Category: Creative

HaveYouHeard Group launches pioneering design studio with international ambition

HaveYouHeard has added in_trepid to its stable of innovative and specialist creative communications businesses.

Billing itself as a pioneering design studio, in_trepid has global ambitions, seeking to partner with clients who recognise that functional excellence is not enough and that the way products are designed, packaged and experienced is what separates them for consumers emotionally.

Leading in_trepid as Creative Partner is Alan Cronje, whose 25 years in the industry culminated in the founding of ‘Intrepid Fox’ with his long-time colleague Gavin Whitfield in 2017. The duo won numerous local and international awards and were subsequently rated in the top 30 agencies in South Africa. No mean feat for a two-man studio.

Founded 14 years ago as a word-of-mouth marketing specialist, HaveYouHeard has grown organically to a full-service integrated communications agency and is now the focal the focal point of a group specialist creative communications businesses.

As a member of this group, in_trepid will be supported operationally by the agency, as well as its Group Managing Director Victoria Gabler and Group Executive Creative Director Dan Berkowitz.

According to Cronje, in_trepid will provide a multi-disciplinary array of design services from brand identity to environmental, digital, product and social design to collateral, packaging, illustration and animation.

The difference it brings to the market in these spaces is in its approach to treating the design process and outputs with the respect they deserve: not providing cookie cutter solutions that restrict outputs and stifle creativity for business’, brands and agencies but as a critical thinking tool that unlocks value and growth.

“As a result of design being bundled into the agency mix, time and budget allocated to the discipline has been slashed. In many cases it’s been relegated to just another service element, usually applied as a ‘finishing touch’,” Cronje said.

“This is a serious misstep by the agencies. Big business places big value on design – Think Apple, Dyson, Nike or Louis Vuitton. The Mckinsey Design Index shows businesses who place value on differentiation through design are able to increase their revenue growth by 32 percentage points and their TRS by 56 percentage points when compared to their competitors over a five-year period.

“It is in_trepid’s mission to bring outstanding design to the front of the brand, product and business development process and unlock the true potential of the marketing and advertising development chain that follows to produce more creative and more valuable work. After all, starting with a great product makes selling it that much easier.”

“We share a common point of view as an agency and couldn’t agree more with Alan,” added Berkowitz, “and that’s why we’re so excited to formally partner with him after almost three years of collaboration previously, during the time he and Gavin built Intrepid Fox.

“Design is often the difference in building a brands presence, long before advertising enters the fray. It can create more visibility, more value, more consideration and more understanding from the outset if deployed with intent, insight and understanding of human needs and behaviour.”

According to Berkowitz, Cronje brings a multidisciplinary skillset to the table, and his ability to constantly evolve and develop his craft has seen him awarded locally and internationally, across a

range of disciplines for both new and established brands. These include Project Trapped (The Loerie Awards), Scouts SA (Global Cristal Awards and The Bookmark Awards), Tranquini (the Drum UK Design Awards) and Sportshosts (New York Festivals Bowery Awards).

“Recently, Alan has delivered particularly strong work for Pura Kids, Devil’s Peak Breweries, Old Mutual AMPD Studios, Empire Premium Sneaker Care products and The Clermont historic pub and grill,” said Gabler.

“Having recently worked for clients in Germany, Ireland and the US Alan has hit the ground running…

and continues to build on his already substantial international reputation. Given the HaveYouHeard group’s geographical spread and distributed networking model, we’re excited to see Alan’s distinctive work continue to flourish locally and abroad and be part of that journey,” she concluded.

RAPT Creative re-imagines Beefeater’s global ‘The Spirit of London’ for South African audience

On the back of a successful three-pronged influencer campaign, RAPT Creative has been tasked to re-imagine Beefeater’s global ‘The Spirit of London’ campaign for the South African market.

The world’s most awarded gin, Beefeater has always been an authentic product of London, made in the same time-honoured way, with great skill and the finest hand selected botanicals. Its personality is intrinsically linked to the big city and purpose of The Spirit of London campaign was to refresh the target market’s love for life in the city.

“The Spirit is a reference to the diversity of London life – culture, food, music, architecture, career opportunities, etc – and the exciting, surprising and unexpected experiences that happen when these elements intersect with each other,” said Beefeater’s Marketing Manager, Grant Hendricks.

