People have so many options in morning drive-time (or breakfast) entertainment, which include CDs and “new media”. What’s your take on these new technologies and how they affect your radio station and show?
(Laughs.) Remember that song by the band The Buggles, “Video Killed the Radio Star”? Well, guess what – it didn’t! Alarmists will always find something new to get excited about. Here at Primedia Broadcasting, we look at these new formats as different media which can enhance our presentation – not as “the opposition”. Look at how we use the Internet; how we use podcasts,Facebook, Twitter… how we use cellphones. By embracing the “new media”, we’re able to provide listeners with a broader, more multimedia experience. It’s still radio. Just better!

Do you buy the adage that says if a radio station is not in profit by 9am, it is not in profit?
That doesn’t sound far off the mark. Your breakfast show needs to provide 50% of turnover. Some hot-shot boytjies are saying now that they’re “dissipating costs across the spectrum”, but I don’t believe that you can mess with the essentials. If you haven’t grabbed them before noon, you aren’t in with a great chance.

What do you think is the appeal of breakfast shows?
We have to understand that, every morning, people are emerging from hibernation, so to speak. They’ve been out of contact with the world for the last eight hours or so, and now they’re hungry for information about how the world’s been going; what’s been happening in politics, finance, sports, and, of course – are there any traffic snarl-ups that they can avoid? It’s this desire for information – this need for connectedness with our fellow human beings – that brings people to radio in the mornings. Yes, the Internet can give you that information, but it isn’t practical to surf the Net when you’re driving – or half as much fun! Which brings me to my next point: although we’re providing info, how we package it is what’s going to distinguish us from the next guy. Your average punter is saturated by the afternoon. He’s grown tired, listless, and often, punch-drunk with info; which is why people who are hitting the gyms in the evening find it easier to plug into their MP3 players.

What sets an extraordinary breakfast show aside from its competitors?
As I’ve mentioned before, the ability to show a good return for investors and stakeholders. This ties in with the ability to mirror your audience’s lifestyle and values. When we launch charity drives on our show, for example, the results always blow us out of the water. Our audience  trusts us, and they’re 100% behind everythingwe do – because it coincides with their value system. While our audience may get emotionally caught up in many of our charitable causes, our primary focus is not on accessing their emotions. We want to do the right thing, and, by doing so, it just happens to be good business, to paraphrase Raymond Ackerman.

Tat Wolfen loves the concept of breakfast radio, but only manages to catch the lunchtime shows by the time he rises each day…

By its very nature, effectiveness tends to be measured over the short-term, which potentially means brands will be killed off, which could be a rather expensive exercise. And how do you decide who’s responsible for what part of that effectiveness? If a strike at the client’s factory causes stock-outs just as a campaign is launching, who should be penalised for the downturn in sales? The client or the agency?

Then, of course, if the success of the work is really going to make a material difference to the agency, how would the client and agency deal with the conflict? There’s often enough blood on the walls as it is. And then there are agency partners and all the confusion and additional work that that creates for everyone, particularly the marketing director.

So what tends to happen is that an incentive gets put into the model. Sometimes this incentive can be extremely lucrative, but more often than not, it’s little better than ‘OK’. With the current remuneration structures, depending on the agreement with the client, most agencies are allowed to make between 10 and 20% profit. No one thinks about that however: they just see a big, fat fee and assume the agency is making exorbitant amounts of money, when often it is losing money on the big accounts that have squeezed it dry. In some cases, the incentive goes towards helping the agency just cover its resource and running costs. The truth is this, as it was so concisely put by PWC’s Russell Sapienza at the recent Advertising Industry Business Transformation Series held in New York: ‘Long-term relationships are very important. Rekindle them with your clients and put yourself in their shoes. And try and be transparent. There is no one fixed metric. Models vary. One thing that has not changed is that clients will want the lowest cost and you’ll want to provide the highest value. That’s advertising.’

