Adfocus – Financial Mail

Storing up success

Written by David Furlonger on August 18, 2009 – 3:52 pm -

If your idea of advertising creativity doesn’t extend to “Amandla” lamps and papier machè rings, then Stu Stobbs and Brendan Wade have some advice: stretch your imagination.
Until recently,  Stobbs and Wade headed advertising agency proximity#ttp. Now it’s been rebranded as Studio 4332 and turned into what its founders describe as an out-and-out creative studio.

That doesn’t mean head-in-the-clouds stuff. Wade wants 4332 (the numbers spell out “idea” on a phone dial) to be responsive to clients and customers. Instead of simply alerting consumers to products and brands, it also wants to provide clients with commercially valuable content.

Brendan Wade (left) and Stu Stobbs

And how better to show you can manage a client’s brand, than to prove your own commercial expertise? The entrance hall of the agency’s new Johannesburg HQ is an open area that will be turned into a store to showcase the agency’s creative and commercial skills. Hence the “amandla” lamp. “Nelson Mandela said, “don’t hide the light”,” says Stobbs. So the lamp will feature clenched “freedom” fists.

Then there’s the ring, made from compressed papier machè. When the wearer has worn it long enough, he plants it in the ground, and the four indigenous wild fig seeds inside, will eventually sprout and grow.

All staff will contribute ideas, and goods on show will be sold. Wade says the agency will stage at least three collections annually. “We will tell our teams to go out and look for inspiration. It will put us under pressure but it will be exciting pressure.”

Wade adds: “What is cool is that clients will see we are looking for trends. The store will showcase our creativity but also create a new revenue stream.” Future Studio 4332 outlets will also feature a commercial frontage. Wade hopes the agency can eventually expand into Cape Town and at least one overseas centre.

But that’s some time off. Stobbs, Wade and their 26-strong team must first settle into their new offices and deliver what clients want. Or, rather, what consumers want. “True creativity is about working from the consumer towards an idea rather than from an idea towards the consumer,” says Stobbs. “Marketing has become a two-way dialogue. It’s no longer just advertising but also consumer engagement.”

It’s not just the message that’s important but also the medium. Take the “Hummerville” campaign devised by the proximity#ttp team for Cell C, offering Hummer offroad vehicles as prizes.
The cellphone company wanted to understand its customer base better — a classic case of  customer relationship management (CRM). “We could have asked people to fill in a form,” says Wade. “Instead we devised an online game in which you have to give more details to take part.”
The further participants went into the game, the more details they gave. Then, in an unexpected twist, they were able to nominate charities to share in a R1m fund. Tens of thousands of people took part, says Stobbs.

A campaign for Europe Assictance saw the team send out 60 ornate puzzle-boxes. Recipients had to phone a number for advice on how to open the boxes. The campaign brought in at least two new major clients. The agency was also tasked with the interior rebranding of Johannesburg’s Rosebank Hotel. A dab of humour — room numbers spelled out as, for example “sevin-seex-three” and “Do Not Disturb” signs with the proviso “Unless you are from the Lotto prize committee” — helped lighten the mood.

Wade says Studio 4332 sets out to solve business problems by changing the behaviour of individual consumers. “We will achieve this by fusing creative strategies, digital communication methodologies and direct marketing  to deliver measurable consumer engagement models and campaigns.”
Stobbs adds: “We’re commoditising creativity. We’re using creativity in forms that best suit the consumer. That means converging different, often non-traditional, channels.”

Despite the name change, Studio 4332 is still affiliated to the worldwide proximity#ttp group. It also remains wholly SA-owned. Besides the two driving forces — Stobbs  is executive creative director and Wade MD — shareholders include Net#work BBDO CEO Keith Shipley. “But we are limited to no partners,” says Stobbs. “We can work with any other agency.”

Tags: Proximity, Stobbs, Wade
Posted in News | No Comments »