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  • khulumamedia 5:11 pm on April 26, 2024 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: business, conference, events, news, technology   

    Mayibuye Media Conferences and the Art of Axe Throwing 

    The wonderful thing about being in media is that, whenever I arrive at the point where every Excel spreadsheet looks like the countdown sequence to oblivion on 3 Body Problem, something happens to lift my spirits and remind me that I’m still scoring goals in extra time in the best game ever invented.

    Advertising.

    For instance, I noticed this week that Mediapost.com was holding an Insider Planning and Buying Summit with a difference. Because they believe …  

    “The media conference model is broken

    Admittedly, the mere fact that Mediapost.com is holding a media conference about broken media conferences has a certain ANCesque appeal, but when I discovered in reading further that the modern media planner & buyer needs something more than the typical industry gatherings, I began to take notice.

    The Planning & Buying Insider Summit will apparently inspire media decision-makers by ensuring that they have a safe space to share new techniques and strategies, while having a unique opportunity to engage in real talk and relationship-building.

    Real talk and relationship-building. Wow!

    That really resonates with me because I have certainly had enough of passionately presenting to a room full of people I have never met and can’t see. Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not avatarphobic. Some of my best friends are avatars. I once even worked with an avatar. On reflection, they were more of an actual snake than an avatar. But that’s a story for another day.

    In exploring a little deeper I discovered that each day of the summit consists of 3 modules

    Morning Module: Dynamic interactive content sessions and roundtables, with the brightest marketers in the business

    Evening Module: A cocktail party and outdoor dining right in downtown Austin.

    So far so good. This part looks reassuringly like the kind of media conferences (sorry summits) I used to go to. Some grey matter stuff in the morning to keep the CFO happy and a good Skilpad Braai[1] with your new media chommies in the evening. I mean, what could possibly go wrong.

    Speaking of things possibly going wrong, it’s the afternoon session that particularly catches the attention.

    Afternoon Module: Delegates will have the option of a boat cruise, kayaking, axe throwing and more.

    After almost 50 years in media, it goes without saying that I’ve been knifed in the back on more than one occasion. But axe-throwing is another level altogether. Axe-throwing! Thank heavens the axe-throwing happens before the skilpad braai in the evening.

    You can laugh as much as you like about traditional South African sports like juksei, but I’ll tell you what … nobody ever lost an eye at a bokdrol spoeg kompetisie!

    And yet that’s not even the peak of my anticipation.

    Boat cruise.

    Kayaking.

    Axe throwing.

    AND MORE

    More? What on earth could possibly come after axe-throwing at a media conference (sorry summit) in Texas? Dog training with The Thermonator?  

    Upon reflection, I reckon I’m smart enough to go this media conference (sorry summit) in Texas. But eish!

    Even though I’ve run Comrades a few times, I’m not sure I’m tough enough.

    [1] South African Expression: Skilpad Braai: Baie Dop. Min Vleis.

     

  • khulumamedia 6:02 pm on April 8, 2024 Permalink | Reply  

    A Total Eclipse of the Ear 

    Today Nova Scotia will experience its first total eclipse of the sun since Carly Simon decided to throw shade on Warren Beatty for flying up there in his Lear Jet in 1970 to check out the action.

    On reflection, it’s a good thing he didn’t fly in a Boeing. There are more bits falling off the average Boeing than a skorokoro taxi in downtown Jozi.

    Talking about shade and clouds in your coffee though, we know that the path of totality for the solar eclipse will cross North America, passing over Mexico, the United States, and Canada.

    The path of totality is the area where people on Earth can see the moon completely cover the sun, as the moon’s shadow falls upon them. Think of it as a funnel-shaped inner shadow of the moon being projected onto the Earth’s surface. In advertising terms, full-funnel coverage.

    Remarkably the path of totality is only 185km wide, which means anyone standing outside that zone that will only see a very small part of the picture. A partial eclipse in fact. Fewer than 10% of the total population of the USA will see the total eclipse.

    Despite that, this event is being memed as the biggest eclipse ever, not just because everything is big in Texas, but because it will be viewed by more people than ever before.