TWO TRENDS MAY FORCE A CHANGE
There are two trends emerging that may mean the model really does need to change. First, we are no longer in the currency of advertising, but in the currency of ideas. As the world becomes more digital, more fractured, and more about having to reward each and every consumer in some way before they will interact with your brand, we are seeing more and more specialist agencies becoming involved with each brand. Many marketers are having to brief up to eight or more specialist agencies on one brief.  Then they need to manage the ideas, egos and,often, the lack of consistency that comes out of each agency as they play the rather negative game of ‘Pick Me’.

Second, we are now fully fledged in the world of Content. If I’m a consumer and you make me laugh, make me think, tell me something useful, I might engage with you. If you push overt sales messages at me, I will not only disengage, but I will probably try and do you harm. Maybe I’ll do it via a tweet or via my blog, or just through good, old-fashioned word-of-mouth, but a tweet can do so much more damage, particularly if I have hundreds, or even thousands of people following me.
Ouch.

So, we come back to resources. The marketing director doesn’t have the time to manage all the agencies playing ‘Pick Me’, and she hasn’t got the time or the money to create all the content required. So what should she do? Simply this: pay the guys that work in the Ideas Currency more, and get them to manage the process once again. Don’t however, pay them like you used to, at charge-out rates of X rand per hour. Pay them according to a formula based on specific objectives that work around the following:

• Brand equity;
• Sales volume;
• Share of sales; and
• ROI

Which all adds up to that sixletter word, ‘Profit’.

The new P&G model is called the ‘Brand Agency Leader’ model, no doubt soon to be given the pithy label of BALM. Using this approach, P&G  selects one agency to head all the marketing efforts for a specific brand. This lead agency appoints and pays any other specialist agencies it chooses to use. It derives up to 10% of its fee from sales and share data, as well as its performance evaluation Rich DelCore, P&G’s finance director of global marketing, said: “In the past, we would have six creative briefs, six creative directions. Now we have one. One brief. One meeting. One channel. One idea that goes forward to generate consistent communications to our consumer.” The question is this, however. Is 10% of an agency’s fee based on success enough? It’s safe, but is it enough?

Agencies cannot work on risk, and why should they? They are established businesses that are expected to give returns to their shareholders. For them, however, unlike their clients, there is always a limit in terms of their profitability.

If, as the client, I sell a million ‘wotnots’ and I make a profit of R10-million, that’s good for me. If the agency has had a brilliant idea and I end up selling five million ‘wotnots’, my profit goes up to R50-million. According to the current and even the newest remuneration models, I might then give the agency an additional 10% of their fee – not very motivating, is it? If, however, the agency has a percentage profit share in my business, it will give me blood, not only because it will make more money, but because the agency will then be your true partner.

So let’s do away with time based fees. Let’s cover costs and work on a profit-share basis, because in the future, if not now, if there isn’t an idea, there will be no content and so there will be no brand.

The currency of ideas is truly the most valuable it has ever been.

Aspirant marketing professionals desiring to acquire the CMSA or MPSA designations, can now apply to the MA(SA) to be assessed according to a SAQA-registered programme that results in the conferring of the relevant designation to successful applicants. Details of the entry and registration requirements, fees, programme providers, CPD, codes of conduct and all other related issues are detailed in the information sheet below.

What are designations and how do they relate to qualifications?
This is not an easy question to answer as, nowadays, many qualifications offer components that include practical application as well as case studies. Designations are based on attesting to both levels of knowledge and competence. The emphasis here is more on verified work experience and experiential learning, as well as on on-going development programmes (CPD). Unlike with most degrees, designations imply an on-going relationship with an association or professional body that assists with the CPD and ensures accountability of a practitioner during the course of their work and interaction with clients, the public and other stakeholders. This in no way implies an undervaluing of academic qualifications. Without academic qualifications, professionals are unable to operate from a base of knowledge that has been researched and tested by leading academics and practitioners in that field of study.

Professional designations are usually awarded in conjunction with a defined field of study or qualification. The combination of qualification and designation provides a benchmark of the following qualities:

• A minimum level of formal academic qualification in that profession.
• A minimum verified level of competence and experience in that profession.
• Proven personal integrity and the willingness to adhere to a code of ethics and conduct, which is supported by a public disciplinary process that protects the public, consumer and/or client.
• On-going maintenance of knowledge, experience and competence through a compulsory programme of professional education or development (continuing professional development – CPD).

