By Carey Finn. Media agency execs weigh in on the media insights and media strategy notes they’ll be taking into the new year, with a focus on lessons and opportunities.
To sum up this year’s feedback:
- Sayonara, spreadsheet marketing: Focus on meaningful impressions, not just CPM metrics.
- Media budgets are the bellwether: Higher spend signals market confidence and brand investment.
- Flexibility is key: Good strategies evolve with real-time results.
- Creative & media = power couple: Integration drives ROI-focused campaigns.
- Audiences don’t want ads: Gen Z & X want engaging content, not traditional ads.
- Rigour over haste: Plan carefully, use data, adjust thoughtfully.
- Stand for something: Clear values beat trend-chasing.
- E-commerce and re-commerce: Digital shopping and second-hand sales surge.
- Back to balance in 2025: Blend long-term branding with short-term performance.
“Are these impressions effective?”
Neil Pursey, founder and CEO of Measurebyte, says that 2024 has reminded him of principles that he knows work. “I keep coming back to creative work as marketing’s performance lever,” he explains. “I’ve watched our industry chase scale and speed until efficiency became everything — perhaps because it’s the easiest to measure. And efficiency metrics are closely aligned to cost metrics, which then makes obvious sense to a CFO. What has frustrated me is seeing spreadsheet marketing everywhere, with teams chasing impressions and using CPM as their north star, while forgetting to ask: ‘Are these impressions effective?’”
For 2025, Pursey sees a shift coming in how we measure and invest in marketing. “South African marketers are increasingly ready to move beyond vanity metrics,” he says. “We’re seeing a genuine appetite for measuring what truly works. From what I’ve observed this year, marketing effectiveness is gaining momentum. While the concept isn’t new, it marks a return to marketing fundamentals.”
Watch for marketing mix modelling (MMM) tools to become cheaper and more accessible in the coming months, says Pursey. “However, the real barrier to optimisation isn’t technological — it’s organisational,” he adds. “Siloed KPIs continue to fragment marketing teams, undermining even the most sophisticated modelling solutions. This creates a big opportunity for 2025. Our analysis shows that organisations with disconnected brand, performance, channel, customer and data teams experience media wastage ranging from 20% to 60%. The potential for improvement is enormous, but it requires a fundamental shift in approach.”
Still room for media spend, but don’t forget the branding
Martin MacGregor, partner: media at M&C Saatchi Group South Africa, points to the resilience of media budgets as a lesson from 2024. “In the five months pre-Government of National Unity (GNU), media spend continued — even though [it was] at minimum levels,” he says. “Media budgets are the bellwether for sentiment — post-GNU it was great to see the spend increase as confidence increased.”
He also notes positive changes in spend. South Africa is following the global trend of rethinking heavy investment in digital performance media. “Marketing teams are realising that investment in brand is as important for sales growth and that there needs to be a correction in budget split between the two,” he says. “The high wastage of performance media spend can no longer be justified.”
Meanwhile, content creation is maturing, says MacGregor, with brands able to create and produce messaging far more cost-effectively, utilising a range of creators and influencers. “Brands that jump on trends early — think demure — are able to harness the zeitgeist and get attention with highly relevant messaging that makes an impact,” he says. “Podcasts are coming of age and starting to build significant audiences — together with the continued growth of music streaming, radio will start to feel this threat.”
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Less red tape, more real-time campaigning
Anke Nel, head of media at RAPT Creative, says that the 2024 elections held a valuable lesson for her, too: collaboration drives success. “In advertising, especially among agencies, this approach is crucial,” she says. “By prioritising client objectives over individual goals, we ensure our work is impactful and aligned with their vision. Together, we can achieve more.”
Nel believes in responding to cultural moments in real-time. “By tapping into live cultural narratives – whether through dynamic social media interactions, quick-turn creative, or geo-targeted ads – brands can stay relevant and connect meaningfully with audiences as these moments unfold,” she explains. “This approach positions brands not just as observers, but as active participants, fostering genuine connections and reinforcing cultural alignment.”
However, agencies need to get rid of the red tape, Nel says. “[It] holds you back and can negatively impact the implementation of successful campaigns by creating unnecessary delays, stifling creativity, and limiting responsiveness to market dynamics,” she says. “Excessive bureaucracy often means slower decision-making and a rigid approach to execution, which are detrimental in a fast-paced advertising environment where agility and adaptability are essential.”
