SCOPEN 2025/26: South Africa’s sixth wave study set for May

“The sixth wave of the AGENCY SCOPE study is on track in South Africa and Cesar Vacchiano, President and CEO of SCOPEN International, will be arriving in South Africa in February, ahead of fieldwork on the study beginning in May 2025.”

 This is the word from Johanna McDowell, SCOPEN partner and CEO of the Independent Agency Search & Selection Company (IAS), noting that the study is published every two years after in-depth meetings with the highest-level decision makers across marketing, communications and advertising, from the largest to the smallest spending marketers in South Africa.

 “In interviewing over 3000 CMOs around the world, we’re excited to see what 2025 brings’,” she says.  “A key objective next year will be to interview more marketing professionals from more companies.”

Ramping up AGENCY SCOPE’s evolution in SA

 

Another step in AGENCY SCOPE’s evolution will be interviewing new profiles of key decision makers within the participant companies, encompassing leaders in digital, technology and innovation. “These managers also hire and work with agencies and other partners,” says McDowell, “which will bring even greater depth to the value of data we collect.”

 The fieldwork will also identify and include other profiles of client companies, over and above the usual investors in communications. In this section, the study will note start-ups, the dot.com sector and digital platforms that are working with agencies more than ever before. “Numbers in this area may not be significant at this point,” she says, “but it’s certainly an area we need to be aware of to keep our finger on the pulse.”

 Lastly, among the additions to AGENCY SCOPE 2025/26, the study will amplify its sample of agency professionals interviewed, an important viewpoint to understand as they assist in determining which agencies are most attractive to work for.

 “Following on from the inclusion of the best agency to work for in the 2020/2021 study and the success that this data found in the market, we will be driving a broader study for 2025/26,” she asserts.

 McDowell adds that going into the 2025/26 study, this data will be richer and even more valuable.

 AGENCY SCOPE fieldwork calendar

Interviewers will hit the ground running in May 2025, with their tasks completed by the end of August. Analysis and processing will run through September and October, and reports will be presented from late October for a month.

 One-on-one meetings with the agencies will be held in February, when Vacchiano arrives in the country and spends a week talking to subscribers. “We’ll be gathering the commentary of agencies around what they feel is important to glean from the study.”

SAMPLES OBTAINED IN PAST EDITIONS

“Samples of the research from 2016 to 2023 show how this sector has grown from 191 respondents across marketing, creative and media professionals in 2016 to 528 in 2023,” says McDowell.  AGENCY SCOPE will be aiming for 700 completed interviews in 2025.

 “We see 2025 as the opportunity for marketers and their agencies to steady the industry and apply innovations from the recent past, while continuing to seek new ways of collaborating and growing their businesses, based on robust data,” concludes Vacchiano.

ADFORUM GLOBAL SUMMIT 2024 PARIS 28-31 OCTOBER - RECAP

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AdForum 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. IAS is proud to be representing SA and Africa at this summit.

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Intermediary expertise: Piecing a client’s puzzle together

When a client works with an intermediary, writes Johanna McDowell, CEO of IAS and SCOPEN Africa partner, it means they’re serious about their agency relationships. Here’s how an intermediary’s experience brings both art and science to the picture.

Primarily, although marketers may well know who the leading agencies are and which ones they’d like to meet, they don’t know all of them and are often relying on information given to them by other industry leaders or someone “who knows someone”.

Often, they’ll be reading up on agencies to note the awards they’ve won - we know this from Agency SCOPE, where research shows clients often note their long list of agencies from what they read in industry media. At this stage, they’re looking at reputations, thought leadership pieces that indicate media trust in certain individuals and companies.

When they choose an intermediary, however, it’s indicative of the real, long-term value they’re looking for in appointing an agency and the trust they have that their intermediary understands the inner workings of each agency and its leadership. It’s the inside info you’ll rarely see using Google.

Knowledge from the source

Any intermediary who’s been in the business for a while knows every agency, not just from what the agency will publish but from working with them, or at least with their leadership over the years.

Vital knowledge includes agency history and any major changes in their business that could affect a client’s operations. We know their people and their journey to earning the reputation they have, which is the first reason a marketer will call in an intermediary.

The second reason is due to the extensive process, to get to where we show them credentials from a number of agencies. Clients review the information, select a short list and then we’ll have a chemistry session, where potential colleagues get real and aren’t just words on a page.

At this point, the IAS is the only intermediary that includes the chemistry session as part of an early elimination process.

