by Marguerite de Villiers. Material culture is an area of research that explores the relationship between consumer and product — the processes involved in the production, consumption and interpretation of objects. It’s an understanding of the material side of human culture, and a belief that materiality is a form of cultural expression. This series of columns, Why Things Matter, applies an anthropological lens to the world of commercials and commodities.
Branded
An object has two types of value attached to it: material value and sentimental value. The first is often a monetary amount, derived from the quality and cost of materials used and labour invested in the production of the product. The second is the imagined or subjective value associated with an object based on what it means to or evokes for the consumer; it is often prompted by a brand as a marker of status, identity, or other evaluative criteria.
Both forms of value allow us to perceive an object with meaning, to see the object as a reflection, a representation and an indicator of who we are.
Humanity has the ability to create and transform the material world and, in return, we are shaped by it. Brands — more so today than ever before — have become a driving force behind an attempt to make a change, to have the world reflect the vision of what people believe it should be. We see brands championing causes, taking a stand, making their voices heard.
We expect brands to behave in a way that is in line with and relevant to the sentimental value we attach to them. Just as we expect to get what we pay for — to have the monetary value translate into quality, craftsmanship, and care.
A brand is a symbol of just as much our own identity as it is of the brand’s identity itself. If Nike says you can do it, you expect its product to help you achieve the seemingly impossible, and to present you to others as someone who is driven to succeed.
A timeless tagline from 1948, De Beer’s statement that “a diamond is forever”, creates the expectation that a diamond — like the relationship with the person to whom you gifted or from whom you received a diamond — will last forever. A brand is a marker of value and, when an object is successfully branded, we perceive it to matter more.
To illustrate the point, below are two instances of where brands either succeeded or failed in growing their perceived value.
Success
Many brands have championed campaigns for the empowerment of women, but few have spoken up about #FreedomForGirls. The reality for many girls the world over is one plagued with violence and control. Considering International Day of the Girl, The Global Goals has released a video to encourage people to make their voices heard and take a stand for freedom, choice and access to opportunity for girls.
Concurrently, Facebook created a profile picture frame to celebrate “today’s girls, tomorrow’s leaders”; an empowering message that steps away from cultural notions of weakness commonly associated with girls, and toward one of admiration for what girls overcome and what they are capable of.
Usually when a brand stands for something, its communications often paint a bleak and hopeless picture hoping to evoke sympathy and empathy. In doing so, they perpetuate reality that the ‘something’ they stand for is weak and in need of help.
The examples above take a different approach. They portray girls as powerful individuals in their own right and are great examples of how brands can not only shape perception, but alter reality.
Failure
From the start, Dove’s Real Beauty campaign was an attempt to engage with critiques of whiteness in advertising, as well as challenge unrealistic and digitally enhanced female bodies.
This is what made it so shocking that a brand claiming to be ‘committed to representing the beauty of diversity’ — and apparently targeting an audience who would recognise feminist codes, an audience well-informed, and able to afford its products — would sign off on an advert that showed a woman of colour removing her clothing to reveal a white woman.
Rather than addressing issues of cultural conflict, racial tension, and gender misconception, Dove have added fuel to the fire.
Marguerite de Villiers is an anthropologist at strategic marketing consultancy, Added Value. “Why Things Matter”, her latest regular column on MarkLives, applies an anthropological lens to the world of commercials and commodities.
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by Oresti Patricios (@orestaki) Kulula.com’s stand-out commercial comedy always raises chuckles, and the brand’s new TV campaign — from McCann Johannesburg and director Bevan Cullinan of Hammerhead TV — is alive with the laughs. The hashtag for the new ads is #travelhaters, but these are haters that will put a smile on your face.
Kulula.com comes to market with another advertising campaign you’re just gonna love. Why? Because it is funny, and we all know that Kulula.com does commercial comedy in a very special way. The low-cost airline has created and carefully crafted a serious travel brand by being distinctively funny.
The concept is simple: we all hate those bores who drone on and on about their fantastic holidays, but who wants to be a hater? Kulula.com makes holiday travel affordable, so you don’t have to be a #travelhater.
The scenarios are everyday events — an office celebration, two couples having dinner, and two guys in a canteen.
In the office scene, a group of coworkers are gathered to welcome their workmate back from holiday. There is a cake, with the words, “Welcome back Derrick”, and a table laden with party decorations. Everyone listens while Derrick holds forth: “Until you’ve stood on the top of table mountain and just taken in the amazing view…”
Unfortunately, this doesn’t go down well with everyone. The woman seated in front of the cake rolls her eyes and starts to carve it. She removes a big wedge from the middle of the writing, and joins the “D” of Derrick’s name to the “ick”, to reveal what she thinks of him. There is an awkward pause, and everyone wanders off back to their desks.
You may recognise some of the actors, such as Brendan Jack from Footskating 101, rapper/actor Kope Makgae, and Garth Breytenbach. The director is also a known face, although associated with another brand — Bevan Cullinan, also known as Gary the Tooth Fairy.
The production company behind the ad is Hammerhead TV, a “collective of comedy performers, writers, directors and producers who also work in advertising / film, TV and advertising production,” according to TV producer Jack, who also informs us that there are several more in the series to be released.
The response from many people has been great. On the YouTube page, there are several comments like this one, by Ilovetheculture:
“Wow. I usually just skip the ads and move on but I just had to find this again. Hahahaha hilarious.”
When you can get people to not only watch, but seek out your ‘skippable’ ad, you know you’re doing something right. On Twitter, there has been similar response, with people retweeting links to the ads:
Getting back to the ads: the next features two couples having a meal together. One of them starts prattling on about their amazing weekend on the beach and travelling through the winelands. “We must have tasted like every single wine,” he says, and his wife repeats, “Every single wine.” At that moment, the ‘friend’ who has been opening a bottle of champagne, manages to ‘accidentally’ shoot him in the neck with a champagne cork. “Vintage,” the friend tries to explain as an apology, but the cork in his neck has effectively shut him up (for a while).