What does this all mean and what are the benefits of getting these designations?
Having a professional designation conferred comes with the responsibilities mentioned above. A professional embarks on an on-going course of action and maintains, above all else, professional competence and ethical integrity  Out of this comes the most important benefit – to the professional AND the profession. First, the individual professional has a profile that is verifiable through membership of the Professional Body that is responsible for the designation. Secondly, the professional is held accountable to the professional body for his/ her ethical and responsible conduct.

Thus the most important benefit is ACCOUNTABILIT Y.
This is also important to the employer and the profession. The profession has a benchmark against which to measure its standards of ethics and competency requirements. In terms of the King lll Code of Governance, the most important assets of a company are brand value and reputation. King lll makes it clear that the risks concerning brand and reputation impact on the sustainability of an organisation and hence are at the heart of good corporate governance of that entity. These risks need to be managed by a responsible director on the board, and in our opinion, this person is the Marketing Director.

It should thus make sense that appointing a qualified professional, who is also accountable to manage the most important risk of an entity is, in itself, an important risk-mitigating strategy.

It is thus our contention that becoming a qualified and professional marketer – CMSA or MPSA – promotes the individual’s career prospects. At the same time this adds status and prestige to the profession of marketing. This is achieved through the appropriate actions of company boards in recognising the value of professional marketers being at the helm of the management of their priceless assets – brand and reputation.
CJ de Villiers – April 2010

“You must have a very clear definition of what you expect to take out of a sponsorship initiative,” said Serame Taukobong, Chief Marketing Offi cer of MTN SA. “It is about having a strategy and knowing how to leverage it properly. In other words what is best for your brand, how much budget you have and, with that in mind, how you are going to best achieve your goal.”

Gavin Cowley, Marketing Director for adidas SA agreed. “Sponsorship is not just about brand awareness and exposure, but about strategy. It is about positioning your brand in the event or programme to ensure maximum return on investment, while also ensuring it will continue after the sponsorship has come to an end. We as a company will make money during the World Cup, but we must be able to leverage the sponsorship to ensure we continue to do so long after the event is over. And that comes down to one’s strategy – why are you sponsoring, what do you want to achieve and how are you going to measure it.”

According to Clive Grinaker, chief executive officer of Grinaker Sponsorship Marketing, too often sponsorships are based on the emotional involvement of decision makers in a company. “It is not about sponsoring a sport or an event that the Managing Director likes. A sponsorship is only effective if it is aligned with your target audience, if it is leveraging  the budget to its full extent, and is part and parcel of the total line marketing strategy, taking the advertising campaigns and public relations efforts into consideration as well. Sponsorship today is far too strategic and costly to just be sponsoring for the sake of sponsoring.”

Stanley Anderson, Marketing Director of Hyundai Automotive South Africa, said it was also important not to forget one’s core business. “We are in the business of selling cars, and not promoting soccer. Yet, we are sponsoring the FIFA World Cup. One must be able to leverage your sponsorship spend to achieve a goal. It is also important to choose a sponsorship that is right for your brand. Every company will have its own objective about what they want to get out of it. It is crucial to have a very clear idea of that before you go into a sponsorship.”

Billy Lascaris, Director of Matchworld, believes that sponsorships give an emotional platform to engage with consumers. “Research has shown that more consumers engage with sponsorship than just normal advertising. It is however important that a company select the right property to sponsor based on the brand’s requirements. And any company can leverage sponsorships to their benefit, depending on whether they understand the concept of it, how it works and what they want out of it.”

“We also believe that our interaction with our listeners is unique. We communicate with our listeners via SMS, email, call-ins and new social media like Twitter and Facebook. We also host regular events in the community, which give listeners a chance to meet the personalities.”