What encourages all parties to bring their best to the table is, of course, financial. With skin in the game, clients want the right agency to deliver on the creative and strategic results required to drive sales - the third reason to engage an intermediary.

The fourth is that when marketers choose agencies, they need to be absolutely scrupulously fair and be seen as such.  "They have to know there are no brown envelopes, corruption, or whispers. Honesty and transparency are key, and with compliance requirements, everything must be documented—another onerous task for a marketer to undertake while focusing on running a brand."

A professional process is run like an audit, with reminders around how each agency was selected for shortlisting in the first place. Time management is crucial, so a marketer and the agencies can see a beginning, a middle and an end. Marketers who take intermediaries seriously know that it’s the best route to take, as the intermediary has no vested interest in any particular agency, but does have a reputation to uphold.

Longevity in relationships

Involving an intermediary is also pivotal in creating long happy partnerships. In fact, experience shows relationships well designed from the outset last twice as long as the average industry tenure, saving time and money in the long run.

After all, the client’s core business is not managing agency appointments and the expert advice offered through the process by the intermediary is invaluable.

Management and onboarding

Managing the pitch process is a critical part of why a business would engage an intermediary. From setting up meetings and briefings, to working closely with the client in following the brief and handling all communications, marketers can expect clear, vital feedback throughout.

The intermediary will now have a map of how the agency will be onboarded, including contracts required to legitimise the deal. This is the fifth reason an intermediary is appointed, and has been noted as “invaluable” by many clients, who have seen the amount of research and reporting to be completed, and the precision required through onboarding communications.

When marketers say, “We couldn’t have done this without you”, intermediaries know they’ve done their job – not just putting the pieces of the puzzle in place, but being at the marketer’s side through a process where a missing piece can ambush success.

Intermediaries understand fitting puzzle pieces together is a science – but fitting human beings together is both science and art.

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ADFORUM GLOBAL SUMMIT 2024 PARIS 28-31 OCTOBER - OVERVIEW

AdForum 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. IAS is proud to be representing SA and Africa at this summit.

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IAS off to AdForum in Paris

The AdForum Summit, held twice a year  in selected cities across the globe, will include Johanna McDowell and the Independent Agency Search & Selection Company (IAS) as part of an exclusive, captive audience of search consultants.

The 2024 second half AdForum Summit will take place in Paris between 28 and 31 October 2024, providing the IAS with the opportunity to assess and forecast global communication industry trends; and, with up-to-date information constantly being exchanged, an exclusive forum to share ideas, challenges and opportunities.

The AdForum summit is an invitation only event that brings top players in the industry together, and offers them the chance to grow their business, network, and experience how they are shaping the future. The IAS is the only South African pitch consulting company that has been participating consistently in the summit over the past 17 years.

“The main reason we accept the invitation to attend is to ensure that the IAS continues to be at the forefront of global issues and trends facing the advertising and communication industry and the complex world of agency selection. AdForum offers us the chance to discuss the future of the marketing communications industry. This will be especially important this year with the rapid strategic shifts taking place within agencies as they grapple with the new needs of marketers, new ways an agency can partner with business, as they seek to break through the old, embrace change and bravely tackle the next frontier of challenges,” said Johanna McDowell, Founder and CEO of IAS and partner for SCOPEN Africa.

SCOPEN Africa will be represented by McDowell at the Summit along with other SCOPEN colleagues from around the world.

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#MasterclassNotes - Case studies and clients

These days, advertising case studies are far more sophisticated and elaborate, and include lots of data and results, as well as strategy, creative and so on. But where do the marketers, the clients, fit in?

When I first started reading case studies from agencies as part of their submissions for pitch processes, those case studies were essentially creative content. Indeed, 18 years ago (when I started my company), many agencies hadn’t really started to prepare full case studies for work that they were producing and mainly relied solely on creative showreels.

But what did clients have to do to make campaigns work or launch a new service? And how did they tackle the logistics inside their organisations to make it all happen on time and in time? It seems to me that agency case studies would have even more authenticity if we heard directly from clients what their roles had been in helping all the work to succeed.

Why?

For several reasons:

• It adds to the reality and authenticity of the case

• It means that the client concerned has seen the case study and approves of it

• For other brands or clients reading the case study, they have a much better idea of what’s possible with client input

• The “behind the scenes” aspect adds a real learning opportunity to the case for both agency teams and clients reading the content

Marketers relate to marketers

I often hear marketers commenting when reading case studies that they could never relate to a particular case or that it wouldn’t have been possible in their own organisations. Sometimes, this could be because of the nature of the brand or service that’s featured in that case. More often than not, it’s because there’s no explanation of what a particular marketer had to do in order to fulfil the needs of the particular case being viewed.