The text on the screen is the same for all the ads: “Don’t be a #Travelhater.” This is followed by the payoff, in text and voice-over: “Book affordable holidays, flights, hotels and car rentals.”
The next ad is set in a canteen, where one young man is recounting to his workmate about his holiday at the Vic Falls. He shows him the beautiful, carved giraffe that he bought. “All the memories live in here. I don’t even need any pictures,” he says, offering it to the other man to hold. While the younger man’s back is turned, he quickly (and with considerable effort) snaps the giraffe’s neck. “Eish! Ai man… sensitive!” he says, as he hands it back.
The ads manage to nail that staple of South African humour, which I call cringe/awkward. Think Suzelle DIY, or (going back a few years) Corné and Twakkie of The Most Amazing Show.
Kulula.com has always been a brand that uses humour to differentiate itself, from the air-stewards’ humorous announcements to its inflight magazine and more. Often cheeky but never boring, laughter has been a key brand differentiator for the budget airline. It has also made the brand memorable and loved. The new campaigns will only deepen brand loyalty with epic ads that folks on the interwebs are loving.
Credits
Agency: McCann Johannesburg
Chief creative officer: Mick Blore
Creative directors: Theo Egbers, John Withers, Eric Wittstock, Bruce Murphy
Copywriters: Theo Egbers, Eric Wittstock
Art directors: John Withers, Bruce Murphy
Strategists: Dallas Glover; Georgina Smither
Account directors: Jonathan Stonier, Simeen Whisgary
Agency producer: Vernadi Simpson
Production co: Hammerhead TV
Producer: Brendan Jack
Director: Bevan Cullinan
DoPs:David Pienaar, Michael Smith
Art department: Bathoni Robinson and Denel Honeyball
Gaffer: Alfred Manzini
Key grip: Leonard Tsandeni
Location sound: Gaelan Timm
Makeup: Jules Ruby
Post production: Orchestra Blue Post Production
Editors: Kayleigh Kinnear, Graham Smith
Online: Geppetto’s Workshop
Grade: Nic Apostoli
Final mix: Sean Williams, Sterling Sound
Ad of the Week, published on MarkLives every Wednesday, is penned by Oresti Patricios (@orestaki), the CEO of Ornico, a Brand Intelligence® firm that focuses on media, reputation and brand research. If you are involved in making advertising that is smart, funny and/or engaging, please let Oresti know about it at clientservice@ornicogroup.co.za.
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by Musaba Kangulu (@ThatTypeOfMoose) Not one to shy away from truths, Naledi Mabindla (@Naledsmab) is what you call a necessary firestarter. Her experience as an account director in the advertising industry has given her the opportunity to change the ‘boys club’ narrative that has taken centre stage for too long. It gives me great pleasure to celebrate an unsung heroine that believes the time has come to dismantle the gender inequality structure.
A force to reckon with, let’s look at what this Harambee Communications senior account director has to say:
Musaba Kangulu: So tell me, Naledi, with the rise of transformation in the advertising sector, has the industry made enough of an effort to empower women? Naledi Mabindla: Firstly, let’s address the fact that, even though there has been a rise in transformation, there has a been a decline in meaningful transformation due to resistance to social change, especially in South Africa post-1994. The industry has not done nearly enough towards the empowerment of women. Yes, we have had a few female industry leaders here and there; however, a lot more can still be done to push the female narrative as it’s still very much seen and experienced as a “boys club”. The fact that there are so few women at the top of the advertising ladder in South Africa goes to show there is still a lot of work to be done.
MK: Having said that, does the responsibility of driving transformation lie with agency or client? NM: I think it’s a dual responsibility. Clients have the power to push transformation narrative by nudging advertising to be a lot more inclusive. However, the challenge is that, in some instances on the client side, there is little transformation in their own environment, which means the status quo remains unchanged. Today’s agency needs to remove their blinkers and push for inclusiveness, whether it be creatively or administratively.
MK: As a woman of colour, what are some of the common challenges you’ve had to overcome and still face today? NM: The main challenge we face is our voices still not being heard. It leaves us in a situation of not being considered as a strategic partner for clients and within the agency itself. The advertising industry does not know how to deal with strong-willed women of colour being assertive as it’s perceived as being aggressive.
MK: Why are these situations often overlooked in the advertising industry? NM: It’s not comfortable admitting your shortcomings as an industry. It is much easier to pretend none of the issues exists so you praise the little that you do instead.
MK: Would you say this stems from agencies struggling to create the kind of environment that empowers its people first and if so why? NM: Absolutely, the issue is always chasing the bottom-line. The industry itself is no longer as empowered as it used to be when it comes to acting as a credible strategic partner for clients today. This is due to a number of reasons such as ROI serving as the primary objective for clients, marketing departments declining budgets and corporates no longer seeing marketing as an important function of a business. Our industry lacks mentoring programs due to HR departments not being empowered themselves and the global advertising companies resistance on spending money on meaningful training.
MK: Why do you feel gender equality is taking so long to achieve? NM: Gender equality is steeped in structural exclusion. Dismantling structures is a painful exercise that requires surrendering power. I doubt that those in patriarchal privilege are comfortable relinquishing that power. It’s not that different from structural racism.
MK: Do men have an active role to play in gender equality? NM: Men have a huge role to play in gender equality as the industry is geared towards favouring men. They can play a part in empowering women in the industry by speaking up and mentoring young women coming into the industry. I think men of colour have an even bigger role to play when in positions of power, whether it’s through meaningful mentoring [and] insisting on promoting deserving women to positions whereby they can trickle down to younger women their knowledge and experiences within the industry.
MK: You’re in the role kind of role that revolves around a fast-paced lifestyle filled with deadlines, demanding clients, and confusing projects. How do you balance it all? NM: I manage my time well. I have always been good at knowing when to stop. Life is too short to only be defined by your 9-5. I also believe in actioning out my roles equally. When I am at 9-5, I focus on my workload; when I am home, the focus shifts to me as with family and friends. This is a lesson I learnt from university days.
