FOREWORD
Wendy Bergsteedt
Dr Beate Stiehler-Mulder
Faheem Chaudhry
Alistair Mokoena
Jay Badza
Lehlohonolo Mokhema
Oresti Patricios
The brutal new battle for business The theme for this year’s FM AdFocus is how intense competition in the campaign and communications industry has moved to open warfare as agencies and consultancies compete aggressively for accounts
D
uring one of this year’s interminable Zoom or Teams meetings, a well-known creative director said to whoever was bothering to listen: “Everyone is telling us to pivot. The ad industry needs to do much more than that. We need to prance, pirouette and pas de deux, otherwise it’s over.” Then a cat jumped on his lap and the meeting called to discuss new approaches to creativity in the industry defaulted to what many virtual gatherings were doing — another spirited conversation about feline dexterity and companionship during the lockdown. Advertising and marketing agencies have had a torrid 2020. The cruel domino impact of Covid-19 was felt in the earliest days of the economic shutdown. An immediate drop in consumer confidence led to a drop in sales, which in turn forced brands to slow or halt their communication, which led to smaller agencies closing or shedding staff and the more resilient ones having to dig deep into their reserves. There is nothing to suggest the bloodletting is over, and brands will remain jittery about spending and will demand from their agency partners more output accountability and justification than they have ever had to give. It’s the agency that can do this with precision, transparency and data-driven solutions that will succeed in the new environment. And they have a fight on their
Mpume Ngobese
Pride Maunatlala
hands. One that was already shaping up before the world got sick. The big global business consultancies saw a gap years ago to move into the space occupied by the brand communications industry. Their argument was simple. For too long many brands had been bemoaning strategic weakness in the industry and an inability to solve problems up and down the value chain. That, however, was the core offering from these hot-desking, high-charging behemoths, which thought upskilling in the campaign and communications space surely wasn’t difficult? It wasn’t. And in recent years a skills and acquisition raid has been happening to the point where intense competition has moved to open warfare as agencies and consultancies compete aggressively for accounts. In fairness to the ad community, many big shops have upped their game, and choice for a client needing big business solutions backed by creative thinking is much harder, with the pendulum at times swinging back to ad land. This new battle for business is the theme for the 2020 edition of the FM’s AdFocus as both sides of the equation make their case. The awards programme this year was always going to be different. Some agencies decided not to enter, wanting to focus all their efforts on their clients, their staff and survival. It’s a position no-one can argue with. We look forward to welcoming them back in time. To those agencies who participated, the common theme among all entries was how
Lesego Kotane
Sindiswa Masuta
Thabiet Allie
tough and resilient they were forced to become in a short space of time. To that end, a new one-off category was developed that looked at exactly that — how agencies successfully adapted during 2020. Our advice to the industry would be to reach out to this year’s overall winner, Triple Eight, and, keeping masked and socially distanced, interrogate what it did and how? A special mention must be made to the new chair of the judging jury this year, Tumi Rabanye, whose management of the process in the virtual world was nothing short of magnificent. This project would also not be a success without the rest of the jury members who donate their time and expertise because they have a strong belief in the brand industry and its importance to the economy. A further word of thanks is extended to Deloitte — our eagle-eyed auditors under whose supervision the judging takes place. Years ago, in an earlier incarnation of AdFocus, lifetime achiever winner Graham Warsop said he was far too young to win, as his professional life still had many laps to run. The same can be said of this year’s recipient, Bernice Samuels, MTN’s head of marketing. Her brand, despite the hardships of the past year, has just been named the most valuable in Africa. We ask her to accept the accolade knowing her professional race is far from run.
Tumi Rabanye
Jeremy Maggs Editor
Haydn Townsend
Lebo Motswenyane AdFocus 2020 - 3
