I have begun to question the wisdom of committing, albeit only to myself, to writing a blog every day for the duration of #Lockdown2020. But as the halfway point looms I, like Macbeth, realise that,
I am in blood Stepped in so far that, should I wade no more,
Returning were as tedious as go o’er.
~ Macbeth Act 3: Scene 4
Or was that Owen Farrell in the Final Act of Rugby World Cup?
#Lockdown2020 note to self: Read more Shakespeare and watch fewer sports reruns of Cheslin Kolbe in Japan. Although for any English rugby fans out there who might be reading this blog, Owen Farrell really does demonstrate the dangers of over-commitment. You can take a look for yourself.
Don’t do this if you’re in media.
Of course back in the day, when advertising agencies still existed, we never over-committed ourselves in media. We had account service to do that on our behalf. I can’t tell you how many times we had a perfectly good media lunch interrupted by a suit wanting a media schedule.
Then we’d have to haul back to the agency and spend the afternoon using D ‘Agostini’s Constant to manually calculate GRPS. And don’t get me going on the subject of GRPS. Of course software does all that stuff for you today. Faster and more accurately, but inevitably with the same outcome.
Speaking of commitment, it is actually quite encouraging to see how many people are reacting to Lockdown2020 by setting themselves challenges. TikTok #stayhome and YouTube #staywithme challenges are both trending globally. Some oke in Somerset West ran a full 100km round his garden in one day this weekend. But when it comes to setting yourself Lockdown2020 challenges, you don’t have to go the full TikTok route and make a complete Farrell of yourself. Just do the job! Simple and achievable goals work best. So in my case I’m ahead of deadline to complete a Lockdown Marathon around my house this week; 21 days. 2km a day. Simple.
The real question is, what will we do when things get back to normal?
Why on earth would we set ourselves up to do the #LockDown 210 000 step challenge if we’re not going to blitz that first Park Run with a PB on Saturday 18 April? I mean not even Vitality can motivate me to do that with their incredibly generous offer of a free cup of coffee or a glass of juice at Kauai each week.
When things get back to normal. What then?
That’s what we need to start focusing on in media.
Global advertising budgets have been decimated and patterns of investment have been massively disrupted. Agencies and media owners alike have responded by laying off staff left, right and centre. When things get back to normal, what then? Will management still be talking about commitment, teamwork and shared values?
Last week Financial Mail, one of the pillars of business publishing in South Africa, announced that during South Africa’s coronavirus lockdown they “will not be able to print and distribute the Financial Mail magazine every Thursday as usual”. The good news, of course, is that you can you can still read for free the full magazine online during this time. And full credit to them for that.
But what then? What happens when things get back to normal?
On Tuesday 7 April, the PRC publishes the second PAMS database. It’s a really big day in the South African media calendar for a number of reasons. For instance, having PAMS 2019 and ES 2019AB published in relatively close proximity will better allow us to benchmark SEM segmentation across studies. We will be able to see how the two studies stack up when it comes to reported reading of newspaper and magazines, print or digital formats, at a media platform level.
From a publishing perspective, the most intriguing thing of course will be the performance of individual titles. In 2017 Financial Mail had a 179 000 average issue readers for the print edition and a 104 000 for the online edition. Where will the tipping point be for magazine titles that are simply no longer viable in the printed format? How many magazines have reached the point where online readers exceed readers of the printed edition?
The first edition of Financial Mail was printed and published in 1959. Will 26 March 2020 be the last?
Now when it comes to setting yourself LockDown2020 challenges, you don’t have to go the full TikTok route and make a complete Farrell of yourself. Just do the job! Simple and achievable goals work best.
Of course back in the day, when advertising agencies still existed, we never over-committed ourselves in media. We had account service to do that on our behalf. I can’t tell you how many times we had a perfectly good media lunch interrupted by a suit wanting a media schedule.
Gordon Muller is Africa’s oldest surviving media strategist. Author of Media Planning – Art or Science. Mostly harmless! Read his Khulumamedia Blog here.
