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AGENCY FOCUS

LEO BURNETT

Since taking over as Group CEO at Leo Burnett SA 18months ago, Andrew Fasedemi has set his sightson building a cohesive group with a multibrandstrategy. Now the focus has shifted. “Previously our

aim was to deliver SA to the global network,” he says. “Nowwe need to deliver sub-Saharan Africa.”

The African operations absorb about 20% of his time, ameasure of the priority attached to the continental expansionby Leo Burnett Global. Half South African and half Nigerian,Fasedemi sits on the boards of the Zimbabwean and Kenyanagencies, and is soon to take up a seat in the Nigerianagency once equity arrangements are settled.

“Apart from growing the network, our focus will be tosubstantially raise the level of interaction with the Africanagencies, improve creativity in line with international stan-dards, and introduce training programmes,” says Fasedemi.There are some jewels in the network, notably the agencies inNigeria (that won the Cadbury and Nigeria Airways accounts)and Zimbabwe, which is growing rapidly and winning awardsdespite political upheaval.

Leo Burnett SA is restructuring to integrate its variousactivities under five broad divisions: media (Starcom); com-munications (Sonnenberg Murphy Leo Burnett, Leo Xpress,Leo Design and LB Interactive, soon to be rebranded LeoBurnett Communications); and public relations (FasedemiNewman Leo Burnett, rebranded as Manning Selvage & Lee)

and Red Nail.There are also plans to increase the empowerment share-

holding from its current 20% to more than 50%, with staff andmanagement likely to pick up a respectable slice of the equity. Thenew-look Leo Burnett SA will retain its multibranding approachbelieving that this creates focus and dynamic tension between thebusiness units. Red Nail, for example, will retain its branding andcontinue to operate as a second agency brand in line with practiceelsewhere in the LB Global network. Over the past year, it wonaccounts from Incredible Connection, Revlon and Gauteng provin-cial government’s Shared Services Centre (SSC). Though ownedby Leo Burnett and sharingthe same premises, ithas a distinctive cultureand approach. Red Nailclients include Alcatel,5fm, Action Stations,Mercantile Bank and E-Trade. There is scopefor a second agencybrand in the SA group,according to Fasedemi.

Digital design com-pany Shape, which isnot part of Leo BurnettSA, will remain indepen-dent but maintain closeties with the group. Re-lationship marketing com-pany LB Interactive hit a rocky patch three years ago when formerMD Clive McClean emigrated to the US, but has been reversedunder Lizanne Jones and Janine Wilson. The public relations unithas become part of the global brand, Manning Salvage & Lee

(MS&L), and will allow Leo Burnett to offer clients a better-integrated communications service. The glue that binds theseunits together is a common vision, enunciated in the slogan,“There’s power in the diversity of our people and our brands.”

SMLB, headed by MD Pat Goggin, who worked for seven yearsat LB Worldwide in Chicago before transferring to SA, andexecutive creative director Cal Bruns remains the backbone of theSA operation. It accounts for half of the group’s staff and most ofits revenue. Business gains over the past year include four newbrands for Kellogg’s, Ananzi, Johnnic e-Ventures, Johnnic Com-munications and Levis. This is in addition to its ongoing work for

multinational brands such as Coca-Cola Light, Fanta,McDonald’s, Procter & Gamble, Mercedes-Benz, SABreweries and Liberty. “The benefits of the LBWorldwide network should not be underestimated.The ability to tap into the network’s well of in-tellectual capital and global expertise delivers abetter product to our clients,” says Fasedemi. “No-one understands the emerging market better thanSMLB,” he adds, citing creative triumphs such as itshighly acclaimed “first kiss” advertisement for Coca-Cola, shot in Morocco but flighted internationally,and the spot-on “Diski” township soccer adver-tisement for MTN. Technology and training hasalready delivered substantial productivity gains. “Weare producing more today, with fewer staff, than wedid four years ago,” says Fasedemi. Finding qualitystaff is a perennial problem given the continued

exodus of skills. Leo Burnett SA expects to arrest thisseepage through a staff package that will give key staff a biggerstake in the local operation. But “our biggest problem is ourinability to charge proper value for the work we do. SA ranks fifthin the world creatively, but our fees don’t reflect this.” ■