Other elements that set 702 apart include:

• Talented personalities who have great opinions and are vocal on issues.
• That the station focuses on issues that are important to listeners – “so while we naturally cover international news stories, we understand that the pothole on their way to work may be more critical in their lives. And we try to sort out those potholes.”
• ‘Eyewitness News’ and traffic – in touch, in tune and independent. If you tune into 702, you will know what’s happening in Gauteng.
• The station is seen to set the agenda – “We are seen as a news source and are often quoted as such in other media.”

Gwangwa says the station is careful to remember that everybody has the right to freedom of speech and that it needs to respect  guests’ and callers’ opinions even if it doesn’t agree with them. It is also important to reflect a range of views.
“But we’re careful that we don’t become what we call ‘whinge radio’, where all we do is moan about problems. We like to make a difference and find solutions to problems rather than simply harping on them. Solutions-driven radio, with good news and success stories sounds far better on air than complaining.”

Talk Radio 702 broadcasts across Gauteng. Latest RAMS figures indicate it has a listenership of 538 000.

Gwangwa says 702’s deep relationship with listeners and the fact that it is very interactive, means that the audience tends to listen longer, which, for an advertiser translates to increased repetition of their advertisements and therefore better value. “We have an affluent audience, with over 90% in LSM 7 to 10. We have a professional sales team who aim to find solutions to problems rather than create generic advertising packages. Tailor-made solutions look at all aspects of our business including opportunities on the web and at our events.”

On the station’s reputation for becoming involved in community issues, Gwangwa says: “People turn to Talk Radio 702 in frustration when they are getting no resolution from the relevant authorities. Often these individual problems highlight a broader problem and we can impact on a number of listeners’ lives by drawing attention to the issue. We understand that we can’t fix everything and address each problem, but we try to make a difference where we can. A lot of the work we do never even gets to air – it can be as simple as connecting a frustrated listener with the right person.

“Furthermore, we often run specific charity initiatives, such as the 702 birthday wish campaign that runs each year, where we ask listeners to send in stories of people they know who need a little help and we find sponsors to grant as many of these wishes as possible. We have spontaneous outreach drives, such as the Courtney Ellerbeck Radiothon, to raise money for the litte girl who was shot while still in her mother’s womb in a botched hijacking. Or the news story about a house that burnt down and donors called in to offer to rebuild it.”

One of the biggest projects to emerge from an on-air initiative has been Crime Line. In response to an increasing number of calls and SMSes from listeners about drugs being sold in their neighbourhoods, 702 arranged to pass information about drug dealing to the police. This was so successful that Crime Line, the anonymous tip-off line, was launched by the Primedia group. The police have since caught more than 900 suspects thanks to Crime Line tip-offs.

On the future of the station, Gwangwa says radio is a flexible medium that can transform and adapt to new media and has shown itself able to fit very well with digital media. “Radio is mobile, so you can listen while driving, while washing dishes and the like, and this applies to the Web too. You can browse the Web while listening to the radio, and each medium drives listeners to the other.

“Talk Radio 702 aims to continue making a difference, leading by example in terms of transformation, and on environmental issues by making sure our own house is in order and by encouraging others to do the same. We want to continue our role in deepening democracy in our country.”

The station was founded in 1980 with the primary aim of servicing the community of the former PWV region. Government policies of that time did not allow independent broadcasters in South Africa and the station  was banished to the so-called independent black homeland states. Consequently, Radio 702 set up in Garankuwa, in Bophuthatswana, and had to broadcast on the medium-wave (MW) frequency. It began as a music station, but to remain financially viable it changed its format from music to talk, due to the inferior quality of music broadcast on a medium-wave frequency compared to FM competitors, and because the SABC migrated Radio 702’s then competitor, Radio 5, from the MW to FM.

It was only in 2006 that the station moved to the FM band to broadcast to Johannesburg and Pretoria.

lmperial Car Rental, which was the group’s most visible presence even though it contributed only 13% to profits, had evolved into Europcar just four months previously.

Said group CEO Hubert Brody: “We feltit was important to determine whether we  could reposition Imperial as more than just a car and truck rental company. Branding has become a central tool in business competitiveness, and we realised that more effective branding could provide a competitive advantage in our markets.” Adoption of a new look and feel followed a comprehensive review and restructuring of the group following Brody’s appointment two years ago.