Her solution is to make workflows simpler by implementing clear, efficient processes that prioritise speed and flexibility. “Regularly review approval stages, delegate decision-making authority where possible, and foster a culture of open communication and collaboration,” she advises. “Teams can move quickly and focus on innovation and alignment with client goals, driving more impactful, timely campaign results.”
Start with strat, but keep it malleable
Wayne Wilson, COO, media and tech, at RAPT, wants that flexibility, too. “Brands and media owners alike need to be more malleable when it comes to amending and optimising campaigns,” he says. “A good media strategy will always be a great place to start, but nothing beats a strategy that changes and adapts based on actual results.”
He also speaks to the shifting relationship between strategy and creative. “This year has seen a sharp rise in the requirement from brands for media agencies to be far more integrated with strategy and creative,” he says. “Media strategy must be woven into the campaign strategy right from the start, and having a single operational model across agencies and departments is critical to achieving success.”
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The biggest challenge on the horizon, says Wilson, is for agencies to find success where others have failed, as they take on new clients. This requires “looking beyond the consumer data tools and market trends that everyone follows, and being truly innovative in their approach to deliver on tangible business results,” he says.
Creative and media, together
Tanya Schreuder, CEO: media division at Juno, believes that the relationship between creative and media agencies is more important than ever. “By fostering collaboration, sharing insights, and aligning strategies, together we can create compelling campaigns that not only capture attention but also drive engagement and conversions,” she says. “A strong partnership is the only option to future-proof our brands.”
But there’s a problem to solve, Schreuder notes. “Most media agencies moved out of creative agencies 20 years ago, so how do we ensure that we drive strong relationships to allow for better alignment of creative resources with media-buying strategies,” she asks. “A media strategy should advise on where to allocate budgets for maximum impact, ensuring that creative efforts are supported by effective media placements.”
She stresses that strategies must be flexible. “Long gone are the days of delivering an annual media strategy and then going for lunch,” she says. “In our dynamic media landscape, it is essential that media and creative teams can adapt strategies quickly. Building these collaborative relationships will enable agencies to pivot and adjust campaigns based on performance data, audience feedback, and market trends.”
Audiences don’t want advertising
Shaune Jordaan, founder of Hoorah, highlights the importance of tools like Naritive in adapting content to fit for purpose without TikTok, Stories, and other social channels. “Thumb-stopping creative is now very much here,” he says. “Audiences like Gen X and Gen Z want entertaining or engaging content, not advertising.” He mentions the opportunities that content-tech AI products bring, and the benefits for clients in terms of potentially better, faster, and cheaper work.
Looking ahead to 2025, Jordaan warns that local, independent media houses may struggle pitching against networks “where global alignment is mandatory for a brand, regardless of the local entity’s abilities”. He describes this as “not great for local brands”.
Rigour over haste
For Celia Collins, senior vice president, Publicis Media, it’s important to prioritise rigour over haste. “In 2024, one of the most significant realisations was how quickly the media landscape evolves,” she explains. “Innovations in technology, shifts in audience behaviour, and changes in regulatory environments mean that what worked yesterday may not be effective tomorrow. Social media platforms are continuously updating their algorithms, new content formats are emerging, and audience preferences are shifting almost every month. This rapid change has reinforced the need for a more thoughtful approach to media strategies.”
What that entails, says Collins, is studying trends and audience insights before leaping to create content. Use analytics tools to track engagement, and data rather than gut feelings to guide strategies. “This needs to be revisited at least three times a year,” she says. Other guiding principles include quality over quantity, continuous learning, and strategic planning that allows for pivots where needed.
Flexibility needed, excellence too
Claudelle Naidoo, CEO of GroupM Sub-Saharan Africa, says fixed annual commercial models were 2024’s biggest challenge, making it hard for brands to scale talent and causing high staff turnover or burnout. “As a collective between marketers, brands, and agencies, we need to collaborate better on what good looks like without being completely restricted by a rigid annual FTE structure,” she explains. “Our landscape will continue to evolve, and in order for us to deliver real outcomes in a changing environment, we must be able to address the elephant in the room, the commercials, at any point during the year and bring in the best talent that can deliver performance.”
