Abey Mokgwatsane

Coming up for air

I feel like I've just come up for air! Maybe that's just a big city thing - whenever you ask a fellow Joburger how they are, the standard response is: "Fine, thanks, just very busy." Anyhow, I really mean it.

Over the past four weeks, the team at VWV has worked on final round pitches for Fan Fests at Nelson Mandela Bay, Polokwane and Cape Town. We're also concluding a massive deal which we can`t tell you about just yet... but what we can share is that finally, after a seven year drought, we've just won our first BMW pitch - hopefully the first of many!

This is a really, really big deal for us. It's imperative for an agency to do great work for great brands and BMW is just that.

Talking about great brands - we had the privilege of producing the 50th MINI birthday celebrations in Clarens mid-October. Over 1000 people from all corners of our country descended on Clarens in their MINIs. It was without a doubt one of the best weekends of my life. MINI and I have had many... but on this particular one, MINI took over the normally sleepy village of Clarens for the entire weekend and something special happened.

I've always thought that MINI has successfully created a sense of community that differentiates itself from other car brands out there and this assumption was ‘driven home' for me at this particular event.

I was lucky enough to be loaned a John Cooper Works convertible for the weekend and I can't tell you how ‘revved up' I was cruising to Clarens in the company of literally hundreds of MINIs all road tripping toward the Maluti mountains. [Yup, indeed it did! I still miss Clare, my MINI Clubman S for the weekend... - acting editor]

MINI and VWV would really like to make this an annual pilgrimage for many more MINIacs in the future - so watch this space, or should I say, watch this road!

Prior to MINI's 50th was the Loeries in Cape Town, but my intentions of blogging about it was ‘overtaken' by talking the torque. I have great respect for the Loeries and it has proven to be a sustainable award ceremony for the advertising industry.

You might know that VWV was awarded with its 102nd Loeries award - these industry accolades span the past 15 years. Our 2009 addition was a bronze in the live events category for the launch event we staged for the new MINI convertible in Jozi's CBD earlier this year. [Which was a seriously awesome event, too - acting editor]

It appears to be a general consensus that the criteria for the experiential category needs more work, as well as requiring better industry representation. My intention is to gather my industry peers and meet with the Loerie committee to work out a way that offers the experiential industry an avenue to proudly showcase its work and share best practice.

The march continues.

[SSN] For profit versus non-profit

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you will know that industry individuals got together on 7 June 2009 to start something new - or SSN, as it is now known. The aim of our gathering was to initiate projects that will create economic value for those less fortunate.

We had come to a point, where the group of individuals that were intrigued and inspired by the idea, were resolved on some key principals of the organisation. These were:

Whatever we start needs to be simple, achievable and sustainable
Need to do things that are for the greater good and will make a difference in our world
We have to finish what we start
We need to chip in and get involved - no bystanders

Another fundamental that was agreed was that SSN would be a non-profit organisation where any profit would be fed back into the community. We were all OK with this... until I received an email from Fran Anderson - one of the attendees of the inaugural prep session a week before the launch.

Fran's input was that SSN needn't be yet another charity organisation lost among copious others in our country. Fran recommended that while it remained committed to creating economic value for less fortunate people, it should generate a profit. Being the best of both worlds is what Fran was getting at, to appeal to peoples need to uplift their fellow man, while still making a sustainable profit for those involved.

Agreed upon

The SSN group met on 20 August and Fran's principal suggestion was agreed upon by everyone in the group.

The course of SSN will be steered toward a company or companies that are able to generate profit for the members involved whose purpose is to create economic value for others.

You might ask how this will work. Assume that, through SSN, member/person initiates a carwash and hires one employee to wash the cars, collect the money, service the customers etc. It is envisaged that after the car wash has paid the employees' salary and running costs, a percentage of the profits generated will be split in two. Theoretically, 50% of the profits will be paid to the SSN member who initiated the car wash and 50% will go to the running costs of SSN. Whatever is left over after covering SSN running costs will be reallocated to the SSN member/initiator.

For example, if the carwash makes R10 profit; R5 will go to the SSN initiator and R5 will go to SSN running costs. Should SSN running costs = R3; then R2 will go back to the SSN initiator. This is the general idea anyway.

The expectation is that the carwash employee then becomes an initiator and starts their own carwash or better yet a number of carwashes; and those employees in turn initiate their own carwashes. SSN will be somewhat of a ‘franchise' model that adds economic value at grass roots.
One of the other realisations the SSN group came to was that, while we were collectively set on economically uplifting the communities in which we operate and live, it was clear that there would be no individual consensus on the avenue of achieving this. Some people wanted to lobby government; others wanted to start charities, and more were eager to set up entrepreneurship initiatives.