All of the hundreds of companies in the group will now adopt logos that identify them as  part of Imperial. The group, which is involved in logistics, vehicle distribution and retailing and insurance, has adopted the strapline of Fast Moving, Forward Thinking. Brody says the new statement embodies the energy and dynamism of the new Imperial brand, and confrms the group’s chosen focus areas of expansion: logistics, tourism and selected aspects of financial services.

Early this year, Imperial’s executive committee appointed an internal senior brand team under Tak Hiemstra, executive director strategic development, to investigate the merits of establishing an umbrella brand to unite the group. Black Branding was the successful agency out of the four that pitched for the project.

“The timeline was really driven by the announcement of our annual results because we wanted to use the new look in the annual report, which is a document that lives for at least a year,” said Hiemstra, for whom a rebranding was a new experience. “It was a lot more scientific and complicated than I would ever have imagined. The agency did comprehensive research among staff and customers before coming up with its proposals. I would not have thought that so much work goes into turning images and names into meaning and expression of ideas.” The agency suggested, and Imperial chose,
a hybrid brand architecture structure.“This is the best for our diversified and entrepreneurial business. We will retain some strong individual brands that already have an entrenched market presence, and at the same time, re-invent, and strengthen the Imperial brand,” says Hiemstra. “We have learnt that you can recognise different brands within the group if you have a disciplined architecture
approach that acknowledges the holding company but gives the individual brands the freedom to express what they do.”

He said the task now was to get staff to continue to buy into and use the new look and feel. A comprehensive brand book had been produced and up to 200 staff who worked most closely with brand instruments would be given comprehensive training so that they could make the most of the new image tools.

Brody said consistent branding enabled the group to capitalise on the synergies between its various businesses. “Our large corporate customers prefer to do business with an Imperial company – they recognise the strength of the Imperial name.”

Dawn Nathan-Jones, chief executive officer of Europcar South Africa, said a main reason for the name change of the vehicle hire company was that almost a fifth of its income was from international business coming into the country. Further, many corporates were taking purchasing decisions at their head offices in other countries and a domestic South Africa brand such as Imperial was losing out to those that were known international names. Europcar had already felt the benefit of the name change, she said.

“If I had to do it again, there’s only one thing I would do differently and that’s do it quicker. We ran the Europcar and Imperial hire brands in parallel for two years before the amalgamation. I think that was too long, but it was the careful, gradual approach. What is absolutely essential is to get your staff on side. You need to take them through the whole process very carefully. Old brands

World Cup fever has hit South African households with a vengeance. Everyone is aware that the biggest soccer tournament in the world is less than 140 days away. The opportunities for companies are endless, or so it seems.

From a branding perspective, my interest lies in the massive opportunity that The World Cup presents, on a longer term basis, to brands associated with an event that has the highest viewership world-wide!

While every marketer scrambles to claim his piece of the pie, whether it be through official FIFA sponsorship platforms or Guerrilla marketing strategies, a very real consideration needs to be taken by each company as to whether this tournament offers good brand association for their product or service, and if so how can it be leveraged? Marketers need to clarify what their brand stands for and what they want their brand to project. Is there a relevant link between your brand and the World Cup? These are serious considerations, as they have far-reaching brand consequences. The very nature of certain brands allows for a natural brand fit between them and this auspicious tournament, but for many others the link is quite tenuous, and these brands need to take heed.

Whilst it is undoubtedly the biggest exposure platform for any brand, don’t be blinded by the glitz and glamour. Focus clearly on what your brand stands for ensuring you choose exposure opportunities that represent the same values as your brand. If not, not only will you be draining your bottom line you could potentially damage your brand!