Delivering thegoods —

throughoutAfrica

Andrew Fasedemi

Levis store opening

This feature is supported by agency and client advertising

AdFocus/Supplement to the Financial Mail/May 18 2001 151

AGENCY FOCUSLEO BURNETT

The scramble is on for Africa’s markets

Africa is the final frontier. And global communicationsgroups are in search of new markets. Having con-quered China, Eastern Europe and Latin America overthe past 10 years, advertisers are engaged in a

scramble for Africa — at least the parts of it that matter.A new consumerism has seized countries once written off as

economic basket cases. Tanzania staged an extraordinary revivalin the past five years, while Uganda, having survived thepredations of despots and warlords, is regarded as anAfrican economic miracle. Nigeria, recently returned todemocratic rule, is battling to eradicate corruption, andthere is hope that peace may at last settle on theDemocratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Tanzania andMozambique are now among the fastest growing coun-tries in the world, admittedly off a near zero base.

Zimbabwe, however, is a notable exception to this taleof success, though democracy and rule of law have notentirely perished thanks to a vigorous and noisy op-position. Last year coup leaders were sent packing inIvory Coast, a resounding reversal of West Africa’straditional acquiescence to military rule.

Advertisers were pressured by clients to accompanythem into these new markets, triggering a scramble forthe biggest and best local agencies. “There’s no substitutefor local knowledge,” says Cohen. “You need people on theground who are familiar with the local scene, and who can addvalue in strategy and understanding of the media.

“SA agencies often make the mistake of trying to deploy SAidioms in Africa. We are careful to use the local idiom.”

Leo Burnett moved into Africa in 1997, building a network ofaffiliated offices in Nigeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Zimbabwe,Morocco and Egypt.

LB does not have offices in the DRC, Congo-Brazzaville, Chad,Sierra Leone and Uganda. They do, however, have a highly mobileAfrican “swat” team, lead by Jonny Cohen, and supported byregional offices. The team travels and works with local clients andmedia partners in countries where they have no offices.

Leo Burnett has equity in some of these African agencies, but

plans to increase ownership after the customary courtship. All areranked among the top five agencies in their respective markets inbillings. Despite the country’s well-documented political and eco-nomic chaos, Leo Burnett’s Zimbabwe agency had its best yearyet, gaining several new clients and walking away with a clutch ofcreative awards.

This year Leo Burnett will expand its African network toMauritius, Mozambique, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Cameroon andGabon. “There’s a race on for the best agencies,” says AndrewFasedemi, CEO of Leo Burnett SA. “I see it as a business and asocial imperative to develop a strong African network for LB. Thisyear we will focus on raising the levels of creativity in the Africanagencies, integrating them into the network and embarking onextensive training.”

Cohen says clients such as Dutch telecommunications serviceprovider Celtel and Johnnie Walker whisky are behind this pushinto Africa. Celtel has been successful in some of the most difficultmarkets in the world, offering pre-paid cellular telephone serviceswhere landlines are non-existent or unreliable.

The speed, not to mention audacity, with which it has movedinto Africa has made it something of a telecommunicationsphenomenon. It launched its African service five years ago inUganda, and quickly spread to other East African and later WestAfrican markets. In Kinshasa alone it now has more than 30 000subscribers — proof of the consumer power waiting to be tappedin supposedly dirt-poor countries.

Leo Burnett handles Celtel’s advertising account in Sierra Leonethrough its Nigerian office, which has gained a number of majoraccounts in recent months. Cadbury Nigeria recently moved itsUS$2m Bournvita account to Leo Burnett Rosabel, the Nigerianagency. No pitch was required, Cadbury citing the agency’ssuperlative performance on another Cadbury brand. The agencywas also recently awarded the account for a radio campaign onbehalf of Nigeria Airways after a tough five-way review involving

Nigeria’s other top agencies.The “Keep Walking” campaign for Johnnie

Walker is an adaptation of a global theme,using inspiring quotes from famous historicalfigures. African proverbs — such as “Keepyour eye on the destination and not on whereyou have stumbled” — are substituted for thewisdom of Abraham Lincoln and others.

“African consumers are known to be brandloyal. In poorer communities particularly,sticking to the brands you know and trust is alow-risk option,” says Cohen. This meansbrand investment yields a handsome return.

After some initial hesitancy, SA companieskicked off their push into Africa in the mid-Nineties, with SA mining companies eager toreplenish declining ore reserves at home.