Umbrella organisation

We soon agreed that an umbrella organisation (still to be named) would be established to attract, celebrate and propagate ideas that uplift society on a sustainable basis. SSN would be a part of this grouping.

Different individuals from varied backgrounds will meet on a quarterly basis with other like-minded individuals, to discuss initiatives that they have started, and receive input from the group.

So where does this leave the SSN concept that I began? The principals of the organisation that I will head remain the same. The only difference is that it will be a ‘for profit' venture as opposed to a non-profit organisation. All involved will make money relative to their effort and enterprise in uplifting those South Africans that need our assistance.

I am looking forward to working with people who can generate good ideas and come up with positive, pragmatic initiatives to up-skill our communities and create economic wealth for the less fortunate among us.

We have already had success: the first startup is a car wash business which has already been successfully initiated at VWV. This full-time car wash employee went from earning R300 per month as a gardener to earning R2500 on a sustainable basis at the car wash. The second idea under the SSN umbrella is an earthworm organic manure initiative that is based on a really innovative way to deal with restaurant waste.

Both these business ideas will be extrapolated and shared on this blog with the intention of the like-minded people out there who are willing to assist and propagate the ideas across the country.

It may be an awful lot to consider, but we want to keep this simple by doing what we need to do, to get things done. If you're keen to find out more, email me on 898@vwv.com.

[SSN] We’ve started something new

Some of you may remember I wrote a post I want to start something new, a while back. My inspiration was to apply creative skill to brainstorm ideas for solutions to the challenges we face today.Since deadlines inspire action, I mentioned that by 7 July 2009 something would be in progress. I also put it out there that should any other creatives have ideas worth pursuing, they should join ‘the cause'.

I was pleasantly surprised at the number of Bizcom readers who responded, and on a wintry evening in Parhurst on Tuesday 7 July, about 20 of us gathered at Nice to brainstorm. Start Something New now has its own acronym, SSN; it is not a charity; and its purpose is to initiate projects that will create economic value for less fortunate people.

The group agreed on a few principals for SSN, namely:

Whatever we start needs to be simple, achievable and sustainable
Need to do things that are for the greater good and will make a difference in the world
No false starts - we're committed to finish whatever it is we start

As with any group, there were plenty of different ideas, with people all leaning towards a particular passion. An initiative filter was introduced and ideas that didn't meet the criteria fell away. Criteria included ideas that would empower people, add economic value for less fortunate individuals, and have a rural focus.

The ideas had to point towards making a meaningful contribution by leveraging our collective and individual skills. These sustainable initiatives should ideally operate in the space of crime, environment, education, HIV/AIDS, drugs, women and children abuse.

The next step for SSN is to register a Section 21 company; open a bank account, develop a logo; draw up a marketing plan; source sponsorship in the form of time, from audit and legal companies to assist with the secretarial functions. SSN also wants to develop a website where random people can post inspired ideas for SSN to consider.

We covered a lot of ground in our first meeting but there is much to do. I feel strongly that as creative people we can collectively do something to give back and contribute to the greater good. Our next meeting is on Friday 7 August and, if you're keen to check it out, mail me for details on 898@vwv.com.

Confed Cup mania hits SA

Before I get to my blog, it has to be said that my previous entry, I want to start something new, resulted in an unexpected avalanche of emails from those keen to join my quest. We've scheduled a meeting for next week and will no doubt come up with something that will make a meaningful contribution. If you're keen to join us in finding a way to make a difference, let me know on898@vwv.com or watch this space.

If you're a regular on Bizcommunity, you may have read that VWV Consortium was appointed by the LOC to produce the opening and closing ceremonies for the Confed Cup. On all accounts this has been an interesting experience for our business. Yes, VWV has done some big events in the past but none with a global audience such as this.

One of the toughest challenges was dealing with so many stakeholders in order to get everyone on the same page to pull it all together. We were co-ordinating between the LOC, FIFA, stadium management, technical teams, audio technicians, and media, to name but a few. And then there were the children! All 700 of them, and ranging in ages!

In this case it was the children who came with complex stakeholder management, namely parents, principals, teachers, and the Department of Education. Our biggest blunder was not involving the National Association of Parents in School Governance (NAPSG) and it let us know all about it when we met them eventually. We were already half way through our planning stage when the association approached us with policies and procedures to implement.