“The message we wanted to land with our target audience was that the energy of London can be found in South Africa’s cities, and that local city dwellers should celebrate all – experiences, sights, sounds, smells – that make living in cities so energising.”

Guiding RAPT Creative’s conceptual development for this new campaign was that, while the lifting of the State of Disaster meant that people could finally enjoy all that city life has to offer, the pandemic had destroyed the best city experiences and spaces.

As a result, people don’t know where to start to find the new and exciting venues. The RAPT Creative solution was to show them how and where to find these refreshing experiences so that they can live out their best city lives.

“RAPT Creative’s solution includes City Oasis, an activation platform celebrating the juxtaposition of busy urban spaces with the serenity of a natural oasis,” said RAPT Creative Divisional Head: PR & Influencer, Khangelani Dziba.

“We’ll be looking at venues in key cities that deliver that juxtaposition. This will position Beefeater as rejuvenating the city life with truly unique experiences, and will provided the brand with the opportunity to builds on its premium+ category cues.”

The agency will also be working with key influencers, particularly leveraging those it built during the influencer campaign it recently ran towards the end of 2021 and earlier this year for Beefeater called ‘City Stories’.

These influencers will be tasked with creating content to show how the energy and vitality of London can be found and expressed through local cities in an urban-premium way. This will build on Beefeater’s emotional connection with South African consumers and meet the ‘glocalisation’ requirements of the ‘The Spirit of London’ message.

Toyota named in Top 10 of Africa’s most admired brands for second year

Toyota has been named as one of Africa’s most admired brands by Brand Africa, an intergenerational movement established in 2010 to inspire a brand-led African renaissance to drive Africa’s competitiveness, connect Africa and create a positive image of the continent.

Brand Africa’s annual report and analysis of brands’ standing in Africa, Brand Africa 100™, ranks the most admired brands on the continent and is based on a pan-African survey across more than 25 countries that account for over 80% of Africa’s population and GDP.

Every year, in partnership with Kantar, the globally respected consumer knowledge and information company and Geopoll, the leading mobile based surveying platform with a database of over 250 million respondents in Africa, it independently surveys, analyses and ranks brands in Africa.

In the latest report, Brand Africa 100™ 2022, Toyota was ranked 8th on The Top 100 Most Admired Brands in Africa list. This is an improvement on the position it achieved on the 2021 list when it made its Top 10 debut in the number 9 slot.

“Congratulations to the entire Toyota team – that’s Toyota SA as well as the brand’s dealers and other distributors throughout Africa – on this remarkable achievement,” said FCB Joburg and Hellocomputer Joburg Group MD, Joey Khuvutlu.

“It’s no mean feat to be ranked within the Top 100 in a survey which annually yields over 80 000 brand mentions and over 2 000 unique brands, let alone improve upon a ranking in the Top 10. But the Toyota team has done just that, despite its opportunities for growth being severely stunted by the COVID pandemic and lockdown,” Khuvutlu said.

The Top 100 Most Admired Brands in Africa

2022 rank 2021 rank 2020 rank Brand Category Country of origin
1 1 1 Nike Sport and Fitness USA
2 2 2 Adidas Sport and Fitness Germany
3 3 3 Samsung Electronics / Computers South Korea
4 4 4 Coca-Cola Non-alcoholic Beverages USA
5 5 6 Apple Electronics / Computers USA
6 6 6 Tecno Electronics / Computers China
7 8 9 Gucci Luxury Italy
8 9 11 Toyota Auto Manufacturers Japan
9 7 8 Puma Sports & Fitness Germany
10 11 7 MTN Telecommunications South Africa

 

FCB Joburg Executive Creative Director and a man who has worked on the brand in South Africa for 13 years, Tian van den Heever, added: “This is Toyota’s second appearance within the Top 10 – it ranked 11th on the 2020 and 2019 rankings and made its Top 10 debut last year at 9th.

“As Toyota SA’s marketing partner in South Africa since its launch way back in 1961, FCB Joburg and now Hellocomputer Joburg are determined to play their part where ever they can to make sure that happens.

“Personally, given my long association with the brand, I’m incredibly proud to work on such an amazing brand that means so much to people on the continent, and has such a special place in my heart.”