MK: On a scale of 1-10, where would you say an agency’s respect for client service lies and why? NM: Sadly 4 — I believe that the importance of client service personnel has always been underestimated. There are no awards for client service people yet they are the anchor between client and agency. Advertising sometimes has the tendency to deny the power client service people actually wield. We are the buffer between the corporate and advertising world. We play an instrumental and vital role with clients when making any financial, strategic or creative decisions. Clients look to us to be their voice internally every day; I couldn’t be more proud.
MK: Big or small, what steps have you taken to eliminate gender inequality? NM: I have worked with a few young women in the industry. I am always willing to empower them by up-skilling their day-to-day work, assisting with career advice, offering emotional support when needed and encouraging them to be vocal. The world is a tough place for women, especially women of colour. Having said that, we cannot allow young women coming into this world to have their voices silenced and disempowered.
MK: What soft skills or steps should all women maintain to survive in advertising? NM: A resilient heart; an unwillingness to never back down, even under adverse and challenging situations; and never be ashamed of your femininity. There is no need to emulate men to move up in any industry.
MK: If you were given the opportunity to introduce new laws to empower women that changes perceptions of female stereotypes in the advertising environment, what would they be? NM: Legislating race and gender equality has introduced minimal results due to resistance to change and companies finding loopholes to bypass change. As women of all colours, we need to look at ourselves and have an honest conversation about how we contribute to gender equality. I have seen a few women mentor youngsters they relate to racially and culturally. If we focus on specific groups, we deny other women of colour opportunities to grow. We need to encourage the older women to mentor younger women; we need to groom these women to pay it forward and assist others. The women at the top need to be the ones pushing, even at board levels, the gender empowerment agenda. It is imperative that we compete less with each other and realise how much stronger we are working together as a unit. Sounds utopic but it’s a truth we must admit to ourselves to change the narrative.
Updated at 11.15am on 20 November 2017 to reflect that Mabindla now works at Harambee Communications, as she left Ogilvy & Mather South Africa at the end of October 2017.
Musaba Kangulu (@ThatTypeOfMoose) is a firm believer in women using their diversity to push different thinking and bring new insights to the table. Playing in the digital space has taught her to be unashamedly confident in using her expertise and experience to encourage women in their digital career pursuits. Perseverance and self-worth are important messages we need give to younger women. She contributes the new “Hidden Figures” column, which celebrates the unsung heroines of the South African marketing and advertising world.
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Cheryl Hunter (shelflife at marklives.com)’s weekly pick of all things new — product, packaging, design, insight, food, décor and more!
Brave Brothers for Life TVC
V&A and Netherlands launch Ocean Life Festival
Fanta goes spiral
Creating HIV Heroes
With the combined use of an engaging storyline and a sprinkle of humour, an appealing new ad created for Brothers for Life Yenzakahle seeks to make HIV part of the community’s conversation.
Brothers for Life promotes positive male norms and encourages the uptake of health services such as medical male circumcision (MMC), men taking up HIV testing, consistent condom use by men and reduction of sexual partners.
Conceptualised by Joe Public, the ad introduces Tinqoh, a hero born and bred in the hills of ‘Indaweni’ (aka KwaMashu). Fire, water and gravity are no match for this local superman, who always answers the call of his community — until the day he’s faced with a completely different kind of challenge.
Says Egg Films’ Lebogang Rasethaba, who directed Tinqoh, “We wanted to break down barriers; to take something serious and make it accessible so people feel more comfortable talking about it — because that’s the solution, or at least part of the solution. We have to be talking about these things.”
While Tinqoh’s subject matter is serious, the advert taps into South Africa’s history of using humour to deal with trauma and succeeds in making the viewer smile.
The Everest of sailing, the Volvo Ocean Race arrives in Cape Town in November 2017. The V&A Waterfront is focused on fostering an appreciation and understanding of South Africa’s ocean assets in association with the Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
The V&A Waterfront’s Ocean Life Festival is intended to become an annual event and will see a programme of events and activations spread between Friday 24 November and Sunday 10 December to engage visitors’ interest in ocean life, ocean sustainability, and the potential of maritime assets such as SA’s vast oceans.
Comments David Green, CEO of the V&A Waterfront, “The Volvo Ocean Race itself has been a catalyst for the evolution of the thinking around the potential of what the oceans economy can look like for the Western Cape, and South Africa. Supporting and developing South Africa’s oceans economy is a significant focus area for the V&A Waterfront, and the annual Oceans Life Festival will be but one of the ways we look to do this.”
This year, the festival will have a strong sustainability message, with many activities focusing on the harm that plastics and other foreign materials do to the world’s maritime assets. Partnered with the V&A Waterfront to create the festival is the Dutch Consulate, which has taken a keen interest in working with SA entities to create sustainable solutions to ocean pollution.
Bonnie Horbach, Netherlands consul general, says, “Through #cocreateSA, the Dutch Consulate General aims to co-create sustainable solutions. The #cocreateDESIGN activation promotes collaboration between designers from the Netherlands and South Africa. Together, they will creatively engage on solutions to the rapidly growing and critical problem of plastic polluting the ocean.”
Fanta has launched a funky new bottle onto local shelves for the summer season, reportedly the biggest change in the brand’s history to date.
The spiral bottle replaces the traditional bubble design with a spiral version that twists the plastic to form a unique, eye-catching shape.
According to Mukundi Munzhelele, senior brand manager at Coca-Cola Africa, the idea originally came from teens: “The creative director of DrinkWorks in London invited a bunch of teens to get creative and the result was the beginnings of a funky new spiral bottle. South Africa will be the first country on the African continent to have this new bottle on shelves and, therefore, we have customised all aspects of the campaign to fit local insights, culture, humour and Fanta’s heritage in our market.”
Fanta’s new bottle is meant to be an example of how the brand is energising the portfolio of leading brands and speaking directly to the teen market.
