The Nedbank IMC has always been committed to driving the business case for marketing. This year’s ‘Marketing is Business®’ theme is dedicated to unpacking, showcasing and sharing how integral marketing is to the bottom line. Someone who understands just how valuable an effective marketing campaign can be, is Dean Oelschig, founder and managing partner of independent agency Halo. Halo not only took the coveted Grand Effie award at the Effies SA 2024 for most effective campaign but the agency also won the Financial Mail’s AdFocus Small Agency of the Year, and the overall Agency of the Year.

Effective campaigns are more than just creatively on-mark, they need to deliver real measurable results – as Halo did for Pineapple Insurance – showing a triple-digit growth for a new brand in a notoriously hard-sell industry. The Nedbank IMC caught up with Oelschig and chatted to him about the conference theme and what makes for effective marketing.

Halo won the 2024 Grand Effie (helping Pineapple Insurance reach triple-digit growth). What were your key take-outs from the campaign that contributed to this business growth?

I believe simplicity (which is almost never ‘simple’) is key to creative effectiveness and business growth. Brands win when they’re easy to remember and easy to buy, a concept coined by the Ehrenberg Bass Institute as ‘mental and physical availability’. I think the Pineapple campaign achieved this with consumers and reaped the rewards by standing out in a sea of sameness, showing that the right distinctiveness can give brands a huge competitive advantage.

We also believe that brands that have fun and don’t take themselves too seriously tend to get better audience engagement. Great advertising should never feel like an ad. Pineapple spoke about insurance to their audience in the same way the audience would speak about insurance, and that resonated.

Why does marketing deserve a seat at the boardroom table?

Marketing is not just about Promotion; it is still very much about the other 3 Ps, too: product, price and placement. If a company doesn’t have the right product at the right price for the right people, promotion is pointless. That should be a priority in every boardroom on earth. Great businesses like Apple or Amazon perfect the first 3 P’s long before they begin to promote them. A brand that is the effective culmination of all 4 elements is a standout brand.

How do you set goals for the brands you work on?

Although research and brand health checks have greatly improved, they’re still not perfect. Ideally, we would have strong and consistent brand health benchmarks to see if we are moving the needle in the right direction. At Halo we set clear, ambitious objectives upfront, like focusing on share of market or sales and aim to unrealistically improve on these indicators.

What is the biggest challenge facing agencies today?

We have seen South Africa’s creative products suffer and we are no longer punching above our weight globally like we have famously done in the past. For me, South Africa’s advertising industry faces a talent crisis, with senior, super-experienced talent emigrating to far-off shores and leaving a void in nurturing junior talent.

This lack of senior leadership has also led to a breakdown of trust between the boardroom and agencies, making it harder to get the buy-in for breakthrough creative work. I think it’s critical to promote dialogue between agencies, clients and the C-suite executives and regain the trust in the overall marketing product.

It doesn’t always happen but too often a wide spectrum of an organisation gets to have their say on brand, advertising, and marketing activities. The CFO doesn’t ask the marketing department for a view on their budget. So it’s somewhat strange and unproductive to allow multiple decision-makers on an ad campaign. Agencies are largely to blame for this (for reasons like the above lack of senior leadership) and they must re-establish themselves as trusted specialists, providing confident advice and direction. This will streamline decision-making, and ultimately, the work will be better for it.

What’s the best way to encourage business to understand the value of marketing?

The effectiveness of marketing is indisputable, and the lessons are there for everyone to learn. With resources like the IPA/WARC and experts such as Les Binet, Peter Field, and Adam Morgan publishing a variety of studies and data supporting this golden age of marketing effectiveness. One of my favourite examples is Field and Morgan’s ongoing UK study showing that dull marketing campaigns need £10m-£17m more in media investment to match the performance of creatively sound campaigns1. We are really beginning to see the real hard cost of not doing it properly.

What’s your secret to success?

Consistently do the right things over and over, no matter how hard they get. Success is never a single deed but rather the culmination of thousands of small, consistent, deliberate acts.

Catch more of Oelschig’s business insights at this year’s Nedbank IMC on the 18th September where he will be a distinguished first-time speaker at Africa’s biggest marketing conference. Modern Marketing is a proud media partner of the event.

Attend in-person or online. Venue: Mosaiek Teatro. 1 Danielle Street, Fairland, 2030. In-person tickets are priced at R3000 (excl. VAT). First 400 seats. Limited seats available. Virtual tickets are priced at R950 (excl. VAT). Book now.

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