Some years ago, at one of the AdForum Worldwide Summits in New York, one of the Stagwell agencies presented a case study to us on razors and razor blades, and included the Procter & Gamble client in the session. It was a complex and very successful campaign for the brand, which is in a highly competitive category. P&G took us through all the logistics that had had to be put in place for this campaign to succeed. It shared the highs and lows, as well as where things went wrong but also went well.

That explanation has stayed with me for all these years and I really encourage marketers and their agencies to share more in this particular aspect — but without revealing too many secrets.

Even if those secrets can’t be included in a written case study or in a case study video, it might be worth considering exposing them on a one-to-one basis in a chemistry session. Marketers relate to marketers, and feel comfortable when they’re able to share experiences. Not only will this endorse the success of a case study — and therefore an agency’s work — but it will also endorse that agency/client relationship.

Budgets

Budgets within case studies are also important and this, again, is tricky from a confidentiality point of view. However, when reading case studies, I often hear clients commenting that they wouldn’t be able to afford to run such a campaign or create such a case as their budgets are small when compared to large brands.

Often, agencies can share budgets or budget parameters within those cases that might reflect a very different perspective than the obvious — and incorrect — assumption that a vast production budget was needed. Here, too, the client or brand concerned can talk about how the budget was allocated, and it would add to the authenticity and learning within that particular case study.

Paramount for shortlisting

With agency credentials and case studies being of paramount importance when marketers are shortlisting agencies, it makes sense to enrich these and make them stand out.

Making case studies more meaningful and relevant, so that they resonate with prospective new clients and brands, might require a great deal more effort from the agency concerned but, I’m convinced, will enhance the success rate in new business acquisition and possibly even in awards competitions, where case studies are the backbone of those entries.

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Judges of the IAS Agency Credentials Award announced

A panel of respected judges will review all Credentials Award entries, which will consist of the agency’s written credentials document as well as the agency culture.

The judging panel will be made up of four seasoned and renowned Marketers from leading companies in South Africa – already judging the Assegai Awards - along with international and local intermediaries in the marketer/agency space including:

Cesar Vacchiano is the president and CEO of Scopen International, responsible for the international expansion of the group. He has developed projects in many countries, and Scopen now has offices in Spain, Portugal, UK, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, China, India, Singapore and South Africa.

Scopen provides knowledge and identifies demands and future trends for marketers, agencies and media owners. The company’ researchers are focused on the communication, marketing and advertising changing environment. He is the only non-marketer member of the Directors Council in the Spanish Advertisers Association (AEA), Secretary of the Spanish Effectiveness Awards and member of the Jury in other Industry Awards and Festivals.

Johanna McDowell is CEO of the Independent Agency Search and Selection Company (IAS) and founded the IAS in 2006. Johanna has had a long career in advertising, marketing and communications since the early 70s having qualified with a Business and Marketing degree equivalent in the UK. Working both as a client and as an agency person, Johanna is well placed to advise clients and marketing services providers on both the commercial and relationship aspects of long-term contracts.

Nikki Munsie is business director of the IAS. Nikki has more than 25 years of experience in the marketing and advertising industry with the last 13 years being in a consulting role where she was involved in the development of business and brand strategies with a strong emphasis on cross functional action learning for clients.

Tebatso Masete project director for the Independent for the IAS. Tebatso has recently completed her post graduate diploma in business management through Unisa. Her key responsibilities at the IAS include the streamlining of processes, ongoing data management as well as the management of the IAS Client and Agency relationship programmes.

Entries close at the end of August so enter now and don’t miss out.

Marketers searching for the integration unicorn

On the one hand, clients want to keep control of things but on the other, with so many different agencies involved in the eco system, the conundrum is how to keep control of the mix while making sure the overall message is consistent across all platforms.

The variety of digital specialists required in terms of performance of content, creative content and social media channels mean the variables grow rapidly and how it can all be integrated is a challenge that keeps clients awake at night.

According to president and CEO of SCOPEN, César Vacchiano, in an ideal world, there would be a team of people ensuring the cohesiveness of the various players and that everything happens when it should.

“But the truth of the matter,” he says, “is that marketing departments are not as big as they used to be and are often under resourced. This puts greater reliance on the agency personnel to manage the integration.”

