Stylish looks for a stylish company.
Lavish photography and trend-setting design allow the John Craig winter range to speak boldly to style-conscious men who want to make the season a time to shine.

Our client, Profmed (a specialised medical scheme exclusively for degreed professionals), is currently experiencing great success with a campaign running across various platforms. Using radio, TV, web banners, newsletters and even the annual report, enquiries and subscriptions have skyrocketed. A common theme runs through all these platforms to create a synergistic, unified campaign message regardless of where the prospect engages the brand.

Point to Ponder:
Does your message, across various points of contact, tell the same story?

Some months ago we pitched for the Peter J.A. Stuart business. In case you don’t know them, the company specialises in high-end (mostly Italian) products for the interior design industry. While their major product offering is chairs, they also sell some other cool stuff, like boardroom tables and suchlike. But after the presentations they decided to take their business to another agency, a huge disappointment for the team that worked on the pitch. Twelve months later, the client approached us to consider taking on their business as they were getting no joy from the ‘chosen ones’.
We were happy to oblige. Our first brief was to create an emailer aimed at design professionals telling them about a sale of products in order to clear space for new lines. To cut a long story short, the simple emailer – we produced for under R10 000 – brought a flood of visits to the client’s premises and resulted in sales of R750 000 in just 10 days!
A phenomenal return on investment by anyone’s standards.

Points to Ponder:

Don’t discount the power of a precisely-targeted message, however simple it may appear.

Despite all the hoopla surrounding social media and mobile communications, there’s still plenty of life in good ol’ fashion email.

With some negative press coverage in the last few years, Wits University decided that in order to attract top-flight students to the venerable institution they would have to embark on a hard-hitting, reputation-enhancing campaign. We selected alumni and staff who are conducting, or have conducted, world-changing, leading-edge work in various disciplines; all people who have made significant contributions to the human condition. Of course, with an institution like Wits, there’s no shortage of material! We then developed a series of cost-effective short TV commercials (using stills for a stop-motion treatment) and print ads highlighting these thought leaders and their achievements. Another element of the campaign was to let the students speak and to get the voice of the youth, so to speak. A series of vox pops were produced by asking students, randomly selected on the campus, a series of questions and recording their answers. These were then edited into a series of 30-second radio commercials. This two-pronged approach has worked wonders for the university. Many students have reported that they decided to attend Wits on the strength of the TV, print and radio ads.

Points to Ponder:

Vox Pop is the abbreviation of the Latin term Vox populi, literally meaning “voice of the people”.

Changing perceptions is no easy task, but it can be accomplished with a concerted effort.