ACA releases draft advertising BEE scorecard

At an event that was almost overshadowed by the furore over the Loerie Awards, the Association for Communication and Advertising (ACA) has released its draft empowerment scorecard to the media for discussion and comment by all advertising and communications companies, as well as the broader marketing and communication industry stakeholders.
Louise BurgersBy Louise Marsland
24 Nov 2004

The advertising industry is the first industry in the media and communications sector of the so-called 'creative industries' (apart from the broadcast media which are regulated by ICASA; and the exhibitions industry which has already embarked on its transformation journey), to announce its Black Economic Empowerment scorecard to set guidelines for transformation in the industry. The rest, apart from a few proactive companies, are sadly lagging behind as industry progress goes on transformation.

Draft ACA BEE Scorecard


Click to enlarge graph

It must be noted that the scorecard and the ACA's Transformation Charter has been released for comment. The entire industry, including marketing which is in crisis, has until 2006 to meet parliament's expectations of transformation. The ACA includes among its members most of the large advertising agencies and is mandated by the industry as representing the majority of the advertising industry in South Africa.

The draft ACA scorecard is a culmination of a number of things highlighting the ACA's progress in and commitment to transformation over a number of years, its statement read. The ACA has voluntarily been monitoring representivity in human resources since 1998 and proactively launched the ACA Transformation Charter on 23 February 2000. The adoption of the Charter committed the industry to an irrevocable course of transformation and self-regulation by:
1. Only opening membership of the ACA to those who demonstrate their commitment to the letter and spirit of the Charter.
2. Adopting self-imposed representivity and ownership targets which have been monitored annually.

The introduction of the Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment Bill made it incumbent upon the ACA to revisit its own targets and milestones, and to develop an ACA Scorecard informed by its current status and where it would like to be in future, bearing in mind the realities of the advertising and communications agency industry.

The draft ACA scorecard is the product of intensive and extensive consultation and workshops amongst its members and employees, including CAFÉ (Communication and Advertising Forum for Empowerment). It has also engaged with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) as to the way forward, and shared the draft scorecard in the spirit of cooperation with broader stakeholders in the marketing and communications industry as represented on the industrywide Monitoring & Steering committee on Transformation.

The ACA said it has voluntarily been monitoring members' progress in key empowerment variables - some for over six years - through our two annual surveys to which they have a 100% response, namely the ACA Empowerment Equity Survey and the ACA Employee Cost to Agency Survey.

The 2004 survey results have just been released and while the journey to meet 40% representivity targets remains slow, the following key trends highlight the progress that has been made over the past years up to 2004, the ACA statement goes on to say:

  • Average equity ownership has increased to an effective 28.7% in 2004 compared to 25.5% in 2003.
  • There has been a 7% improvement in ownership over the last. Effectively 69.3% of ACA member agencies have 20% or more BEE ownership.
  • Employment equity has increased to 35.2% in 2004. This is not meeting the 40% representivity target the ACA set for itself with the launch of its Transformation Charter in 2000. While there is movement in the right direction it is very slow.
  • However Black management representivity has grown steadily over the last five years; today it stands at 26.8% compared to 23.5 last year. Black representation in top management is at 20.4%.
  • Overall female representivity in the ACA is growing in leaps and bounds, 69% of people employed in the industry are Female, a 9% jump over last year. Black female representivity is growing steadily and stands at 21%. Black female representation in management is 13.8%.

    With the public launch of its draft scorecard on 24 November, the ACA now moves to the next step - that of inviting broad participation from the media and other non-ACA members of the advertising and communications agency industry - whether large, medium, small or micro. From 24 November, the ACA Transformation Charter and Scorecard can be accessed on the ACA website at www.acasa.co.za, and all comments can be directed to the ACA directorate at . The scorecard is also available on www.bizcommunity.com.

    The ACA also announced that Maserame Mouyeme, Group MD Specialist Communications, FCB SA, would be taking over as ACA Board Chairperson for 2005. The outgoing chair is Nunu Ntshingila. Nina de Klerck is the Executive Director of the ACA.

    The ACA Board for 2005 comprises:

    1. Mouyeme, Maserame - Chairperson, Group MD Specialist Comm Co FCB SA
    2. Behrens, Reinher - Vice Chairperson, CEO - Lobedu Leo Burnett
    3. Nurock, Ann - Vice Chairperson,CEO - Grey Worldwide
    4. Shipley, Keith - Vice Chairperson, CEO - Net#work BBDO
    5. Bannister, Paul, Strategic Director - Y & R Gitam
    6. Barty, James, MD - King James
    7. Bosman, Mike, Group CEO - TBWA South Africa
    8. Gendel, Mike, Gendel Advertising
    9. Jamieson, Marie, CEO - TBWA Hunt Lascaris
    10. Klatzko, Dawn, MD - Klatzko & Waldron
    11. Little, John, MD - Ogilvy Africa
    12. McCarthy, Justin, MD- TBWA Gavin Reddy
    13. Mohanoe, Makhaola, MD - Inroads Multimedia
    14. Morris, Nina, MD - Morrisjones & Co.
    15. Motshabi, Zeona, MD - Lobedu Leo Burnett
    16. Muthuma, Ann , Deputy MD - Herdbouys McCann Erickson
    17. Nchabeleng, Groovin, MD - Blue Print Strategic Marketing Comm
    18. Nkomo, Nkwenkwe, Group Deputy Chair - FCB South Africa
    19. Rightford, Gillian, Group MD - Lowe Bull
    20. Schwartz, Yossi, Group CEO - Young & Rubicam Gitam
    21. Sham, Peter, Group CEO - J. Walter Thompson
    22. Sheperd, Ian, Deputy Chair - Grey Global
    23. Spriestersbach, Marc, MD - Publicis Johannesburg
    24. Tyawa, Evan, MD - O'Brian Marketing

    • About Louise Marsland

    Louise Burgers (previously Marsland) is Founder/Content Director: SOURCE Content Marketing Agency. Louise is a Writer, Publisher, Editor, Content Strategist, Content/Media Trainer. She has written about consumer trends, brands, branding, media, marketing and the advertising communications industry in SA and across Africa, for over 20 years, notably, as previous Africa Editor: Bizcommunity.com; Editor: Bizcommunity Media/Marketing SA; Editor-in-Chief: AdVantage magazine; Editor: Marketing Mix magazine; Editor: Progressive Retailing magazine; Editor: BusinessBrief magazine; Editor: FMCG Files newsletter. Web: www.sourceagency.co.za.
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