SCOPEN 2023-2024 figures show a small uptick in the number of key industry professionals who will only work with an integrated agency, but markets such as Portugal, Argentine, Chile and Brazil are joining others with a strong commitment to integration.

Wading through the options

With specialty agencies on the rise – including digital platforms, advertising agencies, media agencies, digital agencies, PR and more – Johanna McDowell, chief executive officer at Independent Agency Selection (IAS) and managing partner of SCOPEN Africa, suggests there is a pervasive anxiety among business leaders to determine what specialists they require.

“Often, there’s a curve ball with every new industry specialist that comes along,” she asserts, “pressuring clients to consider their value before there is any data to prove their worth,” she says.

For each specialty, McDowell notes, analysis is also required as well as campaign reporting. “Somewhere in the ‘specialisation gold rush’, it’s easy for the brand essence to get lost.”

Both Vacchiano and McDowell note from the SCOPEN research that this revolution needs an integrator to make everything work. “The opportunities for agencies to grow with marketers looking for integrators can be seen in the SCOPEN study,” says Vacchiano.

“Those who choose to work only with integrated agencies at the moment appear to be growing, especially in South Africa where the current number is extremely low, but plans for the future take the clients up to around 20.”

Here, McDowell adds that as things stand now – where marketers are working with an average of 15 agencies – it’s an untenable situation.

“In South Africa, the mantle of ‘integrator’ tends to fall to the creative agencies but they, too, are not necessarily the best entity for the job, being preoccupied with their core purpose,” she says.

“What is better and more obvious,” she continues, “would be for the media agencies to be the integrators. They know what the channels are, can see the bigger picture. However, what they would be unlikely to keep track of is whether all the messaging is correct and cohesive.”

Searching for a unicorn

Bottom line – clients are looking for a Unicorn; a person or group of people that will be responsible for making sure the brand’s messaging is cohesive, that things are done on time and that money isn’t wasted.

Vacchiano, like McDowell, believes that right now, there is a lot of “don’t know” across the industries, given the speed at which new platforms, Martech and marketing opportunities are cropping up.

Says McDowell: “Globally, clients are talking about risk a lot more than they used to. Is that because of the economy? Certainly everybody wants to ensure that whatever money they spend gets the maximum return, which is what is driving a lot of the move towards integration.”

Marketing teams have got to deliver; they’ve got to make sure they know how to deliver; and they’ve got to have the right teams in place to deliver. This is over and above their regular work, making them a knowledge-rich but time-poor group, and one that has to trust the agency personnel and their systems.

Even with the looming potential of AI, marketing is an intuitive business, according to McDowell. “It’s art and science, which no machine right now can replicate to the standard of what a human can do. We’re not there yet and until we are, marketers and their various agencies have an onerous task ahead in finding that integration Unicorn.”

Well-structured agency credentials continue to attract the attention of marketers

Agency credentials are so important, and we chose to focus attention on the IAS Credentials Award because we want agencies to understand just how valuable they are. We selected the Assegai Awards to host the IAS Credentials Award because they have a range of marketers on their judging panel. It was vital that agency credentials be judged by marketers and not by other agencies, as some awards are.

Marketers will tell us what works and what doesn’t work, which is of utmost importance as agencies entering the awards will get feedback on how they did and what their credentials highlight about them.

We’re in a tough economy and we are acutely aware that award entries cost money. While we are very respectful of the fact that agencies have limited budgets and realise how challenging it can be to decide which awards to enter, we’d ask them to consider their choices as the opportunity they’ll have to test their credentials and case studies among marketers could prove invaluable.

Opportunity to be seen

Our mission as the IAS is to put agency credentials in front of as many marketers as possible. It’s an opportunity to be seen and it’s a learning exercise for marketers, who get to understand more about what is happening with agencies by viewing their credentials and also what is changing among agencies in the marketing communications sphere.

Over the six years that the IAS has been supporting the Assegai Awards, our belief in what we are doing has grown. What we want is not just for agencies to be seen by marketers, but for those marketers to increase their knowledge about agencies and the marketing communications sector as a whole.

It is a sector that is changing on a daily basis; there’s never been a greater wave of change among agencies than there is now. It’s a phenomenal time, when you see the speed and the type of change shifting the industry at this rate of knots.

We want marketers to take note of these changes and the response to them by agencies, and learn about the new world agencies are working in. Only by agencies entering can marketers understand the sheer depth of change and what agencies are now capable of.

It goes without saying that if marketers see something they like, they will be able to make contact with an outstanding agency, and the latter’s reputation will grow.