    But you can’t capture the dramatic essence of a total eclipse just by measuring the number of people who observe it. You would need to listen to first-hand accounts from the people who were there. Find out what impact the event had on them.

    Of course, the best way to describe this remarkable phenomenon is to stand in the path of totality yourself.

    And it’s the same with a radio station.

    It’s not enough to know how many people listen to a radio station. Trying to evaluate the contribution of radio by using BRC RAM_Amplify audience data, to the exclusion of all other perspectives, is like standing outside the listeners path of audio totality and concluding that nothing dramatic or unusual is happening.

    As strategists, sometimes we need to leave behind the quantitative reality of media audience procurement and step into the listeners audioverse.

    Many doctors use a pre-diagnostic patient interview technique to establish RFE (Reason for Encounter) as a precursor to offering a formal diagnosis of symptoms and suggested treatment. After all, you don’t need to ponder the cause of your patient’s headache if they can tell you they’ve just been hit on the noggin by a piece of Boeing plummeting from the sky.

    Once the physician understands the real reason for the encounter, they can begin to craft the appropriate medical response.

    Radiocentre Audio Generation Differentology 2022 identifies x7 distinctive listening states. Each of these listening states represents a unique RFE. The raison d’écouter. Once an advertiser understands the reason why a listener engages with a station, they can begin to craft the appropriate advertising response.

    You need to start your radio planning by understanding why the listener is there at all, not just by counting the number of listeners.

    If you’re a radio advertiser, I’ll bet you think this blog is about you.

    Don’t you!

    Don’t you!

     

  • khulumamedia 12:38 pm on December 30, 2023 Permalink | Reply  

    2023 – Don’t be angry with me. 

    Yesterday remains one of the most gentle and enjoyable movies of 2019. The musical romantic comedy stars Himesh Patel as struggling musician Jack Malik who suddenly wakes up to find himself in a parallel universe where he is the only person who can remember The Beatles. And he becomes famous for performing their songs, even with a little bit of help from Ed Sheeran.

    That Ed Sheeran. Such a talent. He sings love songs to the Queen and even watches live test cricket. What’s not to like. And let’s face it, anyone who can survive that debut album (Plus+) and make good, deserves every accolade he gets.  

    So, when I woke up in 2023 to discover that The Beatles had the #1 single Then and Now and The Rolling Stones had the #1 album with Hackney Diamonds (in vinyl nogal), you’ll forgive me thinking that I was also in a parallel universe. Sadly, in my 2023 universe there was no Lily James but Lady Gaga was a delicious substitute. Watching Tannie Gogo out strutting Mick Jagger on Sweet Sounds of Heaven was divine.  

    And speaking of divine, Hanoi Jane still knows all the moves whether she’s touching Robert Redford and Our souls at Night, or just being amazing Grace in Grace and Frankie.

    What’s with up The Rolling Stones though? What ever happened to proper lyrics like …

    Under my thumb, The girl who once had me down, Under my thumb, The girl who once pushed me around

    I mean, what’s with all this Don’t get angry with me and Why you bite my head off? Geez, just how old are these okes anyway?

    Speaking of parallel universes, binge watching all 3 seasons of the Star Trek: The Original Series was without doubt the best TV viewing of 2023. Of course, I say TV viewing but not it’s TV viewing as we know it. In 2023, Donald Trump’s wig had more chance of surviving a ride across the Mojave desert on the back of Maverick’s Kawasaki Ninja H2 in Top Gun Maverick, than Star Trek: The Original Series has of getting an award for DEI at the Woke Oscars.  

    Speaking of outrageous hair, appalling dress sense and a complete disregard for prescribed gender convention, how was that The Barbie Movie? Not even Tannie Evita Bezuidenhout could be that inappropriate.

    The highlight of Star Trek: The Original Series and indeed the highlight of the entire year’s TV viewing in 2023, was without doubt Episode 22 of the 3rd Season. The Savage Curtain. The climax of the episode features Capt. Kirk, Spock and Abraham Lincoln fighting for the survival of good over evil against the cohorts of Genghis Khan, using nothing but pointed sticks. Fabulous entertainment. Nothing in the Star Trek franchise has come close to that dramatic high point in over 50 years.

