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 

AdMakers International

History: 
AdMakers International has been delivering marketing and advertising solutions for only the most luxury items for over 23 years. They pride themselves on marketing high-ticket items such as, luxury property, private yachts, jets and expensive cars. They see this as their specialty.

AdMakers approach: 
To deliver tangible results.

How you ask? AdMakers explains it... 

• By bringing more than 23 years of specialist marketing knowledge and expertise to the table
• By employing a first-class team of strategic thinkers and award-winning creatives
• By having the same, original core management team in place for the past 23 years
• By never losing sight of the end goal (which is to successfully sell your product) and ensuring that this underpins everything we do
• By being prepared to risk-share on selected projects, deliberately investing the agency in their long-term success
• By getting involved – deeply involved – in all aspects of your marketing, not just ‘end-stage’ advertising

They feel that as a part of such an "elusive and often misunderstood, niche" they have the unique insight that can tell a brand what will and won't sell. 

Luxury Clients (just to name a few): 

Yachts

• Riva Yachts
• Tamsen Yachts
• Wally
• Maori Yachts

Private Jets

• Gulfstream 
• Execujet 

Luxury Cars

• Rolls Royce
• Porsche
• Ferrari
• Maserati 
• Cadillac
• Hummer
• other General Motors brands 

Real Estate

• Golf Estates
• Country Lifestyle Estates
• Marina Developments
• Beachfront Developments
• Retirement Estates
• Re-developments and Conversions 

**AdMakers has a collective value of more than US$50 billion across Africa, Europe, the Americas, the Middle East and exotic island destinations such as the Bahamans, Maldives and Seychelles. 

Recent Awards: 

Best Development Marketing Europe – European Residential Property Awards
Best Development Marketing Croatia (5-star) – European Property Awards
Best Architecture (Multiple Units) Croatia – Highly Commended – European Residential Property Awards
Best Developer Website Croatia – Highly Commended – European Residential Property Awards
Best Development Seychelles – African Residential Property Awards
Best Development Marketing Seychelles – African Residential Property Awards
Best Interior Design Seychelles – African Residential Property Awards
Best Development Marketing South Africa – African Residential Property Awards
Best Architecture (Multiple Units) Seychelles – African Residential Property Awards
Best Developer Website Seychelles – African Residential Property Awards
Best Development Marketing Seychelles – Highly Commended – African Residential Property Awards
Best Developer Website South Africa – Highly Commended – African Residential Property Awards
Best Development Marketing South Africa – Highly Commended – African Residential Property Awards
Best Development Africa – African Residential Property Awards
Best Interior Design Africa – African Residential Property Awards
Best Development Marketing Africa – African Residential Property Awards

-Julie Jensen 

Pure Publishing & Design

Pure Publishing & Design is located in the center of Cape Town and offers publishing, web design, graphic design, advertising, branding, and magazine design. Their website is available here http://purepublishing.co.za/

Pure's been in existence for over 40 years and has a variety of clients. In terms of advertising, Pure tends to focus on luxury upscale brands (wine, jewelry) as well as internet security companies. A sort of strange combination, but they're doing well. Let's take a look at one of their print pieces for Waterkloof, a wine brand:

You can see the use of white/black as a contrast here and I really like the typography on the Waterkloof logo. The photography is well done and kept visually entertaining yet simple and elegant. This ad makes me want to go to this restaurant/winery. Now let's take a look at an ad that was done for jewelry client Prins & Pins:

Obviously the jewelry piece is important and is thus featured prominently on the side. I like how the jewelry is left-centered and features text on the right side instead of opting for a boring symmetrical layout. I'm not really into jewelry, but I'd have to think that this ad is pretty well-done for the industry. I'd next to take a look at a logo design that Pure did.

This is a logo for a car dealership, Vehicle Traders. Not much information was available on the site about the client, but clearly the logo design is dynamic and well done in my opinion. I really like how crisp it is. Pure has many other examples of logos and advertising and more that they've done on their website, and I highly recommend checking it out at the link I provided above. I think this is the best website that I've looked at so far in terms of a professional layout and quality of work. 

-Dave Larmann

DraftFCB

DRAFTFCB at a glance


DraftFCB is the third largest advertising company in South Africa. It is known for completing tasks in the most simple way possible.