Cracking the pitch long list

One of the things we know from the agency scope study is that when marketers are putting a long list of agencies together, reputation is one of the key factors in who they place on the list. The greater the agency’s stature, the more likely they are to be put on a pitch-long list and get a chance at making the shortlist.

Obviously there are other criteria that gets an agency onto the short list, but the long list certainly views reputation as vital.

Years ago there were publications that printed the list of rankings of agencies, but those no longer exist. So, how do clients know which agencies to look at? Today, they review the awards tables and note the profiles of the agencies which are doing their own marketing well and the attraction begins there.

I always emphasise that it’s not so much the awards an agency may win as the way in which the agency works that gets marketers excited.

Although it has no direct bearing on the IAS Credentials Awards, another reason we’re happy to work with the Assegai Awards is that they have grown their international footprint through their new association with the Echo Awards - highly rated by the creative industry all over the world - which has added to the stature of the Assegai Awards.

We look forward, as always, to the agencies that catch the attention of the marketers on the judging panel – and how far they go from there.

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#MasterclassNotes - AdForum highlights

Here are four key highlights from the AdForum Worldwide Summit in New York City, 13–17 May 2024, in which we pitch consultants met with 15 network agencies and 10 independents.

#1. Adolescent content

Adolescent is a female- and black-founded agency which positions itself as a global creative consultancy and content studio for Generation Z. It helps brands more effectively reach youth audiences by using its global network of diverse youth creatives and creators. The founders started it because they wanted to be authentic and to break rules, and they intend to keep to that promise.

This was a fascinating session: the agency had set up as a panel discussion with its founders and four of its youth creatives who were all Gen Z. Various questions tabled included:

• Regarding content creation and influencers, how does Gen Z see them?

• Although influencers started off more organically, there’s now too much product placement

• There are now too many influencers pushing product too obviously; it’s no longer realistic

• The original model is now outdated

• How does Gen Z find out information about products if not via influencers?

• Via TikTok, which is viewed as a search engine

• MetaAI is also viewed a search engine

• Regarding brands/department stores, do the brand’s ethics influence their buying decisions?

• Most people will buy what they can afford, regardless of ethics

• Every week there seems to be a controversy with brands; brands will focus on their bottom lines

• If brands are ethical, that’s great but it’s not a deal breaker

• A brand will be supported if it goes out of its way to support a community or niche market

• How does Gen Z shop, instore or online?

• Buying clothes must be in store

• Sizing and fabrics are important to test and feel

• Popup shops really help with the online support experience

• How does Gen Z see the US elections this year? How do they feel?

• They want to be informed

• They’ll find out on TikTok

• They’ll probably not vote so much (it’ll be interesting to see)

• Brands shouldn’t get involved in politics

• They trust their local community leaders

#2. Virtue

This was another strong session as Virtue shared the truth about what’d happened to it in the past couple of years since parent company Vice went into chapter 11 bankruptcy. Pandemic and other issues also played havoc during this period.

Agency leader Chris Garbutt — yes, he’s a South African whose dream is to open Virtue in South Africa — talked about how it as an agency had to “bet on the future”. His team stayed in place with him, some others who’d left previously returned, and 80% of its clients also remained.

The agency’s view on culture:

• Brands need the courage to let culture lead

• When brands get it wrong, they’re left outside of culture and become irrelevant

• When brands get it right, they thrive

Virtue positions itself as being born on the inside of culture — cultural change makers. Its global head of strategy talked about its “cultural operating system”, which is a four-stage process.

We consultants were taken through a deeper look at the five trends and culture drivers today:

• The big pink rethink: Girls have redefined their roles and masculinity is also evolving

• Day capsules: Living in the moment/simple living/living in little moments

• Embracing chaos: Free-form living/“a lawless era”/amoral misfits

• Passion advocates: What once was niche is now mainstream; a “fandomonium” is upon us eg Taylor Swift

• The FriAInships: Friends via artificial intelligence (AI) with AI

#3. The Brandtech Group

With the theme of AI front and centre, David Jones, The Brandtech Group global CEO and founder, started us off with an excellent session focusing on how AI’s already changing things in advertising, as well as on a global scale across all types of industries. Here is why he believes that AI will change the world:

• The tech companies are saying it

• Company leaders are saying it

• People are saying it

• It’s a horizontal, not a vertical; it can apply across everything — it’s not a platform

• Its quality is already amazing and its imagery, for example, has dramatically improved and very quickly

We were shown examples of how things have improved and what’s happening:

• A creator economy revolution is under way; this won’t reduce the number of people in our industry but will improve the quality of their outputs

• But how do you exceed expectations when everyone can create their own ads? It’s not about what can be created but how it’s created.

