Neotel calls on TBWA

Naveen Sankar, MD of Equator; Mala Suriah, head of marketing for Neotel; Rizwana Bawa, MD of Tequila\; Marie Jamieson, group executive director of TBWA\South Africa

In a strategic partnership, TBWA\Hunt\Lascaris, Tequila\Johannesburg and Equator, a new TBWA\ acquisition, teamed up to pitch and win the account. Together the team will provide a total through-the-line offering for Neotel.

This announcement follows hot on the heels of the announcement that TBWA\Hunt\Lascaris Johannesburg also recently secured Khomanani (Caring Together For Life) campaign, Nationwide Airlines, The Lotto and Skipper Bar as new clients – these, together with Neotel, surpass any losses the agency had earlier in the year.

Says Rizwana Bawa, newly appointed MD of Tequila\Johannesburg and one of the account leads on Neotel, “We are very pleased with this win and see a natural fit between ourselves and Neotel's corporate philosophies. Neotel are completely focused on consumer needs and are in business to disrupt the market, a core principle that we believe in and make happen through our own core philosophies of integration and disruption.”

As SA's second fixed line telecom provider, Neotel aims to extend communication networks throughout the country. It is already providing wholesale bandwidth to Internet service providers, business services are currently being launched and consumer offerings using wireless technologies will gradually follow.

Says Mala Suriah, head of marketing for Neotel, “We do not underestimate for one minute the challenge we have ahead of us. We aim to reduce the overall cost of doing business in SA, and in the longer term to extend communications to the second economy... The challenge of ‘our journey' has only just begun. That is why the right partners are critical. We are very pleased to be working with TBWA\.”

“The entire team is particularly excited about working with Neotel,” says Muzi Kuzwayo, MD TBWA\Hunt\Lascaris Johannesburg. We are currently focused on turning our disruptive strategy into creative ideas that do justice to the launch of such a great brand into the South African market.”