by Herman Manson. Quirk will rebrand as Mirum as of today, Tuesday, 1 November 2016.
Tag archives: Quirk
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Fran Luckin joins Grey Africa
by Herman Manson. Grey Africa has appointed Fran Luckin as its chief creative officer, effective Monday, 1 February 2016.
AdForum Worldwide Summit: Networks embracing change
by Johanna McDowell. The good news on Day 3 was that the network agencies are embracing change as much as the newer startups.
Shelf Life: Agencies on the move
Louise Marsland (@Louise_Marsland)’s weekly pick of recent product, packaging and design launches: new views for several agencies and media; Scottish Leader whisky refreshes; Coke gets social and Black River amps Vuzu.
eMarketing: the essential guide to marketing in a digital world
by Herman Manson (@marklives) If titles told the story, this would be a particularly interesting one. Now in its fifth edition, the emarketing handbook published by Rob Stokes and his team at Quirk has been evolving from 2008’s “eMarketing: The Essential Guide to Online Marketing” to “eMarketing: The essential guide to marketing in a digital world.”
Rob Stokes on selling Quirk to WPP
by Herman Manson (@marklives) Quirk will retain its operational independence and current management, says agency founder and CEO, Rob Stokes, even after the conclusion of a deal with WPP, which will see the global communications group take a controlling interest in the digital agency. The deal is still subject to regulatory approval.
New CT shop grabs World Design Capital Cape Town 2014 ATL account
MetropolitanRepublic (Cape Town) has won the Design Capital Cape Town 2014 ATL and branding account beating both FoxP2 and M&CSaatchi Abel. Quirk won the digital business beating Infestation and Gloo. The combined account is worth R9 million.
Priscilla Urquhart, PR and Media Manager for Cape Town Design NPC, confirmed that two request for proposals went out, one for digital and one for the rest of the business. “The ideal scenario would be to have everything under one roof however, the presentations showed up differently,” said Urquhart. “We’re very happy with the chosen agencies and believe they will deliver on the WDC outcomes.”
Cape Town Design NPC is the implementation company of World Design Capital Cape Town 2014 and an independent, not-for-profit organisation.
Agile, collaborative agency backed by Quirk Group
by Herman Manson (@marklives) Clients are becoming more frustrated with agencies, especially as agencies grow to become corporates with all the inflexibility and structural issues that entails. As client problems require quicker turn-around, greater flexibility and innovation, their agencies are becoming less likely to fulfil these requirements.
Designed to counter these issues are Kathryn Sharfman’s new agency, Fast and Remarkable. Quirk Group backs the agency in which Sharfman is a shareholder.
Fast and Remarkable officially launched October 1st. The agency brings together teams of experienced freelancers under the project management skills of Sharfman. Sharfman’s husband, Las Madurasinghe, with a background in investment banking, is also involved in the business.
The agency is focussing on digital projects and offerings include strategy, production and media. Focus will be on quick turn-around times, essential in the digital environment, as well as top quality (i.e. remarkable) work and pulling together a network of well vetted and deeply skilled individuals.
Digital has a fairly low barrier to entry, Sharfman notes, and Fast & Remarkable is set up so clients can easily access high-level digital skills and experience. It’s that experience which offers agile solutions to client problems, says Sharfman.
Sharfman says the new agency taps into the collaborative work model with its strong focus on people and maximising their individual contributions for the benefit of clients.
EXCLUSIVE: Quirk Cape Town grabs top ECD
by Herman Manson (@marklives) Conn Bertish has been appointed as the new Executive Creative Director of Quirk Cape Town. Bertish is currently the ECD of JWT Cape Town and member of the JWT global creative council.
Bertish started his career as a copywriter at Ogilvy & Mather in 1999 and became a senior copywriter at The Jupiter Drawing Room Cape Town in 2000 before moving to Saatchi & Saatchi as a creative director. He has been with JWT for close to seven years.
James Mckay, Managing Director of Quirk Cape Town, says the agency has been talking to various top creative talent, including Bertish, for close to 18 months. Mckay, who also worked at JWT before joining Quirk and knows Bertish well, says the agency had to bring an ECD on board with a background in strong idea centric campaigns and that Bertish has a great track record in this regard.
Martin Sorrell shoots down independent agencies
by Herman Manson. WPP Chief Executive Martin Sorrell caused something of an outcry in Australia recently when he told a trade publication there that it will become “increasingly hard for independent agencies to survive or thrive.”