Part 1: Less noise, more nerve | How South African marketers are spending smarter; creating braver
Telecoms, banking and FMCG, their realities differ, but their pressures are strikingly similar: more channels, more data, more expectation and less room for waste.
With more channels, more data, more expectations and less room for waste, marketers are under increasing pressure (Image source: © 123rf 123rf)
This was a finding from the latest masterclass hosted by the Independent Agency Search & Selection Company (IAS), which showed a noticeable shift in tone.
Led by IAS CEO Johanna McDowell, the session brought together three marketers at the coalface of local business: Melanie Forbes, CMO at Cell C, Buli Ndlovu, executive head of marketing for personal and private banking at Nedbank; and Lance Coertzen, head of marketing at Twizza — a challenger soft drink brand that, as Coertzen notes, had been acquired by a major competitor just a week earlier.
A rethink on spending: Less spread, more intent
Budgets may have grown in some quarters, but the proliferation of channels has ensured they're harder than ever to manage. The temptation to be everywhere has stretched resources thin, often without impact.
One marketer named the dynamic plainly, "You move from a state of panic and fear. If I'm not there, is my competitor there? Why aren't we shouting loud enough? So you shout about everything, at a small volume."
The response is restrained, and a harder look at what earns its place in the plan. "If it doesn't differentiate us, it doesn't get funded. “A fellow marketer described a similar discipline: "Less is more. Pick your lane and do it properly."
When the numbers stop telling the truth
Digital campaigns generate reams of data. Whether any of it is useful is another matter.
One of the panellists offered a concrete example: a video campaign reported 300% above benchmark on view-through rate.
"You go one level down in the detail, and the average view time was 5.8 seconds. Our brand didn't appear until 15 seconds in. Nobody saw it. The metric was nonsense."
The problem isn't the metrics — it's stopping there. They need to ladder up to something real. What's replacing the noise is more deliberate: brand tracking, customer experience data, and preference as an early signal of growth.
Which brings it back to the boardroom. "The board doesn't fund creativity — they fund growth."
The bar for creativity has moved
None of these signals a retreat from creativity. If anything, the bar has shifted upward.
The challenge is no longer just to be seen, but to be remembered. One panellist described the pressure candidly: "How do you create something thumb-stopping? Because far too often, it's just vanilla."
That requires trusting work that doesn't feel comfortable. "I've had to trust work I wouldn't have approved before. It performed exceptionally well. My brand only appeared in the last 18 seconds."
For agencies, the implication is clear: safe, category-driven work isn't enough.
Spending smarter and creating braver work are necessary. But neither counts for much if marketing can't hold its ground where decisions get made. Read about this in Part 2: Less Noise, more nerve—why the boardroom and the agency relationship are being renegotiated on Monday, 4 May