MarkLives.com • Page 425 of 579 • Independent industry news for marketing, advertising & media execs

The Dissident Spin Doctor: Collaboration and the letting go of ego

by Emma King (@EmmainSA) Ours is not an industry for the softly spoken or the faint-hearted. It’s one in which, often, those who make the most noise are the most respected (or at least, the most well-known). And it’s one in which, I often think, success does not necessarily come to those who are the most experienced or competent, but rather those who have an opinion (credible or otherwise) and the confidence to fight for it and execute it well.

What happens when strong opinions collide?

The question, then, is what happens when we need to collaborate — when a number of strong opinions collide?

The business that we now work in — where we cannot divide elements of campaigns into neat little boxes, where we cannot hope to be experts in every possible platform or execution, where the work that we do needs to be global in its very nature — is growing ever more depending on collaboration.

The partnership benefits all parties; all bring unique understanding, insight and experience to the party which the other needs.

Forced into juxtaposition

But the very values that we bring to the collaboration — the differences in our experiences and outlook, the unique understanding and insights — set up a situation where our opinions are forced into juxtaposition.

But, as many an idealist communist has found, the theory of everyone’s opinion being equal doesn’t always translate into harmonious reality. It’s human nature that someone has to lead, and someone needs to sort through the debris and decide upon which idea, or opinion, is the one to lead with.

And so there’s a need for compromise, or for one opinion to take precedence over another — a challenge for individuals who, in their very nature, are used to fighting for their opinions, convinced they are the best.

A question of when

It’s a question then, of when to fight for an opinion, and when to let go of the ego.

It’s something I tell junior staff often when they are getting upset or emotional about an idea that is getting watered down or bastardised. “Learn when to fight your battles and when to let go”, I say.

For businesses that are finding they moving into models of collaboration, I would counsel the following:

At the outset, work out and agree upon who is going to be responsible for making the final decision. As much as everyone can (and should) contribute ideas, someone needs to sort through this all and decide the way forward. This cannot be a compromise or a watered-down version of the best.
Likewise, this can only work when there’s an appreciation of the value of each member’s contribution. Collaboration can never work when some participants are there just for window dressing, without a real role to play.
There will be a time when it’s right to fight for something — when you know in your gut that it’s right, and when you have the understanding, credibility and experience to know that it’s wrong to do anything else. When this happens, have the confidence to believe in yourself to do so.
It’s just as powerful, however, to be able to understand when someone else needs to lead the thinking, and when it’s time to step back from an ego and let something go.

“Art is not a democracy”

Things work best when people bring together skills to work in teams. But there needs to be someone who makes the decisions. As George Martin said, “Art is not a democracy”.

— Emma King is head of PR at The Jupiter Drawing Room (Cape Town) and you can find her on Twitter at @EmmainSA. King contributes the monthly “The Dissindent Spin Doctor” column on PR and communication issues to MarkLives.com.

AdForum Worldwide Summit: A surprise visit from John Wren, Omnicom CEO

by Johanna McDowell (@jomcdowell) NEW YORK CITY: Day 5 was quite spectacular as our first meeting was a surprise — John Wren, CEO of Omnicom. The AdForum Worldwide Summit Forum has not seen him for a few years but he accepted the invitation to join and give us an update on the Publicis Omnicom merger.

Many reasons

He confirmed that the many reasons for the merger include finding efficiencies in financial and technological areas, and that the focus is on the corporate side of the transaction, not on the individual agency brands. None of the agency brands in both groups will be merged.

The newly merged group (and it will still take about 8-12 months to finalise in all areas) will continue to do acquisitions in order to ensure that it has every discipline in place.

The group will continue to provide clarity to employees and clients regarding Newco, the new company that will ultimately be formed once Publicis and Omnicom finally merge. It will have to yield good results for shareholders.

And, in the interim, the Omnicom group still has its fiduciary duties to its current shareholders, as does Publicis.

BBDO

Andrew Robertson, worldwide CEO of BBDO, then spent time with us and explained that the world does not need more content as there are already six billion hours of content on YouTube, and it will take us 1700 years to watch it all. He showed us some wonderful case studies from all around the BBDO network including the following brands:

La Redoute.fr
Doritos – Mexican (mariachi) band
Smart Fortwo – car
Snickers
Guinness – ad for the disabled

All of these have already achieved major successes in their respective countries.

