The DOC and the GURU

This week on the Doc and Guru Podcast we look back on the year that was. The highlights. The lowlights. And the absence of lights.

As is always the case in South Africa it has been a roller coaster of a marketing and media ride in 2022. So as we prepare to recharge the batteries this holiday season (literally and figuratively) and to reflect on the inevitable challenges that lie ahead in 2023, the Doc and Guru Podcast team would like to thank you all for taking the time to listen, and for joining in the discussion this year.

Have a wonderful break.

And remember. The real problems only start when people stop talking to each other.

Let’s keep talking! Facebook

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of marketing wisdom, it was the age of advertising foolishness, it was the epoch of media belief, it was the epoch of procurement incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair. We had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way”.

With apologies to Charles Dickens and my matric English teacher.

This week on the Doc and Guru Podcast we say farewell to advertising and marketing industry stalwart Yvonne Johnston as she relocates to a new life in Majorca. Or is that Malta?

Yvonne reflects on her early days in advertising and media, and her journey from media planner to founding CEO of BrandSA, and now highly successful Self-Mastery and Leadership Coach.

Yvonne’s journey is a testimony to the power of constantly expanding your knowledge, reinventing yourself and always preparing for the next challenge.

If you’re tired of outsourcing your career join us this week on the #DocAndGuru podcast as we discover what’s next for Yvonne Johnston. And maybe what’s next for you as we all reflect on the challenges and opportunities for us as a nation, and as individuals, in 2023.

Bon Voyage Yvonne. It’s been a pleasure sailing with you these past 30 something years. What a journey it’s been. Facebook

Whether you prefer to call them GenZ or Born Frees there’s no getting away from the fact that there are a lot of them in South Africa, and they are shaping the way we think about advertising brands and creating content.

This week on the Doc and Guru podcast we chat with Dalene Muller - Head: Media Intelligence AdSpace 24 – about the recently published AdSpace24 qualitative report on GenZ -The Real Facts.

The global resurgence of interest in qualitative research and ethnography is fuelled by the growing realisation that we need to view branding and advertising in context. Agile qualitative insights are not a substitute for big numbers, but they do go a long way towards explaining the numbers that we already have.

Bound by their compulsion to engage with social media but conflicted by their growing disconnection from these very same platforms, Born Frees in South Africa mirror many of the insights being reported about GenZ globally.

Their orientation toward brands with integrity and advertising with purpose.

A growing re-evaluation of the role of paid influencers.

The need to balance life, work and branded aspirations

There is also an undisputed desire to engage with trusted content sources and media with a conscience.

GenZ will give you their attention - BUT! You have to earn it.

Whether you call them #GenZ or #BornFree - what’s in a name? A brand by any other name would smell as sweet. Unless you live in Cape Town of course.

Join us for this week’s episode of the Doc and Guru Podcast for our conversation about The World according to GenZ.

Available #free on all your favourite listening platforms. Facebook

We discuss all of these and a whole lot more on this week’s The DOC & The GURU Podcast, as we welcome Melanie Sarjoo into the studio. Having just finished a 5-year stint at a major advertising group, Melanie shares her experiences as well as ideas on her New Next.

We chat about how change brings growth and new opportunities – if you are open to it. On DEI, Melanie asks why there aren’t more women heading up the creative function, or for that matter, the entire agency and what can be done about this. She also touches on her personal journey and shares about the Foundation for Inclusive Education and urges that more people with disabilities be employed in the advertising and media industry.

We also touch on culture, remote work, and the importance of understanding and embracing the human side of business; with heart and compassion, whilst showing up differently. With some of her life’s lessons…

So, this is again another end-to-end episode of The DOC & The GURU Podcast that you really don’t want to miss.

#change #reinvention #opportunity #advertising #media Facebook

As you have come to expect with The DOC & The GURU Podcast, this week is again action-packed as we cover a host of interesting and critically-important topics, when chatting with Jayson Naidoo and Vivien Katzav of the newly-formed Blanchard South Africa.