    Makes me think. What about Margot Robbie in her Barbie outfit and Jane Fonda as Barbarella fighting off the forces of evil with nothing but pointed sticks? Now that would be enough to make a naughty little monkey bite its own mother.

    Another highlight of the year must be watching Sting live at the SunBet Arena in Pretoria. At least Sting wasn’t asking Roxanne why you angry with me? Mind you, in 2023 if you sing lyrics like Every breath you take, Every move you make, I’ll be watching you, you’ve got more chance of being arrested by the woke police than you have of performing as The Police.

    And as for live theatre in Joburg. Wow. What a year. Hansard. Nothing but the Truth. Vincent. The Promise. Thank you to all those hard people who keep live theatre going in Jozi. It just goes to show, if you build it, they will come.

    Talking about building it, What about a new Netflix series called a Concoction of Coalitions? Set in a parallel universe on a planet run by hard-working honest politicians who are dedicated to serving the people? Nah! Too outrageous. Capt. Kirk, Abraham Lincoln and Spock fighting Genghis Khan with pointed sticks I can accept, but honest politicians?

    Suspense of disbelief can only get you so far.

    Maybe rewatching a few episodes of Borgen and a bit of Nordic Noire might prepare us for 6 months without any sunlight or electricity in the runup to the elections in Mzansi. Just listening to some of the early election rantings from the gangsters that run our mafiocracy makes me think that even Spock would raise an eyebrow.

    2024? It’s politics Spock. But not politics as we know it.

     

  • khulumamedia 4:43 pm on November 9, 2023 Permalink | Reply  

    Winners and Champions. Play up. Pay up. And Play the Game 

    As South Africans and sport lovers we embrace the scenes of national euphoria sparked by the Springboks Rugby World Cup triumph. And we marvel at the power of sport in this country to build bridges. Bridges into a better – more unified – future for our country. Of course, as Safrican sports fans we also await, with that deep sense of impending doom reserved exclusively for the Proteas, the outcome of the Cricket World Cup.

    All these celebrations and expectations are more often than not ignited by pivotal moments in a game. Or in the case of the Springboks pivotal moments in 3 consecutive games.

    Someone makes a mistake – and costs their team the game. Allan Donald forgets to run. Herschelle Gibbs drops a sitter. And that person is branded a loser. And the team are co-branded “chokers”. Or someone produces a moment of magic – and your team scores. A Cheslin Kolbe sidestep. A 55-metre Pollard penalty. In that one magical moment you go from being a loser to being a winner.

    But here’s the thing. Being a winner doesn’t necessarily make you a Champion.

    What makes you a Champion is how you behave after you become a winner.

    Siya Kolisi became a winner the instant the ref put the whistle to his lips to end the Rugby World Cup final. But he became a champion the moment he ran straight off the field to embrace Cheslin Kolbe who had been sitting with his jersey over his head. Terrified that he was a loser – and even worse that he had made everyone else a loser.

    Real champions make everyone feel like winners.

    When last did you have a champion experience with a brand?

    So much is spoken about Champion Brands that we sometimes forget that being a winning brand doesn’t automatically make you a champion brand. Take for example the post Rugby World Cup scenarios being reported in the industry press this week.

    Takealot’s BackTheBucks campaign promised buyers of five specific Samsung TV models a full refund if the Boks successfully defended their title as world champions in France. This week My Broadband reports that “Takealot and Samsung will pay over 800 shoppers roughly R10 million in refunds after the Springboks won the 2023 Rugby World Cup”.

    Champion!

    On the other hand Darren, we have the DSTV debacle. Or is that another DSTV debacle? In the same newsletter My Broadband reports that sports fans have been subjected to the proverbial “you should’ve read the small print” manoeuvre.

