Page 11 - HGR March + April 2019
P. 11
NEWSLINE 9
The impact of corruption
on your media
Chris Botha, Group Managing Director of Park Advertising
Carl Sagan once said: this got to do with anything. Well, Are your magazines reaching their
everything I would postulate. readers? Many magazines use the South
“One of the saddest African Post Office to deliver to their
The impact on advertising investment: most loyal readers, their subscribers.
lessons of history firstly, while the world markets are all Advertisers gladly pay for their ads
ticking up, our markets continue to assuming that it lands in every hand
is this: If we’ve been tick down. Business confidence and promised at the right time. Well,
performance has a direct link on ad considering the challenges at SAPO that
bamboozled long spend. Net effect is a direct impact is no longer a straight guarantee. Some
on advertising investment. I have had magazines probably arrive months later
enough, we tend to reject numerous discussions with South Africa’s due to the inefficiencies. Opportunity lost
biggest media owners, all of whom once again…
any evidence of the without exception stating that this is the
hardest economic climate they have ever The challenge with corruption is that
bamboozle. traded in. In years gone by the adage it permeates and impacts every fibre of
“flat is the new up” was jokingly bandied our business. Whether it’s ratings on TV,
We’re no longer interested in finding out about. Now it is cried out in desperation magazines (or lack thereof) in the hands
the truth. The bamboozle has captured and frustration. of consumers, illegal billboards, fake news
us. It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, stories being broadcast, or real news
even to ourselves that we’ve been taken. Lost revenue means less investment stories not being broadcast – there is no
Once you give a charlatan power over you, in content, less investment in production, getting around it. Corruption has a deep
you almost never get it back.” less investment in acquisition, and less impact on what we do every day.
investment in developing the new, smart,
I am sure like everybody else, you and amazing. President Ramaphosa has a massive
have been reading about the massive task ahead of him. He will need time,
corruption being unearthed by the various Only the strong, nimble, agile and backing, investment, and a brave soul
investigative bodies and journalists in intelligent will survive. The end is to turn this country around. Most
our country. Just this past week the nowhere in sight. Buckle up boys and importantly, this is not a problem solely
Zondo Commission was in full cry, and girls, this ain’t getting better any time solved by government. Government
Pieter Louis Myburgh released his book soon. simply can’t. Private enterprise and big
on Ace Magashule. The numbers are business needs to jump in. It affects all
astronomical. Depending on who you Electricity supply and your TV ratings: of us.
believe - South Africa has lost R30-R300 Britta Reid recently wrote an excellent
billion per year because of corrupt article on the impact of load shedding One has to believe that it is not all
practises. Horrifying. on TV ratings. The numbers are scary. doom and gloom going forward. As an
In heavy load shedding weeks, up to industry we are a collective of creative
But for me the bigger loss is the loss of 35% of audiences are lost. As with the genius! We are diverse, and inspired.
opportunity. overall corruption problem, that is also 2019 should be the year where we launch
a lost opportunity. An opportunity that new agencies (like Meta Media), where
The past eight years have been businesses would have had to sell more we inspire our staff, where we lift up
described as the “forgotten years” products, make more money, and invest the youth in our industry. Where media
or the “lost years”. This phrase really in our country. TV stations have for owners need to help build our nation
hurts my heart because it is so true. the most part dug in their heels when through education and inspiration. We
R30 billion across eight years is R240 it comes to compensation (rightly or have access to the whole country through
billion that could have solved so many wrongly). But lower ratings will no doubt our platforms. So let’s get our hands dirty.
of our country’s ills. Imagine that sort of impact them down the line as rate setting Bring on the 8th of May.
investment in youth education, housing or and projecting will become even more of
the medical field. a gamble. Thuma Mina.
But Chris, you are a media guy, what’s
MARCH / APRIL 2019 | HOME GOODS RETAILER
