by Herman Manson (@marklives) Bongani Gosa is creative director of Breeze Website Designers (BWD), a small Joburg-based creative digital agency he founded eight years ago. Clients include Nedbank, ReefLords Property Development, T-Systems, KRB Law Services and Munaca Holdings — not bad for a shop employing 10 people.
How did Breeze Website Designers come about?
Bongani Gosa: Around 2003, when I was an IT student at UJ [University of Johannesburg], I realised that there was a gap in the market for quality website-design services.
With this opportunity in mind, I set out to become knowledgeable in this field by reading any website-and graphic-design book I could lay my hands on and working through numerous online tutorials. To put what I’ve learnt into practice and gain experience, I volunteered to be a webmaster for the UJ newspaper for two years.
I was hungry to learn as much as I can, so I also tapped the brains of those in the know whenever I could, such as the main webmaster at UJ.
After graduation, I continued to hone my skills by working in the IT space, before finally starting Breeze Website Designers (BWD) in 2006.
What was your background prior to the launch of the agency?
BG: I first studied IT at UJ and then worked in the IT space for about two years before starting up BWD, while completing my BTech Degree in Information Technology.
Have you always been an entrepreneur?
BG: I am thankful to say that my entrepreneurial spirit surfaced at a young age already.
At the age of 16, I noticed that the lawns of a lot of the neighbours and members of our community were in a dire state. So I decided to sell the dung from my father’s cattle as manure to help them enhance the condition of it.
This desire to engineer solutions that will add value to businesses and people’s lives remains my daily driving force for getting up and running my agency every day.
How did you land your first client?
BG: I went to a public phone and made a cold call to a legal firm.
What has the agency growth trajectory looked like?
BG: We [have gone] from one legal company as a client in August 2005, to more than 30 key clients on our books, just over a decade later. Today, we serve a number of different industries such as legal, financial services, engineering, IT and many more. This includes blue chip organisations such as T-Systemts, Ubank and Nedbank.
I started out as a one-man band, but had to keep on appointing staff as our client base grew and we needed to expand our capacity to service them. We now have 10 multi-skilled staff members in our employment. This includes designers, animators, a strategist, copywriter, creative director, software developer, etc.
Our services are further complimented by those of an established network of specialists, to ensure we can offer our clients a turnkey digital communication service. Outsourcing some of the functions that do not form part of the core of our everyday business also has substantial costs benefits for our clients.
While I made my first client call from a public phone and worked from home, we now have established offices. Apart from offices, our facilities also include a boardroom and state-of-the-art computers, designer software and photographic studio equipment.
In 2013, we engaged an organisational development consultant to ensure that our business processes support and drive growth optimally. I learnt the valuable lesson tha,t for as long as I work too much IN the business, instead of focusing ON it, our growth would be limited.
What would you say is Breeze’s core competitive advantage?
BG: We’re a boutique agency that functions lean and mean. We have a sensible mix of internal core skills and specialist outsourced partners to ensure that we offer maximum value at competitive costs.
We can also make decisions on the fly and can turn client projects around in record time. Most importantly, we’re flexible enough to adapt our business to new market trends quite easily. A good example of this is the fact that we can now produce highly advanced animated explainer videos in-house — as [they are] a powerful new way for businesses to attract attention and stand out from the grey masses.
How successful do you think has the industry been at facilitating black economic empowerment?
BG: It is encouraging to see how many advertising, digital, PR or communication agencies are black-owned. Like us, many of them also appoint and develop previously disadvantaged individuals.
We’re also fortunate that the procurement of creative and other services are regulated by BBBEE requirements to ensure that such enterprises are supported. I do, however, believe that much more can be done to promote and implement sustainable transformation and am hopeful that I’ll see this become a reality still in my lifetime.
What qualities do you look for when you appoint new people?
BG: Great attitude and the eye for good work. I believe that you can teach anyone [who] has a great attitude to do anything.
What are your plans for the business over the next year or two?
BG: Growing to double our current size, while growing others — our own people, members of our community and our clients. This passion becomes evident in the fact that I have already volunteered to mentor new enterprises. I will also continue to offer digital-marketing insights and advice through speeches and articles. In addition, we are helping to build an exciting new charity initiative that will launch onto the market soon.
Any advice for new or budding entrepreneurs?
BG: The secret to success is that… there is no secret. Research and read a lot. You have to put in the ‘work’ hours to become a better business person, build your business networks, find the right employees and train your employees to perform at their peak. I can attest to the fact that the clichéd saying that the harder you work, the luckier you get, is actually true.
Case study: T-Systems
Background
T-Systems is a Deutsche Telekom subsidiary that specialises in ICT services which offer various solutions for travel, transport, healthcare and logistics industries.
T-Systems realised that airport management corporations are typically faced with numerous challenges to ensure that the airport ecosystem works seamlessly. It needed a marketing tool to help it introduce it solution for this issue.
Approach
A lot of T-Systems’ clients are not necessarily technologically inclined and the nature of T-Systems’ solutions could appear complex and difficult to comprehend. To overcome this potential issue, BWD recommended the development of an animated explainer video. This makes it possible for companies to explain what it is that they do, or tell their story very simply, by engaging their audiences through a creative fusion of text, images and sounds.
Outcome
T-Systems had a professional and impactful marketing tool that helped it to get its message across and grab the attention of target audiences like no other medium can. The animated video explainer had substantial additional advantages as well. Research shows, for example, that people will much rather watch a 2-3 minute video online than actually read content — and that 65% of users will visit a company’s website after watching its video.
Caste study: De Mûelenaere Oncology (DMO)
Background
De Mûelenaere Oncology (DMO) is a group of radiation oncology practices which offer sspecialised treatment to cancer patients, as part of an overall treatment programme with their doctors.
DMO had two major communication issues that needed to be addressed:
- To establish visibility, credibility and authority among medical practitioners with whom they typically partner to design an overall treatment programme for cancer patients.
- To offer useful information and reassurance to cancer patients who are in an emotionally charged period of their lives and for whom the topic of oncology is a daunting one.
Approach
BWD recommended a rebranding of the DMO corporate identity, supported by a website that positions DMO as an authentic and credible leader in its field.
For design purposes, we purposefully selected colours and imagery that can firstly be associated with the medical field — and that secondly has been proven to instil confidence and have a reassuring and calming effect psychologically.
The design elements were supported by professional copywriting of the website content to create an authoritative- yet warm and friendly tone.
Outcome
DMO is clearly differentiated in its field, while being approachable to its target audiences and offering an invaluable source of information in an easy-to-digest manner.
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