Brandtech has developed its own tools to enable its various processes to be even better with AI. It’s commercialising this mainly through its in-housing content — where Oliver and Jellyfish agencies are active — and this is where growth is expected. Better, faster cheaper but what humans need to become really good at is prompting as this is what makes the difference when using AI.

#4. Media Monks

Media Monks is the purely digital agency brand of S4Capital that consists of 8 600 digital natives across one global team. It combines media, data, social platforms, studio, experience brand and technology services to help its clients continuously reinvent themselves through increasingly rapid cycles of disruption.

Eight out of 10 of the world’s most innovative companies work with Media Monks, which focuses on brand performance and AI business transformation. The agency was the inaugural Adweek AI Agency of the Year in November 2023.

Media Monks believes that AI can outproduce us, claiming AI currently can beat any work done by a manual media planner, as well as that AI can out-create us — “software will digest the world” — and, therefore, the question of ethics is an important one.

Naturally, the agency has developed its own tech, Monks.flow, an AI-centric professionally managed service for marketers. Its uses are as follows:

• Brand integrity

• Global consistency

• Collapsing the cost of creativity

• Effectiveness and conversion

• Media buying and planning, which will become more direct and have less need for digital media agency buyers; AI will handle most of this via algorithms

• More pipeline

• Fewer people

• More insights, much quicker and leading to a faster strategy

• Output- and outcomes-based commercial approach

Media Monks shared its growth figures and did some forecasting for the industry: in year three, it grew by 46%; in year four, by 23%; and, in year five, by 2%. For the current year, the growth is flat and will be tempered by tech costs continuously decreasing. What does this mean for the industry? There will be more consolidation; the number of staff will continue to decline; and holding company staff numbers will decline, too.

In terms of AI and ethics, Media Monks believes that ethics will become more and more important, far more so than legal issues.

Overall trends

In conclusion, here are my overall trends from this latest AdForum Worldwide Summit:

• Social media is now more powerful than paid digital media

• A creator economy revolution is under way; this won’t reduce the number of people in our industry but should improve the quality of their outputs

• Culture drivers are becoming more and more important for brands to remain relevant

• Influencers are more important than ever, the original model is now outdated and authenticity is key, and

• TikTok is being used more and more as a search engine.

THE IAS AGENCY CREDENTIALS AWARD 2024: Marketers look past awards to get to the grit

Everybody loves an award – and winning agencies almost always get a second look. However, writes Johanna McDowell, CEO of the Independent Agency Search and Selection Company (IAS), what they’re really looking for is grit - credentials that outshine trophies.

Every agency strives for creativity, that ‘special sauce’ that sets them apart from their peers. But with today’s budget constraints and a digital explosion that can edge a brand from good to great with just one campaign, marketers want grit: and this is seen in Credentials that show the backbone of an agency.

Having the confidence to reveal credentials in a pitch shows a marketer that the agency understands the client’s business requirements and the importance of ROI. Highlighting history and their current client list notes the agency’s standing in the industry, especially when backed up by press coverage and case studies. What any marketer sees here is value for money.

Add to this agency culture, BBBEE standing and procurement recommendations, and the client gets the full picture and not just the frame.

As we head towards the 2024 Assegai Awards, incorporating the IAS Agency Credentials Award, the importance of overall expertise is under the spotlight. Those who have followed the IAS Credentials Award journey will know that the panel of judges comprises mainly marketers to ensure fairness and not having an agency judging a peer.

Judges include overseas experts in marketing, along with several renowned local marketers. Ensure that your entry meets the specifications and provides the opportunity to shine. The submission format encourages agencies to present their best sizzle to a calibre of marketing experts they ordinarily may never meet.

With entries open now, the Assegai Awards along with the IAS Credentials Award 2024 close on 31 August - so get your creds out, give them some polish and make sure your entry gets noticed – for grit, not just shine.

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Global network agencies: To merge or not to merge?

The last two years has seen a fairly rapid consolidation of network agencies, some of which began during Covid and has continued apace, writes Johanna McDowell. In reviewing the current landscape the big question is, why the ongoing merging?

Considered the world's biggest advertising agency group, WPP focuses on communications, experience, commerce and technology and its consolidation has been the most dramatic we’ve seen.

