THE TRUTH ABOUT MEDIOCRE CLIENTS, AGENCIES AND BUSINESS RESULTS

Congratulations to the winners of the 2024 Effie Awards South Africa, which were announced on the 24th of October. As Co-Chairperson, I was given a mic on the night of the awards ceremony. Big mistake! I got some uncomfortable truths of my hairy chest.

People have been asking for the speech I made, probably because everyone was at the bar at the time. So, for them and for those who were not at the event at all, here it is:

Good evening ladies and gentlemen.?

When Gillian Rightford asked me to co-chair the Effie Awards South Africa , I was reluctant, to be honest. I was reluctant because I know how much effort is required in judging these entries. So I’d like to start off by thanking the judges for their incredible effort. I have to be honest, every single judge I encountered, dedicated hordes of personal time and more importantly, attention to each of your entries. They afforded every single entry the respect it deserved. Honestly! Please could I ask you to give the judges your loudest, warmest, most respectful round of applause.

I’d also like to thank my co-chair Refilwe Maluleke , Gillian Rightford and the rest of the Effie Awards South Africa team for making this event possible. The truth is, you made the whole process such a pleasure. Honestly.

Lastly, I’d like to congratulate the winners - irrespective of gold or finalist status. I have to be honest yet again, your work represents us so well as an industry. Congratulations and thank you for showing the world how only great creativity can deliver eye-popping results.

But I always say, agencies are only as good as their clients. Or bad.

So, while we celebrate the great work tonight, I have to be honest one last time… we are producing more mediocre work than ever before. It shows not only at Cannes where SA dropped 20 places from 6 to 26 but more importantly on our screens. And in the spirit of honesty, I have to say that it’s the marketer, you the client, that holds the key to changing the standard of work our consumers see. Because ultimately, you are the ones who sign off the work… good, bad and especially mediocre, which means you are the gatekeepers. Creative agencies cannot do anything without you. It’s not easy being this honest but I have to say it.

Marketers, I urge you to experiment more, be bolder and braver. It’s not easy, I know it isn’t. It requires an immense amount of discomfort, greater trust in creative people, a lot more effort and more inconvenience than everything else you produce. But be honest, nothing great has ever come from playing it safe. Creativity by definition, is not safe but that’s where the magic lies; in doing what has never been done before. In trying and failing and trying again until you succeed. That’s how the great results are achieved; through experimentation. Let’s be honest, not a single one of the marketing case studies we all quote in our boardrooms were guaranteed winners when they were conceived... until of course, they actually won.?

I plead with you to trust your agency more when they advise you on creative matters. why should you? well, they actually do know better because that is the craft they have dedicated their lives to. I beg you to demand better from your agencies too. Seeing that we’re being so honest tonight, often it’s the agencies that are the problem. And if they are, fire them! If you don’t, you the marketer, are the problem. Get a better agency because you have that power and the responsibility to your brand to deliver greatness. You, the marketer, hold the key to great creative work… which is the key to better performing campaigns… which is the key to delivering exponential growth for your brand… which in turn is the key to a thriving economy… which we all agree is the answer to a better South Africa for all of us.

So, the next time you’re putting a brief in, or reviewing work, or sitting in an approval just remember, you are not just approving a campaign… you are about to make everything better, for everyone.?O

r worse.

Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to be this honest. Enjoy the evening and to the very worthy winners, congratulations again on creating such great work. I’m jealous I didn’t do it. Honestly!

Thank you.

(cue uncomfortable yet polite applause)