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Creativity is vital in developing great brands. Powerful, strategically grounded creativity applied to the heart of the business, not just its outward expression. We call this upstream creativity, and it's our specialty.
Tel - 011 895 9300
Email - johannesburg@superunion.com or capetown@superunion.com
Website - www.superunion.com
Our business is built on a spirit of creative optimism, so while we see the short-term outlook for SA’s economy is not encouraging, we believe the overall long term picture is hugely promising, says MD at Superunion Africa, Mathew Weiss.
When you’ve got a growing middle class, a generational ‘dividend’ of young people entering the workforce, with money in their pockets to spend on brands that help them define who they are, then the opportunities for brands are enormous, he believes.
But people today are not as easily marketed to as previous generations. They are less likely to trust brands at face value, they are more media savvy and discerning, so brand’s face a tough task getting onto their consideration set.
With marketing departments under ever increasing pressure to deliver ROI, Superunion’s unique combination of skill sets and experience means we are well placed to help clients navigate this increasingly complex and interconnected set of audiences.
As the only global brand agency in SA, with 23 offices around the world, Superunion has more senior brand practitioners leading client engagements and a more comprehensive range of brand and communication services to help brands connect with people. That’s why we call ourselves a ‘next-generation’ brand agency, says Weiss. We are also the most creatively awarded brand agency (by number of awards won at Cannes and the like) and our outstanding creativity makes more powerful and enduring connections with consumers. This approach lead to Superunion being named FastCompany’s Design Company of the year Honouree, in FastCo Innovation by Design Awards, 2018. (The overall winner this year was Google, so we are in good company).
It’s a position that is paying off commercially, with the agency showing growth of 16% this year, primarily off the back of key account wins including Jameson, Sasol, Omnia, Tsebo Group, StorTech and Old Mutual as well as organic growth from existing clients such as Vodacom, Standard Bank and MMI Holdings.
Crucial to the industry is more concerted focus on transformation. At Superunion, transformation is an absolute priority. In June, Keshni Deacon was appointed as the new Managing Partner for the Johannesburg office, Nkosinathi Biko has been appointed as Chairman and Angela Madlala, Head of Talent at Ogilvy SA, has joined the Board as a Non-Executive Director. Transformation is key to producing the work that brings brands to life in a way that is compelling and relevant, says Weiss.
An area of concern for the agency is the impact digital sales tactics are having on brand building as a whole. The digitisation of what used to be called Direct Mail is essentially old tactics in a new medium. No one ever liked direct mail because it was basically rubbish and the same is true of most digital marketing. The majority of it is badly conceived and executed. It gets in your way and the rise of ad blocking tech globally shows how people find advertising an increasingly unnecessary irritation in their lives.
People don’t hate advertising, they hate bad advertising, points out Keshni Deacon. The problem is there is too much of the latter around, on and offline. We need to get back to some of the fundamentals of good brand building. Taking a long term approach, crafting a story that is either entertaining or/and brings something positive and useful to people’s lives. Rather than chasing short term sales effects with vanilla messaging and discounts, brands should be pushing the boundaries creatively and be more consistent in their approach.
While the industry is in a period of massive change and traditional agency models are under pressure, the team ultimately believes that the future is exciting for those agencies able to weather the storm. There will continue to be a need for strategic branding and great design to hold a brand together. Our agency’s philosophy centres around the belief that great brands unite all audiences around a common goal, says Weiss. And that is what we are here to help clients achieve.
Superunion
2018 Financial Mail AdFocus profile
Creativity is vital in developing great brands. Powerful, strategically grounded creativity applied to the heart of the business, not just its outward expression. We call this upstream creativity, and it's our specialty.
Tel - 011 895 9300
Email - johannesburg@superunion.com or capetown@superunion.com
Website - www.superunion.com
Our business is built on a spirit of creative optimism, so while we see the short-term outlook for SA’s economy is not encouraging, we believe the overall long term picture is hugely promising, says MD at Superunion Africa, Mathew Weiss.
When you’ve got a growing middle class, a generational ‘dividend’ of young people entering the workforce, with money in their pockets to spend on brands that help them define who they are, then the opportunities for brands are enormous, he believes.
But people today are not as easily marketed to as previous generations. They are less likely to trust brands at face value, they are more media savvy and discerning, so brand’s face a tough task getting onto their consideration set.
With marketing departments under ever increasing pressure to deliver ROI, Superunion’s unique combination of skill sets and experience means we are well placed to help clients navigate this increasingly complex and interconnected set of audiences.
As the only global brand agency in SA, with 23 offices around the world, Superunion has more senior brand practitioners leading client engagements and a more comprehensive range of brand and communication services to help brands connect with people. That’s why we call ourselves a ‘next-generation’ brand agency, says Weiss. We are also the most creatively awarded brand agency (by number of awards won at Cannes and the like) and our outstanding creativity makes more powerful and enduring connections with consumers. This approach lead to Superunion being named FastCompany’s Design Company of the year Honouree, in FastCo Innovation by Design Awards, 2018. (The overall winner this year was Google, so we are in good company).
It’s a position that is paying off commercially, with the agency showing growth of 16% this year, primarily off the back of key account wins including Jameson, Sasol, Omnia, Tsebo Group, StorTech and Old Mutual as well as organic growth from existing clients such as Vodacom, Standard Bank and MMI Holdings.
Crucial to the industry is more concerted focus on transformation. At Superunion, transformation is an absolute priority. In June, Keshni Deacon was appointed as the new Managing Partner for the Johannesburg office, Nkosinathi Biko has been appointed as Chairman and Angela Madlala, Head of Talent at Ogilvy SA, has joined the Board as a Non-Executive Director. Transformation is key to producing the work that brings brands to life in a way that is compelling and relevant, says Weiss.
An area of concern for the agency is the impact digital sales tactics are having on brand building as a whole. The digitisation of what used to be called Direct Mail is essentially old tactics in a new medium. No one ever liked direct mail because it was basically rubbish and the same is true of most digital marketing. The majority of it is badly conceived and executed. It gets in your way and the rise of ad blocking tech globally shows how people find advertising an increasingly unnecessary irritation in their lives.
People don’t hate advertising, they hate bad advertising, points out Keshni Deacon. The problem is there is too much of the latter around, on and offline. We need to get back to some of the fundamentals of good brand building. Taking a long term approach, crafting a story that is either entertaining or/and brings something positive and useful to people’s lives. Rather than chasing short term sales effects with vanilla messaging and discounts, brands should be pushing the boundaries creatively and be more consistent in their approach.
While the industry is in a period of massive change and traditional agency models are under pressure, the team ultimately believes that the future is exciting for those agencies able to weather the storm. There will continue to be a need for strategic branding and great design to hold a brand together. Our agency’s philosophy centres around the belief that great brands unite all audiences around a common goal, says Weiss. And that is what we are here to help clients achieve.