#BizTrends2018: A short to-do list for the new year

Pepe Marais, founding partner and chief creative officer of Joe Public.

So where does that leave us mere mortals, all analogue by design, in a digital world that is catapulting forward at the speed of light? What are we to do in the coming year, in order not to be left behind?

Do less.

I am dumbfounded by an industry that is intent on wasting R40 billion per annum on wallpaper, in a country where 30 million people don’t have two cents to rub together. It is a crime against humanity, and if I had my way, I would jail each and every one of us and throw away the key.
We have become sweatshops of slaves, clients and agencies alike, and the result of our combined efforts often amount to a product that is not even worthy of the screen it is printed on.

If I were a marketer in charge of my R100 million 2018 budget, I would create more time to think, by doing less.

I would simplify my life by putting all my eggs into one integrated agency’s basket, allowing one team to seamlessly transport one idea across a multitude of digital and media platforms.

I would engage my market with no more than four campaigns a year, ensuring that the idea at the core of each of my campaigns had such a creative spark, that it would not just set my market alight, but spread my message like wildfire.

The world is speeding up, people. It’s time for us all to slow down.

Do more.

And now that you have managed to do less, you will find that you have suddenly availed yourself of the precious time needed to do the important things well.

Do ideas that mean more. The concepts that will create more impact. That will resonate more with our broader South African market. Ideas that get your consumer more, and in turn, get them to talk more and love your brand more.

Push your clients more. Prove to them that they can trust you more.

Push your agency more. Expect them to scare you more.

Fail more. Growth is not only about the bottom line and market share, it is found in the manure. When things go wrong and it hits the fan.

Give more. Of yourself and to others.

Craft more. Put the art back into advertising.

Laugh more.

And most important of all, love more.

So here’s to 2017… Let’s not strive to make 2018 more or less the same.

Let’s make it less. And more.