Publicis Omnicom merger

We then moved on to the final discussion regarding the Publicis Omnicom merger. This time we heard from Miles Nadal of MDC (Crispin Porter, 72andSunny etc) and Maurice Levy, CEO of the Publicis Groupe.

MDC commented that it will continue with its own acquisition trail and does not see any real impact on its group from the POG merger — although there might be opportunities.

Levy provided a very interesting new viewpoint on the merger and, as always, talked about the future and big data, rather than dwelling on the past. Levy proved to us that this merger is very much about being ahead of the curve and being able to meet the needs of a changing world. And the impact of external consulting companies, other than agencies.

Vertic and LinkedIn

Our final stops of the day were at the LinkedIn offices in the Empire State Building and with a digital agency called Vertic.

Vertic showed us two case studies around renewable energy and Office 365. In both cases, groups of LinkedIn members were targeted according to demographics, profiles etc, with astonishing results. It showed us how it can calculate a business case on a global scale through leveraging LinkedIn data; this is the future world. It would love to be paid on ROI but procurement is not ready for this concept just yet.

Regarding LinkedIn itself, it acknowledged that most marketers have not embraced what LinkedIn can do but that awareness campaigns are in play to change this.

Saying goodbye

And so after a final discussion and lunch, another AdForum Summit was over. Saying goodbye to real friends is not easy as we share many experiences over a short space of time. We all felt that this was probably our best AdForum Summit yet, with lots of content(!) and outputs to think about.

Thank you for reading my posts for the last week; I am looking forward to being back in South Africa and to catching up with our agencies and clients over the next few weeks. Lots of food for thought.

Best
Johanna
@jomcdowell
#adforumsummit

Currently MD of the Independent Agency Search and Selection Company (IAS), Johanna McDowell has been in marketing and advertising since 1974, with experience both on the agency and client side of the fence. She held directorships in South African and British ad agencies until being appointed MD of Grey Phillips Advertising in 1988; and built Integrated Communications, a PR-driven marketing communications company that went from zero base in 1991 to an R8-million-fee turnover by December 2004.

After graduating in marketing and business studies, Johanna’s experience spanned large corporates, including UK and SA banking, manufacturing and retail, along with a 15-year stint in two of the largest ad agencies in SA and in a medium-sized agency in the UK. As such, she is well-placed to offer commentary on marketing and advertising from a local and international perspective. Follow her on Twitter at @jomcdowell.

Launching an ad agency with 2000 bucks

by Herman Manson (@marklives) Once upon a time, Zibusiso Mkhwanazi and Veli Ngubane decided to launch an integrated ad agency— with R2000 as start-up money.

True story, says Ngubane (29), who was a non-executive director at Ireland/Davenport before he joined forces with Mkhwanazi (30), a serial entrepreneur best known in the agency world for being executive chairman at KRAZYBOYZ digital and later chairman of The Red Quarter Brand Design.

“Digital at the core”

Launched in January 2012, Avatar is positioned as a full-service marketing agency “with digital at the core,” and today counts 20th Century Fox, National Geographic, Fox International Channels and Dinners Club International among its clients. The agency also employs 28 people in Johannesburg and four in Durban.

Ngubane explains that digital is at the centre of the agency’s creative thinking (it also reflects in the agency name — an avatar is an icon or figure representing a particular person or brand in the digital world), but that that thinking is rolled out across multiple platforms, ranging from outdoor to TV and print. Services range from through-the-line to digital-specific, and the agency aims to reach consumers across multiple touch points.

Considering that Ngubane is from rural KZN and Mkhwanazi grew up in Vosloorus, the digital-centric nature of the agency might surprise some, says Ngubane, but then the agency is very much about challenging stereotypes.

Bumper year

It has an entrepreneurial spirit and knows how to beat the odds, adds Ngubane. Avatar has just had a bumper year in terms of increasing its client base, as well as organic growth in spend from clients — at a time of intense competition among agencies.