Shelf Life is MarkLives.com’s weekly column covering all things new. Notify us of yours at shelflife at marklives dot com. Want to sponsor Shelf Life? Contact us here.
Cheryl Hunter (@cherylhunter) has written for the South African media, marketing and advertising industries for more than 15 years. A former editor of M&M in Independent Newspapers and contributor to Bizcommunity, AdFocus, AdReview and the Ad Annual, she has also produced for various television networks and currently consults on communication strategy and media liaison.
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by MarkLives (@marklives) Instead of looking back at Net#work BBDO’s last 23-odd years, Mike Schalit, founding partner and CCO, thought it’d be more instructive to look forward and see what wisdom could be identified on what does it really take to direct creativity. The result? The Creative#Director (C#D) coffee table book, curated by Schalit and designed by Emma Strydom. Over several weeks, MarkLives is featuring the pearls of wisdom from five of the 30 participants — next up is Pepe Marais.
In order to create C#D, Schalit approached as many creatives as possible who’d passed through the agency’s doors since its birth, in May 1994, as the very first agency in the new South Africa, and posed six basic questions.
Pepe Marais
Chief creative officer, Joe Public United
Years at Net#work: 2
First and foremost, a great CD should have a deep love and understanding of concept. Concepts are the foundation of our industry. It’s what drives everything. I always say that a great idea is like a great legal argument: it leads you down a set path and closes the case with a punch second only to Mike Tyson.
Following concept, great CDs will understand strategy and know how to wrap a silver strategic bullet in a golden idea. They will also have the ability to rationalise and sell ideas at the highest level.
Thirdly, great CDs will be detail-obsessed and passionate about craft and execution. They will wake up in the middle of the night in a pool of sweat, worrying about whether a comma was in the right place, whether the leading was maybe not a few points too much on a headline.
The difference between good and great may be incremental and, if the aim is greatness, then the game is to guard the creative spark — both conceptual and executional — every step of the way. Such CDs will be willing to fall on their sword for work that truly matters.
They lead from the front line and spend days in the thick of the battle for ‘greativity’. Their bottomless obsession will drive others mad but, at the same time, inspire them to reach deeper than ever before.
Mike Schalit: Major achievements at Net#work and thereafter? Pepe Marais: Definitely our Loerie Grand Prix for Virgin Atlantic Outdoor and also being ranked as one of the top art directors in South Africa. Thereafter, without any doubt, being the co-founder of my second child, Joe Public.
MS: Best piece(s) of work at Net#work that made you proudest? PM: Virgin Atlantic’s “Man on Stilts” for 75% More Legroom. Nissan’s B140 “Little boy” television commercial. And then a pile of tactical press. I love proactive thinking. I find briefs reactive and immediately limiting to original thinking.
MS: Most-spectacular failure at Net#work? PM: Without doubt, the ad that got Mike in deep trouble with Nissan. The Suicide TV commercial we shot with Mike Middleton for “Reduced Harmful Emissions”. I have never seen Mike so white upon return from the client. He told me in no uncertain terms that the ad will never ever see the light of day. You win some; you lose some; you grow.
MS: Most-significant work/achievement post Net#work?PM: Winning a Gold Apex for Clover’s Milky Way campaign. Joe Public’s growth and ability to serve the growth of our clients, our people and through One School At A Time, our country.
MS: Crazy idea that we as a C#D collective could collaborate on to make a dent in the universe? PM: Overhaul education as a system.
MS: A final provocation? PM: My personal inspiration is my life purpose: To bring out the best in those around me. My life spectacularly changed the day I took the step from serving myself to serving others.
In order to inspire the next generation of creative leaders in South Africa, Net#work BBDO has published the Creative#Director (C#D) book — insights into the creative process by 30 of South Africa’s top creative leaders. Beautifully crafted and designed by Emma Strydom, produced by Clinton Mitri and Exhibit Print in the finest of glossy coffee-table book traditions, it’s a riot of provocation and inspiration, edited and curated by Mike Schalit, Net#work BBDO founding partner and CCO, from the responses of 30 creative directors to a few leading questions.
A finer gang of rogues you’ll be hard-pressed to find — they’ve made the Net#work journey infinitely more madcap and magical, building and reinventing brands along the way, and making a difference to bottom lines and society. Some have gone on to become CDs in their own right; some have formed their own agencies; some have simply found themselves; and some are still with the agency today. All proceeds from the special limited-edition book, which costs R995, go towards helping build a library in a disadvantaged community. Donations for the library initiative may also be pledged.
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by Shane de Lange (@shanenilfunct) Africa is commonly misconceived as poverty-stricken and filled with strife, void of any coherent cultural sphere. But the construction of the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCAA) challenges this somewhat bigoted perspective, marking a pivotal moment in time that debunks such misconceptions. As a sanctuary for contemporary art from across the continent and its diaspora, the approach to design in this building is as poetic as its purpose and message.
Zeitz MOCAA by Heatherwick Studio. Credit: Iwaan Baan
In general terms, the cultural sphere may be broken down into four interrelated parts: art, craft, design and discourse. Many brands don’t understand the sum of all these parts, and how any given society coheres through an appreciation of each part in relation to the other. So, too, many designers, artists and other creatives don’t really understand their responsibility within these constituent parts. It should go without saying but the production of culture doesn’t take place through profit and consumption, or creative self-obsession; it does so through an appreciation of the cultural sphere.
Dialogue between graphic design and architecture
The focus here is on the dialogue between graphic design and architecture, and how these two important disciplines need to coexist within the context of the cultural sphere. This dialogue is often an afterthought. The lack of graphic design in many public spaces and built environments highlights this point, with ill-considered branding randomly placed onto façades and poorly executed signage at every turn. Ignorance towards this dialogue is the reason why bad design confronts us in the streets of every city in the world, from non-existent wayfinding, to second-rate typography, to advertising that verges on a form of pollution; and the trend continues. This kind of ignorance does nothing to support the cultural sphere, often preventing the production of culture, and it can be incredibly destructive, affecting people on a massive scale. Yet ill-considered design is so omnipresent that we don’t even see it anymore.