    In what My Broadband calls “a brilliant piece of nostalgia marketing” MultiChoice launched a promotion on the Friday before the big game. In reference to the 1995 World Cup triumph at Ellis Park, viewers were offered a once-off R19.95 deal on DStv Access streaming packages to watch the 2023 World Cup Final. But it had a catch and while subscribers reported that MultiChoice’s special on DStv Access worked, they found themselves running afoul of the broadcaster’s 30-day cancellation policy which effectively locked them into a second month of subscription. At the full subscription price.

    When it comes to winning in sport, we often say check the scoreboard. Its all about the result. Corporate apologies from Multichoice notwithstanding, one is forced to ask, who checked the scoreboard on this one? Who decided what was a winning total in this game?

    When it comes to marketing and advertising, in a hard-fought game where brand supporters globally are calling out for their brands to demonstrate purpose, we need to ask …

    Does winning make you a champion? Or does being a champion make you a winner?

    C’mon guys. Play up! Pay up! And play the game!

     

  • khulumamedia 7:32 am on October 9, 2023 Permalink | Reply
    Tags:   

    Why? 

    Why?

    Anybody in the media industry who ever had me as their coach at an AMASA Workshop, would remember I always advocated that teams create a poster at the start of the weekend and stick it in a prominent position in their work-zone. A poster with only one word on it. The word that would inform all their subsequent strategic media decisions and enable their thought process to stay on track.

    The word “WHY?”.

    If you don’t know why you’re doing something, your media strategy will just end up doing what you did last year. Or worse still, doing what everyone else did last year. And of course, given the procurement imperative, you’ll be under pressure to do it cheaper.

    Every media strategy is a specific response to a marketing communication challenge and a corresponding set of marketing objectives. Or at least it should be, because when it comes to media strategy, if you don’t know where you are going then any road will take you there.

    Even the Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland knew that.

    Or perhaps even more important when it comes to optimizing media investment, if you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll never know when you’ve arrived.  Spending the media budget cost-efficiently can never be an outcome. Cost-efficiency is a process input that enables the strategist to balance the exposure dynamics of the campaign. To create more media-pressure.

    But remember …

    Media-pressure without results is called wastage.

    There are only 3 possible outcomes to any advertising campaign. Only 3!

    1. It worked.
    2. It didn’t work.
    3. I don’t know.

    If you don’t know “why” you are engaging in a particular media activity, then you cannot possibly know whether it worked or not. It is truly staggering to discover how many advertisers have “I don’t know” as their default position.

    The recently published WFA white paper on Creating a global culture of Marketing Effectiveness defines marketing effectiveness as a process of improving business performance from marketing activities which is made easier and more impactful by 4 contributing factors. People. Process. Data Tools and Measurement and Focus. Focus is defined as a clear vision, complete with a roadmap that communicates how each step will create business value and help create organisational alignment.

    Complete with a roadmap. That’s the thing about a road. If you build it – they will come.

    Interestingly though, the report concludes that marketers globally agree they are “better at delivering our plans than we are at understanding why we are doing the activity in the first place”. In other words, marketers are too focused on procurement parameters and the tactical delivery of activity, often at the bottom end of the funnel.

    Media strategy has been eroded to the point where implementation and pricing, rather than in-market effectiveness, are the primary focus. And yet, when it comes to effective media strategy, the phrase in the Warc Future of Media Strategy 2022 report that resonated most with strategists globally is “going upstream to create a downstream solution”.

    The recently published Warc Future of Media Strategy 2023 builds on that narrative. Over the next 12 months strategists (54%) continue to see “working on upstream business problems” as their single biggest opportunity for positive business growth. Up from 39% in 2021.  

    Unfortunately, this same whitepaper reports that reduced compensation for strategic services, as a result of inflationary pressures, is the single biggest threat to strategists globally. Only 44% of strategists globally expect the size of their strategic team to increase in the coming 12 months (down from 65% in 2021).

    More work for less pay is rarely an effective incentive for excellence.

    Marketers and strategists agree. We have lost Focus. We need to go “upstream” to create clear roadmaps for marketing, advertising and media so that we can deliver on the vision, measure the outcomes and create value downstream.