• The Suns, being the People’s Papers, have a huge role to play in making foreigners cool; welcoming guests rather than making them targets for crime. Allied to this is telling people that those who wish to prey on foreign visitors are NOT cool; that they’re terrorists undermining the victories of 1994. Believe it or not, that’s a harder job than it seems, given the poverty and the very culture in parts of Township SA.
• As part of all this, our newspapers must be as positive as possible about the coming Great Event. If circumstances dictate that we cannot be positive, let us at least be neutral. Apart from anything else, good old-fashioned journalistic negativity will blow up in our faces.\
• And there’s a great opportunity – for the Suns, in any event – to use the presence of more than 30 teams, to educate our readers about the places they come from.
• The complicated ticket sales mechanisms are too complicated for local fans who are used to buying their soccer tickets over the counter. We pointed this out again and again, and at last it seems FIFA and the rest are listening. It’s a good example of the kind of important victory newspapers in SA can win – to the benefit of the event.
• And if our national team does even a little bit well, it will be a shiny cherry indeed. Daily Sun and Sunday Sun must support Bafana Bafana.

If it all works out well, 2010 will become as important a year for SA as 1994. The alternative is too horrible to think about. So we must help.

Deon du Plessis
Publisher, Daily Sun and Sunday Sun

Some of the ROOTS 2010 titbits include

• The Black Diamonds in Soweto account for a massive R1.57 billion monthly income;
• 75% of PDM’s in Soweto buy take-aways from KFC
• In Polokwane, the most prolific language is Sepedi (42%);
• 66% of Durban North/ Umhlanga PDM’s have pet dogs but only 10% have a security system;
• Bedfordview / Edenvale is the area with the highest concentration of LSM 9 and 10 Purchase Decision Makers in the country (89%);
• Seapoint PDM’s are South Africa’s most prolific users of Facebook;
• 83% of the PDM’s in the areas surveyed own a cellphone;
• Weekly Internet usage has increased by 53% across the sample, since the last ROOTS survey in 2006 (15% to 23%;)
• Average issue readership of the community newspaper has increased by 1% from 68% to 69% of all decision makers in the researched areas nationally.

Originally developed in the early 90s, ROOTS has evolved into a quantitative face-to face interview survey, developed to provide readership, shopping habits, activities and market share information in areas beyond the footprints of Caxton’s newspapers to give its users a national urban landscape of South Africa’s buyer behaviour.
This time round though, field research (in 2009) was conducted pre and during South Africa’s first recessionary period in 70 years when credit was difficult to obtain; house prices plummeted; food and petrol prices increased; job security was low and pay increases poor.

The following insights and data are resultant from the ROOTS survey, a national sample for purchase decision makers living in the metropolitan areas of South Africa. The National Advertising Bureau has defined these PDMs as an adult in the household who is responsible for all purchase decisions. The overall population of decision makers has increased from 4,2 million to 4,5 million decision makers since the last survey.
Community selection is based on community newspaper footprint areas in the large metropolitan areas of Gauteng, Durban and Cape Town; and the metropolitan areas of the large mining and agricultural cities across all our provinces. Pure, random samples of households are drawn in each area and the PDM in that particular household is the one that is interviewed, face-to-face.

The Biggest Losers

One of the most significant decreases is evident in the durables category – buying activity decreased from 57% in 2007 to 41% in 2010. This decrease is also significant in the ‘soft furnishings and home accessories’ category – from 39% in 2006 to just 22% of PDM’s having bought from this category over 2009.
It seems that the recession also dampened the love of junk food. Whilst PDM’s buying take away food once a month or more stayed steady at 72%, in 2009 PDM’s did not buy take-aways as regularly – the percentage of buying once a week or more went down significantly from 22% in 2006 to 19% in 2009. Clothes and shoes purchasing shows a similar pattern to take-aways. Over a six month period the percentage of PDMs buying or looking for clothes/shoes stayed stable at 89%, but the percentage claiming to actually purchase clothes every three months or more went down from 37% in 2006 to 32% in 2009. The retailers that PDMs habitually frequent has also changed as the percentage of PDMs grocery shopping at premium food retailer Woolworths, being dramatically reduced from 15% (2006) to 8% in 2009.

