[Behind the Selfie] with... Kyle Hauptfleisch

Two tricks to a great selfie: make it look conversational…and don’t make it look like a selfie…

1. Where do you live, work and play?

Hauptfleisch: Cape Town, Cape Town, anywhere.

2. What's your claim to fame?

Hauptfleisch: I once saved a wizard-looking Brit from being blown off of the top of the Pyrenees by gale-force winds.

3. Describe your career so far...

Hauptfleisch: Challenging, fast-paced and exciting.

4. Tell us a few of your favourite things.

Hauptfleisch: Cheese grillers (German Emmentaler), classical music, runs on the promenade at sunset, martial arts, Toltec wisdom, flowers and of course, anything tech.

5. What do you love about your industry?

Hauptfleisch: The potential. It is the most diverse and dynamic industry I know of. It also has many areas to be improved, which offers opportunity. I like opportunity.

6. What are a few pain points your industry can improve on?

Hauptfleisch: Email etiquette and punctuality, off the top of my head. But in a more serious vein, I think that the industry can (and has in many areas already) focus on collaboration over competition. South Africa's digital industry is riddled with talent, and I think if we can galvanise that talent through collaboration, we can move ahead of the global curve rather than trying to play catch up.

In addition to that, education around native content advertising could be a winning factor. I think there is too little attention being placed in this area, even though it can very likely be the industry's next big thing (locally). It is device-agnostic to some degree, which will assist in solving the huge gap in the mobile space.

7. Describe your average workday, if such a thing exists.

Hauptfleisch: The only things that are really consistent in my work days are coffee, emails and Excel - everything else is pretty much dependent on what we are currently working on, and that differs immensely.

8. What are the tools of your trade?

Hauptfleisch: Wit, ad servers, and Apple devices. I am a sucker for pretty things.

9. Who is getting it right in your industry?

Hauptfleisch: Ogilvy springs to mind immediately. I have only had amazing experiences working with them. They are professional, efficient and always respond to emails (sometimes the little things are not that little). Their team has yet to throw a grumpy person my way.

10. What are you working on right now?

Hauptfleisch: So many things. We are currently very much involved in setting up parameters and definitions for native content, to assist the industry - publishers and advertisers alike. There is huge potential in this space, and native content promises to deliver value to the users rather than banner advertising that delivers very little value for the user's attention, apart from the product involved.

11. Tell us some of the buzzwords floating around in your industry at the moment, and some of the catchphrases you utter yourself.

Hauptfleisch: 'Lean' is a big one. I hear it constantly with regards to start-ups, businesses, production and even New Year's resolutions!
Native content.
Engagement.

12. Where and when do you have your best ideas?

Hauptfleisch: Funnily enough, brushing my teeth. For some reason the combined buzz of my electric toothbrush and the blank stare you give yourself in the mirror while brushing, really tends to trigger the proverbial lightbulb.

13. What's your secret talent/party trick?

Hauptfleisch: I can juggle, perform basic magic tricks, blow fire, do a standing backflip (proof on my Facebook) and can make cocktails. But really, these were all things I practiced incessantly after getting kicked off of the C team for cricket in under 14. It really bust my confidence as they didn't even have enough players. Haha!

14. Are you a technophobe or a technophile?

Hauptfleisch: Both. I love technology and the potential it promises. I also believe that autonomous artificial intelligence is imminent and they won't take too kindly to what humans have done to this planet. Simple logic: preserve the entire planet and eradicate humans, or preserve humans only to have them eradicate everything anyway. The robot apocalypse is a real thing.

15. What would we find if we scrolled through your phone?

Hauptfleisch: Apart from the dodgy selfie I just took? Three pictures of beer, a picture of two blocks of butter, a video of a great goal in Fifa 15 and a two-minute video of a car guard busting moves on Long street in some sort of a trance. My phone was just recently replaced, so don't judge...

16. What advice would you give to newbies hoping to crack into the industry?

Hauptfleisch: Learn to sell yourself. Don't be afraid of what you think you can't do, focus on what you can. Get to know the agency/publisher you want to work at and figure out how to stand out by doing something creative. One of my best employees sang happy birthday in French and coaxed a client we had been trying to set up a meeting with for ages into a 40-minuter with a packet of Doritos.

Also, don't be afraid of big ideas. There are too many people focusing on the small stuff, too much competition. Think big, make a plan and do it.

Or in the words of Oscar Wilde, "Be yourself, everyone else is already taken."

17. Plug your contact details, punt yourself - list all the places people can find you/your work online...

Hauptfleisch:
You can grab me on email at az.oc.enilnoaidemirp@helyk
@kylefrankwhite for the twitter
Or LinkedIn at KyleHauptfleisch
Kyle.hauptfleisch on the Skype

Read more about Primedia Online in their press office.

*Interviewed by Leigh Andrews.