Cesar Vacchiano, CEO of Scopen the majority shareholder in Scopen Africa, is of the view that there are some global trends that are visible when looking at how far the study has developed, such as the increase in investments in digital marketing, advertising and communication practices.
In some countries however, this affects investments in conventional media outlets such as print, where global sales have been under pressure for some time.
“By investing more in the digital space, it makes clients look more for integrated agencies. They want to find agencies that solve all their needs under one roof. These agencies are not easy to find. It will be interesting to see which agencies (if any), are perceived as more integrated in South Africa,” says Vacchiano.
When looking at the trends in other markets around the world, one can make an assessment that client-agency relationships tend to last a bit longer than what appears to be the current trend in South Africa.
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According to other research done by the company on a worldwide basis, the global benchmark for client-agency relationships is five years. However, in countries such as China and India, client-agency relationships are usually shorter, but in the UK, Brazil or México, one finds that they last much longer.
Vacchiano further highlights that after working with agencies only on a project basis, clients are now prepared to test the relationship with smaller retainer fees and then negotiate fees for specific projects.
The current research in the field in South Africa is not without its challenges. “The test is to interview key decision makers in each client company that are the top marketers, by ad spend, in each market. Agencies want to learn these trends and identify their clients’ needs and see how they can improve services with their current clients. Therefore, in most of the cases each agency helps us identify its key clients so that they participate in the study.”
In addition, data coming from all interviews is confidential and it is only aggregated for statistical reasons. Clients receive a copy of the report once the study is finished so there is a benefit for them too.
“We also ask for help within global companies for CMOs in other countries help us identify their counterparts in South Africa and encourage them to participate for the benefit of obtaining the final report with findings and global comparisons. This industry is becoming more and more global. More global alignments take place and more regional decisions happen. Therefore, in many of the trends, statistics in different countries look very similar.”
“It will be interesting to see if South African marketers behave more like their counterparts in mature markets or like those in emerging markets. The industry is quite strong, with significant agencies operating both in Johannesburg and in Cape Town. Marketers are facing big challenges globally and it will be interesting to see if they face the same challenges in South Africa.”
Specific analyses will be included in the report to analyse in detail what the comparisons look like between Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban. Vacchiano also indicates that South Africa has a strong and prominent position in sub-Saharan Africa, which will being analysed in detail on how marketers in the region use South African agencies to solve their needs in other countries on the continent.
“We have started meeting with marketing clients and they are finding the interview fascinating and, as a result, sharing lots of insights with us. They understand that the more information they provide, the more they can help agencies to move forward.
“Marketers are very sensitive to research and they use it to better understand their brands, competitors, consumers and media. They also understand how agencies are interested in knowing what is happening in the industry and they believe that their agencies will be able to provide the best of services through the learnings and insights from our study,” concludes Vacchiano.