It was an unforeseen set-back, but we appreciated the need to be extremely careful with minors. Having said this, we had already meticulously implemented the guidelines given by the Department of Education. Our efforts to make the required adjustments eventually meant that all the NAPSG policies were met too.

The fruits of our labour received unprecedented media coverage, and it seems the people of Mzansi were extremely happy with the production. Not only has public feedback been fabulous, but we received the nod of approval from FIFA president, Sepp Blatter and other dignitaries.

It was indeed an honour to help raise the curtain on such an incredible moment in our history, and as the saying goes, what goes up must come down, and now our team are hard at work preparing for the closing ceremony. Don't miss out - join us on Sunday, 28 June 2009 at Ellis Park, Johannesburg.

As South Africa and the world stands by, we wish our team well; crossing fingers that Bafana Bafana reaches the final. But perhaps it's more about the spirit of the game than the scoreboard.

Laduma!

I want to Start Something New...

I want to start something... There's always a thrill in doing this. Originating, being the founder, creating change, shifting the world out of its inertia and beginning a movement.

Of course, we have all started something - relationships, rumours, fights, games, mostly all of the above. Starting something is about creating change, I guess.

It has been said that that there are two types of people in the world: those that make change happen and those that change happens to. I have always hated being on the receiving end of change, especially when it adversely impacts me, so I have tried as much as I can to instigate it.

Sometimes it has made me want to change for changes sake, which surely can't be right. A friend of mine recently pointed out, "You always have to be different". He had a lot of insight for a nine-year old and it has stuck with me ever since.

Start something meaningful

Philosophy aside, I would like to start something meaningful, something that will make a positive difference to the world.

The elections got me thinking real hard about the plight of the people of Mzanzi, the key issues that we face and why it seems that there are never any really BIG ideas out there on what to do about HIV, poverty, crime and the sorry state of our education system. I wonder if the hobnobs in government ever have massive brainstorming sessions to come up with BIG IDEAS like we do in the corporate world.

I want to start something new and it has to be meaningful and make a difference to our world. I don't know what this will be yet, but I do know that deadlines always spur us into action, so, I will start something new on Tuesday, 7 July 2009.

Mail me if you want to join - 898@vwv.com.

MINInspiration

There I was just minding my own business on the roads of Jozi, when out of nowhere (ok, almost nowhere) a taxi driver rammed into the back of my car. My destination at the time was one of VWV's newest clients, MINI.

My insurance company arranged a Hyundai Getz for me while my car was in the shop. Yes, it had power steering and air conditioning but I just couldn't get used to it. The then MINI marketing manager - Guy Kilfoil - offered to "put a brother out of his misery" and loaned me Double XL, a black MINI Cooper S, till my regular ride was fixed.

On collecting ‘my' car, a very sweet lady, Anina, arranged for it to be washed and filled-up with juice. Double XL and I were then left to begin our newfound friendship. As I hit the highway heading home, my first thought about Double XL was that it is the quintessential balance between a smooth ride and bullet-like power.

I must mention the blue glow in the cabin, which is an especially nice touch. I found out subsequently that you can switch the glow to orange, too. The lining on the leather is also stylish, and sitting in the car genuinely makes you feel you're in one of those boutique W Hotels - functional, and neo-classic. The only blemish Double XL has, in my opinion as a music lover, is that the sound needs to be MAXI-mised.

As I set up a client meeting at the Department of Arts and Culture, I looked forward to taking my new ride on our first cross-city trip. Getting into the car felt rather gauche as the irony of the situation struck me - I was in a MINI in a suit and tie, off to a government department to meet with bureaucrats. That just had to be a MINI-contradiction. Fellow road-users expect drivers of these fabulous cars to look the part: Benetton-clad outfits behind striking designer sunglasses. Fortunately, Double XL decided to oblige me, and I arrived just in time, thanks to a teeny-weeny parking-bay on Church Street, made of course with this, (and no other), vehicle in mind.

On my return to the office I was struck by flying debris off the newly tarred highway, and for my efforts, I received a windscreen chip. "OH DAMN!" (Or something similar) came out of my mouth; this was, after all, a borrowed car.

My enjoyable week with my now good friend, Double XL, ended off at the movies (no, I don't have children yet). Finding a Friday night parking at The Firs in Rosebank is like the Department of Roads refunding you for a chipped windscreen. IT JUST DOESN'T HAPPEN! Double XL managed to find a MINI-ture spot that very few cars would fit into.