They were followed by retailers and consumercompanies such as Pepkor, Profurn and SA Brew-

eries, and later service companies. Outdoor advertising com-panies Corpcom and Primedia Outdoor ventured north into Africato service the growing demand from SA and multinational com-panies for outdoor exposure. But many African cities have nowreached billboard saturation point, says Cohen, and there is moreopportunity for marketers to make a difference in broadcastmedia, and through interactive activities such as events. “Africa isan exciting market,” says Cohen. “People tend to look at thedismal per capita income figures and write it off on this basis.What they miss is that more than half the African economy isinformal, which makes the official figures unreliable as a guide tothe potential size of markets.” ■

Jonny Cohen

Johnnie Walker

152 AdFocus/Supplement to the Financial Mail/May 18 2001 AdFocus/Supplement to the Financial Mail/May 18 2001 153

AGENCY FOCUS

Leo Xpress — let’sget it done fast

Leo Xpress is a high speed, below-the-line agency thatconcentrates on retail, promotion and design. In thepast couple of months they produced promotional workfor McDonald’s, Vicks, Tampax, Coca-Cola and Kel-

logg’sLeo Xpress MD Marc Wachenheimer says they have a small

team with a “let’s get it done” attitude. “We are flexible in planningand meeting our clients’ needs.”

Though Sonnenberg Murphy Leo Burnett is the brand custodianon most of the multinational brands, Leo Xpress has produced alot of POS (point of sale) work for DaimlerChrysler SA. Recently,Leo Xpress translated an “above-the-line” concept into a below-the-line application, merging the two effectively. His team alsodesigned point of purchase hardware that excites and guidesconsumers to purchase at dealerships.

They have also designed a complete dealer advertising solutionfor the Mercedes-Benz dealer network to drive consistency interms of their offering. These will be updated regularly as modelsof vehicles change, which means that the corporate look and feel

Work is takinggood shape

Gareth Paul and David Hillier started a new mediacompany, Shape, two years ago while studying digitalmedia communications at Vega School of BrandAdvertising Communications. This was at a time

when agencies were desperate to ride the new media wave, andthe job offers started rolling in. The pair decided to press onalone, moving their embryonic company into vacated officepremises. “We ended up squatting in a corner of an office park fora few months,” says Paul.

Its creative flair eventually brought it to the attention of LeoBurnett, and a partnership was struck. Though no equity wasexchanged, Shape now shares an office with Leo Burnett inSunninghill and collaborates on certain projects. “Much of ourwork now comes from Leo Burnett,” says Paul. The company hasgrown from two to 10 staff, with an average age of 23.

Shape’s first client was sweet company Cosmic Candy, a youngbusiness now headquartered in Greece. Rather than do thestandard packaging design, Paul and Hillier invented cartooncharacters and imbued them with mischievous personalities tohelp Cosmic Candy sell its sweets. It worked like a charm, and thesweets are now sold throughout Europe, and SA.

“We got so close to Cosmic Candy that we were on the point ofmoving to Greece to help the company expand,” says Paul. Theydidn’t move, but the relationship with Cosmic Candy has grownfrom strength to strength. “We’re like family,” he says.

The original cartoon concept is about to be developed into a 12-part television series and a full-length movie, according to Paul.The packaging designed by Shape for Cosmic Candy has had otherspin-offs: “Cosmic Candy claims to have received orders frompeople based on the package design.”

Shape is a new media company providing broadcast animation,digital design and online promotion. With Leo Burnett advertisingsubsidiary Red Nail, it recently won an account from the Gautengprovincial government’s Shared Service Centre (SSC) which will

Getting to know you one-on-one

In an ideal world companies would be able to developpersonal marketing campaigns on a mass scale. “Masscustomisation” was the promise of the Internet, but it fellshort of expectations for several reasons, among them the

fact that the medium is not yet fully trusted. Customer Re-lationship Management software brought mass customisationcloser. Each financial transaction and contact with a customer isdutifully logged, furnishing a detailed profile of each customer,their buying preferences and their complaints. Some companieshave refined this to the point where complaints can be anticipatedand handled proactively.

This is great for customers already on board. But how can youmake that initial contact and, better still, turn it into a sale?

