Twitter's abuzz about Sunday's Idols final - but did you realise Telkom sponsored the show? It's been embarking on unconventional sponsorships since realising customers have fallen out of love with it. Because with economic times tough, it's all too easy to stick to a tried and tested approach rather than make a bold, unprecedented move out of the marketing comfort zone.
It's even thinking beyond simply spouting boring vanilla value propositions when embarking on traditional TVCs to promote the company, by using the most difficult to control group of actors to great effect - babies. Some say animals are more of a handful, but at least they respond to instruction. Watch the making of the 'Telkom Tomorrow Starts Today' ad below for a better idea...
Moving on to the broader broadcast landscape, Scarcella tells us about Telkom's content sponsorships, such as Idols, Dragons' Den, radio soapie Chomza Place, and DStv Box Office and why technology companies need to reinvent themselves.
Scarcella: I can't speak for all companies, but within Telkom, until recently, the default approach was to sponsor sports events. By sponsoring major sports events, which attract huge audiences through TV deals, companies are assured of easy exposure for their brand. Previously, Telkom's focus was on retail advertising rather than brand positioning. Sponsorship tended to be around soccer and golf rather than lifestyle or media properties. Sometimes that came with the feel-good association. We also sponsored certain conferences and events - generally those with a tech or business audience. We've continued to sponsor a major soccer tournament in South Africa, the Telkom Knock Out, as well as conferences and events in the sector, but we're also sponsoring content for the first time.
Scarcella: By sponsoring events or properties in the public eye, brands have the opportunity to communicate with a passionately engaged audience. Sponsorship can build brand recognition and support brand loyalty. They also give you the opportunity to change the image the public has of your brand. It's about goodwill, and ultimately, such goodwill helps drive sales.
Scarcella: Telkom's CEO, Sipho Maseko, is spearheading a corporate-wide turnaround strategy for the group. We realised that what we were doing in the past wasn't working. We needed to do things differently, to reposition the group, and to work together as one team. This isn't unusual, as the pace of business change has picked up in recent years. Particularly in the technology sector, companies need to constantly reinvent themselves in order to stay relevant. For instance, consumers are much less responsive to traditional advertising than previously. Companies need to provide content that consumers want to engage with. We're applying these lessons at Telkom.
Scarcella: Everything Telkom communicates falls under the "One Telkom" banner. We are no longer interested in fragmenting the group into different brands. We have one brand for one Telkom. In the marketing space, we want to talk to specific target audiences which are relevant to us - such as young families - and position Telkom in a new way. It will take time, but we want audiences to see Telkom as a relevant brand again.
Scarcella: The tech sector is changing faster than any other sector, particularly in the past ten years as social media has taken off. In South Africa, the mobile market is rapidly reaching voice saturation, meaning that companies have to look at new ways of serving consumers and actively drive the migration to digital. Watch the video of Telkom's rAge panel discussion below...
Scarcella: On the positive side, entertainment sponsorship offers two main benefits compared to sports sponsorship. Firstly, the rights fees of entertainment sponsorship are usually lower than those of sports sponsorship, and you have guaranteed media exposure as you receive a certain amount of TV time, which makes entertainment sponsorships lower risk than sports properties. That said, it's important to clarify usage rights before signing the contract so that you know exactly what you're entitled to. Sometimes there are multiple rights holders - for instance, the broadcaster, the international production company, and the international franchise holder. This can make negotiations complex.
Scarcella: Prior to Telkom's environment, Idols was already an established and well-loved title in South Africa. Viewership has increased substantially as the show is now available on Mzansi as well as M-Net, which has effectively tripled the show's reach. That's very good news for Telkom. In addition, we have leveraged Idols through event activations with our own staff and at shopping malls.
Scarcella: Dragons' Den is sponsored by Telkom Business and gives us the opportunity to add value to existing and aspiring entrepreneurs, positioning ourselves as thought leaders in this space through related PR efforts. Chomza Place and DStv Box Office are not sponsorships as such - rather, they're part of our media buying strategy, which aims to keep the Telkom brand current for customers across the content spectrum. They were attractive to us as they gave us the opportunity to speak to different audiences and communicate the Telkom brand proposition, across a wide product portfolio.
Scarcella: In 2003, Telkom was South Africa's most loved brand. Since then, customers have fallen out of love with us. The first step in rebuilding this brand is to look at salience scores - whether potential customers notice and consider us. We need to reconnect with families and with businesses so they know who we are, and we need to be able to do this at scale. We're not a mass market brand. Rather, we're interested in the same market that DStv already plays in. For this, the Idols sponsorship was a perfect fit. If Telkom as a brand is seen as old and staid, Idols is a young, dynamic brand. This assists us in changing that negative image. We're cautiously optimistic that we're moving in the right direction, and we're continuing to work on our own systems so that we deliver on our brand promise and increase customer satisfaction levels.
Scarcella: People have more access to knowledge and information than ever before. They're able to make far more informed purchase decisions. But as consumer access to information increases, the importance of brand communication decreases. It will always be needed to build emotion and context, but it won't be the most important part of the decision-making process. Instead, customer experience is becoming the differentiating factor. That's where we should be focusing our energy, with creative solutions that delight consumers.
Most organisations are good at carrying out high-investment projects - often infrastructure - which have a big impact on the customer experience, because there are specialised skills in this area, such as project management, and a well-established track record at carrying out similar projects. But if you look at the really great brands, they're also good at finding low-cost solutions which have a disproportionate impact on customers. This builds emotion and personal connection with customers, and that's the hardest part of the brand journey.
Lots of hard work ahead for all involved in marketing, it seems...
