Marketing News South Africa

Industry BEE Scorecard presented to Minister

The advertising, marketing and broader communications industry, has until 2008 to get its house in order as far as meeting Government's transformation targets, and has until 2014 to be fully transformed in line with current Black Economic Empowerment policy. The draft Transformation Charter and Scorecard was presented to Minister in The Presidency, Dr Essop Pahad, at the Union Buildings in Pretoria today, Tuesday, 26 July 2005, by the Monitoring and Steering Committee for the Transformation of the Marketing and Advertising Industry.

Dr Danisa Baloyi, Chairperson of the task team, said the parliamentary portfolio committee was briefed on 12 July 2005 and a final draft of the BEE Transformation Charter and Scorecard for the industry presented. "We needed to give an indication of where we came from when they gave us a hiding in parliament (the parliamentary hearings in 2001 into racism in the industry), and as to where we are now... they were surprised at the ground we have covered... and the number of organisations and stakeholders on board."

Dr Baloyi said it was a very important for this industry to transform, given the images that influenced what people think daily, generated by this industry: marketing and advertising - the broader communications industry.

Association for Communication and Advertising (ACA) board member, Nkwenkwe Nkomo, said the public relations industry had been brought on board to participate in the process at the last minute (last week) and that the Public Relations Industry of South Africa (PRISA) which represents about 40% of the PR industry, and informal networking groups such as Brian Berkman's PR-Net, had been given 14 days to canvass members and the industry at large, to agree to accept the scorecard process that the Marketing Federation of SA (MFSA), the ACA, and the broader communications industry that make up the marketing value chain, have been busy with since 2001.

The major issues on the table, Nkomo said, were:

  • The Draft Transformation Charter and Scorecard for the marketing , advertising and communication industry has been accepted by all stakeholders.
  • By 2008 the soon-to-be established Charter Council (to be appointed by the Department of Trade and Industry which is overseeing the BEE Charter process) will investigate how the industry measures up to the Transformation Charter and Scorecard.
  • By 2014 the industry should have concluded transformation efforts.
  • The Charter Council will be able to look at all these targets and make necessary shifts as it may be deemed necessary, in consultation with the industry in a continuous review process over the next three to nine years.

    Dr Pahad said the industry had made great progress towards the equitable transformation of South African society through political and economic transformation.

    "The issue now is how to tap into the huge amount of creative talent out there, to find the ways and means to harness that and open up the creative opportunities out there. We have reached the take off point... with this Charter," Dr Pahad emphasised.

    The next step is for all the industry organisations involved, ie, the MFSA, ACA, PRISA, Commercial Producers Association, and all the relevant stakeholders, to each approve and sign the Charter.

    Bizcommunity.com will carry the salient points from the Transformation Charter and the full BEE Scorecard in Bizcommunity.com tomorrow, Wednesday, 27 July 2005, for comment.

  • About Louise Marsland

    Louise Burgers (previously Marsland) is Founder/Content Director: SOURCE Content Marketing Agency. Louise is a Writer, Publisher, Editor, Content Strategist, Content/Media Trainer. She has written about consumer trends, brands, branding, media, marketing and the advertising communications industry in SA and across Africa, for over 20 years, notably, as previous Africa Editor: Bizcommunity.com; Editor: Bizcommunity Media/Marketing SA; Editor-in-Chief: AdVantage magazine; Editor: Marketing Mix magazine; Editor: Progressive Retailing magazine; Editor: BusinessBrief magazine; Editor: FMCG Files newsletter. Web: www.sourceagency.co.za.
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