Agency Scope 2025 to include more marketing and agency professionals

Source: © 123rf 123rf The sixth wave of the Agency Scope study in South Africa will begin in May 2025

“The Agency Scope study is on track in South Africa and Cesar Vacchiano, president and CEO of Scopen International, will be in South Africa in February, ahead of fieldwork on the study beginning in May 2025.”

This is the word from Johanna McDowell, Scopen partner and CEO of the Independent Agency Search & Selection Company (IAS).

The study is published every two years after in-depth meetings with the highest-level decision-makers across marketing, communications and advertising from the largest to the smallest spending marketers in South Africa.

“In interviewing over 3,000 CMOs around the world, we’re excited to see what 2025 brings’,” she says.

Agency Scope’s evolution in SA

Another step in Agency Scope’s evolution will be interviewing new profiles of key decision makers within the participant companies, encompassing digital, technology and innovation leaders.

“These managers also hire and work with agencies and other partners,” says McDowell, “which will bring even greater depth to the value of data we collect.”

The fieldwork will also identify and include other profiles of client companies, over and above the usual investors in communications.

In this section, the study will note the start-ups, the dot.com sector and the digital platforms that work with agencies more than ever before.

“Numbers in this area may not be significant at this point,” she says, “but it’s certainly an area we need to be aware of to keep our finger on the pulse.”

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Amplify agency professionals sample

Among the additions to Agency Scope 2025/26, the study will amplify its sample of agency professionals interviewed, an important viewpoint to understand as they assist in determining which agencies are most attractive to work for.

“Following on from the inclusion of the best agency to work for in the 2020/2021 study and the success that this data found in the market, we will be driving a broader study for 2025/26,” she asserts.

Samples obtained in past editions (Image supplied)

“We’ll be gathering the commentary of agencies around what they feel is important to glean from the study.”

“Samples of the research from 2016 to 2023 show how this sector has grown from 191 respondents across marketing, creative and media professionals in 2016 to 528 in 2023,” says McDowell.

Agency Scope will aim for 700 completed interviews in 2025.

“We see 2025 as the opportunity for marketers and their agencies to steady the industry and apply innovations from the recent past, while continuing to seek new ways of collaborating and growing their businesses, based on robust data,” says Vacchiano.

McDowell adds that going into the 2025/26 study, this data will be richer and even more valuable.

Fieldwork calendar

Interviewers will hit the ground running in May 2025, completing their tasks by the end of August.

Analysis and processing will run through September and October, and reports will be presented late October for a month.

One-on-one meetings with the agencies will be held in February when Vacchiano arrives in the country and spends a week talking to subscribers.