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The embedded Agency

by Herman Manson (@marklives) The founders of ad agency Derrick, Livio Tronchin (ex-Jupiter Drawing Room Cape Town), Mark Stead (former CD at KingJames RSVP) and Myles Hoppé (former brand manager at the company behind the Joule), late last year packed up their office and moved in with the launch team of money management service 22seven.

The brainchild of Christo Davel, best known for his work on 20Twenty, the ground-breaking online bank that folded alongside Saambou, the Derrick team had been commissioned to move into the new start-up for a two week stint that made them feel like part of the start-up (and worked them just as hard!) rather than an agency apart.

22seven needed things to happen fast, in real time, and the procedures and processes in place at ad agencies was going to be a hindrance. So it all got tossed out the window. And while it was an exciting ride it did highlight vulnerabilities on both sides of the client/agency divide.

The waning influence of ad award shows

The statues are stacked in neat rows along office walls. It’s come to define our industry. Kids are told they need to win ’em to impress the creative director and secure that job. Creative directors are told they need to win ’em to impress the MD and prove their relevance in a competitive industry. MDs care because they are told the talent cares, and with a bit of spin and a celebratory lunch, the client might be induced to care, too.

CREATIVITY interpreted by 10 ‘younger’ shops

AdVantage decided to give 10 ‘younger’ agency shops an opportunity to portray their interpretation of creativity in advertising today, by giving each one a letter from the word ‘creativity’ and asking them to portray it, on a first response basis… Visually. Graphically. Through words. Whatever. Carte blanche…

A case for creative technology and technological creativity

Team Derrick, Myles Hoppe, Mark Stead and Livio Tronchin, asks how innovation, technology,
creativity and an entrepreneurial spirit can come together to build a creative economy for Cape Town that is more than skin deep.

Building the proposition of Creative Cape Town is imperative to the city’s survival in business. The city is still fundamentally a fishing village/holiday destination and does lack the hard-working business, although the hard-working mentality certainly exists. In fact, from many people we know, we’ve heard that they work far harder and longer hours here than in Jo’burg.

Derrick wants to save the world

Big thinking lies behind new Cape Town agency Derrick, which hopes to combine business sustainability with environmental friendliness, a collaborative approach to communication and media neutrality. It has been launched by Livio Tronchin (ex-Jupiter Drawing Room Cape Town), Mark Stead (former CD at KingJames RSVP) and Myles Hoppé (former brand manager at the company designing SA’s first electric car, the Joule).