I recently opened Tony Koenderman’s Brainstorm 2010 conference with a presentation on the current challenges facing the communications industry. It attempts, uncomfortable as it is, to address some of the real truths both clients and agencies are facing. I have had a lot of requests for this presentation so here it is. I’ve expressly made it relatively self-explanatory, but if there are gaps, apologies for not attaching my speakers notes. - Mike Abel

1. YOU CAN RUN BUT YOU
CAN’T HIDE
Brainstorm 2010

2. WHO’S IN THE
HOUSE?

3. How many Client CEO’s are here today?
How many Marketing Directors are here today?
How many Procurement Departments are here today?
How many agency CEO’s are here today?

4. UNDERSTANDABLE

5. All we’re talking about today is the small matter of
someone chooses a competitors’ brand over yours.
WHY

6. HOW TO SURVIVE 2011 & BEYOND
Psychologists tell us that acknowledgement of an issue is logically
the first step towards finding a solution.
Darwin observed that it was not the strongest of the species
that survived, but those who were most adaptable to change.

7. QUESTION
# 1:
Are you actually aware that there has been a seismic
shift over the past decade between the client’s real
needs and most ad agencies’ real offering?
QUESTION
# 2:
Has everyone forgotten the consumer?
(Because they’ve left the building).
HOW TO SURVIVE 2011 & BEYOND

8. “WE’VE BEEN
HAVING IT….”

9. SOME INCONVENIENT TRUTHS
Most advertising and communication currently out there has little or
nothing to do with the very real challenges that the client organisation
faces.
Most of South Africa’s biggest spenders are throwing mega money at
trying to entertain consumers through advertising that has no
meaningful consumer benefit, differentiated offer or reason to
purchase. And it is not linked to their key challenges.

10. SOME INCONVENIENT TRUTHS
It seems to make no difference if
the work doesn’t succeed as
client’s have actually forgotten
that communications has the
ability to transform a company’s
prospects, if that even was the
intention - and therefore expect
no return on investment.
LOGICAL
CONCLUSION
# 1:

11. SOME INCONVENIENT TRUTHS
The real meaty conversations
obviously aren’t happening at
the top table between client
and agency - business intent in
this current transaction is
therefore largely facile and
platitudinous.
LOGICAL
CONCLUSION
# 2:

12. POINTS I WILL COVER IN NO
ORDER OF IMPORTANCE

13. Our
Creator
TRUST?
(Procurement & a
world of bull)
The job of the
agency
(Informed,
imaginative &
accountable)
Dumbing-
down fresh
thinking
New model &
new remuneration
models – putting
skin into the
game
Integration
versus 100%
of Client
wallet
Talent

14. THE CHANGED LANDSCAPE
The consumer landscape has changed dramatically and yet the
marketing and advertising landscape steadfastly refuses to follow suit.
Simply put, we lag considerably.

15. THE CHANGED
CONSUMER LANDSCAPE

16. Time-starved snackers – info bites, tweets, reading in headlines…
Vacuous escapism – celebrity, reality TV. The most read author in Business
Class is Jacqui Collins!
“Word of mouse”: Consumer-generated content is becoming king: 25% of
search results on the planets’ top 20 brands are links to user-generated
content.
Disloyal (see 1, 2 & 3 above) or simply, convenience rules. Brands need to
work that much quicker and that much harder.
Unconfined by convention: marriage (what’s that?) rates in steep decline,
divorce rates in steep incline. Anything goes.
Highly creative! Over 200 million blogs with 50% of their “authors”, posting
or tweeting daily.

17. Affluenza 1. (n.) A painful, contagious,
socially transmitted condition of overload, debt, anxiety
and waste resulting from the dogged pursuit of more.
(n.) The bloated, sluggish and unfulfilled feeling that
results from efforts to keep up with the Joneses. 2. An
epidemic of stress, overwork, waste and indebtedness
caused by the pursuit of the “American Dream”.

18. “W RLD
OF MOUTH”

19. More people follow Ashton Kutcher & Ellen DeGeneres on Twitter
than the population of Ireland, Norway & Panama.
1 out of 8 couples that married in the USA last year met via Social
Media.
is the 2nd
largest Search Engine globally.
’s population makes it the 4th
largest “country” on the
Planet.

20. INSPIRING THE CREAT R
Engage them with in a useful place, with useful content and
interesting & simple information.
talk participate listen talk some
more

21. INSPIRING THE CREAT R
Provide the palette, colours and paint (fun).
It is not about “follow me, I’m right behind you”.

22. INSPIRING THE CREAT R
CONSUMER TRUTH # 1: People seek that which has value.
CONSUMER TRUTH # 2: People trust you more if they like you.
CONSUMER TRUTH # 3: People like consistency.
CONSUMER TRUTH # 4: People want self-belief / conviction from us.
UNIVERSAL TRUTHS: The need to be loved, understood & respected.

23. TRUST

24. Procurement killed the advertising star.
Commoditized relationships – paying lip-service to partnerships.
Mandatory divorces written into marriage contracts.
“A good deal is when both parties leave the table unhappy”.
The swimwear contest still wins the day (perpetuating the idiocy of pitches).
Hate agency’s that win awards (other than on their own business…).
Johan Rupert and Governance….what happened to the old handshake?
Are the right conversations being held with the right people?

25. TRUST
An agency is doing its job when the communication solution is effectively
developed in line with the key business challenge the organisation is
facing and the client is trying to solve.
A client is doing its job when he/she briefs the agency to do the above
and provides them with the senior access, information, permission and
resources to solve the true problem.

26. A CRISIS
IN REAL SOLUTIONS

27. Agencies today are largely thinking in executional ideas rather than brand
ideas. And in truth, most clients and agencies can’t tell the difference
between the two.
Agencies are still largely paid for execution or time spent and not the
solution (or the results thereof). And most wouldn’t have it any other
way…
Social media, digital, PR, activation ideas and channels should be at the
very centre of today’s solutions but are still being relegated to the old
media slot at the end of the presentation – and this is largely being
handled by other “suppliers”.

28. CELEBRATING
PROCESS OVER IDEAS

29. Brand funnels, onions, the intrinsic that matches the extrinsic, the bulls-
eyes, bull-shit. The proprietary tool has lobotomised the idea.
Consumer research: Lots of information, lots of analysis, too little real
insight. Too little time spent in the real world.
Perpetuating the status quo. Why is it the new agency get to do the fresh
work the old agency wasn’t allowed to?
Agencies are winning work on scam and pro bono as clients have
become so risk-averse that vanilla is now the hottest selling flavour.
Mitigating loss: Psychologically, the weight of a unit of loss is 10 times
heavier versus a unit of gain.

30. PUTTING YOUR MONEY
WHERE YOUR MOUTH IS…
$$$

31. ARE YOUR FEES IN LINE
WITH YOUR SOLUTIONS?

32. OUR FEE STRUCTURE
Risk and reward
Linked to clients business performance
Pre-agreed measurables
Constructed in an entirely fresh and innovative way
a. A base admin fee and a sliding % of total sales turnover.
b. Upfront strategy and concept fee then x cents for every item sold.

33. BRAND CONSULTANCY

34. We need to return to the ideas business.
Channel neutral in every sense.
Understand the pulleys and levers to client success.
Results orientated.
Own the opportunity not the overhead.

35. Involved right upfront and at the right level.
Not only paid for input but for output.
We need to embrace the new world like our consumers already
have!
Hire the best people and collaborate with the right people.

36. THANK YOUBrainstorm 2010