The agency is also interested in establishing partnerships in other African countries, especially Nigeria. It would look to work with independent agency partners and like-minded individuals.

Ngubane views the current wave of success by owner-managed agencies as a positive indicator for the future of Avatar. He believes a combination of passion and hard work will allow him and Mkhwanazi to build something that is sustainable and offers clients the best value possible. “We are business people and we take our business knowledge and put it into our creative thinking,” he says.

“All hands on deck”

Ngubane says they hope to build a culture with the heart of small agency but the processes of an established agency. The culture is already one of “all hands on deck” and everyone is responsible and gets involved in delivering to clients.

In terms of KRAZYBOYZ digital, it is a separate agency from Avatar but, with the past involvement by Mkhwanazi, the two businesses do co-operate when the right opportunities arise.

Mkhwanazi is well-known for his David’s League — a mentorship programme designed to uplift and empower young entrepreneurs from disadvantaged backgrounds. It’s a programme supported by Avatar, which sees it as providing an opportunity to bring young black talent into the agency environment.

Real digital savvy

The biggest challenge the agency has faced so far has been getting clients on board and convincing them that its digital savvy is real — especially because it was gained through self-training. Starting a business without any real finance was also tough — but they made it.

Ngubane says the agency has been getting onto more and more pitch lists. He links a lot of the agency’s success to the belief by its management team in the potential and opportunity of tapping into ‘a creative nation’ that has a lot more to offer the country than working on mines. “We have a lot of creative capital in this country,” says Ngubane.

And, if you know what to look for, you will find them in places such as rural KZN, or Vosloorus.

AdForum Worldwide Summit: IPG agencies in Africa doing great — Michael Roth

by Johanna McDowell (@jomcdowell) NEW YORK CITY: Well, by now, the consultants are all becoming slightly weary — after three days of non-stop agency visits and 15 hours of working including late-evening presentations. But we were all up and ready once again early on Thursday morning, 10 October 2013, for another full day of AdForum Worldwide Summit.

Geometry Global

Big excitement was a visit to Geometry Global, the new shopper marketing/precision activation agency formed by Ogilvy from a number of subsidiary agencies that have been in place.

The preparation that the Geometry people demonstrated through their presentation was inspiring for us all, as we looked at case studies from Latin America, Asia, Europe, Africa and North America; these were “live” case studies so we also had the experience. And a delicious breakfast.

The people of Geometry are hard-working and humble — a pleasure to be around and I am delighted that it has also opened up in Johannesburg — I am absolutely certain that it will be highly successful.

Havas

We then moved on to Havas at its new offices at 200 Hudson, and learned about its “Change Faster” mantra, along with its commitment to social media and digital, as well as social responsibility and business.

It has put creative, media and digital all in one place, starting in Paris and now in New York; this philosophy will be rolled out everywhere in the Havas world.

As always, it was a highly creative and collaborative experience, with a fascinating lunch preceded by a number of speed dating sessions around the agency. Havas’s open policy really works.

IPG

We then met with Michael Roth of IPG. He is always good news in terms of his overview of the industry and his agencies, and believes that, while there is confusion in the market place due to the economic conditions still not being completely recovered, along with the mega-merger of Omnicom and Publicis, there is opportunity for IPG.

He summarised the state of his agency networks very succinctly – commenting on how great two of the IPG agencies in Africa are – along with the various successes in other parts of the world.

Jack Morton

We then met with Jack Morton , a shopper marketing agency owned by IPG since 1998 but started in 1939. This is a very stable agency network which has only had three CEOs since it opened its doors all those years ago.

A very refreshing presentation and an interesting business that would certainly be very welcome in South Africa.

iCrossing

The final agency of the day was iCrossing, which we met last year. A digital agency of 900 people, it identifies itself as moment makers who build connected brands one moment at a time.

We learned a lot today about the consumer purchase decisions and the consumer purchase journey. The consumer data that is now available in this area is making it much easier for agencies to be precise in their communication, and we see this as a growing area of business for all client companies where consumer behaviour measurement is critical.

