Delegates from both agencies and marketing organisations were in attendance at a highly engaging masterclass session last week Wednesday, 9 February 2022, with a panel consisting of Claudia Walters, Mazda head of marketing and communications; Suhayl Limbada, KFC Thailand CMO (but until recently KFC South Africa CMO); and Justine Cullinan, Nando’s GM marketing — brand strategy and communications.
Key learnings
In the early months of the pandemic, during hard lockdown and with no sign of any vaccines at that stage, all three marketers had to focus on the following particular areas:
Acceleration in ecommerce
Efficiencies in logistics and delivery, supply chain management
Greater agility
Depending on the sector, there were immediate budget cuts — one of the marketers commented that even the budget for 2022 is less than the budget of two years ago.
In the food sector, marketers experienced a coming together of the industry bodies eg the restaurant association, supplier associations and so on, so much greater levels of collaboration as a result.
First few months
In those first months of the pandemic, the marketers certainly became even more operationally involved than previously but their important role was to be able to share insights on how consumers were experiencing the pandemic and how these experiences were affecting their respective brands.
When it came to relationships with their agencies in the early days of the pandemic, discussions revolved around ideas on how to communicate in this new environment and with all of the restrictions. In some cases, there were so many great ideas that the marketers found additional budget to support these.
Online shoots
The cost and time benefits of shooting online, instead of on set and with a great many people, was a key learning and certainly one to take forward, maybe not for every commercial but certainly for some. One commercial was turned around from start to finish in 24 hours — not the greatest fun but it was worth it for the result.
Existing scopes of work were scrapped; it was all about starting again!
One of the marketers put in place a 100-day plan for ways of working with all suppliers. Retainer discussions had to take place, in some instances, and with the inevitable cuts, if required.
The agencies had to become part of the client teams on an even more intensive basis, and it was vital to check in and look after each other to make sure that people on both sides were coping with the impact on their lives.
What does the future look like?
It’s still very volatile and will remain like that for a while. One of the marketers talked about how important it’s become to show the value of marketing to the internal teams, so that they can see that marketing works.
The marketers talked about the value of collaboration, true agility, purpose, human connections, and brand-building. It’s also important to be aware of how people’s behaviours have changed: health has become more important, along with the need to eat healthily.
So how do client-agency relationships look for 2022? What else could agencies be doing to help their clients through this difficult time?
More flexibility and speed in turnaround times
Agencies must evolve as the brands evolve
Planning ahead, with the ability to provoke new thought over the next 10 years
Focus on making a real impact
Simplify processes and outputs — stay focused on thinking of the big idea
Stay true to your values
Be brave and distinct
Budgets — up or down?
While the marketers commented that they might have good budgets, especially where sales have been good, the money needs to be spent wisely. Marketers have had more time during the pandemic to study their media expenditure, for example, and where the money is being used. With so many channel options, this is being looked at very carefully.
On the subject of media, marketers want to know about the new media channels and how best to ‘show up’ there. Marketers know they need to invest in their brands — agency expertise in content, on the right platforms, is crucial — especially if budgets can’t afford TV campaigns. It’s all about finding the right audience, concluded one of the marketers.