What is DraftFCB's approach: "Delivering the 6.5 Seconds That Matter"

The company feels that there is no time to waste in the advertising world. They developed a process that is designed to get what matters to the customer and do it fast. After drastic amounts of research, DraftFCB found that today consumers are increasingly selective and demanding when dealing with marketing messages. Consumers, now more than ever, have a choice to engage with a marketing message (or not). Their study found that 6.5 seconds is the amount of time consumers give marketers to get their attention and allow the message they are portraying to have an impact. This is true across all medias.

How is DraftFCB structured? 
In a formation they call, "The Wheel". The company thrives itself on its ability to work in unison rather than as separate entities. They developed this procedure to ensure that every phase of development from strategy to execution stays in unison. With such a demanding market of consumers today, efficiency is an important aspect that takes lots of research to get just right and they believe they have figured it out.

DraftFCB's idea of success?
Success is measured in terms of how they change the decision making process of the consumer in favor of their client. In doing so, they focus on three key areas: Consumer Attitudes, Brand Metrics, and Sales.

Clients/Ads

Oreo 

Sharpie

Honda

Other American known clients: 

Taco Bell

Coors light

Dockers
KFC
KY lubrication


Awards 2011 (South Africa Office):
D & AD award: Lexus
Loeries award:  Vodacom, TV on Demand, Toyota

-Julie Jensen

King James Group

 

 http://www.kingjames.co.za

Who We Are

King James is the advertising agency. But King James Group is the 8 communication agencies that make up the integrated company. Each individual agency strives to be the best in its field, but when working together the group leaps fearlessly across media and recklessly ignores the rules of traditional marketing.
This is the way integration should be: all under the same roof, thinking outside of media silos, and drinking in the same bar.


Some of their latest work...

Allan Gray

Creeper

Steri Stumpie

10 years

Natalie

60 Layers of Cake

  Layers

We believe that ideas come to life when they are shared, and that you are what you share.
Therefore we create relevant and strategic brand concepts and fill them with creative ideas. These ideas come to life by sharing them with the right audience at the right place and the right time.
We do this in a collaborative process, internally as well as externally.
Internally through brand teams combined out of all 60 layers of cake members in our network, lead by a local Brand owner.
Externally by inviting the audience in the communication process. Using their view on things to tweak, push, build, evolve and collaborate.
Our brand teams contain creatives, strategists, designers, new media nerds, builders, writers, artists, producers and account somethings teaming up to crack the best creative and relevant solution.
Brand teams contain one or two specialists from client side to complete the unique brand team and create passionate ownership and relevancy from both sides.
What’s relevant is real. When it’s real it’s true.
A true brand has a real mentality; it has an opinion and a vision and therefore a purpose. If people can connect with your brand they will become your brand ambassadors.
 http://www.60layersofcake.co.za/


Natalie

Wetpaint Advertising

For the next industry profile in South Africa, we're going to take a little different approach. Wetpaint Advertising is a small, boutique agency in South Africa that caters to clients such as Epson, Sony, Philips, Huawei, and other companies. What struck me most interesting about Wetpaint is that they almost completely run by women. Check out their homepage here: http://wetpaint.co.za/index.php you can see from the "About Us" section that Wetpaint's employees have a lot of personality an fun with what they do. 

Here is their mission statement:  "Our mission is simple: create successful branding and manage the growth process of our clients whilst keeping all of their creative elements bright, impactful and innovative"

I really love the website's overall design and spunky-ness. It really gives Wetpaint an edge and makes me as a visitor want to learn more about what they do. Above that, Wetpaint claims that this: "Wetpaint Advertising is the only Boutique advertising agency in South Africa that offers you the comprehensive service of a full scale agency, with all the benefits of a small dedicated team, at a fair price."

I think this is a clever strategy and likely offers Wetpaint more flexibility and customization with what they do instead of having to go through so many channels and departments that larger agencies like Ogilvy deal with. And, judging from their list of clients, their strategy is attracting big time companies.

The Campaign Sample

I have chosen Wetpaint's Sony campaign to analyze here. Here's the link:  http://wetpaint.co.za/sony.php

Basically, Sony was rolling out a bunch of new surveillance cameras, medical devices, printers, projectors, and other business support products. Wetpaint went in and (if you click "Go To Campaign", you can see it), created some catchy web and print ads to drive traffic to the Sony website, prompting inquiries about the product. I really liked the layouts and high-resolution photos of the products being used as they were intended in the ads. While there is some lengthy copy, it only supports what Sony is trying to get across about their product and adds value to the ad. This campaign was pretty similar to a few others that Wetpaint has worked on, and I think it's good work.