When it comes to trends, Naidoo says that quality content is still king. “While short-form video formats, gamification, augmented reality, personalisation and other platforms or techniques continue to grow, quality content still rules,” she says. “Reach will be a key performance metric in media for a long time in South Africa, but campaigns that deliver the best ROI are the ones that resonate deeply with audiences and connect on a level that is hard to define. I noticed how well story-driven campaigns performed during local awards such as The Bookmarks and The Loeries in 2024, an indication that quality content can capture attention and deliver results.”
Going into 2025, Naidoo predicts ongoing talent retention challenges, impacting continuity in partnerships. “The opportunity is to keep talent focused on career development and to show them the value of the meaningful work that they produce, and ultimately, their purpose in the workplace instead of just remuneration,” she says.
“Looking at media, I believe that with incremental spends moving onto digital platforms, more specifically social, brands need to be aware of the mental-health implications caused by digital media sensory overload and overstimulation. The opportunity is to ensure that media strategies remain end-to-end encompassing consumer touchpoints that drive quality, and stimulating engagement and interaction.”
What do you stand for?
Brian Muguto, managing director at PHD Media Johannesburg, says that agencies need to stand for something. They must have clear value propositions so that people know why and when to turn to them. “Competition has never been greater for clients’ business, and clients have never been more diligent in choosing their partners,” he explains. “Clients still need the basics done right, a partner that they can trust to get it done efficiently and effectively, and they can lean on to responsibly walk the journey of transformation with them in a manner that’s relevant to their business and/or brand context.”
Muguto also speaks to the importance of e-commerce in the local market. “Whilst the advent of the age of AI experimentation is the trending topic on everyone’s lips, e-commerce remains the most prevalent and rapidly emerging phenomenon in markets like South Africa,” he says. “Initially, shopping online was considered the sole domain of higher-income individuals and households, but the latest data from Statista points to a growing democratisation of the behaviour across low, medium and high-income groups.
“The growth in what is termed “re-commerce” (selling of pre-loved or pre-owned goods, especially online) and social commerce are key indicators of youth and/or lower income groups’ greater adoption and participation. If you needed more clues to our market’s readiness, it’s no accident that Amazon has chosen this time to make its market entry.”
But with an “ever-increasing appetite for digital media” comes more risk of advertising fraud, “in all its different forms”, says Muguto. “In this environment, clients and their agency partners have to be particularly vigilant and invest in the governance policies and structures that will protect their brands,” he says. “Even more so, this is the time for media partners and providers to show up as true partners – engaging in open dialogue, transparent practices, and co-creating the infrastructure that will ensure the integrity and sustainability of the digital advertising landscape in South Africa and beyond.”
Back to balance
Graham Deneys, chief strategy officer: media brands, at Dentsu, expects rebalancing in 2025. “An adjustment is underway, fuelled by a tide of data that supports the power of long-term brand communications, regardless of whether you are looking at a short or long-term objective,” he says. “Performance is a juicy combination of short and long-term initiatives working together in perfect harmony to drive success. This certainly isn’t a new finding, but this beautiful balance shifted rather far down the funnel in recent years due to our thirst for immediate results. 2025 should see this effective rebalancing continue, and consequently deliver not only tactical short-term gains but simultaneous long-term success over time.”
One of the key challenges going into the new year is finding time to think, Deneys admits. “It’s something that isn’t easy to achieve as the fast-paced rollercoaster of a working week continues to gather speed,” he says. “Some of my best breakthroughs have come from splitting wood in my driveway on a cold winter’s night, but I guess it’s not easy to charge a client for that. Agency models will need to find a middle-ground with clients to ensure we scope out time to better embrace curiosity, prototyping and unconventional process — time to think, with the aim of delivering an incredible end result.”
For agencies, opportunity lies in emotion, adds Deneys. “The data is there to support it — humour works and so do a number of other beautiful human emotions,” he says. “Emotion assists in creating long-term memory structures. This ensures your brand is firmly in the consideration set when that elusive buying moment arrives. There is currently a significant skew towards more tactical product-led messaging, designed to convert. Emotion is designed to prime, and when you prime, it’s way easier to convert.”
Carey Finn is a contributing writer to MarkLives MEDIA and MarkLives.com.