    But we can’t do that without investing in people. Advertisers and agency management alike.

    Which brings us back to the issue of media industry training and mentoring. Transformation without skills-transfer and training is not empowerment. It’s abandonment.

    When I gaze into the abyss of terminal inertia which has beset the various bodies traditionally dedicated to skills transfer and sustainable development for the media industry in Mzansi, the abyss stares back at me. And it has only one question.

    Why?

     

    • Eleonora 2:26 am on December 2, 2023 Permalink | Reply

      Fascinating article Gordon. Got me thinking about a Media “Museum”. Is there such thing? Many years ago I approached the Jhb Art Gallery with the idea, but nothing came of it. I have never worked in advertising, I simply enjoy the creativity of it. How I would LOVE to visit an actual place that features the history of advertising in SA – complete with images, music and atmosphere of the times. Regards, Eleonora

      Like

      • khulumamedia 12:52 pm on December 30, 2023 Permalink | Reply

        Well the closest you’ll come to that kind of archive is Oresti Patricios at Ornico. Sadly, a lot of historical advertising content would be more at home in the #ApartheidMuseum than in an interactive commercial art museum. But beyond me being grumpy, that’s a really super idea.

        Like

  • khulumamedia 11:15 am on July 24, 2023 Permalink | Reply  

    In the Mediaverse – Everyone can hear you scream 

    It’s generally acknowledged that the key to enjoying the fantastical world of science-fiction is the suspension of disbelief. The willing voidance of critical thinking and logic in understanding something that is unreal or impossible in reality.

    Now many people might observe that, in many respects, this is not dissimilar to being successful at advertising. And at a creative or even strategic level they may well be right.

    But when it comes to buying media, that’s where the science-fiction has to end.

    Of course, in our efforts to explore strange new media worlds, we do sometimes have to go where no media person has gone before. So when we encounter a previously undetected media lifeform which suddenly manifests itself in the mediaverse, it is incumbent on us to beam down and investigate.

    Now this poses the question “who would you rather take with you to confront the alien lifeform”? Mr. Spock or Sigourney Weaver? Tempted as I may be, I’m going to leave Barbie out of this discussion.

    On a personal level, I would have to admit that being trapped in deep space with Sigourney Weaver has a certain appeal. But screaming at aliens rarely gets a positive outcome. Assuming that what we all want in media is to live long and prosper, on balance I would probably favour Spock as my companion explorer.

    Spock always has a rational plan.

    When I wrote my first text book Media Planning – Art or Science back in the 90s it was closer to Star Trek the Original Series than it is to the present day, but in that text there I mention something called the W-Plan which is still relevant today. A plan for verifying the credibility of media research.

    So whenever you encounter a media alien which is able to use an impenetrable black box to make itself look a 1000% bigger than it actually is, you have a prime example of how to use the W-Plan. Just ask it these questions to deflate it and bring it back down to its actual size.

    • Who did the research?
    • Why did they do it?
    • What did they do?
    • When was it done?
    • Where was it done?

    I think Spock would have approved.

    As Arthur Weasley’s said in Harry Potter – The Chamber of Secrets

    “Never trust anything that can think for itself if you can’t see where it keeps its brain.”

    Beam me up Scotty there are no recognizable media lifeforms down here.

     

  • khulumamedia 5:58 pm on July 2, 2023 Permalink | Reply
    Tags:   

    RAMS, Radio and the Repertoire of the rolling maul. 

    Traditionally, the release of new RAMS radio listenership data is greeted by media strategists in Mzansi with all the excitement usually reserved by rugby fans for yet another confusing penalty during a test match. This week’s release of the BRC RAMS AMPLIFY 2023 Q1 data has proved to be no exception.

    Critics of the modern game of rugby do tend to agree though, that it’s not the rules themselves which are the bone of contention, but rather the inconsistent application of those rules. Even Donald Trump is more likely to blow the whistle on a hooker who has committed a technical infringement, than the average rugby referee.

