#LoeriesBrandRankings: How Sanlam took the top spot - again

King: Everyone remembers winning Sanlam. It was the start of a massive reconfiguration of our studio and our very model of working.

There was no pitch – we were offered it uncontested, based largely on the work we had done for Santam over the previous years. We hit the ground running, repositioned and relaunched them in four months, which is usually what it takes to conduct a pitch process.

We literally threw the client and ourselves into uncharted territory from the get-go with work like the One Rand Man, and the intensity of the account has not waned since.

It’s very simple for me: The client either shares your appetite to create remarkable work, or they don’t. And if they don't, you and the work are on a hiding to nowhere.

This might sound obvious, but it’s crazy how many marketers are afraid to put a foot wrong. Innovative work, by its very nature, requires trying something new, taking a chance here and there, and Sanlam has always had that eagerness to go where other brands haven’t gone in a creative sense.

I think the perfect client-agency relationship is when both share the same level of creative ambition for the brand, and will both give their all to make it something special.

Oosthuizen: We’ve been working with King James since 2014, the year we repositioned Sanlam as Wealthsmiths. We have a good relationship, but like with any relationship things, are not always moonshine and roses.

We have, however, always managed to find our way through the rocky times and have consistently created standout creative work. I sometimes think a bit of friction isn’t a bad thing. Like Bruce Springsteen says, “you can’t start a fire without a spark.”

I attribute our success to the fact that both parties are passionate about the brand, believe in the power of creative ideas and have a respect for the contribution the other party makes.

King: By my definition, a good working relationship is when the work that is produced is excellent, not when everyone is all Kumbaya. Look, I’d prefer it if it was all Kumbaya, but that's not really how great advertising works.

In my experience, if there’s no friction, someone is not pushing hard enough and so, every now and then we have to sit down with the Sanlam team, have a laugh and a few tequilas, and forgive each other for the stress of the previous few months.

It’s not necessarily healthy, but its damn effective, and when the work is great, relationships have a funny way of just cementing.

If I had to give one piece of advice it would be this: Look at what your competitors are doing, and don't do that: do it differently and do it better, and do it with more ambition. No one breaks new ground with cautious, incremental steps. When you raise the bar, you competitors have to raise their bar – that’s how entire categories are lifted from the mundane mass of work that exists out there.

Oosthuizen: Again, it’s just like any relationship. Ever heard of the ‘hiccup’ principle?

• H: Be Honest
• I: intellectual compatibility is important – you need to be aligned in terms of values and thinking
• The big C: Communicate, communicate, communicate
• The small c: Compromise – meet each other half way
• U: Understanding, there’s always two sides of any story
• P: Patience - respect each other, and sometimes bite your tongue

King: I’m not going to dare to presume the health of another agency’s relationship with its client, but I do respect a marketer that doesn’t change their agency every four years because of a procurement mandate.

It’s no surprise that we are in our fifth year with Sanlam, and doing our best work ever. But Volkswagen remains the gold standard in this regard.

I do like the film work being done on Chicken Licken and KFC at the moment. I’d love to get my agency into the ‘chicken wars’. I do love a good brand-scrap!

Oosthuizen: I would say some of the longer-standing ones, like that of VW and Ogilvy Cape Town. They’ve been together for as long as I can remember – and that’s a long time – and they still manage to consistently deliver amazing work.

There’s definitely a special magic that comes from working work well together. See examples of Sanlam’s work with King James Group below, click through to our Loeries special section for more, and follow King James Group and Sanlam on Twitter for the latest updates.