SCOPEN and the Independent Agency Search & Selection Company (IAS) have launched SCOPEN Rating, which unveils PHD as South Africa’s top media agency. The rating is a South African first, and combines the views and opinions of media agency leaders, as well as the data gleaned from the Agency Scope research conducted every two years.
This inaugural award is based on analysis of client-agency relationships, new business gains, agency scope, creativity and positioning.
The rankings were arrived at through an intense process involving the leadership of South Africa’s media agencies. It was their input that allowed SCOPEN Ratings to arrive at a weighting of criteria agreeable to the leaders.
“This is the first time a ranking has been produced with the consensus of South Africa’s media agencies,” said SCOPEN co-founder and global CEO, César Vacchiano. “We produced it by asking MDs and CEOs of agencies operating in South Africa the key factors, attributes and criteria they thought should be used to produce this rating. We combined the responses, most voted by leaders in media agencies and came up with six criteria,” he explained.
Following this, agency leaders were asked to weight the criteria. “Of the specific data sent by 17 media agencies, their ranking was established according to client satisfaction, new business gained in 2019, creativity and innovation, market perception, a match to the ideal of media agencies by marketers and awards won in 2019,” said Vacchiano.
Noting their success, Wayne Bishop, PHD Johannesburg MD, said the accolade was extremely valuable to the agency and its clients, and robust enough to take its place among industry awards.
“Creative agencies seem to fare better with the amount of recognition they get, where the responsibility for seeking out target audiences and ensuring their work goes to the right places – the job of the media agencies – is often overlooked,” he said. “SCOPEN Rating’s sound methodology makes it a practical and important tool for our industry.”