Boomtown taps into NFT ‘feeding frenzy’ to raise awareness, funding for prevention of human trafficking

South African advertising and marketing communication group, Boomtown, has tapped into the current NFT1 ‘feeding frenzy’ to raise awareness about modern-day slavery and funds for A21, a global organisation working towards the end of human trafficking and slavery.

Under the guidance of the agency’s Creative Head Meagan Viljoen, a team comprising Jamie Moss, Mike Coetzer, Jesse Sharkie, Sukesh Moodaley, Caitlin Morgan, Nande Gubevu, Jean du Toit and Asiphumeze Nkula created a campaign that has gone live on Ethereum’s Rarible2 as a collection called The Unownable Series.

Viljoen explained: “Much of what is available for purchase as an NFT on Rarible is grouped into collections – Bored Ape Yacht Club3, Ragnarok4, and The Creature World5 for example. And much of what is expressed in these collections are individual characters … and people.

“So, in buying the NFT, it could be said that you are purchasing a person online.

“Of course, it is really only an image of a person, but Boomtown saw this as an opportunity to send a hard-hitting message. We believed the world’s current fascination with the blockchain, the technology that enables the NFTs phenomenon, could help us break human trafficking.”

Boomtown’s campaign comprises a limited edition NFT series of unique characters on Rarible. The brief write-up about the collection6 explains how many people are trafficked each year, how human trafficking can take place, what A21 is doing to combat this form of slavery and that the image is not for sale, but rather seeks a donation.

The campaign also includes a social media element to drive people to the Rarible site to view the images and donate. This incorporates a series of digital audio stories written to capture the harrowing moments that led to people being taken and trafficked to create the biggest impact possible.

To support The Unownable Series, donors will need to purchase Ethereum on Luno, upload it to their Metmask accounts and ‘make their bids’ on Rarible.

“By showing the characters in the collection as blindfolded and giving them a name7, they represent the harrowing truth of human trafficking,” said Viljoen. “That many women, men and children are unknowingly groomed online or in person through false relationships or work opportunities, and sold for less than the price of an NFT.

“We hope that, by its presence on Rarible and through the social media campaign supporting it, we’ll not only be able to raise funds for A21 but also warn those who visit the collection – out of curiosity or to donate – how traffickers operate, and therefore be on their guard.”

“Human trafficking is the exploitation of vulnerable people for their bodies and labour. Through force, fraud, and coercion, people everywhere are being bought and sold against their will – right now in the 21st century,” added A21’s South Africa Prevention & Awareness Coordinator, Cornel Viljoen.

“But slavery is more stoppable than ever before. And that’s why we’re here, rallying around the world and doing the work together.

‘While it has its origins in South Africa, this campaign will be run globally by sharing social media posts.”

The Unownable Series will be up for ‘bid’ for an extended period following which artists worldwide will be approached to make their contribution by creating their own Unownable characters. The transaction of these pieces of art will not be a purchase but a donation to A21 to help end the collection of human lives.

 

  1. NFT stands for non-fungible token. Physical money and other cryptocurrencies are “fungible”, meaning that they can be traded or exchanged for one another. They’re also equal in value. One bitcoin is always equal to another bitcoin, and one dollar is always worth another dollar. A digital piece of art is non-fungible because there is only one of a kind – like an original painting. These pieces are either sold or auctioned online, the buyer receiving certificate/token to say that they are the official owner of the piece and a jpeg of the artwork.
  2. Rarible is an Ethereum-based platform that facilitates the creation, sale, and purchase of ownership rights to digital works of art via non-fungible tokens (NFTs). NFTs are one-of-a-kind crypto assets that are used to represent unique items such as collectibles and works of art.
  3. The Bored Ape Yacht Club is a collection of 10,000 unique Bored Ape NFTs— unique digital collectibles living on the Ethereum blockchain. Your Bored Ape doubles as your Yacht Club membership card, and grants access to members-only benefits, the first of which is access to The Bathroom, a collaborative graffiti board. Future areas and perks can be unlocked by the community through roadmap activation. www.BoredApeYachtClub.com.
  4. Ragnarök is a true metaverse. The Ronin Zero NFTs allow purchasers to enter the metaverse as an in-game character. Here they can slay monsters, loot objects and craft NFTs as well as trade, earn, and own real estate.
  5. The Creature World is a nearby magical dimension of love, divine intervention, and possibility. 10,000 unique Creatures are here to guide you on this journey. Follow their lead. Created with love by NYC-based artist Danny Cole. www.creature.world
  6. Explanation of collection: Traffickers can own a human life for less than this NFT. And in South African alone, over 150 000 people per year are being sold for either labour or sexual exploitation. Sisters, sons and daughters are unknowingly being groomed or sold online into lives of unimaginable suffering in a transaction as simple as this and we are actively working on the ground to ensure that ownership never applies to human beings. The transaction of these pieces will not be a purchase but rather a donation to A21 to help fight against human trafficking.
  7. Example of image text: When Firaj swiped right, he had no idea someone was waiting for somebody just like him. Dating in the digital age isn’t easy, but he had finally found a match. She was quick to reply, and they had good chemistry over the phone. So, it was no surprise when she invited him out for a night on the town. When he got to her place to pick her up, she invited him in and asked him to wait a few minutes. She didn’t return, but three men did, with weapons. Fear churned in the pit of his stomach as his head hit the wall. His pockets were emptied, and his hands were tied. He told them to take what they wanted, but what they wanted was him. Because he was now a slave in a life that belonged to someone else. A21 can rescue him from this reality with your help. Together we can put a stop to human trafficking and ensure that Firaj is Unownable. The transaction of this piece of art will not be a purchase but a donation to A21.