    So, when it comes to BRC RAMS AMPLIFY 2023 Q1 it is reassuring to observe the overall consistency and stability of the data. In a quantum shift mediaverse, stable audience data is a win for researchers, radio broadcasters and advertisers alike.

    At a national level, nothing has really changed. Past 7-day listenership to radio remains high (75%), although it is reported that this represents a “significant decline in listenership” compared to Q3 2022 (76%). At the 95% level of confidence nogal! Now, whilst we all appreciate the due diligence applied by researchers in the pursuit of statistical excellence in media research, I can predict at the 100% level of confidence that this particular fact will have absolutely no impact on radio advertising investment over the next 12 months.

    That is not to say the #RA23Q1 report is without genuine points of interest for media strategists. As always, when it comes to media research, it’s All Done with Mirrors.

    It is when the decline in weekly listenership is considered in conjunction with time spent listening that the implicit behavioural shift becomes a little more intriguing. Almost a third of waking hours are spent listening to radio (5hrs 06mins) each day but this represents a softening in this particular listening metric. Time spent listening is down 2,5% from Q3 2022 (5hrs 14mins).

    Listenership to radio might be stagnant but listening behaviour is not. It is when we look at the growth of Listening on Demand (LOD), particularly amongst younger consumers, that the future of audio advertising becomes clear. As an industry it would be considerably more productive to focus less on miniscule quantitative shifts in traditional radio listenership and focus more on discernable shifts in human listening behaviour across all audio platforms.

    The really valuable insights derived from BRC RAMS AMPLIFY 2023 Q1 are those that highlight behavioural displacement of listeners, rather than minuscule shifts in radio station audiences. And no insight embedded in RAMS AMPLIFY database is more valuable to users than the Media Repertoire Score.  

    The Media Repertoire Score is a measure of this displacement across 13 alternative media platforms (excluding radio) that are reported in #RA23Q1. MRS provides a functional lens for understanding the implications of continuous partial attention (CPA) in the media landscape and the need to develop holistic media strategies.

    The adult population of South Africa has an RMS of 5,3 (excluding radio) but the further up the socio-economic scale we move the higher the RMS. The SEM 7-10 segment has an RMS of 6,7.

    Interestingly, population targets that have a broader media repertoire tend to have higher radio reach, further highlighting radio’s popularity as a medium consumed in parallel (and often simultaneously) with a wide variety of media types.

    But it is when we compare the insights generated by the Media Repertoire Score with a popular media consumption measure from the dim and distant media past, Media Imperatives, that we realise just how far effective media strategy has evolved in terms of embracing the dynamics of the media Fusion Zone.

    In the past, Media Imperatives provided deep-vertical insight into consumption by individual media type. Consumers were divided into Light, Medium and Heavy (readers, listeners or viewers) which assisted planners in optimizing investment within each media silo. A brilliant research initiative at the time but offering no insight into balancing investment in the media Fusion Zone.

    In a sense the Media Repertoire Score is to the media Fusion Zone landscape what the rolling maul is to modern rugby. Rugby purists may reflect fondly on the days when we all understood the rules of the game, which dictated that all 15 players in a team should stand neatly in their allotted positions, waiting for the ball to be passed to them.

    But the game has moved on.

    Nobody in the world truly understands the fusion of human energy and intimacy that fuels the rolling maul. With the possible exception of Boris Johnson of course. But the players who have studied the rules that govern the rolling maul (and there are rules) will probably win the Rugby World Cup this year.

    As they say – Fuse it or Lose it!

     

  • khulumamedia 11:59 am on May 16, 2023 Permalink | Reply  

    Listen! Do you want to know a secret about Loadshedding? 

    Listen! Do you want to know a secret. Do you promise not to tell. Closer. Let me whisper in your ear.

    I’ve known the secret for a week or two. Nobody knows, just we two.

    If you started singing the words to the Beatles tune before you were half way through reading the opening lines, then you don’t need any convincing about the power of sound to create a lasting impression.

    Sonic branding is a primary catalyst for stimulating brand recognition and recall, not just on radio, but across all media platforms.

    But what happens to radio listenership when we’re being Eskomized?

