BBDO's Flare launches in South Africa

Narayanan

Net#work BBDO MD, Gau Narayanan says that the mandate for the new division is simply to produce great content. “BBDO has always had the belief in creating world-class creativity from Africa and this has been evidenced in its recent and award-winning work for Chicken Licken, Guinness and Tusker.”

“Tara brings a wealth of experience from the world of content creation. She is able to conceptualise, direct, as well as manage productions. Importantly she understands the importance of digital amplification and brings a completely new approach to creating and developing content,” says Narayanan.

“Content is what great advertising has been producing since day dot, since before there was ‘content.’ That hasn’t changed,” says Net#work BBDO ECD, Brad Reilly. “What has changed is the way it is made and how it shows up. Simply plodding along, only doing it the way it’s always been done is not sustainable. Today’s landscape demands a more nimble, more progressive approach to the art of story-telling, an art that has become disproportionately important to our clients, but that still demands the strategically-aligned, brand building strengths that we have always offered.”

Dales and Reilly have picked up the Flare baton already by conceptualising, scripting and producing content for BBDO clients UNISA and VISA completely in-house, as part of integrated campaigns.

In-house innovation

The creation of great content is not new to BBDO South Africa, but the introduction of a branded division in Johannesburg is a first for the operation.

“We’ve already created awesome work, including a six-part content series to launch the new range of Mercedes Benz SUVs, a documentary looking at the rehabilitation of an abandoned dog for Pedigree on YouTube and Facebook, and a YouTube live stream that invited consumers to show the flu who’s boss for Med Lemon,” continues Reilly.

Flare is currently operational in 12 BBDO offices and works with a wide range of clients globally ranging from MARS, Diageo, PepsiCo & Mercedes-Benz. The division has created hundreds of films, generated tens of millions of earned views, and has won a range of internationally acclaimed awards.

“Flare formalises a long-held belief in creating commercially compelling content for our clients. Importantly it will combine strategy, creativity and technology that will help tell exceptional stories on behalf of our clients,” concludes Narayanan.