Assignment 3

Branding and Signage in South Afri

Need to stand out from your competitors?

Regardless of whether you handle marketing for the world’s largest brand or run a small business, you need to draw attention to yourself. Based in Cape Town, Assignment3 is the leading signage company in South Africa. We work closely with advertising and branding agencies and directly with business owners.

We’re well known for the quality of our service, our willingness to work to almost impossible timelines, and for the personal attention we afford each job – whether it’s branding a football stadium (we did a couple of the World Cup venues) or printing roller banners for a corporate event.

Natalie

Catapult Advertising Studio

Finally, I'd like to take a quick profile of Catapult Advertising Studio, which is also located near Cape Town. Here's the website: http://www.catapult.co.za/ . You can tell from the picture above (the homepage) that Catapult is run by a small group of four. The company began in 1986 as "Rene Hermans and Associates", changing their name in 2000 to better reflect the new millenium. Catapult lists their mission as "to use a participative partnership approach, innovative design, creativity and effective communications to produce meaningful and profitable advantage for our clients."  Hard to argue with that.


Catapult has a random variety of clients, which you can see on their site, from companies like Schonenberg Retirement Village to the SA Rugby Museum. Some of the work under "advertising" wasn't that impressive, such as this piece for KGA Life :

Other pieces were a lot better, such as this one for the Swartland Winery:

I thought it was weird that Catapult would go from crude animation ads such as the one above to fancy photographic ads that were vivid and lively, such as this one and others they did for Prestige Cosmetics Group, for example.



Additionally, Catapult does packaging for products, such as these packages for the winery again:

These look pretty good, and they also did a few wine bottles for other clients. For the most part, it seems that Catapult does their best work with luxury items such as wine and beauty products and goes for cheaper, less attractive designs on their more average clients. Not sure why that is, although some of the poorer ads could be from years past as the company's been around since 1986. If you want to see more stuff from Catapult, take a look through their website link posted above and tell us what you think in the comment section.

-Dave Larmann

Globe Creative

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The next agency I wanted to look at in the Cape Town area is Globe Creative. Here's their website link: http://www.globecreative.co.za . Globe Creative offers a variety of services just like any agency like

• Brand analysis
• Copywriting/Editing
• Advertising
• Digital Services
• Print Fulfillment
• Augmented Reality

I have no idea what augmented reality is, so I decided to find out what they meant. If you click on that section of their page, you get images such as this:

Globe claims that they are one of the few companies in South Africa capable of doing "augmented reality campaigns" and that it is a great way to engage customers online and instore. So contact them if you want to learn more. 

Anyway, here's a screenshot of a website that Globe did for Transnet Stakeholders, a data company: 

The site was designed to allow for user profiles to be interactive and to share documents for the company's users. I thought the layout looked clean and very modern. Aside from that, a major client of Globe seems to be a magainze called "Finweek". The magazine seems to be about finance, and it seems that Globe did the outline for the magazine as well as the visuals for some of their graphics. Here's where you can see the whole thing: http://www.globecreative.co.za/work/id/Finweek+November+2011/ . 

Overall, I actually wasn't too impressed with the Globe Creative website, but it seems that they do a good job for their clients. It seems that they are active in the financial industry, and they could be a company to watch for in the future. 

-Dave Larmann

AdMakers Revisited

Hummer / Harley-Davidson deal:  

Although I do come from a "Harley-Davidson family" I have never heard of a deal where Hummer and Harley team up. This advertisement must not be one that was emphasized in America or at least not to my demographic (for obvious reasons) as most people choose one or the other from where I am from. The market for having both is most likely limited due to the luxurious aspects and expensive reality of both of these. 

Isuzu commercial (translated into english):  

Right off the bat, it is obvious that this commercial is geared toward an audience other than American's as the steering wheel on the car is on the opposite side. Further, majority of the signs they come across are not in English and the music playing in the background is not popular here. 

Lack of Luxurious ads: 

Because of its prestige and high end focus, finding work done by AdMakers International appears to be very difficult. Their portfolio is available on their website. Click "portfolio" to see a glimpse into the advertising world of AdMakers International. They do not provide actual work they have done, but they do give an overview of all of their high end clients and the work they do with them.

-Julie Jensen 

DraftFCB revisited

In recent news: 

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Jonah Lehrer, author of "Imagine: How Creativity Works" visits DraftFCB (in London)

Although DraftFCB in South Africa did not get a chance to meet Jonah Lehrer, it further establishes the agency's work ethic and ideas surrounded by creativity. It gives you a chance to think of creativity different than every before and in a sense gives you an idea of what outstanding agencies, like DraftFCB, do to stay at the top. This short clip is worth watching as it gives a whole new insight on what creativity is! I actually want to read the book now! 

