The CEO eyes the intern and contemplates whether he is in fact God. The first Mangaung strategy session takes place.
Tag archives: ad agency
New normal quite good at Y&R
by Herman Manson (@marklives) One year ago Y&R looked like a mess, at least from the outside. No they won’t say it, but after the exit of Frasier Lamb, and the disastrous non-communication strategy it employed, coupled with a mini-guerrilla war inside the agency that was playing out quite publicly, the broader perception on the state of the agency wasn’t good. And in this industry perception counts for quite a bit.
The agency brought in as CEO Andrew Welch, a brand expert from Landor Associates in London, to set things back on track, and working closely with ECD Graham Lang, the agency has been reorganising its business to the extent that it recently landed the Telkom account, meaning it now handles two of the big 5 advertising accounts in the country (the other being Pick n Pay).
Welch, who joined in May a year ago, quite likes the new normal at Y&R, having helped the agency transition to what he calls Y&R 2.0.
Considering the internal goings on at Y&R at the time, bringing in somebody with an outside view was probably the best thing the agency could hope to do. Welch realised the need for change, while also acknowledging the positives built up over the past 35 years by the company, if the business was going to go to the next level. It needed to expand its strategic thinking, create more compelling creative and transition from ATL to through the line, says Welch.
The Gate Keeper (Chapter 3: In which ideas form)
The fat men put out a call for Mangaung concepts. Mama E engineers an opportunity for the intern, and Phil the graphic designer struggles to look up.
The Gate Keeper (Chapter 2: In which the intern is noticed)
The intern wonders if anyone will ever ask her to do anything approximating work, and then discovers a strange old white lady at the executive offices.
The Gate Keeper (Chapter 1: In which help is secured)
Mama E takes the helm at the TBWSJWBN executive offices and realises that not all is well. Nonetheless, she does her best to reassure a nearly naked – and now jobless – young graphic designer.
Liezl-Mari van Rensburg new ECD at 60 layers of cake
Liezl-Mari van Rensburg has joined 60 layers of cake as new Executive Creative Director (ECD) and will also become a partner in the business. Van Rensburg is best known for her work at Joe Public, where she served as Creative Director (CD) at Joe Public Cape Town between 2004-2006 and then as CD and a member of its board after the merger of the Cape Town and Joburg offices between 2006 and 2008.
The rise of Machine
So there is this online media sales house right, small fry really, just one guy selling space on a website at a time when internet advertising was fairly undeveloped in the South African market. It’s not really even a sales house, more like a sales guy with a bit of ambition.
SA agencies take four Yellow Pencils
The 50th annual D&AD Awards has resulted in four Yellow Pencil wins for South African ad agencies.
King James – the road less travelled
Fourteen years after its launch King James has emerged as South Africa’s most acclaimed independent ad agency. Growing organically, the agency has finally reached a tipping point to boost confidence, influence and revenues, even as it steers the challenges of offering a fully integrated, digitally adept service.
Punk’d out of ATL funk
Alistair King, group creative director of the King James Group, doesn’t bother to hide his enthusiasm for the latest, possibly bravest, move within his agency to further define its offering in a competitive market, where budgets are shifting from above-the-line to integrated campaigns and what was traditionally considered below-the-line work.