Advertisers recognise that nothing beats the power of one-to-one marketing, either business-to-business or business-to-con-sumer. At business-to-business it is often the most cost-effectiveway to prospect for new clients, or increasebusiness from clients where there is a choiceof two or three competitors. This prospectingis the job of Leo Burnett Interactive, therelationship-marketing arm.

Relationship marketing is about getting upclose and personal with potential customersand business prospects, discovering their hob-bies and getting their attention. In one case,Leo Burnett Interactive discovered that theCEO of a large mining group it was targeting onbehalf of a client was a bonsai fundi. It pur-chased a bonsai tree in Taiwan, had it pho-tographed alongside a woman holding a news-paper with the date clearly displayed, anddelivered the bonsai to the CEO the followingday. “We got the attention of the CEO and theclient got the business,” says Lizanne Jones ofLB Interactive.

FedEx uses relationship marketing to greateffect, sending boxes of coffee or wine glassesto decision makers to get their attention, aspart of a loyalty building campaign. LB In-teractive has used personal direct mailings tohelp Mercedes-Benz sell more trucks and toLiberty portfolio clients, helping reinforce its

relationship with both clients and brokers. Liberty clients receive amonthly portfolio statement, including details on investment op-portunities and advice on how to manage their financial affairs.

“The mailing of the monthly portfolio statement is an opportunityto communicate different things to different customers,” saysJones.

The success of this venture has opened doors to other divisionswithin the Liberty group. LB Interactive has a long-establishedrelationship with DaimlerChrysler and debis Fleet Management,helping them put together tender documents for government’sTaxi Recapitalisation Programme and with Telkom’s fleet man-agement, which they won.

“There are certain parts of a tender document that must bepresented in a standard way, but other parts are highly personal,”explains Jones. “So there is an opportunity here for one-to-onemarketing.”

To help Honda build customer loyalty, LBInteractive mailed Honda owners an offer of afree magazine subscription that elicited a 27%response, says Jones.

Other clients include FedEx, executive searchcompany TranSearch and I-Net Bridge, whichrepositioned itself as a business-to-businesselectronic hub, broadening its offerings of busi-ness and financial information. “We helped withthe development of I-Net Bridge’s repositioningand spearheaded the activity, which we co-ordinated with other business units in LeoBurnett,” says Jones.

TranSearch is based in SA and Paris, withoperations in 58 countries. Jones says thebrief involved developing a brand essence forthe group, and a relaunch of the brand in-ternationally.

Relationship marketing is a fast growing partof the agency business, evidence of its ef-fectiveness in winning new business. “It allowsyou to get a specific message across to aspecific person,” says Jones. “Companies arerecognising it as a direct and cost-effective wayto win new business or increase business fromclients.” ■

LEO BURNETT

stays the same, as part of the brand building integration.“The result of these guidelines has been a marked improvement

in the effectiveness of print advertisements, which in turn trans-lates into enhanced business success,” says creative directorAlan Edgar.

Leo Xpress handles all design and execution of all in-storematerials as well as promotional activity for McDonald’s.

Loads of Linen and Living is another stalwart client with growingvisibility. “We started doing the sales advertisements for themwhen they were operating as a stand-alone store in Emmarentia.We have recently repositioned them under their new brand name,as a specific lifestyle store nationwide.”

Wachenheimer’s agency played a pivotal role in masterminding

centralise certain noncore-government services. Red Nail iscreating the advertising campaign, Shape is responsible for newmedia, including multimedia and Internet projects.

New media has had a bad rap, with dot-coms folding left andright and thousands of staff being retrenched. Paul is anxious todistance Shape from the e-commerce wave. “We’re not an IT or e-commerce company. There are plenty of people out there able todevelop Websites. We develop marketing and promotion solutionsusing the electronic media. Clients often come to us withproposals for an electronic brochure. We show them what can bedone. Companies often don’t know what to spend on onlineventures. They may put money aside for building a Website, butlittle if anything to market it.”

One of Shape’s earliest creations was the Website for local rockband Boo! (www.boo.co.za), which was recognised by Johnnice-Ventures as one of the 10 most visited sites in its category in SA.

Some of its most visible pieces of work have been a TV andcinema advertisement for Kellogg's Krispies Treats, low-budgetanimated TV advertisements to accompany the launch of theMercedes-Benz A class and a 30-second animated TV ad-vertisement for MTN produced in 24 hours.