-Dave Larmann

Power of 9 Advertising Agency

Power of 9 is an advertising agency in Cape Town that opened in 2004. The agency first began as a strategic brand consultancy and then became a strategic branding agency that was innovative and creative. The founder, Catherine Herbst feeds the culture of curiousity.

Power of 9 offers services of research, brand strategy, creative concept and creative executions to media planning, event, production, project management and consulting. 

"South Africa says ‘it’s possible’. We agree. Despite many negatives, the pioneering spirit soars with South Africans opening their minds to possibilities as numerous and incandescent as stars in the sky" (powerof9.co.za).

Client website list:
Accenture
Adcorp
Amdec
Brits Nonwoven
Clicks
Fillipo Berio
Hosaf
I&J
Nexxus
ORO Africa
Private Client Holdings
Quest
SAWIS
STAG Properties

Sites of interest

Facebook – Power of 9
Trendwatching.com
Stumbleupon
Ads of the World

Work:

 Power of 9 Commissioned photography for OROAFRICA. Photographer: Malcolm Dare

Natalie

The Jupiter Drawing Room

History: 
The Jupiter Drawing Room first opened its doors in 1989. It originated in Johannesburg and later expanded to Cape Town in 1994. The name, The Jupiter Drawing Room, was inspired by the short story called, "Guy de Maupassant"which takes place in Normandy, France. It is about the 'entertainment' that women would put on for the local tradesmen and dignitaries. Unlike the tradesmen who received their entertainment in the basement of the country house, dignitaries had a special room on the first floor. This room was called The Jupiter Drawing Room.

Jupiter Drawing Room's philosophy: "Rem tene, verba sequentur". In english this means, "Grasp the subject and the words will follow." The company thrives on the idea that a thorough understanding is necessary to achieve the best work.

Today:
The Jupiter Drawing Room is South Africa's second largest advertising agency. It is currently ranked top 10 in the world for design. They work with well-known American companies such as, Nike, Elizabeth Arden, Hyundai, Coca-Cola, Minute Maid as well as many other global corporations. In doing so, their media spans from tv and cinema, print, design, outdoor, digital to radio spots.

Nike: 

Hyundai: 
Print ad-

Radio Spot:

 

Other awesome ads by The Jupiter Drawing Room: 


CSI: 

South African Bank (ABSA): 

A compiled portfolio of various media categories is available here.

Ogilvy South Africa

For our first industry profile in South Africa, I chose to look at Ogilvy, whose website can be visited here: http://www.ogilvy.co.za/.


Ogilvy South Africa's main theme is that of "liberation". With South Africa being a country that gained their independence not too long ago, Ogilvy thought that this would be a unifying theme for their work. I really like this approach. Ogilvy writes "Liberation is a philosophy that embraces how we lead, who we employ and the culture we aim to create. Liberation underlines our belief in the power of creative ideas to unshackle the potential of brands."
I think that this is a cool theme and I like the dual meaning of "liberation" for the South African people. 


A little background: Ogilvy was founded in 1949 by David Ogilvy and is now one of the biggest "mar-com" firms in the world, with 450 offices in over 120 countries. Personally, I was completely blind to the world of advertising agencies until recently, and I had no idea that one advertising agency had so much reach. 120 countries? That's impressive considering how many cultures and psychological perspectives that vary across the world that would affect how an ad was composed. Anyway, Ogilvy South Africa is the leading marketing communications firm in South Africa, and specializes in a variety of different areas including promotions, digital advertising, and CRM. They've got it covered.


Looking at the portfolio that is available online, it's clear that some of the biggest customers for Ogilvy South Africa are Volkswagen, KFC, and Cadbury. The company has multiple campaigns up for all three. I'll start with KFC's "Snax" campaign. Ogilvy outlined the following:

• Snacking on the go has become increasingly popular in today's busy world, particularly for the younger generation
• KFC needed to show that they understood the busy lifestyle of teens with their Snax product
• Snax: quick, portable meals that could be eaten on the go, making sure teens never missed anything important due to a meal

The main vehicle here was the "Live on the Run" commercial that Ogilvy made. Here's the link http://www.ogilvy.co.za/our-work/kfc-snax/. The commercial basically focuses on two young adults: a male and a female, who are shown running around town to convey their fast-pace lifestyle. Our characters are then shown running into a KFC and emerging with the Snax, and then meeting up and making out. I think the commercial was effective in the sense that it spoke to young adults in terms of an active lifestyle. The two meeting at the end as a couple elicited feelings of how people still try to make time for their significant other in their daily lives, and I enjoyed the constant jogging of the characters that conveyed how they were literally running through their lives.
-Dave Larmann