The iCrossing team showed us case studies for PNC bank (the virtual wallet) and Hampton Inns (a moment that was videoed with a 3.5-minute clip which is now online and is watched – to the end – each time).

And so the day ended with all of the agencies we have met this week joining the AdForum consultants for dinner at a New York restaurant. Very social and lots of fun to have everyone together.

Preview of Day 5 on Friday:

Day 5 will see a very quiet bunch of consultants on the coach at 8.00 tomorrow morning and our day looks like this:

9am-10.30am: Breakfast with BBDO Worldwide CEO Andrew Robertson
10.30am-10.45am: Maurice Levy, via video, on Publicis Omnicom Group
10.45am-11.45pm: Consultants roundtable : Mega-merger consequences at BBDO offices
12.15am-1.15pm: Lunch with Vertic LinkedIn Agency Relations Services CEO and founder Sebastian Jespersen at the Empire State Building
1.30pm-2.30pm: Global Agency Consultant Association Initiative
2.30pm-3.15pm: Wrap-up

Looks like another great day!!

#adforumsummit

Best
Johanna
@jomcdowell

MagLove: Simple, fresh, perfect and creative

MediaSlut (@MediaSlut)’s choice of the best international and local magazine covers in MagLove this week:

Huffington
Hunger (series)
The Boston Globe
Sarie (“Voorbladgesig” competition)
Ideas (Creative Ideas issue)

Find a cover we should know about? Tweet us at @marklives and @mediaslut.

INTERNATIONAL

Huffington, 6 October 2013

Visually, a very strong cover, with the help of almost purely typography. It makes you WANT to read it. It’s actually a very smart concept, executed brilliantly.

HUNGER, Issue #5

HUNGER is a magazine “For the culturally & visually hungry”, and it’s definitely made me hungry to see more because of it’s great (and clean) design on i’s cover(s). You can view its previous covers here, and you might notice that the latest issue has had a complete makeover.

What I really like about this series of covers (four in total), is that each of them are so ‘clean’ and ‘simple’, and with a splash of a strong image within a shape that frames it all visually.

The Boston Globe (G-section), 4 October 2013

One of the movies of 2013 I’m hearing a lot of positive things about, is “Gravity”. And, from what I know about the movie, this cover of G (a section within The Boston Globe) covers it in a brilliant way with simple usage of imagery and (fading) typography.

Not familiar with the movie? Then these trailers are a must-watch.

LOCAL

SARIE, November 2013

SARIE magazine’s annual “Voorbladgesig” competition is now in its third year, and the winner is once again a beautiful and worthy cover. Every year, SARIE takes a massive risk to put an ‘unknown’ face on its cover, so it’s extra important that it’s not only the best possible winner, but also the best possible cover.

This year, the prize and title goes to Marike Nel, and the second runner up was Zelda O’Brien. And I think SARIE got it right to make Nel not only look like she’s a pro at this (and already famous), but the colours are just all so fresh and perfect.

Creative Ideas, 2013

The Ideas team has done it again, this time with its “Creative Ideas” annual issue, where it takes embroidery to a whole new level, from top to bottom.

My only criticism would be that the flower image is a big dull, and that it was an opportunity to ‘embroider’ a brighter and more modern one.

MagLove by @MediaSlut is a regular slot featuring the best local and international magazine covers every week, recognising well thought-out, powerful and interesting (and hopefully all three-in-one) covers and celebrating the mix of pragmatism, creativity and personal taste that created each of them. The (for now anonymous) blogger behind MediaSlut knows way too much for his own good about media in South Africa, magazines in particular. His mission is to show when SA magazines fail but, most importantly, also when they succeed. If you’re looking for a library about SA magazines and news, this is your one-stop pitstop. #MagazinesForTheWin

TASTE Magazine. 10 years, 10 covers

TASTE Magazine is celebrating its 10th anniversary this month. Produced for Woolworths by New Media Publishing, the title has long stood out as a quality read, even as it furthers Woolworths’ commercial intent. We asked the editorial team to pick its 10 favourite covers from the past 10 years.

