This is according to Scopen’s second edition of the Best Agency to Work for Study on creative and media agencies in South Africa, which identifies the most attractive agencies to work for, for the professionals who currently work in them.
Joe Public achieves the top position - maintaining the position it achieved in the last edition - as the most attractive agency to work for among creative agency professionals.
This is mainly, because of its first position (much higher than the rest of the agencies) in the Top 10 ranking of independent agencies.
Ogilvy and TBWA\ reach second and third positions (being first and second in the Top 10 of Group Agencies).
Among the Top five in the global network agency ranking, Accenture Song, not having appeared in the Top 10 previous edition, achieves fourth position.
VMLY&R rises two positions (it was 7th in 2022).
Two significant rises are Grid and FCB Africa, both of which appeared in position 17 in the previous edition, and now reach positions 9 and 10 respectively.
The 10 creative agencies leading the Best Agency to Work for 2024 for South African professionals are:
Mindshare reaches first place as the most attractive media agency to work for (it was in fourth place in 2022), followed by The MediaShop (first in the previous edition) and PHD (which rises one place).
In the Top 10 there are four significant increases: Carat (which goes from 10th to fourth place), OMD (from 11 to 6), and Publicis Media and UM (which go from 16 to 7 and 10 respectively).
The 10 media agencies in the #BATWF 2024 are:
The key factors that most influence an agency change are:
Among the six tangible aspects suggested, the three most important that influence preference of one agency over another are:
Among the intangible aspects, the three that stand out are:
In South Africa, the satisfaction of professionals working in their current agencies is high, with an average recommendation level of 8.8 out of 10, and an NPS of +57.3.
Only 13.7 of the professionals interviewed declare their intention to change agencies (certainly or probably). If they did, they would mainly change to a client company.
Cesar Vacchiano, CEO of Scopen Global, says, “Across all markets, we see that due to the uncertain times we live in, most agency professionals (43% in South Africa), are not thinking of changing agencies.
“Among those thinking of changing, the vast majority want to move to a client company. It is a big problem if agencies are not attractive for professionals in our industry, as without outstanding talent, agencies will lose relevance for marketers.”
The fieldwork was carried out between July and September 2023.
In this edition, a total of 200 professionals have been interviewed (155 from creative agencies and 45 from media).
The sample is higher among professionals from Johannesburg (73.5%), with greater female representation (58.5%) - higher in media agencies - and the average age is 44 years.
On average, they have been at their agencies between seven and eight years and more than seven in their current position. Management positions have the highest representation in the sample (a third of them are CEO/Partner/MD).