Frequency of Shopping

In terms of just how often PDM’s visit their local supermarkets, hypermarkets and food stores, Zululand – Empangeni (82%); Rustenburg Metropolitan (76%) and Zola (75%) and Dobsonville PDMs in Soweto (72%) prefer once a month bulk shopping trips as opposed to PDMs in Cape Town’s Sea Point / Camps Bay and Constantia (18%); Milnerton (24%) and Cape Town South (27%).

Of the total sample PDMs interviewed whilst out in the field in 2009, the most popular retailer for food and grocery shopping is Pick n Pay (61%) followed by Shoprite (48%); Checkers / Checker Hyper (35%); Spar (28%); Woolworths (11%) and Fruit and Veg City (9%).
These are just some of the gems uncovered through NAB’s ROOTS 2010 survey. The available data is invaluable in assisting retailers, advertisers and marketers to know exactly what their core target market is doing when, where and how.

I took a look through the rulings released in early March 2010, a random sample of ASA decisions, and had great fun. You can start by  ‘tutting’ at the craziness of the ASA itself. In All Call Repairs / CL Watt the ASA made the rather extraordinary finding that the fact that  this repair service advertised ‘24 hour’ service, but “did not always work in the evenings” was not an advertising issue. It would appear that the offer of ‘24 hour service’ is not actually an advertised offer of 24 hour service, and the failure to deliver was therefore a service issue. The ASA did not see fit to share with us what an offer of ‘24 hour service’ does, in fact, mean. I had a very satisfying head-scratch over this decision, before moving on to the Lollipop Lounge / C Beukes & another ruling.

First, I had the always happy time of pondering people who have nothing better to do than complain about sexually explicit ads. I settled in, expecting the usual ASA explanation about the legality of strip clubs, and the fact that you can see more sexually explicit images on a beach than most billboards – only to find that the ASA has deviated from course. For some unclear reason, the ASA decided that this billboard is more comparable to rulings regarding words such as ‘shit’ and ‘fuck’ in headlines than it is to, well, similar billboards. It will certainly be interesting to monitor this new streak of prurience on the part of the ASA. I would go and look at the billboard myself, but the ASA describes it as being on “Conner Bram Fischer and Grove Streets”, and I just can’t find Conner Bram Fischer Street anywhere . . .

On the 2nd of March there were also two rulings about slimming products. These always present a moral conundrum for me. On the one hand, I agree with the ever vigilant and active Harris Steinman that there is something exploitative about the slimming industry, marketing as they do to a vulnerable market, often on the flimsiest of anecdotal evidence. This having been said, I also believe that if you ran an ad saying, “This product probably doesn’t work but once, someone took it, and probably completely coincidentally lost ten kilos”, people would still buy the product. And if a target market is that anxious to be exploited, can we really blame the people who step into the demand? Both the ASA rulings in the current matters – regarding products called ‘Slender Max Tincture’ and ‘Slender Caps’ – seem imminently sensible. They point out that of course products called ‘Slender’, claiming ‘massive weight loss’, are making slimming claims which need to be substantiated, and are currently not supported in terms of the requirements of the Code. It remains fascinating to me how marketers are unable to apply the rather simple requirements of Clause 4.1 of Section II relating to substantiation, and continue to bombard the ASA with excessive and ultimately useless paperwork instead.

Another ruling that got me thinking was that of Samsung / LG (11 March 2010). What essentially occurred in this matter is that Samsung was ranked second place in a study by Green Peace about manufacturers of PC’s, televisions, mobile phones and games consoles. Samsung was rightfully proud of this achievement, but got a bit carried away and bragged about it in a brochure advertising home appliances. The complainant took issue with this (sour grapes, me thinks?) as the claims are not true in respect of the advertised products. In a ruling riddled with grammar and spelling mistakes, the ASA agreed. The interest for me lies in the emergence of “green” claims as the competitive edge that companies are looking for, and I think that we will see many similar issues before the ASA in the near future.

Ah yes, reading the ASA website is a magnificent hobby. There’s something for everyone, and so much to get worked up about. But you’ll have to excuse me now. . . I’m off to find something more relaxing to do.

Writer Gail Schimmel once took a slimming tablet with a Red Bull.