. With the regrettable demise of the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), MASA worked closely with the Association of Communications Agencies (ACA), the IAB, and other key role players to rapidly establish the new ARB, which has ensured the continuity of marketers’ self-regulation.

– MASA continues to work on the development of a more sustainable industry funding model to support self-regulation, media, products and brands marketing research, and other critical and future-proofing industry initiatives.

‘MASA exists to elevate the professionalism of marketing and represent and protect the business interests of marketers. It has a strong and clear strategy with well-defined goals and priorities for 2020 and beyond. It is well placed to increase its impact and enhance its contribution to the marketing profession, and I call on marketers at both individual and corporate levels to become members and give MASA greater support,’ said Motsieloa.

MASA 
+27114636136 
lize@marketingsa.co.za
marketingsa.co.za

Digital marketing agency Version Eight media has relocated to new premises at the Atrium on 5th – Spaces, office 9041 in Sandton. Their new contact number is (+27 11) 282 0873.

VERSION EIGHT 
(+27 11) 282 0873 
info@v8media.co.za
v8media.co.za