RAPT Creative shortlisted for prestigious Gerety Awards

A campaign for Jameson’s Month of Comedy entitled ‘Beatha’, created by South African agency RAPT Creative, has been announced as one of the finalists in the prestigious global advertising awards, the Gerety Awards.

Named for Frances Gerety, the copywriter who coined the slogan “A diamond is forever”, the Gerety Awards judging panels comprise only female advertising professionals, and are the industry’s only creative prize to reward advertising campaigns that resonate most with a female audience.

This year only 314 entries were shortlisted from 37 different countries. RAPT Creative’s shortlisted campaign is for an April Fool’s prank it played on South Africa’s public to launch Jameson’s Month of Comedy platform in 2021.

According to the agency’s Group Executive Creative Director, Sanché Jansen van Rensburg, the Gerety Awards redefine the standard to which advertising is held because they select the best in advertising – all advertising, not just advertising made for women – through the female lens.

“We’re delighted with our finalist status, because it affirms RAPT Creative’s understanding of what it takes to communicate and resonate with key markets,” Jansen van Vuuren said.

“Women make up to 80% of all purchasing decisions globally so having all female judging panels mean that the Awards set a benchmark that is relevant to market reality. Given today’s challenging business environments, clients need agencies who truly ‘get the market’, and this is where RAPT excels.

“Being recognised for this by a global powerhouse of judges is proof of our deep insight into the hearts and minds of consumers, as well as our ability to deliver relevant creative,” she said.

“Making this all the more precious to us is that we are the only independent local agency to make the finalist list. Congratulations to the two other South African agencies to make ‘the cut’ – Ogilvy and VMLY&R.”

‘Light’-hearted new Sol campaign aims to show a new lens through which to view the world

Sol Beer, together with its partner agency, RAPT Creative, has conceptualised a new digital campaign – Sunny Side Up – that offers consumers an ‘upside’ to look forward to, even in trying times.

The campaign consists of a video content series featuring influencers who are known for their optimism and enthusiasm on their various social media platforms. These are not any usual influencers; they live life 100% sunny-side up. Their followers value their perspectives and humour.

“When we embarked on this journey, we quickly realised that if we really wanted to compete as a key player in the market, we needed to determine what makes us different,” said Sol Brand Manager, Warrick Wyngaard.

Featuring some of South Africa’s celebrated content curators and actors as the campaign faces – Lindah Lindah Majola, Farieda Metsileng and Mandi Mansnothot – Sunny Side Up creates a lens from which to view the world and challenges differently.

“What makes the Sunny Side Up campaign particularly relevant to our audience is that it plays on the fact that South Africans, even when faced with tough times, never take themselves too seriously. As we say – ‘tough times never last, only tough people’ and Sol wanted to turn the frowns upside down and encourage our consumers to dig deep to find resilience. We all have an optimist within us,” added Wyngaard.

The influencers feature in a series of four short format introduction films followed by longer format videos that demonstrate the optimistic lens through which they view the situation they find themselves in. Using OTT theatrical gimmicks and humour, the series aims to add some light-hearted fun and encourages the viewers on social channels to find the fun and opportunity in every situation.

