Month: October 2019

Andrew Dabbs, Digital Media Strategist at The MediaShop

In the past few months many people may have read that Instagram and Facebook have been running trials in Canada and Australia respectively to hide the number of Likes, reactions and video views that are made to public posts. The intention is to rethink how users engage with these platforms and to make the social networks less stressful. But this goes against using the main currency that Facebook have used for the past decade, the Like.

This new tactic creates some very interesting questions for marketers because the Like has been the vanity metric that most businesses and individuals have sought for so long. With the rise of influencer marketing over the past few years, how will this influence the influencers and how will these individuals be measured? Will they use the opportunity to see, which will really just be a good guess at best, how they can actually become accountable for sales? In a developing ecommerce environment like South Africa, this will be an interesting challenge.

But maybe we don’t need Likes anymore. With the decrease of organic reach “community managers” are using Likes, reactions, shares and views as their main metrics. It is possible that Facebook and Instagram are onto something. Given lower engagement rates they could be doing themselves a service by dropping these metrics before businesses lose faith or have further questions of their platforms.

As Facebook and Instagram keep growing (this without any third party verification of their actual numbers) and continue to compete with traditional media channels for reach, perhaps this will be the new currency they use. We know that video views are a little sketchy already and there has been the question – What is the value of a Like? This being said, maybe Facebook and

Instagram have outgrown small to medium businesses in favour of chasing large corporate budgets, resulting in a change or approach. In essence change is good and as the largest social networks they need to adapt.

It will be very interesting to see if user engagement changes if those ‘Like’ numbers are removed. Are individuals more attracted to a post or page because it has lot of Likes, or are they truly interested in the content of what is being published?

Engagement has always been the better measurement, and personally I would like to see the measure of ‘Likes’ gone as it really does not mean anything to anyone except maybe our lovely influencers. What would happen to all the models of Instagram and Facebook? Perhaps they’ll need a change in career with no filters!

Maggie Pronto, Media Strategist at The MediaShop

Those who know me will be very surprised that I am writing about the Rugby World Cup – sport is not my “thing”, but when this topic came up I couldn’t just kick the idea into touch so I took up the challenge.

This is the premier event for rugby around the world and South Africa is one of the most successful teams, winning two of the five Rugby World Cups (1995 & 2007) – so can we bring it home a third time?

70% of South African adults consider themselves rugby fans and globally interest in rugby is strong, so why is it that we are struggling to fill up stadiums? I mean if Cassper can fill up the Dome?

Spectator behaviour has changed with a growing amount of supporters opting to view in-home. According to the BMI Sport Track 2017/2018 report the main contributors are: convenience (transport, food & beverages), safety as well as an uninterrupted viewing experience.

This has opened the advantage line for TV with it being the primary choice to follow the rugby.

Unfortunately though millions of South Africans will be missing out as SABC were unable to secure rights stating that it would not have been commercially viable and that it doesn’t target their audience. Leaving the field wide open for DSTV to play advantage.

Looking at the 2015 RWC performance – even though we have a big love of the game – viewership more than doubles when our Boks are on the field! I am sure that this picture would have looked the same on SABC – even though the rugby audience is not their core audience surely they would still be behind the national team?

In addition, television also remains the most efficient platform for sponsors to reach and engage with rugby fans. According to caytoo 75% of RWC 2019 sponsors are finance, telecom and travel brands. This includes brands like AIG (New Zealand) and Vodafone (Ireland).

Global sponsorship investment was estimated to equal $66bn in 2018, growing quicker than other traditional media platforms. Brands like Bira91 and Coca-Cola are seeing success by activating national tournaments locally and integrating their own apps into key events.

The key is that all platforms activate together – even though the TV audience can be accounted for in terms of investment vs exposure, measuring ROI when it comes to sponsorships still remains a key concern – so you need to choose wisely.

Saturday was a very physical game – half time had a very grim outlook – we came back but NZL came back stronger. But could these two sides meet again in the Final? Let’s watch and see…

Jedd Cokayne, Business Unit Manager at The MediaShop

As marketers, I often feel we over complicate the interaction that we have with brands on different levels which muddies the water for our consumers, lets us slip from the short list and ultimately chase consumers to competitor brands.

Certain segments have identified specific brand USP’s that have made them successful. Single minded focus is key in an economy that is struggling and brands that are fighting to be part of the consideration set.

One such industry that has pin hole focus, knows what works for them and makes no excuses for what they do, is the gambling fraternity. They know exactly what works for them, they focus on the outcome and relentlessly pursue it with precision and determination.

And here we thought that vile coloured carpet used in the main lobby and gambling areas was a sick joke by the interior decorator, or the fact that the toilets were positioned in the belly of the beast and you had to pass all the amenities available just to get there was a design flaw. All of this actually took plenty of thought to solicit a specific behaviour or outcome.

The secret life of a casino is designed to appeal to the thousands of guests and gamers visiting them each day; from the confused newcomer to a cash laden ‘whale’ looking to play the high stakes tables for hours. By clearly segmenting their visitors and taking them into consideration each casino is specifically designed to accommodate all.

Let’s take a closer look.

Casinos deliberately don’t have clocks or any item that displays the time. They don’t have any windows and supply false lighting so that players lose track of time and continue to gamble through the night. They deliberately dull the senses to get a desired effect from the gamblers, this is very difficult to replicate in any other surrounding.

Casinos only offer drinks that are small with no form of stimulant to keep people gambling and ensure they don’t leave to go to the toilets. That’s why the toilets are placed in the belly of the beast. Another advantage is that smaller drinks are easier to clean up if spilt.

But what can brands do to ensure people interact with them over a longer period with no distractions and increase the likelihood of purchase?

Gamblers are often rewarded at different times as it keeps them coming back for more. Loyalty packages and databases collected often drive repeat purchases on a more frequent basis.

Previously, I mentioned those vile, gaudiest carpets known to man. Believe it or not those brightly coloured carpets with wild swirling patterns and designs are purposefully put there to keep players alert and happy, encouraging them to play more.

Casinos are a symphony of non-stop sounds, lights and colours, these all boost the players mood making them more excited around the thought of winning and end up spending more.

Standard services like toilets, food, cashiers etc are all strategically located deep within the casino. This is strategically done so that when the players want to leave the casino and have visited one or more of the above amenities, they have to pass the gambling areas once again and potentially lose some more money.

Players are often lulled into a false sense of control as some games allow them to throw the dice, chose their own cards and pick random numbers. This illusion of control fools gamblers into thinking they have a higher chance of winning because of their interaction and thus results into them gambling longer and spending more.

As we can see there is a lot of thought that goes into your plain casino, something we in marketing need to consider the next time we look at how our consumers interact with our brands and ultimately what the desired result is that we want from that interaction.