Ad agencies should think deep by looking deeper said Nic Bednall of BBDO Cape Town at the recent Reshaping Media conference held in Johannesburg.
In a presentation on how ad agencies are coping with the new digital media, Bednall maintained that it is not what agencies are doing now but how they are planning for the future that will determine how brands communicate.
“The real challenge in the current media and technology evolution is how to reach the poor. I believe a campaign is only effective when it reaches the poor but advertisers tend only to want to reach rich people, as they’re the ones with the money to spend. Consider that 80% of the world’s population is poor – this is a potential $5tn market for advertisers.
“By 2015 some 42% of Africans will be youth. So we’re getting younger while Europe is getting older. Furthermore, Africa’s growth has been outpacing world growth since 2001 according to the IMF (International Monetary Fund). Sixty four percent of the African population lives in countries which are oil exporters. So, how do we get the billions of poor to join the economy?’
In answering the question Bednall referred to the noted Indian economist, Coimbatore Krishnarao Prahalad, who has created business models for alleviating world poverty. “Prahalad says that if you extend credit to the poor, then they will elevate themselves. So in South Africa there is an opportunity for banks to extend credit to the poor. Another of Prahalad’s points is about shaping aspirations. Access to media drives aspirations to the poor. In South Africa 64% of people watched television yesterday. The licensing of four new pay-TV licences will lead to an expolosion of media but price of access is a factor. To improve access we need distribution and communication links.
“Prahalad also talks about tailoring local solutions. For instance, in poverty stricken India a lot of products are sold as single serve portions, such as a tea bag for one cent. To pull all these things together Prahalad says that multiple players are necessary. Which is why at BBDO, as an agency, we’re collaborating with as many people as possible and thinking deeper.’
Bednall ended by saying that conventional thinking in ad agencies leads to mediocrity.