AdForum Worldwide Summit: Lots planned for Africa

by Johanna McDowell (@jomcdowell) NEW YORK CITY: So by Day 3 of the AdForum Worldwide Summit, normally there have been one or two agency presentations that have not lived up to our expectations as consultants but, this year, the standard has been extremely high and very competitive.

In general, the US agencies believe that the economy is improving and that business is picking up — they see this in the quantity of new work that is being commissioned by clients.

Confidential and objective

I think it is also important to add, from the IAS perspective, that we do not share any of the confidential information that we are presented with during this important week. As consultants, we are privy to a great deal of information from both agencies and clients, and our value is being objective and able to assist both parties.

The notes that I am sharing in this daily blog are really a summary of observations or of any important comments made during the course of the day.

Day 3 of the summit always includes an hour or two of rest in the afternoon, which is always very welcome after two consecutive 14-hour days of non-stop meetings until 10pm most nights.

Critical Mass

On Wednesday morning, 9 October 2013, we met with Critical Mass, a digital agency born in Canada and now with 700 employees in US, UK, Hong Kong and South America, as well as Calgary, Canada. Led by a very impressive woman CEO, the agency shared its focus with us, which is delivering cumulative customer experiences for clients.

An excellent presentation, very informative and a great start to our day. Some interesting case studies: Nissan — Usain Bolt; Clorox — Green Works; and the adidas — make it mine campaign at miadidas.com.

McCann Group

We moved on to the McCann Group, whose network includes 23 000 staff members across many countries. McCann works hard at making sure that it has a global network of agencies with at least 65% local business; the model is not perfect yet – it is work in progress.

Some magnificent creative work which has won major awards this year at every major competition and for which it is justifiably proud.

A lot is planned for the Africa continent, so watch this space.

Publicis Worldwide

We met briefly with the brand new Publicis Worldwide CEO, Arthur Sadoun, after lunch. He shared with us his early thoughts on the positioning of the Publicis brand in the Publicis/Omnicom Group.

Sapient Nitro

After a two-hour break, we met with Sapient Nitro, which meets with us as consultants each year at AdForum and always has a great deal of news to share.

Now numbering 10 000 people with offices in many parts of the world, we are hoping that South Africa will be next on its list of countries — and certainly, if business warrants it and clients need it, I am told that an office can be opened in a week.

Sapient Nitro talked to us about its culture, philosophy and, most importantly, the drive to attract the greatest talent. From a business growth perspective, it is looking at double-digit growth this year.

Preview of Day 4 on Thursday:

And so, once again, after an excellent dinner and charming hosts, we wended our weary way back to the hotel ready to sleep a few hours before Day 4 which looks like this:

8.30am-10.30am: Breakfast with Geometry global CEO Steve Harding
11am-1pm: Lunch with Havas Worldwide global CEO David Jones
1.30am–2.15 pm: Interpublic CEO Michael Roth
2:30am-3.pm: Jack Morton president Tara Back
4pm-5.30pm: iCrossing president Brian Prowley
6.45pm: Cocktails & dinner hosted by AdForum

I’m looking forward to meeting with Geometry, Ogilvy’s newest agency which has also just opened in South Africa, and to seeing my former colleague Howard Smiedt, a South African now in London and ECD of this newest agency.

More tomorrow.

#adforumsummit — follow us on Twitter!

Best
Johanna
@jomcdowell

The Switch: Off to see the Little Five

by Alistair Mokoena (@AlistairMokoena) For bush lovers like myself, nothing beats escaping the city madness and spending a weekend surrounded by nature’s very best. I love that the air is fresher and the sky clearer. The eclectic mix of sounds, smell and colour constantly remind you that God was smiling when He created the earth.

A lesson never to forget

I’ll never forget a lesson I learnt from one Elvis, a game ranger in the Waterberg region of Limpopo.

The setting was one of those red-eye game drives that are a pain if you love sleep like I do, but are a real gem when it comes to sightings. On the Landcruiser was myself, my wife, a South African couple from Durban and two American families.

Off we went in Elvis’s Jeep. Armed with my trusted Nikon D5000 and a newly acquired 400mm telescopic lens, I could not wait to spot the first of the Big Five. My assumption was that we were all there to see the Big Five. Boy, was I wrong.

