New board for Association for Communication and Advertising

Chair's report

Outgoing chair, Nina Morris outlined the association's activities during 2014, stating that it had been a busy year thus far. She highlighted that the sector continued to face many challenges during the past fiscal and that the economic climate, together with changing face of advertising, had resulted in the sector experiencing increased pressure to stay relevant. She added that despite the economic climate, the association remained committed to tackling the many issues that faced and supported its members by continually adding value to their businesses.

This year the association aimed to achieve four primary objectives:

1. To serve our members in a relevant and meaningful way and in so doing, offer the membership value-for-money in exchange for their subscriptions paid
2. To promote the value of advertising and communications agencies and their contribution to business success
3. To promote the profession as a viable career destination in order to attract new, fresh talent
4. To promote the value and power of self-regulation

She reported that the association achieved almost all of the objectives set for the fiscal and those tasks not yet achieved were on track for completion by 31 December 2014.

The industry has witnessed positive strides in terms of transformation, since the MACSA Charter was submitted for gazetting under Section 9, which is to have the Charter written into law. Concerning the broader African continent, Morris reported that the association was in the process of collating information pertaining to members' African networks and business operations in order to provide members with an overview of business across the continent.

2014/2015 Board

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New website to encourage entry to advertising

A new website: www.whyadvertising.co.za was launched. This is a collaboration between the ACA and the AAA School of Advertising to provide all those interested in pursuing a career in advertising and communications with information about the profession, job descriptions and much more. The ACA website is also currently being updated. It will offer a dashboard for use by potential clients, searching for an agency partner.

Morris further reported that since the last AGM, the association had welcomed nine new member agencies, including a number of experiential agencies to the membership. The inclusion of experiential agencies was in line with its drive to represent not only traditional advertising agencies, but also all agencies within the broader communications value chain.

She thanked the 2013/2014 board of directors and all the members of the various operations committees for generously giving of their time, resource and intellect to assist the association in meeting its mandate.

The report also noted that the success of the ACA would not be possible without the continued support of the members, the broader industry and most importantly, the employees of the Secretariat.

"For 2015, the association will continue to engender the highest levels of quality, excellence, integrity and relevance for its members. We will remain committed to promoting self-regulation and will continue to provide assistance and support for our members and industry at large in order to remain relevant and build strong, mutually beneficial relationships with all our stakeholders," Morris concluded.

The association is the official, representative body for the communications and advertising profession in South Africa, representing agencies in the profession (that at present contribute approximately 95% of South Africa's measured ad spend) to government, media and the public. It is a voluntary body formed by and for the industry, focused on and committed to self-regulation and to defending the highest standards of ethical practice.