Why has Shape succeeded where so may others have failed?“Because we make sure that it remains fun,” says Paul. ■

a sampling campaign for Kellogg’s Nutri-K, thus creating earlymarket presence for their product. Their packaging design forPillsbury Bran Muffins helped to further extend the range in linewith consumer demand. More recent Heinz SA work brought thebrand’s packaging in line with the rest of the world.

Leo Xpress recently signed up MapStudio to redesign thepackaging and branding of their map range to be in line withoverseas trends. Other clients include United International Pic-tures, Plain Business Writing, Procter & Gamble, Minute Maid,Celtel (MSI), Columbus Steel and Johnnie Walker. ■

Wachenheimer

The Shape team . . .Joanne Isemonger,Ryan White, DaveHillier, Gareth Paul,Justin Cloete

Lizanne Jones andJanine Wilson

Mercedes-Benz

154 AdFocus/Supplement to the Financial Mail/May 18 2001

AGENCY FOCUS LEO BURNETT

New star on the block has meteoric rise

It took a year from its international launch in 1997 formedia agency Starcom to capture Media Agency of theYear in both the US and the UK. And its growth in SA sinceits launch in April 2000 has been no less meteoric.

Annualised billings have grown to R284m from R209m a yearago. When it started, 75% of its business came from SonnenbergMurphy Leo Burnett (SMLB), now the figure is 30%.

Media agencies like Starcom have moved a long haul from therudimentary services offered by media independents of 15 yearsago, when clients were offered little more than media schedulesand simple media plans.“The days of leveraging purchasing powerto buy cheap media are gone,” says managing director GordonPatterson. “It’s never been easier to get cheap media. Today,media independents have to offer insight as well as buying power.We work with the brands agency in developing a seamless brandand media strategy, and that is where we are able to add mostvalue. There’s a growing demand for accountability, which wewelcome.”

Patterson presented the Starcom SA business plan in October1999 and in the following months a market position for the newcompany was crafted. This involved a critical analysis of theindustry and its shortcomings. Starcom presented Patterson andhis team with a clean slate on which to create a new type of mediacompany, devoid of the legacies that hobbled other independents.The result was a fresh and contrary approach to media strategythat yielded several early successes. Though agencies play uptheir ability to customise media strategies to the needs of differentclients, these strategies are often indistinguishable. “You can takea media plan and Tippex out one client’s name and replace it witha new name,” says Patterson.

Starcom deviated from script by weaving alternative media intoits plans to deepen the impact of its campaigns. It broke newground by promoting the new Mercedes A class on forecourt TV,plasma TV in shopping centres, through the Internet, and — anew outlet — in magazine margins. In a further break withconvention, television advertisements were scheduled to matchprogramme content. “The message was that the Mercedes Aclass is a vehicle for vibrant aspiring people who are going places.

The media mix demonstrated this positioning in a fresh andunexpected way,” says Patterson.

The campaign for the Mercedes-Benz C class took a different tackby appealing to competitors’ targetmarket rather than the traditionalMercedes-Benz buyer. “We did ananalysis of competitors and theirmedia strategy and targeted theircustomers.”

Starcom seeks to differentiateitself from the competition byblending best international practicewith local insights, a diversity ofskills, and a culture of learning. Itsexecutive team includes JamesHier and Melanie Walter, both me-dia directors.

“James Hier brings a global per-spective to the team, Melanie Wal-ter brings a human touch and herexperience in media planning. I’manalytical and have a passion forinnovation,” says Patterson.

“We encourage staff to get intouch with the media, be it byconsumer observation or direct in-volvement,” he says.

Major business gains for thepast year include media planningfor all Procter & Gamble brands,worth more than R70m a year, the Mitsubishi account, valued atabout R20m, MTN and Levis. Starcom’s initial drawcard was itsmedia planning strength, but it is establishing a reputation formedia buying. Shrewd negotiator Melissa Read has augmentedthe buying team. It now handles media buying assignments forseveral creative shops including Bester Burke D’Arcy, KingJamesand Dare Media. ■

the US was the decision by Procter & Gamble and GeneralMotors, two of the world’s largest advertisers, to replace flatcompensation rates with fee-based formulas that reward agen-cies whose work produces higher sales. This risk-based approachto advertising generated some astonishingly effective creativecampaigns and forced the agencies to experiment with al-ternatives to the lucrative TV commercial. Not surprisingly, thehuman element featured strongly.