“While the brand does not aim to make light of difficult situations faced by the country, it does aim to inspire those watching to adopt a positive outlook on life,” stressed Wyngaard.

“Life is all about perspective, the inner optimist. Often, it’s the softest voice that needs to be amplified. Especially right now and especially right here,” he concluded.

Speaking about the creative process adopted by RAPT Creative and its partner film agency, Spitfire, Film Director Katlego Baaitse, said it was rare for an agency to say they want to do something different and to truly follow through.

“When I was approached to be part of such an exciting, different project, my spider senses started tingling. And doing campaigns that the South African audiences are not used to seeing definitely gives you a mix of excitement and nervousness,” he said.

“It was clear from the creative brief that this had to be a curated and art department-heavy. It needed to be graphically-arresting and eye-catching, and the performances had to match the energy of the space. All this goes against the current ‘dark and moody’ look in the current echo chamber/advertising zeitgeist,” Baaitse added.

The agency was inspired by themes in popular culture for the wardrobe, which was designed and crafted meticulously by Melisa Maxted-Henderson and her team. Wes Anderson led the traditional film techniques in camera language and the team built several sets that had colour and personality.

“There were several challenges along the way including set moves that needed to feel like the same space, and creating as many in camera effects in camera as possible to mitigate challenges in post-production.

“All this, and the talent had to sing in harmony with the various elements on the day. It was inspiring to work alongside the creatives at RAPT Creative – they really pushed to create work that is really out there. And it’s an honour for myself and the Spitfire team to be a part of #TastingtheSun. This is a really different and exciting project and I can’t wait for South Africans to Taste the Sun with Sol,” concluded Baaitse.

RAPT Creative delivers successful 3-pronged influencer campaign for Beefeater

RAPT Creative has successfully delivered a 3-pronged influencer campaign for Beefeater that has resulted in the agency being tasked to re-imagine its creative and strategy to further entrench the brand in South Africa.

According to Beefeater Marketing Manager, Grant Hendricks, the gin category continues to boom with the spirit’s widespread appeal driven by both occasion and liquid versatility, value and shareability.

“Beefeater had experienced good growth during the boom but wanted to aggressively gain more traction as several competing brands waivered in the second half of 2021,” said Hendricks. “This presented us with an opportunity to increase our influence.”

The world’s most awarded gin, Beefeater has always been an authentic product of London, made in the same time-honoured way, with great skill and the finest hand selected botanicals. Its personality is intrinsically linked to the big city and it had recently launched a global campaign called ‘The Spirit of London’ to refresh the target market’s love for life in the city.

A key part of the strategy and go-to-market plan was to partner with local relevant voices to not only tell but show consumers what City Stories meant to them. Logically, RAPT Creative partnered with South African macro and micro influencers who truly embodied the Spirit of London.

Rouge and Priddy Ugl were engaged to assist the agency with content creation via photo and video shoots as well as event appearance, and posts on Instagram and Twitter. Other influencers – including Foyin Og, Nkuley and Cherrified – were tasked with attending events and posting regularly on the same platforms.

The second prong of the campaign was to partner with content creator, Azee Green, to amplify Beefeater’s participation in Airmax Day. She was tasked with documenting the day using the Beefeater City Stories lens and compiling 10 Instagram stories and one grid post.

“Our final task was to amplify the brand’s position at the Gin & Tonic Festival in Cape Town and support the week-long programme of activations we had organised, including a dinner event hosted by Master Distiller, Desmon Payne.

“For this component of the campaign, we partnered with key local influencers who attended the events, created Instagram stories and tweeted all week long,” said RAPT Creative’s Divisional Head: PE & Influencer, Khangelani Dziba.

While budget was challenging, the agency achieved considerable success. For City Stories and Airmax Day alone, the Instagram engagement rate exceeded industry average while the total number of impressions and total reach on that platform topped 1,5-million.

As expected, Twitter delivered in line with the industry average and, while influencers were not required to utilise Facebook, one of the content partners did and achieved an engagement rate that exceeded the industry average by 8%.

“We were very pleased with the results achieved by RAPT Creative and their content partners. So much so, that we have tasked the agency with re-imagining The Spirit of London for the brand during the second half of 2022,” concluded Hendricks.

