SA digital is boring, says Bull

Some people embody an aspect of their names and Bull's approach when he addressed the symposium delegates could perhaps be likened to being rather like a bull in a china shop. Right from the start, he levelled his formidable horns at what he views as mediocrity in the South African advertising industry.

Bull is chairman of the Lowe Bull Group and chief creative officer of Lowe Worldwide, having founded Lowe Bull in 1996 in partnership with the leading global agency network Lowe. Creativity and innovation seem to be his middle names, and on stage he showed a passionate lack of tolerance when it came to the advertising industry in South Africa lagging behind the times.

Same reluctance

He began by asking that each member of the audience to hug the person nearest to them. Allowing everyone to tap into this discomfort on a visceral level brought the point home even more effectively: ad agencies (representatives from roughly 10 agencies were present) have the same reluctance when it comes to digital media. Why? Because they're still stuck on television commercials… and why is this?

Bull said that 20 letters neatly “sum up our industry”: Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. “Locally, digital is boring. It is not the maverick industry we find overseas.”

He continued the lament with a collection of examples of TV ads onscreen, and then concluded succinctly: “Rubbish. We've been producing a distinct lack of originality over the last decade. People pay for originality, but television ads here are just so overanalysed. One can sell originality in digital much easier. However, research is my bugbear. Research is the middleman between our clients and the media.”

Furthermore, much of the problem as Bull sees it stems from the suspicion that ad agencies too often don't create ads for consumers, but for themselves. Digital requires that the industry move back to a creative platform focused on the consumer and not on advertising peers.

"Online people are human; we shouldn't forget this. They're not tech heads; they're like you and me. Trust is essential. Digital offers a way to engage with consumers in ways we've never done before, and engagement is key. Digital is a communicative medium. It's a talk with, not a talk to medium," he said.

Prime example

Indeed, with the online ad campaign for Stella Artois as prime example, engagement and interactive advertising was Bull's central idea for the day. This further means that advertising should not push itself onto the consumers' radar, but should instead attract users by being as brilliant as the digital medium itself. “The medium is fresh, and so that's what the message needs to be. Take Barack Obama. Did he win because he utilised digital media? Undoubtedly it helped, but no, people voted for him because his message was fresh.”

Bull went on to make the point that the industry needs to start aiming higher and pushing digital. He referred to what he reckons is the sad example of SABMiller's massive new ad campaign that failed to employ any digital representation, highlighting how insufficient digital capabilities are in the local advertising agencies. He contrasted this with a number of examples of international agencies with a solid understanding of digital, and which are creating integrated campaigns based on innovative ideas.

"South Africa is in the Mickey Mouse digital league," he said. “Digital has actually saved the TV commercial as it costs nothing to place. And, besides, digital has remained largely unaffected by cuts.”

There seems to be something of a chasm dividing digital agencies from advertising agencies, but Bull sees the way forward as a melding of the two. “Digital agencies should think of themselves as mainstream ideas houses, not production houses. I don't see a decrease in TV advertising, but an evolution into digital.”

World of untapped potential

No doubt, everyone listening was left inspired about a future of advertising campaigns not based solely in print or television, but which also integrates digital in novel ways to unlock a world of untapped potential.

The Habari Digital Symposium was held 25 - 26 March 2009 at Spier, near Stellenbosch, in the Western Cape.