My companion commented on the interior design, the unusual glove compartment button, the different-looking odometer, the steering wheel etc. All of these MINI-differences made me realise just how important a slick handover of a car is. When it comes to running an experiential agency, this could not be more true; even if it were just for a test drive, briefing someone properly allows them to appreciate the car's experience that much more.

Let me leave you with this thought - I now know why the conversion from test drive to sale of this vehicle is so high. Maybe all car brands should loan cars to people for a week as opposed to spending millions on advertising...

I'll share that with my client.

Signed

XX Double XL

The 'W' manifesto: five

So, in the fifth and final part of this particular blog series of 'W' manifesto I will cover how to start building a navigator. For details on what a navigator is see blog 1, blog 2, blog 3 and blog 4.

Understanding a cluster of consumers is the first step. Who are they? What do they do? What is important to them? What decisions do they require help with? Who do they currently seek help from? What can the navigator do that will add immediate value to their lives? A lexicon of knowledge needs to be developed around a cluster in order to optimally position the navigator for market entry.

The next step is to have the right infrastructure in place to facilitate the decision-making process. Infrastructure such as a call centre; computers with CRM software that will enable you to capture and mine information about your consumers, and a network of resources that will help you make the most effective decisions for your consumers. This network of resources will include a database of car dealerships, different car finance methods and any other available resources that will help you help the consumer. I propose that each cluster start off by building capability around the most likely areas that consumers will need assistance – these areas will be revealed by your cluster insight research. Older, married women with children and family will have very different needs to school leavers that have just entered the working world.

Along with the ready for market capability around the cluster, I propose that a separate division be set up to constantly mine consumer data and behaviour so as to be able to constantly evolve the entire consumer offering from services to consumer interface.

I’d like to use this blog more of the start of a discussion than a stone cast guideline. I hope it becomes the beginning of a dialogue about the genesis of companies that will ultimately own the future consumer relationship. In blog 1 I asked who was going to be the gatekeeper of the future. The gatekeepers will be the “true navigators”. They will be entrusted by consumers to help them make decisions ranging from insurance to travel, home loans to grocery shopping, and even media content.

Those companies that position themselves for this inevitable reality will be the barons of the 21st century.

What do you think?

Contact me at 898@vwv.com.

The 'W' manifesto: four

My previous two posts introduced the idea that since consumers are bombarded with choice, a new industry is on the rise. I'm talking about "navigators" or organisations whose sole purpose is to offering guidance and info in order for consumers to make the best choice between products and services.

The navigators will create an innovative business model that will encompass the following building blocks:

The trust of the consumer - see blog 3 for explanation
Palpable delivery of value to consumers - see blog 3 for explanation
A simple and effective consumer interface and
An ability to constantly mine for insights in its consumer database
And finally, the methodology to effectively leverage these insights

The interface between the consumer and the navigator needs to be simple, accessible and intimate at all times. Consumers must be informed that help in making decisions is only a phone call away; navigators in turn must strive to be the consumer's NBF (new best friend). The only difference is that this friend will know everything, and can help with anything.

The last two essential building blocks are that each navigator needs to understand how to leverage insights and the power of each consumer community. It makes sense therefore, that each navigator be structured around a homogenous group of consumers or has divisions that are dedicated to each group.

Focusing on a single, like-minded group of consumers accelerates the learnings each group has to offer and in turn allows you to maximise your business design around it. A navigator can cross-pollinate learnings it has discovered in one cluster into another, but it cannot be everything to everyone. Being everything to everyone will elicit a shallow and less meaningful service to the entire database of consumers.

The more the navigator learns about each consumer cluster, such as how it works as individual consumers, as well as a unit, the more relevant its service will be. Simply put, the more competitive its advantage is as a navigator. I mentioned trust being the foundation of the relationship between the navigator and its consumer base (in blog 3); and the insight of the consumer base is in turn one of the foundations of trust.

In my next blog I will cover how you can go about building a navigator.

Contact me at 898@vwv.com.

The ‘W’ manifesto: free

In my last post I covered the idea that too much choice is having a negative impact on the consumer, and this will birth an industry of "navigators".

These navigators are organisations whose sole purpose is to simplify the lives of consumers by offering guidance and information for consumers to make the most educated choice between product and services.

This new industry will create its own innovative business model. To compete, navigators will need the following building blocks:

The trust of the consumer
Palpable delivery of value to consumers
A simple and effective consumer interface and
An ability to constantly mine for insights in its consumer database
And finally, the methodology to effectively leverage these insights

I will deal with each element separately:

Trust is the foundation of every fruitful relationship. It is imperative that all the actions the navigator takes inside and outside the organisation cultivate and maintain trust. It is only when consumers trust a navigator that they will divulge information that will make the navigator design ever more effective products and services. This premise should be the driver of all business processes.

