[MShow] Strategic Imperatives for Marketers in South Africa

Terry Murphy, Publisher of Marketingmix, SA

Measurability is a strong characteristics of new media. Lots of new data available. Other media needs to provide more data to stay in the game and be competitive.

Media owners need to join and share marketing risk. Marketers want qualified leads, want sales. End of day, it is all about selling. The closer we can get you to qualified leads, the happier you will be.

Direct marketing is a powerful tool. Remember, you can use traditional media to get a response by cooperating with other media.

You don’t use one medium for a solution. Never forget that bottom line is to move merchandise.

Multi media campaigns: how do you evaluate each component to see which one made the difference. This is very complex.

“Believable measurability” is better than “measurability”. A skeptic is a person who can be persuaded, a cynic doesn’t want to believe. Be cynical when reading the data. Need more risk sharing models.

New media owners in SA are on the ball. Traditional media not so much, not fully woken up to fact they need to fight for share of cake.

Breaking the clutter is difficult. Average store hits you with up to 20 000 separate marketing messages. It is a huge problem. Add to this the fact very few marketing budgets are increasing. Most are staying at 2007 levels. They are definitely not slinging money at media. Smarter spending is crucial.

Credibility is always important and powerful. Creative stimulus can be exceptional.

Experimental media is in. Feel touch emotion stimulus. Very powerful if done right. This is not just a media activity, it is also a retail activity. Malls want you to have an exciting time. The shop itself is becoming experimental location. Brands should work with shops.

Young people do not trust advertising.

You must have shrewd understanding of consumer insights. Regulatory environment. Consumer protection, privacy etc. Consumer friendly corporate govt codes are key to building consumer trust. Effective response mechanism to consumer concerns will provide competitive advantage. Pick n Pay has been one of most trusted brands in SA for past 30 yrs.

You need fast reaction to criticism. In today’s world of blogs, etc fast reaction is crucial.

Be aware of the sustainability factor: products that do not do damage to environment or people. Anticipate rising consumer concerns. The “green” factor will become very important in this market.

Townships – truly exciting. Creation of self contained metropolitan areas. Development of shopping malls, recreational facilities. You should focus on townships as a priority. When you have change in a society, the guys who understand that change can make a lot of money.

Black diamonds: even if they don’t live in townships, they do visit them. Profound change in shopping patterns. Malls have to change. Low income, but a lot of it is disposable. There is more of them. That adds up to big pile of money. Low income blacks prefer brands they trust. Some brands are decreasing size of packages, to make them more appealing and affordable. Also, be aware of language to the audience. A black can call a black a “darkie”, but not for a white person to do so.

Townships are going to grow in front of your eyes.

Visit your market. You cannot sell in a spaza if you have never been to a spaza.

(Tom has an aside that in France it is illegal to target your marketing efforts at different ethnic groups.)