Leo Burnett pioneered this drive to restore the human touch toadvertising. “In this way we try to differentiate ourselves from thecompetition,” says Pat Goggin, MD of Sonnenberg Murphy LeoBurnett (SMLB). “Our advertising seeks to excite deep-seatedhuman emotions and connect people with brands through pow-erful story-telling.”

Leo Burnett calls it their brand belief system.“The brand belief system converts buyers to believers by

creating the most compelling brand stories,” adds Goggin. “Thestories are based on a promise between the brand and its currentor potential believers, which is kept alive, whatever the challenge.”

Fancy verbiage has no place in the brand belief system. “A

Creativity in advertising is un-dergoing a quiet revolution.Humans, rather than prod-ucts, are being given star

billing. “Advertisers like Kellogg’s, Camp-bell and Kraft are running TV campaignsrooted in humanity. They are brimmingwith behavioural insights that connecttheir products to the vicissitudes of reallife,” writes Paul Kemp Robertson,worldwide director of creative resourcesat Leo Burnett in Chicago, in Power tothe People.

“Consumers are no longer seen asdemographics with a wallet but indi-viduals whose attitudes and motivationscannot be conveniently pre-judged bymarkers such as gender, salary andeducation.”

One of the most dramatic changes in

People power is back in vogue

Gordon Patterson,James Hier andMelanie Walter

Pat Goggin

156 AdFocus/Supplement to the Financial Mail/May 18 2001

Telling it like it is

Apart from being the world’s most recognised brand,or perhaps because of it, Coca-Cola has producedsome of the most memorable advertisements of alltime.

Last year, Sonnenberg Murphy LeoBurnett (SMLB) produced First Kiss,about a Moroccan boy who likens asip of Coke to kissing a girl — onlybetter. This highly acclaimed com-mercial was created by SA butflighted internationally. To add to theauthenticity, a local boy who hadnever tasted Coke was found andhis first sip captured on film.

Another locally produced homerun was the story of a townshipentrepreneur who grows up withCoca-Cola: first drinking it, then sell-ing it from a pushbike, and laterfrom a truck. ‘When the Sun Rises’reveals how Coca-Cola puts moneyback into communities by creatingjobs. The visual effect of a painting,in which characters appear to cometo life, deepens the impact of themessage.

Basil Mina, deputy executive cre-ative director of the agency and re-sponsible for the Coke adverts says:“The visual effect created by super-imposing shots of painted walls andsky over the scenes gives the com-mercial a painterly effect with auniquely township flavour. Its artful-ness creates an air of dignity that’swell deserved.”

“We believe in making adverts thatget under people’s skin,” says CalBruns, executive creative director atSMLB. “The truth is, when you toucha nerve, you make a real connection.We believe it’s at this level thatbrands are built. There’s no awardbetter than being at a restaurantand hearing people talk about one ofour advertisements. It shows wecreated real impact.”

Mina says the challenge in comingup with a soccer sponsorship ad-

vertisement for MTN was that Vodacom has snapped uprights to SA’s top teams. Leo Burnett’s answer was to

showcase diski, the name used to describe townshipsoccer where personal style and flair are valued above

teamwork. “Our guys dug into the soul of the game and ouradverts struck a nerve for MTN with their insight and flair,” saysMina. Informal feedback suggests the campaign was well loved bysoccer fans.

Sometimes great adverts are out there just waiting to bemade. When Bruns heard that 28 South Africans plannedto hire Wembley Stadium for an afternoon to live out theirdream by “worshipping at the altar of football”, he iden-tified this as a perfect example of people “at Liberty” towrite their own life stories. “While the game was played inan empty stadium and only a Queen lookalike handed out acup to the winning team, this dream come true made acompelling example of what Liberty’s financial planningcan do. Campaigns are most effective when they reflecttruth in surprising ways.”

The message accompanying the launch of the quirkyMercedes-Benz A class was “odd is in”. Rather than theusual presentation of a shiny car going through its paceson the open road, SMLB’s “Jealousy makes you nasty”advertisement probed non-owner’s reactions to the newdesign by depicting a young man ina suit splashing mud on a new Cclass Mercedes-Benz. “The risk ofnot showing the car in its shiny,pristine form was overshadowedby the pure, honest truth of themessage,” says Bruns.

