Thursday, July 2, 2009

Why does SA media not support the ad industry?

Here's an interesting conundrum. Media survives through advertising revenue. Without advertising, commercial media (TV, radio, Newspapers, Magazines, even some revenue based web media) would not be able to survive. Otherwise they'd have to sell a newspaper for R10,000 a go. Okay, that's a guess, but you get my point. So what amazes me is why the media, when there is a great achievement from/by/in the ad industry, like the SA Cannes wins this past week, it remains buried only on the Media/Marketing pages. By the way, these pages are so well hidden in the Weekend Argus, you need a Garmin to find them. Certainly no-one not actively looking for them would ever risk stumbling on them by accident! And yet.... this industry relegated to the least read page in the newspaper is the very same industry that keeps the publication/medium afloat? Is it so-called journalistic integrity? Is it considered not news-worthy for the average reader? Surely business success (even it is just a creative award) on the global stage should be as interesting as success in the sports arena? Cannes, whatever it's critics may say, is a global competition, which 22,652 entries from 86 countries. Little SA did good. Perhaps if we crept into the main pages of the media we would start clawing back some credibility for the industry? Not a guarantee I know, but maybe more people would respect the creative ability in SA's top agencies?

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Creative Advertising for Clients 101

So finally, self-publication of ramblings. Perfect. Where to start?
Maybe with my new workshop: Creative Advertising for Marketers. Think I may change to Creative Literacy. Came out of a commission from a client, and resulted in a "how agencies work, the personalities involved, how agencies (try) make money, client briefs, what happens to the client brief in the agency, creative process and implementation, what makes great creative and why should anyone care, how to evaluate creative and how to build the perfect agency/client relationship that inspires great work" workshop. It went down brilliantly. One client said she's been writing briefs for 8 years and understood for the first time how to do it. Another said she thinks they've been complacent with their agency and been giving them bad briefs through laziness. All good stuff. So now on a mission to get more clients to do the workshop. Onwards, Mission Better Advertising All Round.