Museum structures are the subject of debate in this particular regard, and there are significant examples around the world where successful synergies between graphic design and architecture have evolved, such as the Sifang Art Museum (Nanjing, China), Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum (New York, US), Centre Pompidou (Paris, France), Guggenheim Bilbao (Bilbao, Spain), and the Victoria & Albert Museum (London, UK). All these stay true to the cultural sphere, remaining consistent in their respective integration of graphic design into the overall design strategy of their respective buildings, and the brand narratives that are attached to them — the dialogue between graphic design and architecture was clear from the onset of each building project.
As a form of visual communication, more architects, interior designers, councils, developers, building managers, curators and the like should consider how imperative graphic design is in the construction of cultural spaces and the layered narratives that such spaces hold.
Change the world
Culture has the potential to change the world, uplift, revive and reform nations and, when it comes to culturally significant structures such as museums, architects need graphic designers more than ever as their symbiotic relationship forms a pivotal food chain within the cultural sphere. The building itself is a conduit and an important cultural signifier. For example, there is a visible gap between the amount of thought that has gone into the design of many museum buildings, as opposed to the amount of effort in developing the wayfinding and environmental design systems for those structures. A lack of continuity in design, outside and within a building, may destroy any kind of storytelling that the architect may have had in mind, compromising the overall experience of the building. So, too, poorly executed branding on the exterior of a structure may completely eliminate any architectural considerations that have gone into the design of a building in the first place. A dialogue between graphic design and architecture should be a first-rate priority.
Few examples of this dialogue exist in South Africa, barring the Apartheid Museum and Constitution Hill and some others. With the recent completion of Zeitz MOCAA, Cape Town’s V&A Waterfront is arguably one such public space beginning to construct a broader consciousness about the cultural sphere, effectively seeding the discourse between various types of art, design, and craft on the continent. It is the only structure of its kind, the first large-scale contemporary art museum in Africa, and as a result may be seen as an important case study in support of the dialogue between graphic design and architecture on the continent.
This particular story starts with the choice of site, the Silo District of the V&A Waterfront, reclaiming one of Cape Town’s most-historic structures, the city’s Grain Silo building. Built in 1924, this structure has cultural significance as a landmark, a heritage site originally used as a grain storage complex that once contained 40 000 tons of grain and disseminated food to the nation and to the world. After standing derelict for years, the structure has been repurposed by British architect, Thomas Heatherwick.
Inside-out vision
Working from his London-based design practice, Heatherwick Studio, the structure’s 42 silos and elevator building have been disemboweled, completely transforming the site. With an inside-out vision — by Africa, for Africa, in Africa — the museum has become a legacy project, negating any pretense towards mirroring the west. Its mission: to craft a contemporary African art and design history for all Africans — not settling for a history bestowed upon it from the west (from the outside in).
Heatherwick himself described the construction process as akin to mining or farming. The large atrium of the building literally deconstructs the 42-silo grid of the original building. He scanned an actual corn kernel — a life-sustaining symbol (womb-like when inverted into the negative space of the atrium), referencing the birth of civilisation (agriculture) — carving out a massive cavity. It’s secular yet somehow spiritual.
The story continues with the ad agency that worked with Heatherwick Studio on the various branding and design components required for the museum, and so the dialogue between graphic design and architecture begins. M&C Saatchi Abel in Cape Town stepped up to the plate, eventually creating the branding, corporate identity, wayfinding and signage systems for the museum, among other collateral and paraphernalia. The choice of M&C Saatchi Abel seems apt, as a quick observation of its Cape Town office alone exhibits a clear dialogue between art and design, with contemporary South African artists exhibited on many of the walls inside the agency building, sporting many of the same established names that the museum currently houses, such as Athi-Patra Ruga, Kudzanai Chuirai, and Mohau Modisakeng.
Defining cultural moment
Working pro bono, M&C Saatchi Abel’s creative director, Ashraf Majiet, took the helm on this project, alongside a small, dedicated team. Seeing the museum as a defining cultural moment with the potential for powerful visual storytelling, Majiet had difficult shoes to fill in trying to find a unique design solution that could compliment Heatherwick Studios’ resolved architectural narrative. What initially started as a branding project in July 2015, based upon a simple brief to create an icon and a logo, ended with Majiet delivering a case study on the significance of graphic design in dialogue with architecture within the cultural sphere of SA, and the continent as a whole.
As a young student, Majiet was influenced by Heatherwick’s first appearance at Design Indaba as far back 2005. Spurred on further by Heatherwick’s 2014 Design Indaba conference talk, where his plans were revealed to develop and design Zeitz MOCAA, Majiet researched African art in order to inform the museum’s then fledgling identity system. He tried not to separate between the worlds of art and design, eventually finding that a basic icon and logo wouldn’t suffice for a project of this scale. The result was a simple grid, based on the original structural arrangement of the 42 silos, malleable and extremely versatile. This is the foundation for an entire visual language forming the design DNA, including a bespoke typeface, colour palette (inspired by the exposed raw concrete of the building), branding and corporate identity system, wayfinding and signage system, alongside other elements.
Although the 42 silos have been transformed into a graphic rendition, suggesting the form, function and history of the original building, the grid has been created to be defied — a tip of the hat to Heatherwick’s deconstruction of the building. Majiet investigated local hand-signage and -lettering, inspired by spaza shops, improvised signs in townships and other similar visuals, in an attempt to design more-irregular, less-rigid, curves for the letterforms of the bespoke alphabet in particular. From this a font, called “Forty Two”, has been developed, connecting the topology of the architectural site into the typology of the brand architecture. This font signposts everything, from the toilets to the restaurant, but is adaptable enough to be interpreted through different colourways, patterns and textures.
