NetworkMediaAgencyoftheYear

NETWORK MEDIA AGENCY: The MediaShop

Get-up-and-go business kicks Covid on its head

etworked media agencies

Ndemonstrate their ability and commitment to the industry as a whole by the extent to which they transfer skills. The impact of Covid-19 was significant on these agencies as a result of budget cuts and a spike in digital media usage and buying. Networked media agencies are not only competing against other media agencies, but also against two key global players in a fight for their very survival. Selecting the winner in this category was therefore no easy task.

This year’s winner, The MediaShop, runs its business according to the mantra “great m i nd s think d i f fe r e nt ly ”. So, at a time when the whole world seemed to be in chaos, it used this thinking to stabilise the organisation through the Covid-19 crisis, retain six of its major clients, clean up at industry awards, start a sister agency and win a digital creative pitch.

Its new sister agency, Lucid, is a digital creative agency that will service clients’d ig it a l creative needsas well as bringdigital and creative closer together —something t he agency believes is crucial for the industry.

Clearly not an agency to lie back and lament the bad times, The MediaShop is positive about its business performance over the past year, saying that given the tough economic climate, its performance was favourable. With adspend down by 1% overall year-on-year, the agency experienced a slight decline year-on-year of -1%, due largely to billings decreasing by 39% in April.

The MediaShop has previously won the AdFocus Transformation Award, so it’s perhaps no surprise that transformation continues to be a priority. Boasting a level 1 broad-based BEE rating, the agency is 55% black-owned and 45% women-owned, and 69% of its staff are black, the majority of them women. These high figures translate into the management team, and executive committee training is another priority. Almost R3.8m was spent over the past year upskilling staff via various initiatives, while nine new trainees were brought into the business. Senior staff members volunteer their time on the boards of industry bodies and

The MediaShop’s offices in Bryanston, Johannesburg

aw a r d s and also provide media owners with free presentations,working with smaller out-of-home partners and growing spend with them to ensure local investment in these bu s i ne s s e s .

Shortlisted agencyCa r at attributes its success to its people and its ability to understand what consumers really want and need, versus what brands believe they want and need. Client relationships are run as professional partnerships or “key client communication partners”. This shift has opened up a host of revenue streams for the agency, and created a converged approach to solving business problems. On the whole, it was a good year for Carat,which recorded 13% growth; the agency experienced no account losses and acquired the Vodacom account in January 2020. Vizeum SA also made the shortlist this year. The agency reports that while the Covid-19 pandemic really shook things upafter a highly successful 2019, it s agility and tight team culture helped it navigate the crisis and keep the agency stable. While it experienced a decrease in growth of -7.34% over the past year, it also picked up new business in the form of African Export-Import Bank, which mitigated the loss of the Telkom account in November 2019.

Sadly, we did not announce a winner in the independent media category given that we only received one entry this year from Mediology, last year’s AdFocus Independent Media Agency of the Year. Despite a top-class entry from Mediology, the judges exercised their discretion not to make an award in this category in the absence of comparisons. This decision illustrated the depth of challenges for independent agencies in the Covid-19 climate. A further insight was around how urgently and deeply this category can evolve to reflect the changes in the market, along with the measurement metrics.

However, kudos to founder and CEO of Mediology Ana Carrapichano and her team, who were vocal about the challenges of independence and the resilience it takes to stand the test of time. Successful media agencies are those that show agility. Carrapichano believes independent agencies such as Mediology are in a stronger position than multinationals, because they are able to make decisions quickly and without pressure to reach high growth targets.

Mediology recorded a 37% increase in revenue in the year to March and since lockdown has picked up new business in excess of R60m, a significant achievement in an environment where budgets are not g r o w i ng .