I hate the word “advertising”.

Whenever I am at a social event and someone asks what I do, I mumble something about working in an advertising agency and hope I don’t get the usual barrage of judging looks and comments about working for an evil team of brainwashers.

Somewhere along the way advertising lost its allure, it’s sense of glamour and it’s credibility as a service that solved business problems. Almost every business problem presented to an agency is solved with an expensive television ad that may or may not give the business return on investment. Of course there is no real way to really measure return on investment in advertising. Yes, there may have been a spike in sales for that period but has any long term brand loyalty been created for the millions spent on creating the ad then the millions spent on flighting the ad?

Technological developments and social movements are taking the world by storm, and marketers have become even more cost conscious than before and those three words ‘RETURN ON INVESTMENT’ are heard in every meeting I’m in - and rightly so.

Paired that with the fact that every person with a Mac has become a ‘Designer’, and everyone with a facebook page is a Community Manager, it has become harder and harder for advertising agencies to justify their costs.

Advertising as we knew it is no longer. Gone are the days of overseas shoots for TV ads showing the joys of smoking. In a world where we are being called to be more accountable, it has become imperative that agencies put the needs of their client first. Clients and stakeholders need to know that you are treating their budget as your own.
If it was your R5 million would you spend it on a TV ad?

This is a belief I have held for some time and it is something that we have made a part of our agency culture. We know that your R1 has to give you R5 in return. While we can’t guarantee it, we can put in place practices that ensure we are responsible and conscientious with every cent we spend

  • We collaborate closely with the client, and sometimes even more importantly, the stakeholders of the business. If we know what your business objectives are, we can help the marketing team develop plans and brand campaigns that work towards that goal.

  • We stay on top of new trends that are currently effective in the industry to ensure that the mediums we offer actually work for your brand. You will be amazed by the platforms that are now available in a world that is fastly innovating. If we conceive it and it hasn’t been developed yet, we will source the right partner to make it possible.

  • We spend a lot of time doing analysis, research and focus groups to ensure that we listen to the consumer.

  • We put our ego’s aside and offer you what is best for the brand not just for our portfolio. If we are not making you successful we are not doing our jobs.

  • We put benchmarks and deliverables in place that we aim to meet. We monitor the campaign, adjust and react to the consumer response ensuring a more considered approach. We measure the success and do post mortems of every campaign to see what worked and why and apply the same learning to the next campaign.

  • We put tracking measures into our elements so that we can see who interacted with the content and tweak throughout the campaign.

We are passionate about this belief and want to lead the way for a new wave of brand agencies that consider alternative consumer contact points, whether they have been done before or not, and whether it will give us an easy media commission structure or not.

If it is right for the brand, measurable and focuses on maximising budget and interactivity between brand and consumer then we will present it to you – all couched within a BIG IDEA that answers to the need for creative expression.

It’s a balance, and if found, one that will allow clients to trust and believe in agencies again. Wouldn’t that be lovely?

By Charisse Nel
Client Service Director, Arctic Circle
@shazzup