Cas Dreijer

Cas Dreijer, who worked for Group M’s MEC Access brand activation business within the media agency environment for about seven years, shared a dream with his wife Bronwynn of starting a business together. In early 2013 they came into a space where both felt the time was ripe to make the leap, and leap they did.

That business is Be Salt, which exists to create a vehicle for people to flourish. It’s Dreijer’s belief that the most valuable resource that’s ever been created is human capital. So the challenge they set themselves is to unlock people’s passions in order for that capital to achieve its full potential.

Three years in, Be Salt is now an agency driven by passion and the purpose to deliver with excellence. Dreijer explains that their tagline ‘Be Light, Be Salt’ is a reference from Matthew 5, where Jesus taught people to shine his love to those around them by being Salt and Light to the world. They’re a closely knit team, and while there are core competencies such as creative ideation and project management that overlap, each team member brings a unique skill set to the table, such as production, administration, publicity and retail. So workflow involves brainstorming together, then allocating the most relevant resource to the implementation management of each project. Little wonder that Dreijer sees every day as a highlight, as he loves what he does and the people he gets to do it with.

So while each project is different, activation has been a key part of the marketing mix for more than a decade as it brings an in-depth, experiential, quality brand interaction to complement other channels. In recent years they have found great synergies when combining activation with social media, branded content, radio and OOH. Just one aspect of this is youth activations.

Savvy digital youth

Dreijer says youth activations are always fun to work on, with the youth-focused KFC Colonel’s couch campaign youth activation that wrapped earlier this year the biggest they’ve done to date.

KFC Colonel's Couch.

KFC Colonel's Couch.

KFC Boxx It.

Kellogg's All Bran New 5 Day Promise

He warns that they’re extremely demanding on the teams that plan and implement them, because if you miss the mark you’ll be dead in the water. In addition, younger consumers consume media completely differently to older consumers. They are extremely savvy on digital and social platforms, so you need to get these channels right in order to achieve success in such a campaign.

That’s because they’re solution-driven, accountable and transparent, which Dreijer says, “aren’t just empty words on a piece of paper,” as they live and breathe this ethos, with the whole business based on being and doing things a bit differently.

The strategy’s proving effective as they’ve already earned a Roger Garlick and AMASA awards for their work that ranges from strategic idea generation to production, implementation and campaign amplification across a variety of platforms. Dreijer calls these “cool recognition for the quality of the work that you’ve delivered – but the actual work; the opportunity to work with amazing people and to challenge yourself creatively is where I derive true joy.”

View their AMASA award-winning ‘How to’ Chamberlain’s work embedded below.

As to the future, he says Be Salt is growing, which means they constantly need to ensure that the heart and value-set that’s been behind their past success gets applied to their future growth. That’s especially pertinent as he predicts greater integration between activation, social media and branded content in the field, while also believing that “our audiences are more skilled than ever to see past façades. If we want them to take us seriously, we have to ensure that our clients’ communication engages with them in a way that is not contrived.”

Certainly a time for renewed innovation and inspiration all round. For more, visit them Visit Be Salt on their website, their Facebook page, or call 011 886 0991 to connect.