After the Beiersdorf (Nivea) media account moved to Johannesburg last year, it was decided to relocate the account and creative team working on the Nivea business in Durban to the Draftfcb Johannesburg office.
Nevertheless, the need for a KwaZulu-Natal based agency remained. Faced with the choice of opening his own agency or continuing with the Draftfcb name under an affiliation agreement, Clive McMurray, chairman of Draftfcb Durban, opted for the latter, both because the company/brand was well known and because he had an opportunity to handpick an experienced creative team to continue.
"I chose staff with three "C's" in mind - Character, Competence and the Chemistry to work as a family. We are a close-knit team and everyone sits in on weekly status meetings so they can give their input."
The team will constist of:
Going back to his [Murray] entrepreneurial roots and being more hands-on has also helped what is now officially a small agency with a completely new approach. Because the team is smaller and more flexible, it is better able to respond to market changes quickly. It adds an ability to draw on its own experiences of coming together to grow what is essentially an emerging enterprise in a tough market.
McMurray believes that, whether large or small and in all market conditions, companies should always operate in two streams - the economic reality of the day, which might require some short-term interventions and the future based on strategies and interventions that ensure it is poised to take full advantage of an inevitable turnaround.
"Some brands actively pursue market share growth during tough periods, investing in various support activity (advertising included). This increases their share of voice whilst competing brands are less visible through drastic cutbacks. "For me, the bottom line is that if a brand remains relevant to consumers and is prepared to ring the changes where necessary, it will always prevail," he concludes.
Updated at 11.07am on 17 May 2012