Ever-evolving, curated and deconstructed
The museum’s branding needed to be experienced in a similar fashion to the museum itself: as an ever-evolving, curated and deconstructed, cultural icon. The result? Various branding and design components that often incorporate the artworks exhibited in the museum, using the same textures, imagery, mediums and materials.
At all times, art must meet design, just as design meets architecture. As such, the cultural sphere is observed here. Developed to adapt and evolve with the ever-changing contents of the museum, always in conversation with the building itself, the overall visual language is designed as if on site at ground level, rather than only the result of sketches on paper and graphics on a screen. In terms of graphic design, Majiet’s response to the building is a more radical and conceptual answer to the original brief, allowing the branding to flow in conjunction with the dynamic environment of museum, as well as the ever-shifting narratives of contemporary African art itself.
The branding, and its strategic backbone, that M&C Saatchi Abel has created here fits in between all of this. The design of it all exhibits a keen awareness of the cultural sphere, and Majiet’s solution to the brief respects the subject matter at hand, acknowledging and reflecting the unique heritage of the original building while, at the same time, staying true to the powerful originality and diversity of the museum and the art that it houses. In much the same way that the building interacts with its visitors, and viewers interact with the artworks, so, too, the interaction between graphic design and architecture has begun.
What Zeitz MOCAA shows
Graphic designers are trained in the science of identity systems, the art of typography and legibility, alongside various other important components within the gamut of visual communication. What Zeitz MOCAA, as a case study, shows is that the power of architecture can amplified through the artful use of graphic design and the proper implementation of branding.
It is successfully engineered and resolved here by the team at M&C Saatchi Abel, who tell a layered and complex story in an accessible way. As the agency has described it, this approach is “alive with art and culture”, educating society at large as well as reminding the elites of the art world about the importance of having access to the cultural sphere and encouraging various ongoing dialogues, focused not on a universal idea of design or a blind ideology about design, but rather a wholeness in design.
Truly, a conversation for all.
Shane de Lange (@shanenilfunct) is a designer, writer, and educator currently based in Cape Town, South Africa, working in the fields of communication design and digital media. He works from Gilgamesh, a small design studio, and is a senior lecturer in graphic design at Vega School in Cape Town. Connect on Pinterest and Instagram. He also contributes the weekly column, Cover Stories, to MarkLives, a regular slot in which he deconstructs media cover design, both past and present.
“Motive” is a by-invitation-only column on MarkLives.com. Contributors are picked by the editors but generally don’t form part of our regular columnist lineup, unless the topic is off-column.
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by Andy Rice (@ricecommaandy) In whose hands are brands best off? Where should a CMO look for the best counsel? These are questions that heads of marketing have been grappling with for decades, ever since the value offered by full-service agencies came into question in the 1980s. The launch of discipline-specific specialists in the fields of media, creative and strategy triggered a widespread reassessment of the business partner model, and the à la carte menu became the flavour of the times, even if it put more onus on the marketing director to control and coordinate a team of independent advisors.
Up for debate again
Now the whole issue is up for debate once more, partly because the inevitable silos that the specialist approach creates are increasingly seen to be, at best, inefficient and, at worst, downright obstructive. But also contributing to the reopening of the discussion has been the arrival on the brand communications scene of a new option, one that offers a broader suite of services while avoiding the ‘jack of all trades’ mediocrity trap that the traditional full service agency all too often falls into.
The new kid on the block is the professional services company, otherwise better known as the management consultancy. Commentators have long argued that it was only a matter of time before the likes of Deloitte, Accenture and co started looking around for new revenue streams and that, when their eyes fell upon the brand space, they would rub their hands with glee. And now that the mainstream opportunities for business reengineering (aka. cost cutting) have largely been exhausted, the professional service companies have got their clients’ brand marketing budgets firmly in their sights.
But is their role in the marketing world likely to be as cynically shortsighted as many of the doomsayers would contend? Will they simply slash and burn for as long as the fees are rolling in, only to move on again to greener pastures in due course? The early signs are that this dystopian view is unlikely to come to pass, the evidence being found in the manner in which the management consultancies have entered the brand space — by acquisition of new skills, rather than by bluntly barging in, all guns blazing.
High-profile acquisitions
Take a look at some of the more high-profile acquisitions. Last year, Accenture Interactive acquired London-based Karmarama, a successful independent communications agency with a strong creative pedigree. To old-school market watchers, this must have looked like an accident waiting to happen, so culturally distant were the two bedfellows from each other. But Accenture didn’t stop there, having racked up a total of 15 acquisitions recently, including design shops (Wire Stone), sales consultancies (Brand Learning) and advertising agencies (The Monkeys). Meanwhile, Accenture’s fiercest foe, Deloitte, has been on a spending spree of its own, bringing fresh creative resources into its squad, the latest of which has been the acquisition of Sweden’s curiously named but highly respected agency, Acne. And, as an aside, is it perhaps just a matter of time before their acquisitions strategy moves on from cherry-picking individual agencies, to grabbing control of a whole network? Watch your back, Martin Sorrell!
The question that all this activity raises is whether one plus one will equal more than two — will the agencies’ creativity be blunted by the supposed linear rationality of their new owners, or will this injection of new thinking allow the likes of Deloitte and Accenture to progress from the pre-boxed solutions of old to something rather more unexpected and daring? Can each party retain its unique competence in a new environment, or will lowest common denominator compromises be the order of the day?
It could be said that the answer to that question is already there for all to see, given that Accenture Interactive claims to be the world’s largest digital agency by revenue, and you don’t achieve that by offering predictable strategy and half-hearted creativity. Closer to home, its South African office has been celebrating an acquisition of another kind — a Gold statue in the 2017 Loeries Creativity Awards.
