Members can expect continued work on issues such as transformation, education (through the AAA School of Advertising), engagement on relevant legislation and a legal advisory service and further discussions with other associations to cement and expand the ACA's stance on tenders and pitches (which limits the number of agencies pitching on a single account) to the broader marketing industry.
No quick fix
Naidoo says no quick fix is available to industry issues - instead a process of dialogue and tweaks to current policies should drive progress and finding solutions for the ad industry and ACA members. His aims are to continue enhancing services to members in a bid to deliver tangible benefits and build on the relevance of the ACA in the broader industry domain.
Membership currently stands at 47 agency group members, which equates to 110 agencies being represented in the association. Naidoo says this is broadly representative of the industry, but he will continue efforts to expand the ACA's membership profile. He believes this will grow as the ACA gains more prominence through its well-regarded APEX awards. The APEX awards focuses on advertising effectiveness and ROI, as well as creative effectiveness.
Naidoo says that the industry speaking as a collective is much more effective than if members had to speak up individually. The tenders and pitch guidelines the ACA put in place is an example of this. Dialogue with other associations in this regard will continue, says Naidoo, with this in mind.
Greater inclusivity might benefit
He also said it would be premature to comment on opening up the ACA, which currently only represent ad agencies, to marketers, but acknowledged that greater inclusivity might benefit the association.
In terms of industry transformation and the BEE status of members Naidoo says data is still in the process of being collected and collated. Status details should be available sometime in January 2010. Naidoo says he expects to see an increased intake of black professionals in the industry, as well progression in BEE brackets from agencies themselves.
ACA membership fees works on a sliding scale which takes into account the size and turnover of the agency. To gain membership, an agency needs to have been in operation for at least two years and have provide financial statements for the previous two years of operations on record.
For more, go to www.acasa.co.za, contact the ACA at az.oc.dtlaaa@oec or tel +27 (0)11 781 2772, and follow @ACA_SA on Twitter.
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