CONTACT US
We are officially open for business!
The field: it's open.
To get in touch, even if just for a chat, contact:
Dean Oelschig Email: dean@brandhalo.co.za Twitter: @deanoelsch Cellular device: +27 78 459 6334 Landline: +27 11 783 9595 Address: 118 4th Avenue (on Sandton Drive), Parkmore, Johannesburg, South Africa.
hello deano. i know it’s late but i’m finally checking out your website. i LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!
Thanks Brigi although, it really is about time
Jokes. Glad you dig it lank like.
I was eagerly awaiting the day I land on a South African blog with the same theme as mine, now I have to change mine
just kidding.
Like your guys vibe, and after the creative-less pitch I got today I am happy to know that it DOES exist out there in this country, we just have to search for it!
Thanks Annette… What do you do? It appears LOADS judging by your blog. We are changing our theme in the next week or so so you’ll be fine
Hey Dean I like your thinking but I have to say, whether overseas or here, any agency, when it comes down to it, is really brand led at the core. Like you say, agencies merely do create a brand awareness, they don’t create the actual brand. A brand always exists, independent of who is aware of it or not, but it takes an agency or a particular person to heighten an awareness of the mere existance of the brand’s presence to make it a success. Even if the brand is not a success, the brand will always have a presence in a particular community, albeit small and if it heightens its response, and an agency takes ownership, it will thus lead this agency into the public sphere. The agency will thus capitalise and gain from this and use it for creative purposes. Making sense?! Love the Facebook page btw
Hi Nicole. Thank you for the comments and please allow me to disagree. 3 things happen that disallow this to happen:
1. Brand managers change at companies. When this happens, new brand managers come in and try stamp their own mark. This could happen as often as once a year. Like a small child, a brand takes 5 years minimum to grow and create it’s personality and being. If brand managers and brand directions are changing every year, that personality becomes schizophrenic. Agencies, however, DO NOT stipulate and push up front to become the brand custodians and very seldom form the kind of unwavering partnership between agency and client that allows agency custodianship of the brand. In fact I have seen it happy once with a close friend of mine at Kulula and their agency who everyone knows I am a big fan of, King James.
2. Agencies are far too precious about a creative idea. A really good creative idea is one of the hardest things to throw away. Especially at agencies focussed on winning awards. I have seen on countless occasions, agencies forsaking the brand to throw out a really creative idea. Just look at the World Cup sponsors. I think only 2 sponsors used their sponsorship to leverage and grow their brand equity over that time (Coke and MTN). The rest were just piggy backing on an event and I would be surprised if you could name more than half of the sponsors 1 year later.
3. Agencies are moving into the space but right now, there are too many specialist agencies that are above-the-line, below-the-line, digital, social etc. A pure brand led agency doesn’t care for media. Brands should dictate media, not agencies. Red Bull belongs and really thrives in strategic brand-aligned sponsorships such as F1 and box-cart races. If they signed on with an above-the-line agency, they would be put on billboards and tv which, in my opinion, wouldn’t work for their brand (and for the most part, their cartoon tv ads, I feel, don’t work).
You have to look at what Coke, Nike and IBM are doing globally to really understand brand led comms. Coke haven’t changed their essence of “optimism” in 30 years. The Coke side of Life, the Real Thing and recently, Open Happiness are 100% aligned with every single piece of Coke communication. Whether retail or brand, everything they do is brand focused. Yes, sometimes brands do work but I question whether that’s the agency or a really good brand manager working for the client.
Lastly I’ll say this. Certain products and industries are purchased A LOT more on brand than others. Airlines are much more price focused than brand-focused in the entry level market. Cars are very brand-focused as is anything in the alcohol industry. Those who are brand-focused, we’ll help grow their brand. And awareness isn’t the answer. Awareness doesn’t sway a consumer any more. Everyone knows all the banks in SA; Absa, Standard, FNB, Nedbank, RMB, Investec, Capitec, African Bank… Brand is what will set them apart and right now, I think FNB is winning. And they only started winning when they moved agencies to another I consider more focussed on brand from one I think doesn’t at all. When corporates and agencies start using a measurability tool called “brand equity valuation” and can track that over 5 years, then I will believe that that agency appreciates and buys into being a brand led communications business.
I hope it makes sense and I hope I haven’t bored you to death. I could chat about this forever as you can see. If you would like to have a cup of coffee sometime to discuss further, I am more than happy to.
Hey again I too can chat foreva, branding is my passion so no, you haven’t bored me
I think I agree and disagree with what you say in instances. Firstly, of course agencies push upfront to become brand custodians – well, the good ones. When I was AE at my last two agencies it was all about supporting and building this/that brand and how are we going to nurture it and grow it over, yes, the next few years, working together with client, seeing & living their brand through and making it part of life. Coke is a good eg. Even if some AE’s came and went – the brand must stay stable and you entrench on the newbies this following and keep this personality alive so as not to make the brand just what you say i.e. schizophrenic.
Secondly, I used to be a brand manager at JMC back in the day when Red Bull was part of our stable and we lived, worked and were encouraged to be the brand. Even though I managed 4 other brands, a brand like this was obviously the guideline and we even had a ‘Red Bull Brand bible’, which is fabulous (even though I thought a bit extreme at the time lol) but the alignment at first with extreme sports and then the entry into F1 – natural progression of course was divine. Sorry, got carried away here – my point here is that this brand even DID choose it’s media. It chose to use the human (sponsorship) and sporting arena as its media of choice to elevate its position to gain top-of-mind and popularity. As a consequence, when the consumer walks into store and sees the can or sees the symbol, he/she wants to be part of that community and be seen as cool and thus reaches for that drink. Much like Apple achieved with the white earpieces for the iPod. Started as a niche market for the ‘nerds’ and techno-savvy peops on the streets of NYC. It then filtered down to the trendies and then everyone wanted to be seen with these. Now it’s common all over the world. Old news
Agree with you though that a brand can have awareness though and an agency can milk it but strategies & implementation can be crap. Nothing can happen for the brand due to people or whatever. Don’t think I quite justified it enough in original message and have rambled a bit here – too many thoughts in my head and like you, I can talk and talk for ages (sometimes too much – but there’s so much to say!)