What’s keeping BBDO up at night? - 6 Nov 2017

Last week's top headlines:

• The MMA SA Smarties 2017 Summit and Awards took place, with Danette Breitenbach reporting back with insights from the main mobile marketing successes of the night. Click here for a reminder of all the winners!
• It's also been confirmed that SJ Myeza from 7 Films SA is the continent's only winner at the One Club's Young Guns 15, which celebrates global creative professionals at age 30 or younger.
  
• SA expat Kate Desmarais, now associate creative director at Ogilvy & Mather Chicago has also won The One Club 3% Movement's Next Creative Leaders Award. This identifies and celebrates talented creative women who are making their mark with both great work and a workplace perspective on diversity that helps change the industry for the better. This is definitely something to be proud of!
• Then I continued my weekly catch up with some of this year's top-ranked creatives from Loeries Rankings 2017. This time around I soaked up global and local insights from BBDO. One of the most awarded agencies at this year's Loeries, they picked up the Grand Prix for websites or microsites, as well as the titles of Agency of the Year and Regional Agency Group of the Year. BBDO Africa's regional director, Gau Narayanan, shared that what's keeping him up at night is the future of the business and how to disrupt the agency model so that they're still relevant next year and the year after.
  
• The annual WhyFive BrandMapp 2017 Top End Study has just been released. It reveals that the previously disadvantaged upper class has grown rapidly enough to surpass the white upper class in South Africa by at least 10% in the last five years, and this figure continues to rise.
• While the industry was saddened by Tiso Blackstar Group's announcement that it is considering the closure of The Times print edition due to continued lack of profit, there's a potential positive here as it's hoped to be replaced with a premium, digital-only daily product.

In case you missed it...

• Early-bird ticket sales now open for Design Indaba Festival 2018, with British designer Morag Myerscough announced as the Festival's first speaker.
• The IAB Bookmark Awards 2018 entries are open, introducing new categories in line with the changes and evolution in the sector over the past year.
  
• Last week's #Newsmaker was Native VML, which was announced as 'Entertainment Agency of the Year' in the Cannes Lions 2017 Global Creativity Report. Jessica Tennant found out from Native VML CEO Jason Xenopoulos just what this win means for the agency.
• Sticking to our extended #EntrepreneurMonth, I also went #BehindtheSelfie with Koo Govender - serial multitasker of note: she is CEO of media agency Dentsu Aegis Network SA; founder of the Phakama Women's Academy; CEO of the AMF; and judge for Cannes Lions 2017, Loeries 2017 and AdFocus 2017 in the media and innovation category.
• Tennant continued our Business of Design coverage with the conclusion of her overview of Lauren Woolf AKA Mrs Woolf's talk on whether advertising agencies are effectively the cobbler's children. Tennant summarises Woolf's findings and implications on whether those who ideate, create and innovate for others actually do so for themselves as well. It's an insightful read, get cracking!

We hope November 2017 is off to an inspired start for you and your business!

Leigh Andrews
Editor-in-Chief: Marketing & Media SA