The campaign worked, with the Cclass back-ordered until 2002.

An even greater challenge wasdeveloping a workable campaignfor Ananzi, the Internet portal,which had little brand loyalty twoyears ago. “We researched all thethings Ananzi can do and found itwas exceptionally fast,” saysBruns. “This led us to the ‘Find itfast’ campaign line, which we ex-ecuted in absolutely outrageous

ways, to great success. Ananzi’spage impressions have gone from1,5m to 4m a month since thecampaign was launched.”

Though creative awards are wel-come, client longevity is the great-est reward for creative excellence,adds Goggin. SMLB’s relationshipwith Mercedes-Benz goes back 36years, Liberty 11 years, and SABreweries 15 years. ■

AGENCY FOCUS LEO BURNETT

values with human values, adds Goggin.Examples include Microsoft, Oracle, Nikeand Starbucks, all of which have hugesocial investment budgets and are seenas “people-friendly”.

“It’s up to us to tell these stories, andhelp the companies sell their products atthe same time,” he concludes. ■

believer is a person for whom the brand promise resonates, aperson who believes that the brand lives up to its promise. ThinkHarley Davidson, Ferrari or Levi-Strauss.

“The brand story is just that, the story of the brand. Fromdiscovery to fulfilling and evolving the brand promise. This is notreally a system, more a philosophy. An underlying belief in thepower of a brand story to exist, resonate and eventually become amember of the community.”

The world’s most successful companies align their corporate

Cal Bruns

Liberty “dreams” campaign

Coke, Lion, MTN

158 AdFocus/Supplement to the Financial Mail/May 18 2001 AdFocus/Supplement to the Financial Mail/May 18 2001 159

with the advertisingagency. This is in linewith MS&L’s strategy. Inthe past, PR supportedadvertising, but theMS&L philosophy is thatPR builds brands, andadvertising defendsbrands.” Companies, itseems, are starting toappreciate the value ofPR. Many advertisingbudgets are shrinking,but PR budgets in-creased by 30% lastyear according to astudy by the Public Relations In-stitute of SA. Using a variety ofproprietary research and brand-building tools, MS&L has beenable to raise the effectiveness ofits marketing campaigns. Suc-cess is no longer measured incentimetre columns of press cov-erage. “PR has gone way beyondthat. Companies want PR cam-paigns to focus on their brands,”says Newman. ■

Red Nail, 100% owned by Leo Burnett Holdings, tripledits business in the five months to March, picking upthe Incredible Connection, Revlon, Colemer and theGauteng Shared Services Centre, lifting its billings to a

projected R100m. “We’ve started to apply the brakes,” says MDGrant Baker. “We don’t want to overstretchourselves.” Other clients include 5fm, I Fusion,Global Technologies, E*Trade, Mobil, ActionStations, e.tv and Mercantile Bank.

Now 12 years young, Red Nail was betterknown as a below-the-line agency until pressedby clients to take on advertising assignments asa way of ensuring creative consistency. In1995 it won two Loerie Grands Prix and 11Golds for below-the-line work. Then it movedabove the line and grabbed attention witharresting campaigns for clients such as 5fm,SAA and Cadbury’s. Baker ascribes much of theagency’s success to the creative team —headed by Kevin Kleynhans and James Daniels— and an aggressive expansion programme. Itditched much of the small-scale project workthat had been its bread and butter and styleditself a “through-the-line” agency, handling ev-erything from in-store promotions to TV ads.

It was helped by some particularly successfulcreative coups. One was SAA’s Olympic plane(Ndizani) painted in stark African colours andseen around the world. One of the cheekiestframed Finance Minister Trevor Manuel’s nor-mally bald head in an Afro hairstyle with the

AGENCY FOCUS LEO BURNETT

Hammering homethe credentialsSexy guys are ‘fluid and dynamic’

AGENCY FOCUS

FLAGSHIP

Durban agency is on the crest of a wave

Browsing through the boardroom of Durban-based Flag-ship Communications tells you a lot about what putswind in their sails. First sight of the solid, functional,rather than ostentatious, hardwood furniture and

meticulously displayed naval memorabilia gives one the feeling ofbeing in the Captain’s cabin. But that’s hardly surprising and totallyin keeping with the organisation’s name. The feel-good vibe isfurther enhanced by the fact that Flagship’s Berea offices justhappen to overlook the country’s largest port.

