“It seems like just yesterday we were learning things about marketers and their agencies we’d never asked before,” says Johanna McDowell, CEO of the Independent Agency Search & Selection Company (IAS) and SCOPEN partner. “Eight years has flown by, and with every AGENCY SCOPE, we’ve watched our markets evolve.”
It has, says McDowell, been a riveting experience for all stakeholders, with everyone involved taking something away that serves their business and encourages a view of the industry with new eyes.
Cesar Vacchiano, President and CEO of independent research and consulting firm SCOPEN, says a key highlight from a South African perspective is the growth in sample size and the marketers and agencies involved.
“We have grown our sample from the largest marketers in 2016 to a broad spectrum of marketers in South Africa,” says Vacchiano, “and after eight years, AGENCY SCOPE represents the full industry. From a few agencies subscribing to the first edition, we have subscriber agencies from all the holding groups and all the largest independents, and agencies with headquarters in both Johannesburg and Cape Town.”
Vacchiano notes that media agencies were the most reluctant to subscribe to the study initially. “Their operations are smaller in South Africa when compared to other markets, and they are mainly involved in media planning and buying. AGENCY SCOPE 2022 achieved the largest media agency participation in the study.”
The growth of digital investment has increased exponentially in 2021 as a consequence of COVID-19, as it has in other countries,” says Vacchiano. McDowell agrees that agencies have stepped up their digital capabilities and boosted their understanding of data, tools, platforms and channels.
More decision makers, more women, more partners
McDowell and Vacchiano note that almost 500 key decision makers were interviewed in 2021, a real triumph as that sample size offers a solid base of information for leaders of agencies and brands to count on in uncertain and complex times.
“We noticed a move of brands, businesses and agencies to Johannesburg and fewer bigger agencies in Cape Town,” Vacchiano asserts, highlighting that two thirds of leaders interviewed on the client side are women, as are half of the most admired marketing professionals. “It’s a long way to come from our first edition, when men were mostly mentioned.”
McDowell says another interesting finding is that the growth of digital and technology and new platforms, has increased the number of partners brands are working with. “Marketers locally now have, on average, 13 different partners including agencies, digital platforms and other marketing services providers. This number will continue to grow in the future.
“The selection of an adequate ecosystem of partners as well as managing the relationships between those partners has become a great challenge for CMOs,” she says, adding that choosing a lead agency also presents a challenge as it has key role in helping CMOs making the collaboration happen between all partners.”
Core business focus and integration
Here, Vacchiano says AGENCY SCOPE shows that even though creative agencies in South Africa have reinforced their digital capabilities, they are still largely focused in their core business disciplines and territories.
“In other regions agencies of all types are looking to offer more and more integrated services, growing in branded content, shopper marketing, marketing automation, brand experience and activation, and public relations and Influencers,” he says.
“Improved capabilities and strengths in all these sectors bring opportunities to grow organically or attract new clients with different needs from those that they have been working with.”
He also notes that strategic planning as a service offering is gaining relevance, not only in South Africa but globally. “In many countries it is the first factor considered when selecting agencies and a key attribute in defining the ‘ideal’ agency. Planners are a scarce resource, and something marketers are starting to value sometimes even more than creatives.”
McDowell argues that while business activity decreased during the pandemic, this is changing rapidly and agencies must show how they have adapted their capabilities during the last two years. “Marketers have new requirements and must determine whether their own agencies or others can help meet these needs effectively.”
How valuable is AGENCY SCOPE? Subscribers respond
The true value of any research is the number and calibre of the organisations using it, and the SCOPEN team has a bird’s eye view of how AGENCY SCOPE data makes a difference.
Mpume Ngobese, Co-Managing Director at Joe Public United, says her agency has been subscribing since 2017, and that “as a company rooted in our purpose of ‘growth’, AGENCY SCOPE has formed part of our business strategy. Year on year we aim to improve our position and it has been great to use the previous reports to benchmark our growth against.”
Ngobese continues: “The combination of quantitative and qualitative feedback has been great in giving us insights on how and what we can improve. The introduction of the 2021 Best Agency to Work for (BATWF) study has been invaluable for our HR / people department. One of our (growth) purpose pillars is Growth of People, so having been exposed to this study with its insights has further enhanced our drive to continue to deliver on the growth of our people.”
“Growth of clients is our second pillar in our purpose, so insights from AGENCY SCOPE continue to inform us on how to continue to deliver on the growth of our clients. However,” she notes, “there are areas that can be ambiguous at times; for example, the need for integration and the need for specialist companies in the same breath can be quite confusing.”
Brad Smale, Managing Director, Africa at IPG Mediabrands, has subscribed to AGENCY SCOPE for a year and says the data has allowed the agency, for the first time, to “truly benchmark our Group against the general South African advertising and media landscape.
“It also gives us an understanding about how we are perceived by our clients and helps us identify areas across our agencies that we can focus on to improve our offering.”
On comparative data, Smale says the agency uses the learnings to understand trends between countries and some of the shifts taking place across the sector in other markets. “The feedback from senior professionals is valuable as it allows the agency to pivot towards the areas of growing focus for marketing professionals,” he says.
“AGENCY SCOPE really helps spotlight the big local trends, giving us the tools required to make smarter investment decisions across the Group.”
James Moffatt, CEO and Co-Founder, of Promise Group says his agency doesn’t make much use of global comparison data, but “that may change as we slowly enter the Australian market. We’ve been subscribing to AGENCY SCOPE for five years, and the data helps us to identify areas we can improve upon. It’s great to get an overview of our business, as we’re so busy with internal operations.”
On feedback from senior marketing professionals, Moffatt says, “The feedback is critical, but we also understand that it changes according to internal dynamics. We certainly pay a great deal of attention to it.”
McDowell reiterates the value of watching marketers and agencies evolve over the last eight years, not only to intermediaries like the IAS, but to each stakeholder she deals with across the industry. “Proof of AGENCY SCOPE’s value is in how much awareness there is about the product, even compared to a few years ago, and the practical applications marketers and agencies are finding in the research results.”
On AGENCY SCOPE’s growth in South Africa, Vacchiano says: “I’m delighted when a new market is explored and we get the opportunity to trace its change and growth. As subscriptions in the country are on the rise, we know we’re providing research that makes sense to its users. And that’s the only research one can place real value on.”
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