Taking place in a week’s time, on 14 September the Most Awards have always been about strengthening the collaborative bond between media owners and their agency partners, to the benefit of clients.
This is what led to the decision by the Most Awards Advisory Council to introduce the new award, which represents the advertisers.
The Council says clients are an integral part of the process and the award recognises the paramount significance of establishing robust connections among media owners and clients.
It is also indicative of the changes taking place in the media landscape, which includes the linear media owner to media agency sales approach that has been expanded to include clients and their creative agencies.
Most Awards Advisory Council member and VP Publicis Media, Publicis Groupe Africa, Celia Collins says for her the biggest change in the industry is that there is no longer a common thread which gets pulled through.
“The advancement of media is happening every two or three years. It is changing how we look at all the elements, and the way we target consumers.”
Council member Chris Botha, MD of Park Advertising, adds that today there is an insatiable hunger for more data, information, and ROMI accountability.
“I am often reminded of the old John Wannamaker quote – “I know 50% of my advertising works, I am just not sure which 50% it is”.”
That, says Botha, simply won’t cut it anymore. “As media agencies we need to have data fuelled answers for difficult business questions at the tip of our fingers. This is scary and exciting.”
Eben Gewers, deputy GM, Arena Holdings says clients are being held more accountable for every single penny they spend, so they want to have a direct say or understanding of where thier budget is going.
“Clients often make direct media decisions themselves now. They might make the biggest media decision and then leave it up to the agency to work out the finer points. Ultimately the client is much more involved with the decision-making process,” he says.
As a result, data scientists, and the data analysis and insights team have become much more prevalent in the media world.
“Where we used to maybe once a month look at insights for a camapign using generic research, now we are digging deep constantly to optimise the campaign by shifting quickly if consumers have changed their thought process,” says Collins.
“From a tech point of view the feedback loop is so quick, so clients have their finger on the pulse; they know what works and what shifts are happening. Media agencies need to be the same,” says Gewers.
Media agencies now need be partners with clients, media owners, and creative agencies.
Now more than ever before the relationship is a partnership as Botha explains, “Now the norm is for each party to bring their unique skill set to the table and then sit around a table together, collaboratively solving complex problems.”
For him, now media owners specifically are truly seen as partners in this process. “As such they need to stand in the same space as the agency in terms of their accountability to the campaign's success,” he adds.
Good marketing, he says, is like a chair with four legs – a media agency, a creative agency, a client, and a media owner.
“All four need to be equally strong, and they need to support each other. If one is uninformed and weak, the chair will break, and the campaign will fall to pieces."
He says the old “sales chains” are gone. "Clients, media owners, and agencies are all in the room together, solving collaboratively."
This is something that this very dear to Collins’ heart.
“There is a symbiotic relationship that needs to happen. Predominantly we used to focus on media owner and media agency, but my belief is that it must be three ways, not only two ways,” she says.
“You almost have a triangle from the client being at the top to the media agency and the client.
“It is really centred around what is the maturity or digital maturity of that client and how we create a full 360 from data from a consumer level and how we pull the media owners in so the consumer cycle is continuous,” she explains.
It does not stop and start – it is ongoing. “But without clients' input on what is happening in sales and different areas, you are not going to understand how that relationship can work effectively,” she adds.
This means that attitudes need to change. “Ego is a thing that simply does not belong anywhere in this process anymore. You must be geared to find solutions and open that this can come from anywhere. Humility, collaboration, and a hunger for solving complex problems is essential," says Botha.
