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There is an increasing recognition that branded content - and with it expertise around storytelling – is an effective way of communicating with and engaging consumers. Branded storytelling agency, Creatrix, was established to fill a gap in the market that existed around the provision of quality mother tongue advertising. The growing use of branded storytelling has meant that Creatrix too has come of age, having experienced its best year yet.
Founder Lynn Joffe is renowned as one of SA’s most successful radio copywriters. But despite having built her expertise in radio, the last few years have seen Creatrix shift their perspective from creating content purely for radio to content that fits on a variety of platforms. “The digital age has seen a merging of storytelling and traditional advertising to create branded content that for the mass market is perceived as entertainment,” she says.
To be effective, branded content has to tell some kind of story, ideally in the consumer’s mother tongue. Storytelling may be an ancient art, but its application has become a lost skill, something Joffe laments, maintaining that storytelling is the bedrock of all effective branded content.
Mother tongue advertising, she says, is as relevant as ever. “Don’t believe anybody who tells you that consumers don’t prefer being communicated to in their mother tongue or that they don’t use their mother tongue on social media. Mother tongue content can be just as successfully amplified into the modern digital age as any other language. The challenge now, given new media consumption habits, is to tell stories in 21st century ways.”
Much of Creatrix’s success is based on a lack of storytelling skills at an agency level. And while Creatrix has a long history of working very successfully with other players in the communications space, it’s increasingly also working directly with clients. A recent trend has seen it take its branded storytelling skills and apply it to other mediums. A recent example of this was an online music video for Bliss Brands’s Securex Soap that evolved from a multilingual song developed for radio. The video has gone viral, garnering more than 1.5 million hits on YouTube.
Awards are a slightly sensitive point for the agency. Focusing as it does on mother tongue storytelling and content, there are very few award shows – either local or international – that reward mother tongue branded content. As such, being recognised at the 2018 Liberty Radio Awards for Best Drama for Anglo American’s Makarapa City radio series was particularly poignant and meaningful. Makarapa City also picked up a Certificate of Excellence at the Sabre Awards, 2017.
The all-female Creatrix team includes one of the best scriptwriters and strategists in SA, Thandi Ngwenya. In addition to scriptwriting, Ngwenya fulfils the role of managing director. Talented production director, Katleho Marole, heads up the studio specialising in multilingual productions. Under the leadership of these driven women is a team of young black women who Joffe is passionate about training and mentoring in the art of storytelling.
A huge challenge going forward, says Joffe, is keeping storytelling relevant and authentic, and educating clients around the fact that branded content is a brand love platform. “The branded storytelling content we produce tends to be perceived as programming rather than advertising which means that consumers tune in rather than tune out,” she reveals. “The advent of digital means that, in addition to destination listening, audiences can tune in at their leisure. More than just entertaining, the kind of branded content we are producing is educational and empowering with a strong key message, driving audiences to react, think and act – and isn’t that what effective advertising communication ultimately aims to achieve?”
Creatrix Branded Storytelling
2018 Financial Mail AdFocus profile
Lynn Joffe | CEO
Tel: 083 227 2655
Email: lynn@creatrix.co.za
Website: www.creatrix.co.za
There is an increasing recognition that branded content - and with it expertise around storytelling – is an effective way of communicating with and engaging consumers. Branded storytelling agency, Creatrix, was established to fill a gap in the market that existed around the provision of quality mother tongue advertising. The growing use of branded storytelling has meant that Creatrix too has come of age, having experienced its best year yet.
Founder Lynn Joffe is renowned as one of SA’s most successful radio copywriters. But despite having built her expertise in radio, the last few years have seen Creatrix shift their perspective from creating content purely for radio to content that fits on a variety of platforms. “The digital age has seen a merging of storytelling and traditional advertising to create branded content that for the mass market is perceived as entertainment,” she says.
To be effective, branded content has to tell some kind of story, ideally in the consumer’s mother tongue. Storytelling may be an ancient art, but its application has become a lost skill, something Joffe laments, maintaining that storytelling is the bedrock of all effective branded content.
Mother tongue advertising, she says, is as relevant as ever. “Don’t believe anybody who tells you that consumers don’t prefer being communicated to in their mother tongue or that they don’t use their mother tongue on social media. Mother tongue content can be just as successfully amplified into the modern digital age as any other language. The challenge now, given new media consumption habits, is to tell stories in 21st century ways.”
Much of Creatrix’s success is based on a lack of storytelling skills at an agency level. And while Creatrix has a long history of working very successfully with other players in the communications space, it’s increasingly also working directly with clients. A recent trend has seen it take its branded storytelling skills and apply it to other mediums. A recent example of this was an online music video for Bliss Brands’s Securex Soap that evolved from a multilingual song developed for radio. The video has gone viral, garnering more than 1.5 million hits on YouTube.
Awards are a slightly sensitive point for the agency. Focusing as it does on mother tongue storytelling and content, there are very few award shows – either local or international – that reward mother tongue branded content. As such, being recognised at the 2018 Liberty Radio Awards for Best Drama for Anglo American’s Makarapa City radio series was particularly poignant and meaningful. Makarapa City also picked up a Certificate of Excellence at the Sabre Awards, 2017.
The all-female Creatrix team includes one of the best scriptwriters and strategists in SA, Thandi Ngwenya. In addition to scriptwriting, Ngwenya fulfils the role of managing director. Talented production director, Katleho Marole, heads up the studio specialising in multilingual productions. Under the leadership of these driven women is a team of young black women who Joffe is passionate about training and mentoring in the art of storytelling.
A huge challenge going forward, says Joffe, is keeping storytelling relevant and authentic, and educating clients around the fact that branded content is a brand love platform. “The branded storytelling content we produce tends to be perceived as programming rather than advertising which means that consumers tune in rather than tune out,” she reveals. “The advent of digital means that, in addition to destination listening, audiences can tune in at their leisure. More than just entertaining, the kind of branded content we are producing is educational and empowering with a strong key message, driving audiences to react, think and act – and isn’t that what effective advertising communication ultimately aims to achieve?”