From the classic and best-selling ‘The One Minute Manager’, Ken Blanchard and his team at The Ken Blanchard Companies have built one of the world’s leading training and development companies over the past 40 years; that is now even easier to access than ever before.

In this episode, we cover both generic and SA-specific challenges as well as some of the world-class educational products and services that are available (in multiple formats). Our chat includes government and societal ills, the corporate market, student engagement, iconic leadership, and are you truly a Servant Leader (listen in to take the quiz) as well as a whole lot more…

With the ongoing challenge to nurture great leaders for today and tomorrow, Blanchard continues to invest in research and design around leadership. In taking this message around the country, Viv is presenting ‘Leadership Malpractice – A South African Perspective’ at a free business breakfast next week. So, if you are in the JHB area, this is a great opportunity to get a sense of what Blanchard can offer you and your company (the link is in the comments below to reserve a seat).

So, as we always say - be part of the conversation and don’t miss out, by listening to another great episode of The DOC & The GURU Podcast.

#leadership #training #learning #development #performance Facebook

This week on the Doc and Guru podcast we chat with Nkgabiseng Motau Chief Creative Officer at Think Creative Africa and Jury President of the Pendoring Awards 2022. Nkabiseng is joined in studio by Eben Keun General Manager of the #PendoringAwards22 and Chief Brand Architect of Breinstorm Brand Architects.

Originally created in 1995 to promote and stimulate the use of Afrikaans in advertising, Pendorings has continued its evolution towards fully inclusive linguistic and cultural representation. And they have UNESCO endorsement to prove it. The awards are now open to all indigenous languages and extend beyond advertising to include inter alia books, music videos and social media content.

More than 60 years ago Marshal McLuhan coined the phrase that has done so much to commoditize media and fuel the race to the bottom for cultural and contextual nuance in advertising.

The medium is the message.

But if we are to succeed with fundamental transformation in advertising and media, or better still transfiguration, then we need to embrace a new reality. When it comes to cultural expression in advertising and media the new reality is that

The message is the medium.

The World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) guide to Diversity and Representation outlines 4 clear themes to explore for DEI

• Inclusive Audience Planning

• Supporting Diverse Voices

• Balancing Brand Safety

• Measuring Success

In a fractious and increasingly divided South Africa, fostering a diversity of voices is a critical imperative.

Join us this week on the Doc and Guru Podcast as we pose the question to the Pendoring Award team

Can we really have sustainable industry transformation without fostering cognitive and cultural diversity? Facebook

This week on the Doc and Guru podcast we chat with Lynne Krog - Senior Research Strategist and Kamogelo Aphane - Corporate Affairs Manager at Spark Media about the release of their latest media and marketing database ROOTS 8.0

Under its various noms du rechercher ROOTS research has been conducted regularly since the ‘80s. The latest release ROOTS 8.0 dissects at a granular level the media consumption and retail behaviour of 97 communities across key economically active areas in South Africa.

23,000 interviews were conducted with people who receive a local community paper that is either delivered to the home, sold or bulk distributed, and the database delivers insights into the lives of over 9 million adults living in 3,9 million homes.

From Polokwane to Plett.

The increasingly problematic limitations of traditional F2F research, particularly under-reading at the top end of the market, have necessitated a new hybrid research methodology for ROOT 8.0. But as Lyn Krog puts it there has been “an evolution in the way we asked the questions – not an evolution in the questions themselves”. So ROOTS 8.0 stacks very neatly on top of its predecessors in building a solid foundation for effective advertising and media planning in the retail landscape.

How has Covid19 changed the retail landscape?

On the eve of Black Friday is ‘Deal Hunting’ still a function of Have-not Households only?

And what is really happening in Phuzamaritzburg?

To find out, listen in to this episode of the #DocAndGuru podcast and find out how you can access agile and actionable insights from this important #OpenSource marketing and media database from Spark Media.

Let’s keep talking! Facebook

This week on the Doc and Guru podcast we chat with Arabang Makaza - Senior Manager Media Strategy, Planning & Buying at MTN - about her journey across the South African media landscape since the first dawn of democracy in South Africa.