In November 2018, WPP announced that Wunderman and J.Walter Thompson would unite to form Wunderman Thompson, an end-to-end creative, data and technology agency. Then, in 2023, WPP united Wunderman Thompson and VMLY&R to create what it called a “global powerhouse” in VML.

We’ve seen similar trends with the Omnicom 2023 acquisition of digital commerce high-flyer Flywheel joining the stable that comprises BBDO Worldwide, OMD, PHD, Ketchum, FleishmanHillard, Tribal Worldwide, DDB, Porter Novelli, among others.

Tech businesses the next big thing?

In South Africa and globally, it now appears that the only types of businesses these large networks are buying are those in the technology space. By this, I mean actual tech companies and not tech agencies.

The reasoning behind this is to make the number of cogs in these large businesses work together as a smooth-running machine. Expense here is key – the cost of running so many separate agencies over the years has made clear the need for seamless and less expensive control.

AGENCY SCOPE 2023/24 showed that the percentage of clients not concerned by competitive conflict in their sector within an agency has grown from 21,3% in 2019 to 40% now. This trend has supported the consolidation of network agencies making it easier for consolidated agencies to take on competitive brands.

Impact on independents

What has all this meant to independents? In South Africa, we’ve seen some doing very well over the last few years and others still finding their feet. Some have been break-away start-ups by disaffected people who might have been part of a network and decided to go solo to provide innovative ways of working in the advertising industry.

There are currently some really successful independents globally, but again, they’re being bought. An interesting example, though, is marketing agency Uncommon, which sold 51% to Havas, on condition they could continue to run as they saw best for their business

A number of flourishing independent agencies dot the globe right now, mainly because they’re in touch with their local market which is what clients want; they’re entrepreneurially driven which means clients see – and take note – that the agency owner is in the room during pitches.

Price-wise, it is clear that these firms do not have to repatriate their profits to global HQ, which again makes a difference to how they are viewed by clients.

What about media agencies?

The dominant media agency players in South Africa are all holding company global networks. Some are completely owned by global networks, some are just partially owned.

However, the top ten tend to be the network players, and for good reason: The guarantees that the media owners require from agencies to place advertising, which makes flourishing as an independent agency difficult.

Taking on the big clients becomes a minefield of guarantees and costs, which means independents do the strategy and planning, but tend to buy through the network agencies.

Overall, it seems to me to be natural for advertising people to want to start and run their own business. It’s who they are – but it’s not easy. Good business advice and cash management are vital to flourishing without the constraints of a network holding company that may tie their hands too often for creatives.

Independent agency networks

Blossoming in another corner of the patch is independent agencies that own themselves,  as shareholders in their own network. Beyond Connect and Worldwide Partners are examples of these group structures where individually owned specialist agencies come together as a group to offer multi-disciplinary solutions to client’s bespoke challenges.  Each agency is run according to its founding culture, unaffected by any group demands and as such individual agencies are owners, in charge of their own destiny.

At a glance, the change in trends across this sector is noticeable. Where WPP once had over 30 buildings in London, it now has three campuses. The global behemoths have had to slim down and become agile, meaning less cost and speedier communications.

Technology has been an enormous help in driving a slimmer and more seamless operation, enabling global entities to work together as if they were in the same office. And when a global agency network is the real network, clients feel the benefits.

In conclusion, there is no good or bad side – there is only what works best for a network’s clients or an independent’s clients. Where the pursuit of excellence includes cost reduction, agility and knowledge of local markets, brands win, clients are happy and small operators thrive as well as their large counterparts.

Digital spend, digital return – and digital snake oil salesmen

Agency Scope digital spend figures throw up some interesting local and global trends, while experts warn against digital snake oil stats.

According to César Vacchiano, president and CEO at Scopen, the number of agency partners clients are currently working with in South Africa has increased yet again.

“In 2021, the number averaged 12.7 agencies working to carry out marketing, communication and advertising projects,” he says. “In 2023, the figure reached 15.2, with the three agents that collaborate most with advertisers being digital platforms at 5.3, BTL agencies at 3.0 and advertising agencies at 1.9.”

As anticipated, Vacchiano highlights digital further growth in the digital paid media arena, from 33.1% to 37.4%. CEO of the Independent Agency Search & Selection Company (IAS) and SCOPEN partner, Johanna McDowell says what is important to note is that while investment in digital paid media has increased, it’s done so at a far slower rate than previous years.

“Total digital spend has, in fact, decreased,” she says, noting the drop from 37.3% in 2021 to 34.9% in 2023. “While the difference isn’t vast, it is important to note where the most budget is being spent and digital paid media is the front runner.”

