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An agency entirely underpinned by the idea of “Old Friends Young Talent ”, OFYT is headed by a team of seasoned individuals who are committed to finding, teaching and training the best young talent available from all walks of life and teaming them with experienced ad people to create uniquely SA work that really works.
“Our business model is geared to drive more relevant SA work that resonates with SA consumers, through this creative collision between the industry experience of the Old Friends and the lived experience of the Young Talent,” says CEO Jonty Fisher.
“Our model provides talented young people with an entry point into the industry through our training and entrepreneurship programmes, and clients have the chance to not just build their brands, but help to build a broader social impact too. It’s a unique business model, and one that has stood the agency in good stead for what has been a successful year. “It’s been a year of consolidation after we took on Heineken SA, Prudential, FutureLife, The Foschini Group and the V&A Waterfront last year,” says Fisher. Profit is up by 52% year-on-year, versus 31% last year — pleasing results in a challenging environment.
As the industry becomes driven more by the rules of procurement than the needs of the clients themselves, OFYT has maintained what they term “old school” relationships with their clients at a thinking level, which means they have kept their seat at the boardroom table. Clients have direct access to senior management, which has become somewhat of a rarity in the industry. “Our clients tend to give us the feedback that we’re ‘adults in the room’, reflecting our ability to be thinking partners for them and to hold the problem at the centre, rather than just the brief execution itself,” says Fisher.
In an era where digital transformation seems to have become the be-all and end-all, OFYT takes a different approach. “Digital is certainly an important platform and we have a strong digital skills set,” says Fisher. “That said, we take a contextual approach to the client. The truth is our continent is not at the cutting edge of digital — and we need to stay close to where our clients and their customers are. That may ultimately call for a digital solution — or it may not,” he says, adding that the world is getting to a post-digital space anyway, where all skills should contain digital and agencies should be operating in fully blended teams. “We talk about digital against a specific problem and a specific customer,” he says.
The growth of OFYT’s Joburg office is a big focus point, and shareholder management will be put into that office in the next six months. In the past year OFYT has also welcomed dynamic new senior talent to the agency in the form of Kush Chetty and Tania Barker as creative directors and Richard Broderick as client service director. They join an already heavyweight creative leadership team of Chris Gotz, Kelly Putter and Brandt Botes. With a newly enhanced team, OFYT has eradicated all siloes within the agency to ensure that every blended team takes an omnichannel, problem-centric approach to the work. Transformation — for the right reasons and not simply to tick boxes — is also high on the agenda, says Fisher.
To this end, OFYT is soon to conclude a BEE deal whereby the agency will move much closer to becoming 51% black owned. The team at OFYT understands the world their clients frequent and has worked out how to think for them, as equal partners, says Fisher, adding that many of the agency’s hires come from the client side, which gives the agency even more insight into client needs.
Old Friends Young Talent
2019 Financial Mail AdFocus Profile
An agency entirely underpinned by the idea of “Old Friends Young Talent ”, OFYT is headed by a team of seasoned individuals who are committed to finding, teaching and training the best young talent available from all walks of life and teaming them with experienced ad people to create uniquely SA work that really works.
“Our business model is geared to drive more relevant SA work that resonates with SA consumers, through this creative collision between the industry experience of the Old Friends and the lived experience of the Young Talent,” says CEO Jonty Fisher.
“Our model provides talented young people with an entry point into the industry through our training and entrepreneurship programmes, and clients have the chance to not just build their brands, but help to build a broader social impact too. It’s a unique business model, and one that has stood the agency in good stead for what has been a successful year. “It’s been a year of consolidation after we took on Heineken SA, Prudential, FutureLife, The Foschini Group and the V&A Waterfront last year,” says Fisher. Profit is up by 52% year-on-year, versus 31% last year — pleasing results in a challenging environment.
As the industry becomes driven more by the rules of procurement than the needs of the clients themselves, OFYT has maintained what they term “old school” relationships with their clients at a thinking level, which means they have kept their seat at the boardroom table. Clients have direct access to senior management, which has become somewhat of a rarity in the industry. “Our clients tend to give us the feedback that we’re ‘adults in the room’, reflecting our ability to be thinking partners for them and to hold the problem at the centre, rather than just the brief execution itself,” says Fisher.
In an era where digital transformation seems to have become the be-all and end-all, OFYT takes a different approach. “Digital is certainly an important platform and we have a strong digital skills set,” says Fisher. “That said, we take a contextual approach to the client. The truth is our continent is not at the cutting edge of digital — and we need to stay close to where our clients and their customers are. That may ultimately call for a digital solution — or it may not,” he says, adding that the world is getting to a post-digital space anyway, where all skills should contain digital and agencies should be operating in fully blended teams. “We talk about digital against a specific problem and a specific customer,” he says.
The growth of OFYT’s Joburg office is a big focus point, and shareholder management will be put into that office in the next six months. In the past year OFYT has also welcomed dynamic new senior talent to the agency in the form of Kush Chetty and Tania Barker as creative directors and Richard Broderick as client service director. They join an already heavyweight creative leadership team of Chris Gotz, Kelly Putter and Brandt Botes. With a newly enhanced team, OFYT has eradicated all siloes within the agency to ensure that every blended team takes an omnichannel, problem-centric approach to the work. Transformation — for the right reasons and not simply to tick boxes — is also high on the agenda, says Fisher.
To this end, OFYT is soon to conclude a BEE deal whereby the agency will move much closer to becoming 51% black owned. The team at OFYT understands the world their clients frequent and has worked out how to think for them, as equal partners, says Fisher, adding that many of the agency’s hires come from the client side, which gives the agency even more insight into client needs.