“As the only study in South Africa where marketers rate their personal choice of media agency professionals, this year’s study has turned up a reasonably diverse group, each of whom obviously stayed top of mind with marketers in order to be named without prompting.”
This is the word from Johanna McDowell, SCOPEN partner and CEO of the Independent Agency Search & Selection Company (IAS), who emphasised the value of the top 10 list due to SCOPEN’s methodology that is based on the service marketers have received from this group.
César Vacchiano, president and CEO of SCOPEN, says that by merely asking marketing decision makers to name their choice of media agency professionals, the responses are a “reflection of the work media personnel do, rather than their popularity in the industry”.
The marketers’ choices saw the following media gurus take their place in the latest study:
- Merissa Himraj, Wavemaker
- Chris Botha, The Media Shop
- Celia Collins, Publicis Media
- Kate Carlisle-Kitz, Mindshare
- Gareth Grant, Meta Media
- Adrian Naidoo, Mindshare
- Kevin Ndinguri, UM
- Graham Deneys, Carat
- Lerina Berman, Dentsu
- Lynette Naidoo, Publicis Media
“The ratings proved interesting,” says McDowell, with a wider spread across agencies than the most admired creative agency professionals.
In congratulating the top 10, Vacchiano says results like these are precisely why marketers are not asked to vote. “We believe SCOPEN’s system gives a true representation of the industry’s key players and we hope to see more proof that efforts are equal due to ability.”
