We have all been affected by the coronavirus over the past three years, from salary and job cuts to being directly infected with the virus and lives lost across the African continent.
The corporate environment, especially in South Africa, has been hit hard, with many long-standing businesses closing their doors. Pre-Covid-19 we were starting to see GDP in many countries across the continent becoming stable and growing. 2020 started with a bang before the sharp declines of March/April. However, with the strong entrepreneurial spirit of our people, markets are starting to bounce back.
Some markets across the continent have not endured strict lockdown restrictions such as those experiences across Asia, Europe, the US and South Africa. Curfew-based restrictions have allowed the open markets to continue trading to the best of their ability … and winning.
There is no doubt agencies had to rethink their approach. Across the African continent, we saw clients cutting campaigns, moving budgets around with the net impact being ad spend dropping by 6%. Traditional media saw the bulk of the decline while digital media channels took budget upswings. This has in turn forced CEOs, management teams and media owners to rethink how they were positioned for future success and what delivery looked like for clients.
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Under lockdown restrictions we saw a massive swing towards online purchasing. Brick-and-mortar stores had to act fast to make sure their products were available in the digital sphere. In South Africa alone, there was a 37% increase in e-commerce penetration in 2021 and this is forecast to grow another 7% over the next two years. Yes, it was the Covid-19 social-interaction fears that drove consumers to online shopping, but now more and more are seeing the convenience of it and increasing their purchase frequency.
At OMG, many of our clients’ brands are strongly entrenched within the e-commerce space. Our e-commerce framework looks beyond the retail landing purchase page and focuses on the entire consumer journey to the digital shelf – from behind the shelf (strategy and operations), at the shelf (product pages), to the shelf (within the e-commerce environment) and most importantly beyond the shelf (full funnel integration).
Massive digital adoption and e-commerce focus have brought the relevance of data front and centre, along with the ownership of first-party and third-party data. The use of cookies is almost a thing of the past, with the General Data Protection Regulation coming into effect. Measurement is becoming a bigger challenge, so brands and agencies need to think outside the box to ensure they can bring relevant messaging to consumers within the attention economy. Innovative and creative thinking must be embraced to deliver optimal solutions.
Getting closer to consumers and finding alternative ways to collect data is critical but we also need to be cognisant that the consumer may request a reward in exchange for premium data. At OMG, we have combined our research, data and analytics teams to bring together all data sources, so that we can ensure clients are making the most of the data that is available across all our markets. In Africa this is critical, as “safe” environments are few and far between.
Measurement is key
OMG has observed a decline in research, or the updating thereof, due to budgets being cut and industry bodies being unable to fund updated measurement studies. This has, to a degree, driven spend from television and radio to digital. Through OMG’s omni-studio tool we can ensure reach across video/audio/television, thus allowing us to migrate clients spend to the correct channel without losing measurability.
This has driven an increased interest in programmatic (secure walled gardens) as opposed to open exchanges. Most global brands require us to ensure brand safety and viewability, which is difficult on the African continent (outside of South Africa), so a secure platform is gold. Should OOH programmatic grow through digital OOH, we will see a massive shift into this area, as we know most people on the continent are spending the majority of their time on the go and are exposed to OOH daily, which aids purchase intent decisions.
We’re in the process of building an end-to-end solution for our clients spanning tech, talent and data to ensure process efficiency. This will free up more time to spend on strategic intent and optimisation of campaigns to allow KPI delivery, return on investment, and new technology innovation, which was somewhat lost during Covid-19).
What is normal any more?
The word “pitch” sends shivers through agency corridors, especially when it’s for a client who has been with you for several years. Building trusted and long-term relationships with clients is critical for the future. Relationships where the team spends time with clients and key stakeholders within the business have taken a massive knock with everyone working from home and losing collaboration opportunities.
Even today as we slowly return to normality, the Covid-19 fear lingers on and there are hesitations about face-to-face meetings. Being vaccinated helps take us that step forward and, as the vaccine roll-outs continue, we will surely soon be able to welcome clients into our offices again and restart that much-needed one-on-one collaboration.
The above is all well and good on paper but is only possible with the support of a strong team.
We have seen a mass exodus within various agencies during Covid-19. Growing existing talent and attracting new talent to join the company and the industry at large is a key focus at OMG, part of our drive to becoming a full performance-focused agency. Covid-19 allowed us to upskill and train staff across mediums in an effort to help them become agnostic strategists and planners, and to fully immerse them in technology requirements and back-end measurement metrics.
This was done through regional training sessions, with regular check-ins to allow collaboration between teams and across the continent, ensuring our African staff become one unified force. These sessions will continue to ensure that all staff are in the best position to perform at their peak. Through this approach, we have a clear sense of where our business and the wider media industry need to go, thus allowing us to answer client requirements.
Restrictions are lifted, and life is slowly starting to return to normal. With the worst of the pandemic behind us and the glimpse of a brighter future ahead, agencies need to evolve continually to stay ahead of the game.
Pooven Moonsamy has been in the industry since 1999. After 13 years on the agency side, he joined SAB in procurement across Africa. In 2018, he was promoted to global sourcing director for Anheuser-Busch InBev – Media based in Switzerland. He joined the OMG family in 2021 with a key focus on growing clientele across Africa.
