by Herman Manson. Draftfcb has acquired independent digital agency Hellocomputer. The move follows widespread industry speculation that the two parties were about to announce a deal.
Category archives: Adland
International Council of Communication Design has designs on Africa
by Herman Manson (@marklives) Gaby de Abreu is the executive creative director of the Switch Brand Agency, believes the graphic design industry around Africa has much to benefit from associating with international industry organisations, and a lot to offer.
De Abreu was recently voted onto the board and became vice-president of the International Council of Communication Design (Icograda) as the representative from the Brand Council of South Africa. Icograda, a world body for professional communication design, represents 224 member organisations across 129 cities and 67 countries.
With his election de Abreu hopes to introduce South African designers, and their counterparts in key and growing African design markets, to Icograda, and use its established credentials to help enhance the standards of design, professional practice and ethics in the industry. He wants to regulate the pitching process for greater benefit to designers, for example.
Creating clever commercials for people who hate ads
By Mandy de Waal (@mandyldewaal) I resent advertising. Like a reformed smoker I used to work in the industry and consult to technology and other brands about how to get more people to buy their stuff. I watched loads of television in those days but nowadays the pathetic appeal of DStv programming and the fact that Ira Glass lives on iTunes has changed things. Advertising’s a grudge experience for me, and on the days I do watch Gordon Ramsay, Californication or Dexter, it is great to be surprised by supremo advertising that’s better than the boring norm. For the most part local commercials are wall paper, but it’s a knock-out when someone comes along who just gets what advertising should be about.
Amy Allais of Ola Films is one of those people. She makes advertising that doesn’t make me want to jab a thumb in my eye. More than that – she makes advertising I actually enjoy. That I’ll watch again on YouTube, because it’s funny, smart, a visual feast, tells a story, captures the cultural zeitgeist or all of the above. Yes, I’ll come out and admit it. I’m an Allais fan girl. She had me at Vodacom’s “All The Single Ladies” and by the time “Daddy Cool” came around I was a convert.
Ravi Naidoo talks Martha and a billion bucks
by Herman Manson. Ravi Naidoo launched South Africa’s signature event for the global design stage, the Design Indaba, in 1995, with 200 attendees at the Mount Nelson Hotel in Cape Town. The Indaba, and Naidoo, has come a long way since then.
New normal quite good at Y&R
by Herman Manson (@marklives) One year ago Y&R looked like a mess, at least from the outside. No they won’t say it, but after the exit of Frasier Lamb, and the disastrous non-communication strategy it employed, coupled with a mini-guerrilla war inside the agency that was playing out quite publicly, the broader perception on the state of the agency wasn’t good. And in this industry perception counts for quite a bit.
The agency brought in as CEO Andrew Welch, a brand expert from Landor Associates in London, to set things back on track, and working closely with ECD Graham Lang, the agency has been reorganising its business to the extent that it recently landed the Telkom account, meaning it now handles two of the big 5 advertising accounts in the country (the other being Pick n Pay).
Welch, who joined in May a year ago, quite likes the new normal at Y&R, having helped the agency transition to what he calls Y&R 2.0.
Considering the internal goings on at Y&R at the time, bringing in somebody with an outside view was probably the best thing the agency could hope to do. Welch realised the need for change, while also acknowledging the positives built up over the past 35 years by the company, if the business was going to go to the next level. It needed to expand its strategic thinking, create more compelling creative and transition from ATL to through the line, says Welch.
Winning work: Gold winners from SA at the Cannes Lions
Winning work: Gold winners from SA at the Cannes Lions. See the work you hear so much about!
Breaking now: Speculation rising that Draftfcb is in advanced discussions to buy Hello Computer
Market speculation that Draftfcb is in advanced discussions to buy Cape Town based digital agency Hello Computer has been notched up a level as the parties are believed to have entered a due diligence phase.
Mike Abel: Opinions on Advertising
by Mike Abel. The big question is: When to judge and when not to?
Agency strategy insight: Managing 100% growth over 9 months
by Herman Manson (@marklives) You’ve just doubled your revenue over a nine month period and grown your staff by 60%. For any ad agency that is a tall order. Now you have to ensure the market doesn’t perceive you as having grown too fast, you need to convince existing clients that the attention they are receiving won’t diminish and that the core of senior agency personnel won’t be over-stretched, all while joe publicplanning new business units and international expansion.
The team at Joe Public are juggling all of the above, with some success it would seem, while remaining true to their people centric growth philosophy. It’s a philosophy that have taken the business to new heights, as their growth figures show, in a tough market, and made them stand out in an industry where most of the recent buzz has centred on Cape Town agencies.
Joe Public MD Gareth Leck says this year has been a break-through year for the agency after it won the Jet ATL business earlier in the year. The agency name also keeps popping up on shortlists for important pitches.
The agency is managing the rapid growth through owner managed subsidiaries, like its brand and design studio, Shift, launched in January. It already employs a staff of 10. The agency has a stake in the business, but the culture remains entrepreneurial, and the team manageable in size. Similarly its BTL specialist agency, Ignite (which employs 8), has signed up clients such as such as Anglo American, SAB, Colgate Palmolive, Foodcorp, Jet and Unilever, and also houses a team of ten.
Jupiter Joburg wants ‘more skin in the game’
by Kim Penstone. It shouldn’t come as a surprise to hear Jupiter Joburg’s Alison Deeb describe the current state of affairs at the agency, post the soul-destroying loss of the Edcon account in March this year, as “very exciting”.