Encouraging development
This is an encouraging development for those of us who argue that an undermining of creativity is the biggest threat that brand managers face in today’s world. There is no need to rehash the argument that high levels of creativity foster higher levels of effectiveness because that debate is now effectively over. The spotlight thus moves on to the nurturing of creativity in an environment where data analysis seems to offer ‘proof’ in place of intuition and rationality trumps imagination. We need saviours to navigate us away from this obsession with information-based solutions that substitute logic for creativity. We suffer from a newly diagnosed disease, infobesity, and the cure can only come from a new profession altogether — mathemagicians.
Are these new hybrid agencies, combining data analysis and creativity, the best home for a brand’s future growth? Will their management understand the responsibility that they have to tackle infobesity and to grow more mathemagicians, all the while protecting the creativity that they have so expensively acquired? Have they finally squared the circle that was so elegantly defined when one advertising agency head bemoaned the fact that “we are structured like an orchestra, but are being asked to play jazz”? The early indicators are promising and, if I were a CMO with an appetite for responsible risk, I would certainly be tempted to explore further what might well be one of the most-interesting new brand partnership models for years.
Johannesburg-based Andy Rice (@ricecommaandy) is probably South Africa’s best-known brand strategist, public speaker, and advertising commentator. He is regularly asked to comment on marketing issues of the day and recently received a Lifetime Achievement Award from his peers in the brand communications industry.
Not much more needs to be said about the cover for this issue of Financial Mail; it pretty much speaks for itself. Depicted is SA’s latest minister of finance, Malusi Gigaba, holding an automatic rifle (who, aside from his current portfolio, is probably not qualified to hold a gun either) and shooting bubbles, Scarface-style. The careless and carefree posture and mannerism suggests that the SA public might have to say goodbye to any hopes left for the country’s credit rating, gross domestic product, foreign direct investment, employment rate; the list flaccidly goes on.
A German headline that states, “Washington one year later”, accompanied by a graphic depiction of Donald Trump which references Hokusai’s famous woodblock print “The Great Wave off Kanagawa”, sums up many sentiments surrounding the US president’s five-leg tour of Asia, which includes visits to Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam and the Philippines. Instead of Mount Fuji in the background, with Kanagawa prefecture under threat from natural disaster, Cuban illustrator, Edel Rodriguez — known for his politically charged, anti-totalitarian illustrations of Trump — depicts Washington already in the recession of water just before the onslaught of the arriving tsunami. A dim picture of America already in the riptide of a dangerous political sea current, awaiting the crash, is painted.
One of the most stylish ‘mugshots’ you will see — art directed succinctly with a sensual palette, choice fashion, and crisp photography — the summer 2017 issue of The Way of US (TWoU) magazine, published by Superbalist, sports duel covers, recto and verso. One supports Superbalist’s male catalogue, while the other caters to its female fashion audience. And, in between all this fashion, sprinklings of intriguing content and engaging literature. Notably, Nakhane Touré features as the custodian for the male cover of this issue; he is known for the furor surrounding his acting role in the much spoken-about film “The Wound”. Other than his acting ability, which many back for an Oscar next year, he is a musician famous for his two albums, “brave confusion” and “The Laughing Son”, and he is the author of Piggy Boy’s Blues; one talented cat to say the least. Touré’s female counterpart for this cover is none other than rapper and television personality, Nomuzi Mabena. Together, they give new meaning to the discursive marriage between style and substance, showing that the future lies in crossing cultural boundaries and defining new forms of expression while remaining critically informed about older, more-established narratives.
Looking like some form of Klingon script from a classic episode of Star Trek, the four covers produced for issue no.6 of Tunica magazine are so bad that they are actually good. Based in New York, Tunica is a repository for various cultural happenings, always with a strong sense of internationalism in mind. First published in 2012, it’s a curatorial project that is based on collaboration and supports talent from an array of different disciplines. The aim? To provide an alternative to mainstream, high-brow art and design, acting as a catalyst, a launchpad, for independent talent from across the globe. Focus is placed on interesting combinations of different disciplines, and unorthodox ways of crisscrossing ideas and styles. Contributors stem from a variety of creative backgrounds, including art, illustration, and photography, supported by layered interviews, features, and articles. Proof that bad can be good, low can be high, making binaries and oppositions obsolete.
Founded in 2011, KIKK festival is a non-profit association that aims to build bridges between art, design, science and technology through the creation of a variety of educational projects, alongside a showcase of different creative projects. Based in Belgium, KIKK emphasises digital creative culture and is organised annually in favour of openness, exchange and discovery. The festival attracts an international audience, with creative types from across the globe often working together, in a collaborative and cross-disciplinary spirit, to explore and experiment with a variety of uses for new technologies in order to find solutions for the challenges of the world currently.
Although not a magazine or publication per se, the foundations of KIKK are based upon modern storytellers, particularly in relation to this year’s theme, “Invisible Narratives”, marking the 7th edition of the organisation. The invisible and the unseen are told through tales using new media and other technologies, detailing how the networks and systems we use in our current, often-unpredictable, world, and framing the fate of human beings in this context, which is increasingly being determined by the machines. Keeping true to its digital foundations, KIKK’s website is slick, with interactive and responsive elements seamlessly integrated with well-crafted art direction, typography and illustration.
In a world where music, either underground or mainstream, is easily available (thanks to the internet), it seems odd that at one time there was a space for niche publications to provide access to music that was difficult to find. Teetering on the margins of the mainstream and the avant-garde, Unknown Public (UP) was one such publication: a sonic periodical that sought to make connections across a wide range of musical genres. This quarterly magazine of “creative music”, or “audio journal”, recalls Marcel Duchamp’s “Boîte-en-valise” (gallery in a box) and George Maciunas’ “Fluxkits”, and derived its name from a Guardian interview with French post-war, experimental classical composer, Pierre Boulez, who described the journal’s readership as a “listenership”.
