- South African advertising agencies must move beyond traditional campaigns to adapt to changing audience behaviour and the creator economy, says Tshepo Moletsane.
- Moletsane proposes that agencies become agent management companies, managing talent, communities and commercial outcomes.
- He identifies four priorities: talent management, cultural relevance, community commerce and revenue-sharing deals.
- Podcasters and TikTok Live hosts are challenging traditional advertising models by building direct relationships with audiences.
- Moletsane argues that agencies must own business outcomes, not just campaigns, to remain competitive.
Glenda Nevill’s report TV isn’t dying, it’s diversifying is the most important corrective our industry has had in years.
The BRC TVM Establishment Survey with 15 000 face-to-face interviews shows what those watching real consumption have known: 68% watched TV/video in the past week, 86% watch favourite programmes on TV sets, the SABC still “sets the table”. Streaming is mainstream at 48%, but watched alone, on mobile, for convenience.
As BRC CEO Gary Whitaker warns, “widest net should not be confused with best platform for every objective”.
TV survived because it accepted it is part of a fluid ecosystem – broadcast, streaming, connected TV, social video alongside one another. Sport remains a ‘standing order’ because it creates shared moments.
Attention lives with people
Ad agencies have not accepted the same truth about their own industry.
We come from an era where South African agencies were independent for a long time, proudly avoiding acquisition. There was an ethic to how we built brands for South African conditions. Then profit lines declined. Many folded, or considered folding into the fold of international networks where shareholder value is sacrosanct.
That structure can harm the industry. When shareholder value is sacrosanct, boldness is delayed. Commercial interest demands cost optimisation, not re-engineering. We saw it with media houses in 2011. We are seeing it with agencies now.
The traditional structure which entails account management + creative + media buying was built for scarcity. It made sense when attention lived in three places.
Today attention lives with people. The podcaster is the channel. The TikTok Live host is the network.
Still operating on a campaign model
Yet the industry still operates on a campaign model: celebrity face, big idea, drop, vanish. Audiences moved to relationships, agencies still sell interruptions.
In EPC project management, where I now work, we distinguish between EPCM and EPC. In EPCM, you advise and rent expertise. In EPC, you own delivery and outcome. Projects do not fail because of engineering. They fail because the delivery structure is wrong.
Most agencies are stuck in EPCM mode. The agencies that survive must move to EPC mode. They must own talent, community, and sale. They will not be ad agencies. They will be Agent Management companies — built like sports management firms.
Four shifts are required
- From Influencer Lists to Talent & Attention. Stop renting faces. Manage a roster of trusted voices long-term. Their trust is the media.
- From creative department to culture & context. Stop making one big ad. Translate one truth into 20 native formats.
- From media buying to community & commerce. Stop buying GRPs. Build loops — TikTok Shop, live commerce, WhatsApp Channels.
- From account management to data & deals. Stop managing accounts. Manage equity and revenue-share deals.
If you really want to know where the audiences are, and where the talent is beyond desktop analysis observe where betting companies are media buying and pivoting.
How betting companies operate
Betting companies don’t buy for awards. They buy for new addicts. They follow attention in real time, with brutal efficiency.
Where they go, the audience has already gone. Their pivot from radio to streamers, from billboards to TikTok Live hosts, from sponsorships to micro-influencers with promo codes — that is your media plan. That is the next location for client retention.
I wrote in 2011 that copy sales will never rescue a publication. Today, campaign awards will never rescue an agency.
TV diversified and lives. Agencies that diversify into agent managers will own the next decade.
Tshepo Moletsane is director at MOLS360 and Tau Africa, specialising in project and operational management in the EPC sector. He is former national brand marketing manager at the former Independent Newspapers.
Disclaimer: I left Independent Newspapers in 2010, just after the FIFA World Cup. All my opinion pieces from 2011-2013 on The Media Online were written post my tenure there, in my personal capacity as an independent industry observer.