South Africa’s Best Liked Ads – No surprise who’s made the list again – it’s FCB

Kantar announced South Africa’s Top 20 List of Most Liked Ads for 2021 last week (Friday June 10) and – no surprises here – FCB Joburg dominated the line-up with five Proudly South African television commercials, three in the Top 10 at positions 3, 8 and 9 and the other two ranking 13 and 18.

The agency is, of course, over the moon with its performance and thrilled that two of the ads were for the Toyota Corolla Cross, the vehicle that was named (just a few days earlier on June 6) as the 2022 Car of the Year by the South African Guild of Mobility Journalists.

Toyota accounted for two of the other Top 20 ads and Coca-Cola for FCB Joburg’s fifth.

“We’re ecstatic,” exclaimed MD of the FCB Joburg and Hellocomputer group, Joey Khuvutlu.

“We know that the ability to create ads that win the hearts and minds of South Africans is in FCB’s DNA. And there’s visible proof of that – the Most Loved Ad of the Last Three Decades, the Most Loved Ad of the Last 15 Years and the Most Loved Campaign in Kantar/Millward Brown history all came from our creative studios.

“But to feature on Kantar’s annual Most Liked Ads – to be consistent in engaging so positively with our clients’ most important target markets – is for us the Big Win every year. It’s humbling, it’s reaffirming and proof that what we do is relevant. Hey, huge respect and congratulations to the teams.”

Khuvutlu and Chief Creative Officer, Tseliso Rangaka have distilled their goal for the agency into two – to deliver timeless and timely work, and to put creativity at the centre of the business as the foundation that will deliver employee satisfaction and business growth.

“Timeless work is the kind that makes people fall madly in love with brands. Storytelling, purpose and resonance are the building blocks for work that can literally move people to action and product off shelves, and these most-loved ads are demonstration of timeless work,” said Rangaka.

Nahana CEO, Thabang Skwambane, echoed the duo’s sentiments: “It isn’t easy to create a ‘most liked ad’ without the research data, strategic insights development, a great creative idea and most importantly, a client who wants to create and grow real affinity and equity for their brand.

“So, hats off to all the many people who made the work and the clients who appreciate the value of consumer connection!”

FCB Joburg’s list of Top 20 Best Liked Ads for 2021 are:

3 – Toyota Corolla Cross ‘Prequel’ –   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAmiItz3Yd0

8 – Coca-Cola Uplift Internet Café’ –   https://vimeo.com/545520777

9 – Toyota Corolla ‘Hatch Robots’ –    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04Xid07tA5g

13 – Toyota Corolla ‘Cross Robots’

18 – Toyota Rumion “More room for fun’ – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhDl2YuHPYM

Diversity, Equality and Inclusion: What they mean for FCB Joburg nd Hellocomputer

This year’s edition of the Disability Career Expo attracted 1300 learners with disabilities, as well as educators, entrepreneurs, corporate organisations and NGOs. Included in this number were FCB Joburg and Hellocomputer, the only marketing and advertising organisations to participate in the two-day event in May. We asked Joey Khuvutlu, MD of the FCB Joburg and Hellocomputer group, and Melanie Sarjoo, its Head of Human Resources, to explain their involvement and expand on the concepts of diversity, equity and inclusion within the group.

“Quite simply,” responded Khuvutlu, “we attended the Disability Career Expo with one goal in mind – to encourage young learners with disabilities to consider a career in advertising.

“And there are several reasons why we did this. Firstly, as fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, friends and colleagues, we know – we live and breathe – the truth that meaningful diversity, equity and inclusion must include all.

“Second, as marketers and advertising professionals, we believe a diversity of lived experiences makes the currency of our industry – creativity – far, far richer.

“Then, as realists, we acknowledge that ‘disabled’ or differently-abled people are not adequately represented in our popular culture and society. There are many challenges they face, and here lies a tremendous opportunity for authentic brands to make a difference.

“Finally, as problem solvers, we know that, to connect the dots, we need people in our industry with lived experience. In a country as diverse as ours it is critical that our team reflects that diversity to enable us to create work that resonates with all South Africans.”

Khuvutlu pointed out that diversity is part of FCB’s DNA and the key ingredient that has enabled it to create the most loved ad of the last three decades, create the most loved ad of the last 15 years and create the most loved campaign in Millward Brown history.

