The transformation way forward for the media, marketing & communications industries

"This is not just a talk shop," warned Marketing Federation of SA CEO, Mpho Makwana. "We are going back to parliament in November and at the Loeries Festival in October, we hope to produce a base document with targets."

The industry is expected to meet transformation deadlines by 2006 at the latest.

A workshop was hosted by the Marketing Federation of Southern Africa (MFSA) yesterday to introduce an industry wide study to benchmark the status quo and measure current empowerment initiatives.

Full credit to the MFSA for facilitating the process and inviting the industry to participate – a personal invitation was extended to the leadership of the industry by MFSA Chairman, Mpho Makwana, including all MFSA members. However, there was a marked absence of industry leadership at this critical forum and of the 65 people who accepted the invite, half still did not turn up, leaving a handful of delegates to debate this important issue. Well done to those who did pitch, but they were hardly representative of the industry.

It's this kind of apathy that resulted in parliamentary hearings two years ago into racism in the industry. Of course Makwana says that once targets are set and deadlines announced, the industry will take note and comments will no doubt pour in. Well, there's not much time – parliament expects a report back by November on an industry transformation scorecard and Makwana intends to present this for industry comment at the Loerie Festival at Sun City in October.

And he is prepared to take a hard line towards those who don't get on board the transformation train – they will be marginalized: "Those who do not transform will not be welcome as members of the MFSA."

Industries in the marketing fraternity slow to transform that are under the spotlight, include: marketing companies, research houses, the print media, design, film, production and any other industry within the so-called Creative Industries that has not started the process, says Makwana.

He is less concerned about the advertising industry which started its transformation process in 1999 with an industry-wide charter, or the broadcast media which is governed by ICASA's strict licensing requirements.

"We want to speak to the owners of the value chain and it all starts with the Marketer. The marketer out of a need to advertise, appoints an Ad Agency. Technically they are on track. But the agencies - on behalf of the marketer - go to a media owner, who may be in the electronic or print environment. Media owners interact with SAARF and SAMRA for research, so these organisations and members should also be here as part of this value chain. In their turn, ad agencies either own design shops and outsource production etc,, so yes, design and production houses should be here to join us in this conversation. The ASA should also be interested, as what led us here in the first place, were the execution of commercials that violated the ASA code and undermined the fibre of our society.

"Most marketers seem to forget that if they spend R10 million with an agency, what really stays behind in that agency is about 1.5 percent – the rest the agency spends on their behalf with the rest of the value chain.

"The qualitative side of transformation depends on the extent to which we embrace our value statement (issued in 2003) - and it starts with the marketer as head of the value chain. It is every marketers' duty that marketing communications is not disrespectful of basic human dignity."

So where was the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), Design SA, the Print Media Association, the SA Advertising Research Federation (SAARF), The SA Marketing Research Association (SAMRA), and the production houses, yesterday?

Public relations seems have been left out in the cold and the Public Relations Institute of SA (PRISA) and like structures, would do well to take note of the lack of ignorance apparent in the communications industry as regards empowerment objectives and structures. For an industry that influences public opinion on a daily basis through their clients, it has been remarkably slow to publicise any kind of transformation initiatives or be seen to transform.

Makwana said that of course PR and events companies were welcome to participate in the process at any time, although "historically" they had not been included in this round of the process.

As he explained: "This is a first session and it's a good start, I know enough about transformation discussions - having been involved in this debate for more than decade – we don't get a high turnout first off. When you link it to the bottom line, you get the numbers!"

Baseline study

The University of Cape Town's Graduate School of Business, BEE Monitor conducted the transformation workshop yesterday on behalf of the MFSA. The group will be conducting the qualitative online study into at least 1200 companies, looking at ownership, the rules of the game, current practices, current initiatives, the breakdown of race, gender, the disabled, and so on within companies. They are not just looking at a BEE scorecard, but industry talent overall in terms of empowerment and future growth.

The objective is to obtain a collective understanding of transformation itself from a meta perspective and create an empowerment index for the industry to inform the status quo, as well as set up a scorecard to take the industry further.

Researcher, Angus Bowmaker-Falconer said the success factors to inform the study were a high level of commitment from the industry; a campaign to energise participation; data integrity; and adhering to timeframes and scope.

Further information will be up on the following website shortly: www.beemonitor.com .

Historical imperative

This project was initiated last year by Government and the advertising and marketing industry, to accelerate transformation and develop a methodology that takes into account developments in the rest of the labour chain.

In the Value Statement for the Marketing & Communications industry, issued on 23 April last year, the industry acknowledged that it:
-- like the rest of SA society had been plagued by the injustices of SA's racist past in terms of employee representivity, ownership and decision-making patterns;
-- recognized that the industry plays a critical role in the creation of wealth and the development of our economy;
-- believed that transformation of the industry was essential for its long-term growth and the upliftment of people who have historically been disadvantaged.

It committed itself to the following values:
1. Inclusively and diversity - to reflect the values and aspirations of all South Africans.
2. Soul of the nation – use industry strengths to promote the South African Brand.
3. Respect and human dignity – ensuring that the dignity of all human beings, in particular of those vulnerable groups, is respected.
4. Business and people's needs – recognizing that the consumer is at the core of our business.
5. Responsible creativity – be mindful that this is an industry which impacts on the views and aspirations of the entire population.

Industry participation called for

Makwana said the Services SETA & MFSA are funding the project, but that the MFSA are also looking for other sources of funding for the industry scorecard. Any other donation of resources would also be welcome, such as research or pro bono assistance from leading lights or companies that have been transformed in terms of branding, creative and publicity support.

On this note, Bizcommunity.com will be offering full media support to the MFSA to assist it and BEE Monitor in encouraging industry participation in the study and keeping the industry fully informed of the process.

"We [as marketers] are the ones who approve the budgets, it's our brands out there... we need to own up. We are responsible for building the nation's self-esteem..." Makwana concluded.