Firstly, the Durban couple had a strange interest in butterflies and spiders, and insisted on stopping every time someone spotted a spider web. The one American family had a passion for birds and would stop at every turn to admire feathery folk. The husband kept referring to that voluminous Sasol-sponsored bird book for interesting facts about the various bird species we came across, like the champagne bird!

All this time I’m thinking, “Can we hurry up and go looking for the Big Five before it gets too hot and they all disappear into thick bushes?” My wife, sensing my rising irritation levels, kept tapping my lap in a plea for calm and patience.

The final straw

The final straw came when Elvis pulled over to show us a dung beetle rolling its “score” across the road. I lost my cool and said to Elvis, “The Big Five, Baba,” while pointing at my watch.

Elvis turned around and stood up to address the whole vehicle. I suspect I had finally given him a platform to express frustration that had been building up over the years as a game ranger. “Folks, the bush is not just about the Big Five. Yes, we know you all want to see the lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo and the much threatened rhino, but allow me to teach you something you didn’t know.

“We also have the Little Five and the Ugly Five, all of which are important. The Little Five consists of the leopard tortoise, the ant lion, the elephant shrew, the buffalo weaver and the rhino beetle. And the Ugly Five consists of the hyena, warthog, wildebeest, vulture and the marabou stork.”

Definitely a slap on the wrist for me, but one that taught me a valuable lesson about hierarchy.

Hierarchy and rank

Hierarchy and rank are common features in our line of work. We refer to clients as junior and senior clients, and we refer to our own colleagues as junior suit or junior creative or senior planner. These references have become more than just an innocent, objective title, but rather a code for one’s position in the pecking order. They determine the respect and attention you receive from your colleagues. They even determine which meetings you attend.

One of the worst mistakes you can make is ignore or overlook junior clients. Here’re five little reasons why:

Junior clients draft the agency revert — acknowledge and build rapport with the junior client in the meeting. When you summarise the client’s feedback and the way forward, address the junior client in the room to ensure that what she captures for her revert to you is an accurate account of what was decided. Remember, a misdirected revert wastes everyone’s time and the agency’s resources. You also would like her to feel free to pick up then phone and get further clarity from you before she sends you the revert.
Junior clients process your payment — so best you endear yourself to them. Acknowledge them, show them you value their opinion and care about their development.
Junior clients contribute to your performance review — every interaction you have with them shapes what they think of you. Show them your value as a business partner and make them fall in love with you.
Junior clients are unencumbered by baggage — one of the benefits of youth is childlike naivety, optimism, resourcefulness, an eagerness to learn and lack of baggage. Junior clients are not jaded like the rest of us older folk; therefore, they are not quick to kill ideas. The world has changed drastically since you were their age. Tap into their insights and allow yourself to see the world through their eyes.
Junior clients are future marketing directors — how would you like your future senior clients to remember you and your agency? As that supplier who didn’t bother to know their names or as someone who respected them and helped teach them what they now know?

Same lessons apply

The same lessons apply to our junior colleagues in the agency.

You don’t want to create enemies in the people that work for and with you. One day, they will be your competition, and we all know how vicious an ex-employee can be as a competitor. We see it all the time with professional soccer players. It’s called “the immutable law of the ex”. This phenomenon suggests that pIayers play unusually well against their former teams.

The simple lesson is: treat others like you would like to be treated and remember that the Little Five can be as interesting and as beautiful to photograph as the Big Five.

Alistair Mokoena (@AlistairMokoena) is a Unilever-trained Chartered Marketer with lots of blue-chip marketing experience. He’s currently MD of Draftfcb Joburg. Mokoena contributes the monthly “The Switch” column to MarkLives.com.

Shelf Life: Jack Daniels hits the road with Frank Sinatra

Louise Marsland (@Louise_Marsland)’s pick of new product, packaging and design launches this week:

Get the skinny on Appletiser
Jack Daniels hits the road with Frank Sinatra
a sunny future for Formula1 Hotels; and
P.S., Cadbury has a message for all students.

Appletiser gets its sexy back

I love this time of year, when the FMCG industry comes alive with the sound of a multitude of new product launches, pack designs, dramatic in-store displays and new product combos or relaunches to woo consumers and boost summer and Christmas sales.