It is for this reason that a navigator can not make any kickbacks from referrals made to any suppliers. Trust is a difficult quantum to reach but it is the key competitive advantage. It will make effective delivery of value to the customer base much simpler.

This brings me to delivery.

It is important for the navigator to provide its customer base with zero defect products and services. After all, the core purpose of the navigator is to help the consumer make the best, most informed decision.

If the service fails at this juncture, the navigator becomes null and void and in time, ceases to exist. An essential element of delivery in this category is going to be the ease at which the navigator facilitates the decision making process and the eventual delivery of the service to the consumer.

I will expand on points three to five in my next post.

Contact me at 898@vwv.com.

The ‘W’ manifesto: too

In my last post I covered the idea that too much choice, paradoxically, is having a negative impact on the consumer. It will eventually lead to birthing a new industry of "navigators" or organisations whose sole purpose will be to simplify the lives of consumers in terms of offering them guidance and information to empower them to make the wisest choice when it comes to product and service selection.

In a sense, these organisations already exist in the form of financial and medical aid brokers. However most ‘customer navigators' in their current form provide vertical services, focusing on a particular field of expertise, such as investment advice as opposed to covering multiple fields. Most are also designed to benefit particular companies within that category as opposed to benefiting the consumer.

There are a few exceptions, such as Mortgage SA, which helps you shop for the best home loan in the market. I do not include initiatives such as "McCarthy Call a Car" because while it helps you find your ideal car, it only searches within its network of dealerships. This is the key difference with the future navigators - they will seek only to find the best possible solution for its client without prejudice or favour.

All too soon consumers will gravitate to the navigators that have their best interests as their core strategic imperative. All other sub-category navigators will become information pools that the true navigators will consult when processing a decision for its client. As opposed to going to sub-navigators such as McCarthy Call a Car, a consumer will consult his or her navigator and it will in turn consult all the possible avenues available to come to the best possible decision, including McCarthy Call a Car.

More on how this will create a whole new industry with its own business model in my next post next week.

The 'W' manifesto: won

Do you ever think about the future balance of power in the world of consumer relationships? As a marketer it is definitely worth evaluating in order to spot the fast-growing trend of offering customer-orientated solutions.

In a few years, who is going to hold the trust relationship of the consumer? Who are the gatekeepers of the future? To make sure VWV is going to keep up, we're all over this kind of questioning.

Two key trends

I see two key trends that will drive the world's marketers to these answers.

The first is the ever-growing insistence of everyday people to be treated as individuals and not as one of the ‘mass market'. More and more consumers are demanding customised products and services and that will soon become the only accepted norm. Companies that provide this "mass customisation" are the ones that are growing their share of the market within their particular sectors.

Which brings me to my second point, the increasing number of companies that are recognising this consumer trend and their ensuing drive to develop mass customisation methodologies as a solution.

Instead of mass customisation empowering consumers to make a choice between many competing products or services, the abundant selection has in fact made them less confident about making the best choice. This is my hypothesis but consider the economic definition of ‘opportunity cost'.

‘Opportunity cost'

An ‘opportunity cost' is the perceived value of the best choice forgone by making an alternative choice. That is to say, if you have R10 and spend it on apples instead of oranges, your opportunity cost in that circumstance is R10 worth of oranges. The result of today's abundant choices is giving the consumers the ‘opportunity cost' of any particular product or service and this choice is constantly growing. Now, instead of giving up R10 worth of oranges to buy apples, you are giving up pears, bananas, watermelon, pineapples, grapes and a whole lot more.

Based on this premise, and as needs become more complex, mass customisation will grow exponentially with alternative choices - this in turn creates a situation where consumer's ‘opportunity costs' increase.

So, how are consumers coping in this age of abundance? They make the best choice where and how they can afford it. They also seek assistance to make these choices from professionals or other consumers that can provide purchasing guidance. This is prevalent in complex industries such as financial services and medical insurance. These are product categories that most people know little about, and in the drive to make informed decisions they seek guidance.

This trend will soon spread to industries such as travel, schooling and entertainment. The abundance of choice will further complicate even the most basic products and services and it's only a matter of time before people will seek professional assistance to make these decisions too.

This trend will birth a new industry of "navigators" or organisations whose sole purpose is to simplify the lives of consumers. More on this in my next post next week.