The journey to integration

Agencies celebrated side-by-side last week as the coveted collection of Bookmarks were handed out awarding digital excellence. Individuals, agencies, and companies alike were lauded for their online efforts and the industry emerged proud of its achievements over the past year.

Johann Schwella: “It’s inspiring to watch an advertising agency built on a legacy of traditional work develop such a strong digital DNA."

Only a handful of 'traditional' agencies made an appearance on stage to collect Bookmarks, which begs the question - are South African advertising agencies truly integrating to adequately reflect the move to digital platforms?

An interesting shift

Schwella says that the industry continues to undergo an interesting shift as HR departments scramble to install traditional creatives within the digital agencies, and senior digital resources in traditional agencies, to bring about true integration. "Ultimately, it's all about the idea. Once an agency has cracked a big idea then it's moulding that creative idea to suit the many mediums available to us - whether it's a digital platform, outdoor execution, or live activation."

O&M Cape Town is setting an exciting trend says Schwella.

140 BBDO took home one Bronze and one Silver Bookmark for work done for pro photo warehouse Orms. The brief to the agency was to take advantage of the resurgence of photography (with the rise of apps like Instagram) - and get consumers to visit Orms to experience the art of real film. "What was really important to us was to translate the traffic that Orms sees online into real consumers walking into their store. Our idea of the pinhole camera did exactly that - it brought an online community back into the 'real' world."

Schwella says that he's particularly impressed with the performance of Ogilvy & Mather Cape Town at the Bookmarks, "it's inspiring to watch an advertising agency built on a legacy of traditional work develop such a strong digital DNA and ultimately scoop the most awards for digital work. They're setting an exciting trend for agencies like our own and it'll be interesting to see who follows suit in 2014."