The launch of Pepsi in the early 90s was a defining moment for the local marketing and media industry. Centred on an unswerving commitment to grass roots empowerment, from informal trade distribution to advertising messaging, and even the structure of the agency team, Pepsi laid down a marker for their brand vision in the New South Africa.

And Arabang was part of the Pepsi vision from Day 1.

In this episode you can find out just how we have fared with respect to empowerment over the past 3 decades. Much is being made in the industry about the need to for people to “pass the baton” of media skills but is enough being done to ensure that the next generation is actually ready to run the next leg of the media relay without dropping baton? As Alice in Wonderland said to the MAC Charter

"It takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!"

Or was that the Mad Hatter?

Where does the baton change take place for media in a Full-Funnel media landscape? If you can’t do digital in a traditional way, is it equally fair to say you can’t do traditional in a digital way? Indeed, when it comes to the Metaverse things get curiouser and curiouser said Arabang.

Stay grounded. Stay curious. Arabang Makaza talks about the importance of doing media with passion and setting out to learn something new about your craft every day.

Join us this week on the Doc and Guru Podcast. Available #free on all major listening platforms. Facebook

This week on the Doc and Guru Podcast we chat with the one of South Africa’s most experienced and well-respected media figures - Colin Ramparsadh Business Unit Manager at The MediaShop.

A great team player over the years, Colin is also a passionate and vociferous Liverpool supporter. It’s quite ironic then that the quiet man of media has over the years earned the respect of his peers by being, the undisputed champion of well-reasoned media decision making.

An equally avid Bollywood enthusiast, Colin has been passionate about movies from an early age. In fact Colin was “almost born in a cinema”, so it’s quite fitting that he started his media career with Cinemark during the golden age of cinema advertising.

In this podcast Colin Ramparsadh talks about his media journey over the past 4 decades and his technique for embracing change and remaining relevant in the new mediaverse.

Media strategists in South Africa are at a watershed moment.

In this #DocAndGuruPodcast with Colin Ramparsadh we reflect on the road ahead and some of the critical interventions that need to take place if we are truly going to embrace transformation and survive as a competitive media industry.

So when it comes to media strategy, can we continue to use linear models to explain and predict consumer media-behaviour, or should we be thinking in terms of concentric circles? Is it more important to keep your strawberries in a row or to play with the clay?

In fact, when we consider the continuing obsession many South African strategists have with media trends emerging from Western Europe and North America, rather than markets like India, Brazil and Indonesia, we need to pose the question – are we even playing with the right clay?

In the sporting world the one accolade that we reserve for the best of the best is that we refer to them by one name. Messi. Ronaldo. Rafa. Tiger.

So take a deep breath. Tune in. And listen to Colin this week on the #DocAndGuruPodcast.

Because for all of us in the media industry, there is only one Colin. Facebook

This week on the Doc and Guru Podcast we chat with Sadika Fakir – Integrated Media and Digital Director at Tiger Brands.

When it comes to media surely full funnel is simply that - full funnel? So at first glance a title like Integrated Media and Digital seems something of a contradiction in terms. To be sending out a mixed signal. A bit like asking for a boerewors roll at a vegan braai.

Whether it’s a financial juggernaut or a frisky FMCG mix, one of the pillars of successful client-side media management is facilitating open and agile engagement, not only with media agencies, but also with media owners.

Listen in and find out why, when it comes to corporate titles, all is not quite what it seems at first glance. Internal structures and internal processes are not always the same thing.

How do you take a technical specialisation like media – that is normally agency based – and start operating it in the corporate space? Is there a difference between managing an in-house media facility and managing the interface between 3rd party media-agency suppliers?

Sadika outlines some of the key performance criteria for effective channel strategy and for maintaining homeostasis between media creativity and robust procurement in the POE model.

Is the media planning process really just all about Brilliant Basics and is Brilliant Basics the same as being Best in Box?

Listen in free this week to the Doc And Guru Podcast in conversation with Sadika Fakir. Facebook