    When it comes to load-shedding BTV (Broadcast TV) and BVOD (Broadcast Video on Demand) are most at risk. Regular BRC_TAMS panel updates confirm that time spent viewing is dramatically down year on year. Average weekly viewing time 2023 YTD is down -28% over 2019 and -15% over 2022.

    Of course this isn’t all due to loadshedding because the BRC TAMS panel doesn’t measure and report streaming viewing activity.

    But radio is not impacted to the same degree as TV. If anything, there is a growing body of evidence, both anecdotal and fact-based, confirming that during loadshedding “listening behaviour” actually increases.

    Nine out of every ten content viewers (all forms of TV) listen to radio every week. But very few (5%) listen to radio, or other audio platforms, while they are watching video or TV content (Nielsen: Fusion 22). So when Eskom drops the curtain on TV viewing, more and more it seems that the default behavioural response to loadshedding is to find something to listen to. A recent study of the impact of loadshedding on listenership, conducted by OFM, confirms that 22% of respondents (n=1026) have actually increased listening behaviour during loadshedding.

    And it’s not just about switching listening devices from a “radio set” to a smartphone which is capable of streaming live content. Listening patterns are evolving and other LOD (Listening on Demand) options, like curated station rebroadcasts and podcasts, are increasingly looking like the big winners during Eskom’s winter of discontent.

    When it comes to TV viewing, getting off the grid by using expensive solar panels or  generators might liberate some homes at the top end of the market – but all it requires to continue listening to radio is data, or access to WiFi. An affordable point of entry UPS device generating no more than 4 watts of energy.

    Not to mention the fact that 37% of all radio listening occurs outside the home. One out of every four radio listeners listens to radio in a motor vehicle and of course in-car listenership is not impacted by load shedding. Bottom line is that if you’re advertising on radio in drive-time there’s no change in audience. The Sentech radio towers are “critical infrastructure” and the audio show must go on.

    Have car will travel. Have signal will listen.

    So if you’re are a TV advertiser then it’s worth doubling down on your investment in radio advertising by planning additional exposure outside of the traditional drive-time peaks, into under-delivering prime-time TV viewing channels. These channels outside drive-time have always been the most cost-efficient buy on radio, but additional listeners from the TV load-shedding diaspora make them a very attractive effective buy.

    When it comes to load shedding you most certainly have to mind the gap on TV coverage. But the best way to mind the TV coverage gap is to fill it with sonic branding.

    The Power of Sound. Maybe not such a secret after all.

     

  • khulumamedia 4:10 pm on March 21, 2023 Permalink | Reply  

    Its All Done with Mirrors – Some reflections on the evolution of the Media Industry in Mzansi 

    I have recently had a number of requests to make available my book of collected writings on the evolution of the media industry in Mzansi. So here it is.

    My appointment as a trainee media planner almost 50 years ago was founded on the basis of a speech I gave, which had been attended by the legendary media man Frank “FK” Muller. “If you can speak that much crap in public and get away with it” he commented, “then you’ll probably do quite well in media”.

    Enthused as I was by the advertising industry’s remarkable ability to discern such talent, recognition of which was lacking during my prior years as a schoolteacher, I duly arrived in Johannesburg. On my very first day, I asked what seemed the most sensible question for someone without any obvious qualification in advertising and media: other than the aforementioned ability to get away with talking crap of course.

    “So what’s media planning all about? What’s the secret to creating great advertising campaigns?” I asked.

    “It’s All Done with Mirrors” came the singular reply.

    On the day I was more than a little disappointed by the brevity of this insight. As a schoolteacher I had been hoping for something a little more comprehensive, like a manual, but the wisdom of that observation began to dawn on me over the ensuing years. It’s not about being right or wrong. There is rarely, if ever, a “correct” answer in media. “It’s All Done with Mirrors”.

    Change the angle of the mirror and you will get a different perspective. Hopefully a better perspective! Even if it means having to change your own perspective in order to get a better outcome for everyone: consumer, client and colleague alike.