But there is more to it than that. Scratch below the surface andone discovers that far from simply being an attractive display, thetheme closely reflects many of the values to which the or-ganisation aspires.

MD, founder, and creative director Craig Clay-Smith puts it thisway: “Though we have no direct maritime connections, we identifyclosely with the ethos of the sea and along with the strongcharacteristics the nautical environment brings out in people.Things like: Boldly navigating previously uncharted waters anddiscovering new worlds; adventure; teamwork and rowing to-gether; self reliance, coupled with hard work in having to tacklechallenges as they arise; and staying on an even keel in anenvironment (the ocean) which changes every millisecond.”

One could probably add to that a few other characteristics likeself-confidence rather than boastfulness, making actions mean-ingful (read giving value for money) and sinking or swimming withyour crewmates (read colleagues and clients).

That said, what is Flagship? Some might describe it as athrough-the-line agency, but Clay-Smith strongly rejects this per-

ception: “We are a communications group that owns specialistdivisions — 10 in all with the latest addition, a PR company at thebeginning of the year — each addressing its market sector, butworking closely with its in-house partners to provide clients withbroadly based solutions. The divisions include above- and below-the-line expertise, but also encompass a wide variety of other skillsfrom PR to change management."

In short, he adds, Flagship’s aim is to be a group of specialistswho operate autonomously while working the synergies withclients covering the broad communications spectrum.

The concepts of change management “pushing the paradigm”crop up repeatedly in any conversation with Clay-Smith and hisfellow directors Daryl Harris (group planning) and DonovanKennedy (account director). They see Flagship as being aboutchange and change management. “If clients want an ad agency tocreate communications without challenging the paradigm, thenFlagship isn’t for them.

“If, however, they want us to challenge the paradigm andchallenge them to think differently, that is what we are about,”explains Kennedy.

Clockwise. . . Donovan Kennedy, Jon Ivins, Grant Walker,Daryl Harris and Craig Clay-Smith

Top left to right . . . Sam September,Beverley Theron,Craig Clay-Smith,TanyaAltshuler, Lesley Wright, AJ Brindley, Holly-Anne Ford, Daryl Harris, Clarke Balie,Bottom . . . Jon Ivins, Russel Watson, GrantWalker, Grant Walker, Aradhna Padayachee,Donovan Kennedy

Kevin Kleynhans, James Daniels

JenniNewman

Grant Baker

Nutriphase,AllianceOdyssey

Helping PRcome of age

line, “Where otherssee recession, we seegrowth”, for AllianceCapital. “The clientliked the idea, but ittook us five months topluck up the courageto ask Manuel’s per-mission,” says

Daniels. “He agreed right away.” Timed to co-incide with the Budget, it became a talking point. “The ad putAlliance on the map, which is what they wanted,” saysDaniels. “It was cheeky, yes, but effective — and it brought usnew business.” Kleynhans cites other creative successes forNutriphase dog food, and Cadbury’s “milk moustache” cam-paign, borrowing a US idea, and playing on the “glass and ahalf in every bar” platform. Market share rose nearly 7%. ■

Fasedemi Newman Leo Burnett (FNLB), the public re-lations arm of Leo Burnett SA, has been rebrandedManning Selvage & Lee (SA), the global PR networkowned by Leo Burnett Worldwide’s parent company,

BCom3. MS&L is the world’s tenth largest public relations firmand is renowned for its counsel, supported by proprietary re-search and brand-building tools. “The network will be a hugeadvantage for clients building a global presence, or research intotheir markets,” says FNLB vice-chairman Jenni Newman. “We willbe able to plan global PR campaigns for clients and give themaccess to international media, which is virtually impossible for aPR agency with no global network.” Traditional PR firms tend to bepress release factories, measuring their success in terms ofcolumn centimetres of press coverage. They serve a vital functionby feeding news stories to the bureaus, but they remain, by andlarge, on the periphery of the businesses they serve. MS&L hasturned this around by placing itself at the centre of the brand-building process.

“We want to differentiate ourselves through our input,” saysFNLB MD Nick Motsatse. “With many of our newer clients, wetake over the marketing communications and then work closely

NickMotsatse

This feature is supported by agency and client advertising