In The Cannes Brand Communications Consultancy

GOING GLOBAL WITH AN ATTITUDE
In search of advertising excellence TBWA Hunt Lascaris has achieved its goal of becoming the first world-class agency out of Africa, says Gauteng MD Richard Reast. Now it wants to be the world's best all-round agency. "We want to be the best in everything we do, not just in creative. It comes back to the TBWA worldwide positioning of Changing the Rules'. We have to be clear. If everyone knows from the first day they walk in the door where you are going and why you are going there, they tend to pull in the right direction. You can teach people skills. But you can't teach them attitude."
To highlight its philosophies Hunts has adopted the pirate symbol. "It's more fun being a pirate than being the navy," says Reast. "The navy is regimented, bureaucratic, systematic. A pirate is entrepreneurial, quicker, a rebel with a cause." Boardrooms that once displayed the characteristic thumbprint symbol have been re-branded with the skull and crossbones - with propeller head.
At Hunt Lascaris, integration of services is a working principle, not just a main objective, says Reast. The group doesn't just work above, below and through the line: it is a fully integrated communications all-rounder ready to get stuck in to assist clients in whatever direction - and every step of the way.		Integration is a working principle
Benefits include closer partnerships (hence better understanding), greater control, improved quality and faster delivery. The inevitable result is a more effective campaign with the bonus of cost-efficiencies for everyone.
"We have a brand guardian team concept that forces integrated thinking and integrated solutions. The old way would have had the above the line agency working on the idea first. Two days before the prime presentation the idea would have been given to the below-the- line agency to see what they could do with it. That is neither full nor effective integration.
"Upfront we should be saying to clients, for example: you don't need a TV ad. What you need is a great PR campaign, an online presence, and some print advertising.' We need to be media neutral in our solutions."
The Savanna Dry premium cider campaign for SFW, says Reast, illustrates this integrated approach - and shows how Hunts uses its convention-overturning disruption process. With only 10% of SAB's outlay for their Redd's cider, Savanna Dry was given a fizzing sendoff. "We were involved in the naming, what the product should be, the label design, the Website, the advertising and promotion, the lot."
Convention says cider is a woman's drink. The Savanna label broadened the appeal with the slogan: "It's dry but you can drink it." Jaunty sketches introduced Savanna alongside comments like "When I die I'm leaving my body to science fiction" and "I was trying to daydream but my mind kept wandering".
Savanna's market share shot from zero to 14% in two years. A 25% price premium, it seems, played its part in establishing Savanna as a quality product.		Cannes Lions for Savanna Dry : award winning = business winning
The integrated communications approach ties in neatly with another innovation at Hunts: Fees are in, commissions are out. All new business is being written on a fee plus net production basis, says Reast. "If a client needs a range of communications, it makes sense to apportion fees according to the resources applied. If you work on commission you are always trying to look after your own patch."		Agency remuneration
A client recently briefed the agency on changes to its internal structure and hence to product development. "Because the product wasn't a big bang launch but a step launch, PR was more important in the launch. All that happens is that more of the central fee they are paying gets diverted from Hunts into the PR business. If you work on a central fee it doesn't matter how the income is allocated. It comes into one company anyway."
The agency re-assesses the arrangement quarterly. "We might find that we have used more service than we estimated, or that everything is going so smoothly that we're not using the resources projected. So the figures can be adjusted up or down."
The system encourages discipline in clients and rewards efficient clients who have clear goals.
Transparent invoices reflect how charges have been broken down. "It's market right, and I can guarantee it's the future." The performance incentive bonus (PIB) is another challenging trend. The Seychelles has agreed to pay Hunt Lascaris a marketing campaign fee - and US10 as a PIB for every additional tourist arriving in the islands. How will campaign success be measured? A target number of tourists is agreed up front, and anything above that commands the 10 per person PIB.		Performance based remuneration for agencies
Ignoring or downplaying the Web and .com would be like "chaps in a London boardroom in the Fifties discussing this new TV thing' but failing to embrace it."		Embracing digital
The Web experience in the US is a good pointer. Two years ago Chiat Day, the TBWA office in Los Angeles, set up its own "dot focussed" unit, Digerati. It was the e-conscience of the agency. Once a week eight people talked about trends on the Web.
"Now it's the spearhead of their new business; 40% of the agency link up is from dot com brands."
Hunt Lascaris plugs into the Los Angeles experience for trends and tools. It's increasingly employing e-Disruption, an extension of the Disruption strategy it uses to break down conventions. "It helps us look at ways of doing things differently on the Web. People think the Web is different. Just get on the Web and you're different. That's not true.
"You have to do things differently on the Web as well, to break through the clutter. Every week 10 000 new Websites are launched."
Another fallacy, says Reast, is that the Web and the emerging markets are mutually exclusive. Five years ago people in SA were saying that cell phones will never take off in those markets. Yet the fastest take-up of cell phones today is in Zululand, and the advent of WAP technology allows the Internet to by-pass PC screens and go directly to cell phones."		Emerging markets and technology
Source : Financial Mail, Adfocus 2000