How South Africa is stacking up

In reviewing AGENCY SCOPE’s findings on markets with the highest digital budgets in 2023, China and Brazil head the pack with 50.1% and 49.9% respectively, while South Africa’s spend of 34.9% falls below the lower order countries Colombia (37.5%) and Portugal (35.7%).“Globally, digital spend has decreased by around 2%, but trends show these figures are more than likely to increase again,” Vacchiano asserts.

McDowell suggests the trend to watch is how digital budgets are being spent. “Social Media continues to claim a large share of digital spend.  Where South Africa lags in spend is mainly in the e-commerce sector, where growth has been lower than other countries. I don’t think it’s a concern, it’s just the state of play right now. Expect to see growth in e-commerce in the future.”

Overall, McDowell notes, digital paid media coffers are showing improvement and this will likely continue, but at a slower rate than previous years. “What’s really interesting from our stats is how fragmented everything is becoming,” she says. “The challenge facing marketers is knowing where to spend their money and how best to deploy declining budgets.

“We noted recently the decline in marketing budgets in relation to turnover. Word from the marketers themselves is that they are putting more money into digital as they believe it’s the cheaper route to go. We’re not convinced this is the best thing to be doing. While digi-spend may bring some great analytics, is it working for brand-building?”

Snake oil: Analytics instead of research

What the IAS is suggesting to clients is to rely more heavily on their media agencies, which are able to aggregate all the data and look at the stats, and relate what consumer data shows the best path for the brand to be taking, whether it be traditional or digital.

“Marketers must guard against ‘snake oil salesmen’ who offer the newest gadget or software that promises to be the Next Big Thing in analytics. Thinking more data – or a different way of delivering it – will be what solves their issues may prove very costly.”

Vacchiano and McDowell agree that knowing exactly how effective these spends are and how this budget is being spent is extremely difficult.

“Some new digital audits may be a better way to spend budget right now,” says Vacchiano, “to ensure your money is going to the right places and that the correct measurement tools are being used to optimise your spend”.

IAS Agency Credentials Award 2024: Guidance for a shot at the prize

It’s that time of year again, when agencies get an opportunity to shine up their credentials and polish their presentation to marketers waiting to be impressed. But, says Johanna McDowell, Independent Agency Search and Selection Company (IAS) CEO and Scopen partner, make sure there’s more substance than shine...

The DMASA Assegai Awards’ call for entries is a good time to remind agencies that the prestigious annual event introduced the IAS Agency Credentials Award as a new award category in collaboration with the Assegai Integrated Marketing Awards in 2016. It was a first in South Africa and remains the only award in the country that recognises the significance of agency credentials.

The aim of the award is to acknowledge an agency's credentials and its ability to wow marketers. So, what are credentials supposed to do? Essentially, they inform marketers how agencies market themselves, so positioning that comes across as distinctive and case studies that stand out garner attention.

What marketers always want to know is the history and general information about the agency; its client list and standing in the industry, backed up by press coverage and case studies; its points of differentiation; and its proven value for money. Company culture, BBBEE standing and procurement recommendations are also crucial to a client determining the value an agency provides.

Who judges the agency?

In creating this award, we enable agencies to highlight their best suite of services, show up and be seen. The secret sauce, though, is who the judges are. What we don’t want is one agency judging others – aside from any possible bias, there’s no better group to adjudicate than the very group that choose agencies from pitches: Marketers.

To find an award platform that fits the bill, we reviewed all the industry awards and their judges. The best fit for the IAS Credentials Award was the Assegai Awards.

As a judge myself, it was clear that half or more of all judges were marketers - which made sense for two reasons: firstly, marketers reviewing agency credentials would give precise, valuable feedback and acknowledgment about what works for them.

Secondly, agencies would have the opportunity to showcase their credentials to a group of top marketers they may otherwise never have access to.

The latter has been lauded by previous agencies as being an extremely valuable opportunity to put their names and talent on show.

A virtual judging session including the IAS and the marketers who will be adjudicating the IAS Credentials Award will ensure that all are aligned for the selection of the credentials most deserving of the award.

It’s a real-time opportunity to see the points of which all judges are aligned, with a deep-dive discussion to determine a winner and not a mere allocation of points. This format also provides participants to engender maximum impact on today’s marketers.

Entries are open now and will close at the end of August.

As always, we look forward to these esteemed industry awards. You may not walk away with a trophy, but we’re confident your next pitch will certainly be a winner.

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