Appletiser is first up with a slender new can. The sleek new slim 330ml will replace the previous 330ml can in all channels. Slightly taller than the standard beverage can and much slimmer, the new can gives the product a more contemporary look – and ensures it stands out on shelf and appeals to a younger, image conscious consumer.

Appletiser marketing director, Neil Hobkirk, says the new-look can reinforces Appletiser’s “superior image as a premium product”.

In research to test consumer response, Appletiser says the new look elicited the seal of approval from younger, image-conscious, respondents and women in general, who described the new look as “sexy, classy, fashionable and exclusive”.

“In line with Appletiser’s global image as a drink for the fashion conscious, this new slender packaging definitely has the ‘vogue appeal’. During qualitative research, respondents provided very encouraging feedback and responses to date have been positive,” says Appletiser global brand marketing manager, Andrea Shuttleworth.

Jack Daniels does it their way

Legend has it that the first real celebrity brand ambassador for Jack Daniels Whiskey was Frank Sinatra himself. Of course, he wasn’t paid for his endorsement; he simply loved the brand. Many famous photographs show the musical legend with a glass of Jack and, in accordance, with his final wishes, he was even laid to rest with a bottle of the whiskey.

Sinatra was introduced to the brand in the 1940s by Jackie Gleason and, not long after, Sinatra befriended Jack Daniel’s very first salesman, Angelo Luchessi.

It is this story that the brand is honouring with the special release Sinatra Select bottle this month in South Africa — retailing at R1000 a bottle. The bottle will be on sale through to 2015, the 100^th anniversary of Sinatra’s birth.

For the true connoisseurs, this is the special taste of Jack Daniel’s Sinatra Select: Jack Daniel’s 7^th Master Distiller has selected a number of specially crafted barrels, which are maturing a bold Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey. These “Sinatra barrels” were crafted to provide full character and a rich amber colour by exposing extra layers of toasted wood on the inner surface of the barrels.

Bottled at 45% ABV, these extra rich barrels are mingled with Jack Daniel’s classic Tennessee Whiskey to provide fuller character of oak and spice notes that give way to an exceedingly smooth vanilla finish.

Certainly makes for a special festive season gift for those special clients!

SUN shines on Formula1 Hotels

Tsogo Sun announced this week that it would be rebranding the Formula1 chain of budget hotels as SUN1 and investing R135 million in upgrading the budget group. Tsogo Sun acquired the remaining 53% of the hotel chain form Accor in 2012.

CEO of Tsogo Sun, Marcel von Aulock, says this cements the group’s position as the leading hotel group in southern Africa, with a full portfolio of brands, from budget to luxury.

“We have evaluated the value of the brand in the budget sector of the market and concluded that a refresh under our brand was required. Last year, we consolidated the group’s brands into one holistic identity under the sunburst. This iconic logo will now be applied to the 21 SUN1 hotels, making them instantly recognisable as being part of the Tsogo Sun group,” Von Aulock says.

There are currently 21 SUN1 hotels offering a total of 1530 rooms spread across the major metropolitan areas of South Africa. SUN1 is represented in seven provinces and is aimed at both business and leisure travellers in the budget sector. Room rates range from R419 to a maximum of R449 and can accommodate up to three people. SUN1 offers en-suite rooms with showers, TV, air-conditioning and an eco-friendly lighting system.

“The budget sector is one of the fastest growing in the world and it is our intention to grow our portfolio of hotels in this sector,” concludes Von Aulock.

P.S.: Congrats!

Awwwww… what says I care more than a chocolate with a branded marketing message on it? Two new chocolates with branded marketing messages!

Cadbury’s P.S. chocolate brand has especially created “P.S. Congrats” and “P.S. All the best” so you can wish the learners and students in your life good luck during the year-end exam period.

I have no quarrel with that; it’s a proven fact (in my world, anyway) that chocolate combats all forms of stress.

If you had to write a message on a chocolate bar, what would yours say? I think mine would say: “Hang in there, it’s almost the end of the year, eat more chocolate”.