He, however, praised Sarjoo for her initiative in bringing the Expo to the agencies’ attention and for advocating they do more to extend the breadth of their diversity, equity and inclusion activities.

“Melanie has first-hand experience of the challenges facing persons with disabilities,” he said. “As mother to a young teenager with mild cerebral palsy, she has challenged their exclusion from mainstream society for over 12 years, at one stage starting and managing a foundation advocating inclusive education. We are very grateful for her passion and willingness to help us do better,” he said.

Sarjoo interjected to add that she is not the only employee in the agency group with family members living with disabilities. This, plus the group’s track record of embracing change and leading from the front to redress inequity in the industry and in its workforce, has engendered a positive and open culture. For example, it was the first in the industry to conclude a broad-based empowerment partner (2003) and is today 51% Black owned and 43% Black female owned.

According to Khuvutlu, FCB Joburg and Hellocomputer approach diversity on three levels – workforce, workplace and creative work.

“For workforce, we actively strive to reflect the diversity of South Africa’s population, across all levels including leadership. One of the actions we have taken on this front is to take steps to identify disabled learners who would qualify to join our programme. We are also ensuring that leadership adopts innovative ways to foster and retain talent.

In addition, as a group our employment equity new hires target is set at a minimum 70% PDI (Previously Disadvantaged Individuals) for senior management level and 90% of new hires at top level management must be previously disadvantaged individuals.

“With the workplace we seek to create a healthy and vibrant environment that is inclusive and engaged, actively rooting out bias and oppression in any form. Here, we are committed to open and honest conversations as a group and in 2021 we embarked on a White Allyship Initiative which flipped the script on engaging our white employees to learn and own how they show up transformed in addressing their own biases, ideas or thinking towards racism and white privilege.

“Which then takes us to creative work where our aim is to create culturally-competent work and solutions for our clients. This is achieved through our tools such as ‘The WOW’, or ‘Watch Out Words’.

“The WOW was created to help develop cultural competence and mitigate the negative impacts of unconscious bias in our work. Diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) issues are easier to discuss when you have the right terminology and context for the conversation.

“The WOW takes the form of living dictionary that is educational and assists our teams understand words and concepts like appropriation, objectification and marginalisation. This gives them the ability to accurately debate work and helps us identify damaging work early in the creative process,” he said.

“There are so many different ways to make a change and an impact,” concluded Sarjoo. “Sometimes, it’s looking inward, others outward. And it’s wonderful when we can partner with like-minded clients to make the proverbial difference.

“As a society, an industry and an agency group, we have a long way to go until we can claim to have achieved satisfactory diversity, equity and inclusion. But I am so proud that we are actively engaged on all levels throughout our business,” she said.

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Toyota continues winning streak with stellar performance at 2022 Car of the Year

Toyota continues its winning streak on the continent with a stellar performance at the 2022 Car of the Year awards that included the overall Car of the Year trophy and four of the nine categories.

Monday night (June 6), the South African Guild of Mobility Journalists (SAGMJ) named the Toyota Corolla Cross the 2022 Car of the Year, as well as the winner in the Compact Family Category.

They also gave top honours to the Toyota Urban Cruiser in the Compact Category, the Toyota Corolla Cross Hybrid in the New-Energy Category and the Toyota Landcruiser 300 in the Adventure Sports-Utility Vehicle Category.

“What an outstanding achievement! Congratulations to the Toyota team for a performance that highlights why the brand is so well-respected on the continent,” said Wendy Lundie, Integrated Senior Business Unit Director for the Toyota account at FCB Joburg and Hellocomputer.

“This performance, above all other accolades Toyota has achieved in the past, proves that Toyota deserves its iconic status on the continent,” she said.

Antonio Petra, Group Executive Head Strategy & Data at FCB Joburg and Hellocomputer concurred: “Just a few months ago, we were celebrating Toyota listing 9th on the Most Admired Brands in Africa list for 2021. That was no mean feat – the survey yielded over 80 000 brand mentions and over 2 000 unique brands.

“Even more impressive is that Toyota continued to prove its mettle, despite its opportunities for growth being severely stunted by the COVID pandemic and lockdown. It’s a privilege for us at the agency to work alongside a team with such, drive, determination and guts. Well done, to them all,” said Petra.

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