My favorites by DraftFCB: 

Choko La Business cards 

DraftFCB wanted to take the "what you do defines you" route as they created this candy wrapper business card. Its fun, creative, and even gives the receiver a yummy treat! 

Miller Lite Carry-All Commercial: 

This is a commercial that anyone who lives in the state of Wisconsin has definitely seen as it is the home of Miller Lite beer. When I first saw this I loved it, now that I know DraftFCB created it I love it even more! 

KY Lubricant Commercial - Buenos Aires: 

Although this would commercial would never "fly" in America for various reasons, it provides the vast amounts of skill DraftFCB has as its advertising stays attune to varying cultures. This commercial compared to the one above (an American ad) are drastically different. If allowed in America, this commercial may be funny and loved, but it is still clearly targeted toward individuals in a country such as Buenos Aires whose culture would get more out of this than does ours. 

-Julie Jensen 

Sky Messaging

Have you ever thought about who the heck actually is responsible for those advertisements you see hanging off the back of planes? I actually have. Turns out there's an advertising company that specializes specifically in aerial advertising in Cape Town. They're called Sky Messaging. The website is available here: http://www.sky-messaging.com/

Sky Messaging describes aerial advertising as a "highly visible medium that focuses on reaching people assembled in mass audiences." Among some of the reasons why aerial advertising is worth it:

• Powerful for brand recognition
• Visually dynamic and "out there"
• Any color or visual can be used/very customizable
• Ideal for reaching pockets of consumers
• There's something just awesome about seeing your advertisement in the sky

The website goes on to list some other reasons why aerial advertising is profitable and is worth it, citing several factors such as breaking through other advertising clutter and cost effectiveness.  Here's an example of a banner Sky Messaging did:

Obviously nothing too crazy, but the copy and alignment are what's important considering people are going to have to see the words from thousands of feet below. Apparently, aerial advertising is pretty effective: 

This was a graph surveying customers after 50 hours of flight/ad time conducted by Sky Messaging. Clearly, most people surveyed remember an ad went by and most thought it was readable and discussed it. I know from personal experience that when I see an ad in the sky, I go "hey look!" to all my friends around me. That doesn't happen to any other kind of advertisement or commercial I see. I don't go "dude, look at this!" when a Geico commercial comes on. 

Additionally, Sky Messaging provides some details on the actual flight path and tactics used during the flight of an ad in order for it to get the most exposure at this link: http://www.sky-messaging.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=45&Itemid=33 . Pretty cool how they were able to micromanage all of that. Banners come in 3 sizes, 2.9x17 meters, 4.3x26 meters, and 5.8x30 meters. They make a billboard look like what a Honda Civic looks like when driving next to an 18 wheeler. Sky Messaging also offers satellite tracking of your ad's flight on Google Earth/Maps. Check out the site and learn more about aerial advertising! I guarantee you won't see it in the textbook.

-Dave Larmann

The Jupiter Drawing Room Revisited

A word from the co-founders of The Jupiter Drawing Room, Graham Warsop and Renee Silverstone: 

This video shows some fantastic insight on the origins of The Jupiter Drawing Room. Each of the co-founders provide a personal story explaining how they got into advertising to begin with and further explain how they found each other and created such an amazing agency. 

The video provides hope for people like myself who are just entering the advertising world. Renee Silverstone did not even know she was interested in advertising until her very first boss moved her from being on the switchboard in the front of the office to working in the media room where her passion for advertising really took hold. 

Recent News: (April 20, 2012) 
The Jupiter Drawing Room located in Cape Town, South Africa, has recently began working on three new brands

• Deep Heat
• Oxy 
• Soft Lips 

They are working to find ways to invigorate the brands, aiming to build brand equity and with measurability on sales. The campaign for each brand is expected to included social media, merchandising and activation elements.

My favorite TV commercials by The Jupiter Drawing Room: 

Nike Commercial: 

"Nike Body" 

This commercial does an excellent job of getting at the viewers bodily sensations. It gave me goosebumps!

Windhoek (S. African Beer) Commercial: 

"Keep It Real"

This commercial uses celebrity endorsement as it features Louis Gossett Jr.

Promotion for Metallica on sale at Musica: 

Although not a fan of Metallica, I think the graphics in this advertisement are entertaining. They caught my attention and held onto it long enough to get the message that Metallica will be on Musica. I feel that people interested in Metallica will be even more entertained by this commercial, therefore they did a good job at hitting their target. 


-Julie Jensen