Reflective mood as TBWA\South Africa celebrates 25th anniversary

"Helped build some iconic brands"

"This is an eventful 25 years during which we have helped build some iconic brands, and also helped build the country," Sophie Meyer, TBWA\SA group marketing director, said yesterday, Monday, 22 November 2010, at a celebrative event in Johannesburg.

Black Cat, Aspro, City Lodge, Twinsaver, Dunlop, Nando's, Cardies, SABC Radio, SABC1 Ya Mampela, BMW, Standard Bank, The Zimbabwean newspaper, Purity, the ANC 1994 and 1999 electoral campaign, creating awareness around the Constitution and Bafana Bafana's giant Adidas jersey for the 2010 FIFA World Cup's Unite Mzansi Unite campaign are some of the brands Meyer was referring to.

"We will continue building more iconic brands for the years to come," Meyer vowed.

Twice voted 'Agency of the Decade' (2000 and 2010), TBWA\SA now employs 600 people nationwide, has nine offices in Joburg and others in Cape Town and Durban. It has also massively expanded into Africa, currently manning 48 offices in 24 African countries.

"We are at a crossroads"

In this challenging age of the 21st century, where advertising and marketing seem to have been redefined by the dawn of the digital revolution, TBWA\SA is busy sharpening its creative spears to remain relevant wherever it operates and face the future, which no human being with a sound mind can predict.

"We are at a crossroads and I don't think anyone knows where we are going," the agency's executive creative director Damon Stapleton said.

"The future keeps happening, and the power of content has just begun and that will be the future of advertising. We do talk about digital, but what are we going to put into digital? The game used to be about distribution, but now it is about content."

Stapleton added, "One of the future trends in South Africa is experiential and how you amplify it. In the future, TV ads will get longer and might not be on TV. How do you predict the future if everything you know is about to change?" he asked.

Key lessons

Addressing well-wishers and the media, Bouwer mentioned several key lessons he said his organisation has learnt in the past 25 years. Great work, love your clients, innovation, get involved and give back are just some of these.

"We have recognised that we wanted to be more than an ad agency," the CEO said, adding that they have become a consortium of marketing specialists that share the same vision and values with all leaders of the industry and their respective fields.

"As for the future, it is hard to predict," he admitted, adding that the company's wish is that they could stand with their head high in the next 25 years and say that they have reached their dreams.

Baring his soul to Bizcommunity.com on the sidelines of the event, Bouwer said challenges facing the agency include maintaining the creative standard, and the ability to do more with less to meet clients' expectations.

"Access to talented people is very hard"

He added, "Access to talented people is very hard in South Africa, and trying to keep that talent by trying to match the benefits they can get overseas is even more challenging. If you can manage to keep talented people, you have got the job done."

And lastly, he said they have survived the economic recession, thanks to the assistance and understanding of their fantastic clients.

For more, go to www.tbwa.co.za and follow @tbwasouthafrica on Twitter.