The first issue, themed “Points of Departure”, was published in 1992. Being London-based, this made UP a clear contemporary to Neville Brody and Jon Wozencroft’s experimental typography publication, Fuse. Each issue of UP provided rare bits of information, imagery and difficult-to-come-by music. The first two editions were packaged in a box accompanied by printed material, but later issues took the form of hardcover books packaged and boxed and always included some means to disseminate music, such as CDs, DATs, and MiniDiscs. Experimental in format and catering to the more independent-sensibility, non-conformist, UP developed to include alternative content and experimental design elements, such as printed foldouts and postcards, and loose leaflets and expressive typography, with essays, notes and biographical details incorporated, all coherent and well-resolved.
UP was co-founded by John Walter, the current editor of The Eye magazine, alongside Laurence Aston. Designed mostly by John Warwicker, founder of Tomato design studio, guest designers such Jonathan Barnbrook and Stuart Bailey were a common feature. Barnbrook’s contribution to the 12th edition of UP, themed “Talking Drums,” is noteworthy here, with layout and spreads that resemble Stéphane Mallarmé’s typographic experiments, Guillaume Apollinaire’s ‘Calligrammes’, and Louise Fili’s famous colophons; only in a more-provocative way.
All in all, UP was about alternative press: a means to get one’s hands on less-commercial material that wasn’t easy to find and providing relevant journalism about various kinds of obscure and unorthodox music, from contemporary jazz to experimental electronic music.
Shane de Lange (@shanenilfunct) is a designer, writer, and educator currently based in Cape Town, South Africa, working in the fields of communication design and digital media. He works from Gilgamesh, a small design studio, and is a senior lecturer in graphic design at Vega School in Cape Town. Connect on Pinterest and Instagram.
Cover Stories, formerly MagLove, is a regular slot deconstructing media cover design, both past and present.
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by MarkLives (@marklives) The hottest primetime television shows on SABC 3 in South Africa revealed: TV ratings for September 2017.
In 2016, the Broadcast Research Council of South Africa (BRCSA) changed its policy about giving away TAMS and now only monthly reports, highlighting the top 20 or 30 primetime shows on several popular channels, are available.
The Broadcast Research Council of South Africa (the BRC) is a non-profit, industry body that was incorporated in 2015 to cater to the audience research needs of the radio and television industry in South Africa.
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I am writing this letter to you as a black woman who has worked for you short of three years, and in my time here I have experienced how hostile, violent and resistant you are to the black female creative voice.
As a black female body entering the advertising space, regardless of skill and abilities, it is made very clear from the onset that I am just an HR tick box.
“Stay in your box” is insidiously communicated to me in daily micro incidents — such as being talked over in meetings and brainstorms, being milked for black and specifically black female insights and then being left out of those projects altogether, and constantly getting mindless briefs that require me not to think, which render me having little to no creative input and impact — are just some of the ways that we as black female creatives are gradually, insidiously and systematically being written out of the script.
Being muted in these daily micro incidents all add up and become a bigger and more violent act of erasure, dominance and seizure of the black female creative and black female narrative. This is indicative of and reflected in the type of black female tropes in adverts (we are always doing laundry, singing for bread and other basic goods, cooking stew for an award, dancing for something – again — in a taxi to get a loan to sink further in debt, doing our hair and gossiping about our neighbours —just a few examples of the endless misguided representations of the black female being and experience).
These images lack thorough research and consultation and, as a result, black girls and women have to consume these supposed narrations of themselves which are half-assed insights that don’t reflect the full spectrum and the intricate nuances and are, ultimately, dishonest representations of the black female experience. This is problematic because what it shows is that black women are constantly and inaccurately being spoken about, for and on behalf of, and never to or with.
This comes as a result of the exclusion of black females in creative spaces, which is aggressively systematic as reflected in the lack of black women who walk on stages to collect awards, the small number of us in impactful and key decision-making roles, the lack of black women in positions of power with agency to recruit, etc. Our lack of presence is a systematic act, one of supressing the black female creative which leads to the appropriation of the black female narrative. As an industry you are doing a great disservice to the brands that market predominantly to the black female demographic across all strata because the messaging becomes lost and mixed up in the politics and systematic exclusion and silencing of the black female creative.
This letter is a revolutionary act, a ripping off of this tape that has been muzzling my mouth and rendering me silent. It is me fearlessly finding and using my voice because it dawned on me, as Audre Lorde wrote that “[my] silence will not protect [me].” I am realising that, by being silent, I am complicit in my own erasure. Choosing silence and being resigned to the status quo is problematic, even more so because it all stems from a place of fear. We fear our voice and we fear how disrupting and challenging the current standing voice is our risking being placed on the blacklist. But the irony is, by virtue of being black and female, you’ve already been blacklisted: you are labelled, judged and stereotypical assumptions have been placed upon you the minute you walk through the door.
This letter also serves as a call to action to all black female creatives to awaken to their own voices: speak up and end the silencing, end the monotony and end the monolith.
Change won’t happen when we look to our gatekeepers to do it. We have to be our own locksmiths and be key players in the emancipation of our own voices and the true proprietors of our narratives. To the black female creatives who work this industry, let this serve as a notice, to the awakening to, the realisation of the power of our ideas, our creativity and our unique voices. Our point of view matters, our creativity is golden and our unique voice is the disruptive and change agent that this industry so desperately needs.
Black female creatives represent the change and the future of this industry. With that being said, we can no longer hang on the edges of the HR tick box hoping to be seen and begging to be heard.
Signed
A young black female creative
Khethiwe Makhubo
Strategic thinker, designer & art director
Khethiwe Makhubo (@Katywe) is a black womxn, a creative being, and she has a strong suspicion that black creative womxn are coming for everything. Find her on Instagram.
“Motive” is a by-invitation-only column on MarkLives.com. Contributors are picked by the editors but generally don’t form part of our regular columnist lineup, unless the topic is off-column.
— Sign up now for the MarkLives email newsletter every Monday and Thursday, now including headlines from the Ramify.biz company newsroom service!
Marguerite de Villiers is an anthropologist at strategic marketing consultancy, Added Value. “Why Things Matter”, her latest regular column on MarkLives, applies an anthropological lens to the world of commercials and commodities. 