    With apologies to Charles Dickens, when I reflect on the media industry in the years since the 1992 referendum, I am not sure if it’s been “the best of times or the worst of times: the age of wisdom or the age of foolishness”. What I do know is that right now the media industry in South Africa seems to have lost perspective, or at least the desire to try and see things from somebody else’s perspective.

    Watching the various industry bodies each trying to carve out their piece of flesh from an industry which is rapidly devolving from its once privileged position as the ultimate instrument of social and commercial change into a deep discounted procurement pacifier is lamentable. I’m reminded of The Economist reporting on the 2013 US Debt Crisis and noting that

    “When you are brawling on the edge of a cliff, the big question is not, “Who is right?” It is, “What the hell are you doing on the edge of a cliff?”

    This book aims to offer some insight into how we’ve got to the edge of a cliff.

    With the wisdom of hindsight, some of words and phrases used in this selection of articles might be considered obsolete or even inappropriate in the context of a new South Africa, but I’ve left the writing largely untouched so that the reader can get a flavour of the language and terminology of the times as they were unfolding.

    One thing I am sure of though, when I reflect on the media industry today, nobody will be writing a TV series about this generation and calling it “Mad Men”. No doubt many new episodes are being written, but I suspect that they are more likely to be featured in a new series of Silicon Valley where, as the HBO blurb puts it, “the people most qualified to succeed are the least capable of handling success.”

    Unlike the world of “Mad Men” where the people least qualified to succeed are the most capable of, if not handling success, then at least promising it to others.

    But perhaps, as FK Muller said all those years ago, that really is just a question of perspective.

    ALL DONE WITH MIRRORSDownload
     

  • khulumamedia 3:14 pm on March 20, 2023 Permalink | Reply  

    ABC Circulation Certificates – Chariots of Fire or Bonfire of the Vanities? 

    These days, when I go for my run in the morning everything hurts.

    I can see from the bemused looks on the faces of the people I pass on the street that there is an air of incomprehension, and more than a degree of well-meaning concern. Why doesn’t he just give up? Why is he punishing himself like that?

    When the ABC recently published their Q4 2022 circulation figures I felt pretty much the same way as those bystanders.

    Why do they keep punishing themselves like that?

    Don’t get me wrong. I’m still a devotee to the fundamental principle – No ABC no business – but the level of detail in an ABC dataset is staggering and at times incomprehensible to those accustomed to clickable real time reporting. For instance the Daily Maverick, which is published online and in print format on a Saturday (as DM168), is neither a Hybrid Newspaper anymore nor is it a Weekend title. It is now categorised by ABC as a Weekly Newspaper.  

    On reflection this anomaly actually makes sense. In 2022,any media platform that doesn’t self-identify as hybrid needs to start planning for obsolescence. Maybe that’s why they keep punishing themselves. Planned obsolescence.

    If the Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC) or the PRC spent even just a little time explaining to the industry what an ABC certificate is, and how it can be used to distinguish legitimate publishers from the tyrannosaurus in digital clothing, it might still just be worth the effort.

    But to be honest, the average media planner today doesn’t know the difference between a print-order, distribution or circulation. And yes I still use the term ‘media planner’, so you can put me on the naughty step with Roald Dahl if you must.

    What then is the picture which emerges from the Q4 2022 ABC dataset? One word.

    Down.

    The downward trend continues in every category with only two exceptions. Free Newspapers and Hybrid newspapers.

    Why is it then that the newspaper sector seems least impacted with an average decrease of only -2,3%, against a total circulation decline of 2,9%? How can all those declines equate to only a -2,9% decline? Simple answer. The Leahy Factor. Weighted Averages. Over 80% of the total circulation of newspapers can be attributed to distribution of free local newspapers which are stable. And the growth sector – Hybrid Newspapers – only accounts for 1% of total circulation.

    Sadly an ABC circulation is no longer a measure of a publication’s health. Merely a measure of the publisher’s ability to print more copies. And that’s the real challenge for publishers at the end of the day. In fact its the universal media challenge.

    If I can’t sell my product how can I monetise it?

    If you don’t believe me just ask Elon Musk.  

     

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