I think some industry ones could say: “Holy crap, there’s only 10 weeks left to Christmas? You need to work all weekends. Eat more chocolate”; or, “Repeat after me – the client is always right, the client is always right! Eat more chocolate”.

Shelf Life by Louise Marsland is a weekly column on MarkLives. Tweet new product, packaging and design launches to @louise_marsland or email her at louise.marsland at gmail.com. Want to sponsor Shelf Life? Contact us here.

Louise has written about the FMCG, media, marketing and advertising industry for 18 years of her 25-year media career as a former editor of magazines AdVantage, Marketing Mix and Progressive Retailing, as well as websites Bizcommunity.com and FMCGFiles. She currently edits the weekly Wednesday Media & Marketing Page for The New Age newspaper; and is the co-founder and publishing editor of South Africa’s industry trendwatching portal, TREND. at www.trendlives.info, in partnership with MarkLives.com.

AdForum Worldwide Summit: Publicis Omnicom merger “fatally flawed” — Sorrel

by Johanna McDowell (@jomcdowell) NEW YORK CITY: Day 2 of the AdForum Worldwide Summit, Tuesday, 9 October 2013, started off with a taped message from Sir Martin Sorrell of WPP in response to key questions we were asking regarding the WPP group, as well as the potential impact of the Publicis Omnicom Group merger.

Sir Martin refers to it as POG — which, of course, is funny and interesting at the same time.

WPP

WPP sees the need for more scientific skills within the group in order to manage the future and the needs of data and technology. He also commented that business in general is much better than in 2009 but is still tough and will continue to be so for some time to come.

Regarding POG, Sir Martin believes that it is a “fatally flawed” merger, badly handled from a PR and client perspective with little consultation with staff and clients alike. It spells great opportunity for WPP.

Group M

We then moved onto Group M, the media trading group which contains the four WPP media agencies. An excellent overview of the market in general from the CEO, a discussion about “horizontality” ie harnessing group structures for the benefit of clients across countries and disciplines eg Team Detroit within WPP. Lots of discussion and questions around media and where the future lies.

Y&R

Y&R was next and it has transformed itself in the past three years under the leadership of David Sable and his team, including a move to new premises — the first move in more than 90 years of being in business. A whole new energy, great traditions and experience at the top; lots of new young people.

We were shown some of the newest — and very impressive — work and some interesting new thinking about the duality of brands. One of the trends observed is that more people have access to mobile phones than to toothbrushes or toilets — makes you think!

Y&R in South Africa and Africa is, of course, very strong and the conclusion of the transaction with Native was a feature of the growth in the VML (digital ) Y&R network.

A delicious lunch on the rooftop of the agency premises with a magnificent view of Central Park rounded off that visit.

Agency compensation

A good discussion then, among the consultants only, around agency compensation and why agencies need to articulate their thoughts on what makes marketing spend different from any other spend pool for a marketer. (More on that at our next Subscriber Master Class – 10 key messages.)

MRY

We then moved on to MRY, which is a merger between Mr Youth and LBi, now owned by Publicis. With brave and creative social media work on a big scale and competing with R/GA and Razorfish, this full service digital agency believes in creating connected ideas make people’s lives better. It uses data to predict consumer behaviour and then supply the products and campaigns which will meet those new needs.

Wunderman

Finally, our last destination for the day was Wunderman, where we learned about emotional data along with how Wunderman views the future.

An excellent dinner with a very stimulating group of Wunderman people rounded off what was certainly a most stimulating second day of the summit.

Preview of Day 3 on Wednesday:

9am-10.30am: Breakfast with Critical Mass CEO Dianne Wilkins
8.30am-10am: Meet at the Apartment
11am-2pm: Lunch with McCann Worldgroup CEO Diamond Harris
10.30am–1.30pm: 622 Third Ave
2.pm-2.30pm: Miles Nadal on MDC (update)
2pm-5.30pm: Open afternoon
6pm: SapientNitro executive director Gaston Legorburu
Dinner: Hosted by SapientNitro

We might even have time for a short rest in the afternoon!!

More tomorrow.

#adforumsummit — follow us on Twitter.

Best
Johanna
@jomcdowell