Please tell us about your career in the advertising industry thus far

After studying Fine Arts at the Natal Technikon I started my career off as a designer working in studios in London, San Francisco and South Africa. After several years spent gaining experience in the industry, I plucked up the courage to launch my own design business in Durban: The Hardy Boys (THB). From what started as humble beginnings, I am proud of what we have achieved to date and I’m excited about what the future holds now that we have joined forces with the world’s biggest international communication group: WPP. Currently I am focussing on expanding The Hardy Boys further into Africa and I am also responsible for the WPP Group-Unilever relationship for Southern Africa, which means that I report directly to their London office.

What are a few business highlights that have stuck with you over the last 20 years.

There have been many highlights over the past 20 years but this last year actually stands out as particularly significant when it comes to receiving recognition for our clients. We landed five Loerie Awards and one Craft Award for various campaigns. On top of that we received a Bronze Medal at the 55th annual Clio Awards in New York (the only SA agency to win an award this year) and two silver awards at the ADVAN Awards in Nigeria.

Other highlights in past years, are when THB were awarded two Diageo Marketing Brilliance Awards and Global Best Innovation Agency Award for the launch of the Diageo Snapp brand into Kenya and Nigeria. I am incredibly proud of what we have achieved over the years and especially to be at the helm of an agency that is 90 employees strong at the moment. Our Exco team is very strong with the likes of Alan Bell and Geoff Paton leading from the front, but overall we have some truly excellent people on board that are helping to grow us into one of South Africa’s and Africa’s top agencies.

A personal highlight for me was also being the only African to speak at Cannes to an audience of 3000 at the Cannes Lions Awards in 2013.

What are some of the challenges you have faced in growing your agency?

The economic climate around the world does impact our industry and, although South Africa wasn’t hit as hard as many other countries, our industry was still influenced. During times of recession when companies and consumers alike are tightening their belts and cutting down on spending it can be a challenge to be nimble in a constantly evolving environment.

What is extremely demanding about the industry, beyond the deadlines, is that every idea and execution is a once off, there are no economies of scale. Practically this means that for our teams, this relentless drive to continually innovate and come up with fresh solutions and new ways of engaging consumers is what it’s all about. Having said that, we love the energy, the frenetic challenges and the variety of brands we work with.

Another challenge lies in the hiring and retaining of quality talent. The key ingredient for standing out from the crowd and enjoying solid growth is great people. Central to retaining talent is the physical environment that people work in. A creative environment that does not constantly evolve would seem to indicate a level of stagnation, as the space you work in can either stimulate creativity or stifle it. It is imperative to maintain a vibrant energy to keep the team engaged and doing their best work but finding new ways to engage people over the long term can prove to be challenging.

I have also seen the South African and African ad industry morph from strong traditional media through the advent of TV to the power of social media platforms, activations and more. The craft of advertising has consequently become more complex, more technological - in other words, more competitive and more restless. This means that in-depth critical analysis of the full spectrum of media and consumer touch points as well as the market the brand is entering need to be conducted. This can be a mammoth task to say the least.

Tell us about the inspiration behind the name of The Hardy Boys

The name is inspired by the 1927 series of novels centring on amateur detectives Frank and Joe, better known as The Hardy Boys. I thought this was an appropriate name as this agency, like Frank and Joe, will never give up and do whatever it takes to solve the mystery of effectively marketing a brand. We also share with Frank and Joe their initiative to outsource and collaborate with experienced and expert partners when they need to crack an unusually tough case.

What has been key to The Hardy Boys’ longevity and success?

It would have to be our excellent team and their tenacious commitment to getting the job done. We also pride ourselves in our ability to conduct in depth analysis of the full spectrum of media used to market to consumers these days, coupled with intimate insight into the market. This means that a lot of our most critical work takes place before the creative process kicks in. We have to examine the business issues and talk to consumers. This can take time but possessing the correct insight and local knowledge is vital to the success of a campaign and we have really seen this strategy pay off.

What are the challenges and opportunities of doing business in other parts of Africa present?

I would say having the correct insight and local knowledge to market a specific product to a specific market. This can be a challenge but is vital to the success of the brand. Great work built on poor insight is more damaging than beneficial.

Take detergents for example – in some markets a washing machine is appropriate, in another market the same product may be used in a basin to soak laundry, in another a paste applied to stains – get the application wrong, and all you do is display your ignorance.

What makes The Hardy Boys the ideal advertising agency to partner with for new clients looking to advertise and grow their brand in South Africa and Africa?

Firstly I would say our commitment to finding the best way to speak to the target consumer that the client is looking to engage.

Secondly, the formation of THB: Click is also a major strength of our agency. This recent addition is a highly focused team specialising in creative digital strategy to feed into the ever-increasing demand for these skills as part of the complex campaign solution. Digital is not a new medium and it cannot be separated from other platforms. It is part of every touch point and because of its pervasive interactivity mobile is the medium of the future – it therefore becomes about how companies integrate it into their approach and is essential to campaign success.

I also think that our current client base speaks for itself. We have long-standing work relationships with not only local but international leaders in their fields, such as Diageo, RCL Foods, SA Homeloans and Unilever.

What has affected the biggest change in the advertising industry over the past 20 years?

As I mentioned earlier the ad industry has morphed over the years from being linear to becoming more like a spiders web of channels and consumer touch points, including elements like TV and social media as well as digital and print. This has had a very significant influence on the industry and has resulted in the craft of advertising being a very different beast today. It is far more complex, and far faster. Media trends constantly shift and evolve, but no media is dying. Not print and certainly not TV. Practically this means that none of the media can be ignored.

It is interesting looking back on our previous modus operandi compared to today’s. We used to track a ‘Life in the Day of a Consumer’, but we can’t do that as rigidly now. It’s not nearly as predictable and linear. Now it’s more a case of ‘what possible thing could happen in a day, where could we touch the consumer’? Think about it – you’re exposed to endless channels of communication. On the way to fill up with petrol, you’ll see some billboards, hear something on the radio, someone could SMS you, Facebook you ... it’s like a spider web. As an ad agency with so many different channels of communication open to us we need to find a way to meet the consumer where he or she is at and speak directly to them.

What is your vision for The Hardy Boys for the next 20 years?

Just as our clients have their eye on Africa, so do we. Our intention is to establish The Hardy Boys as a vibrant micro-network in Africa, with our offices acting as key hubs in various regions with an end goal to become defined as a truly African agency that just happens to have its headquarters in Durban.

What advice would you give to aspiring people in the industry to succeed creatively and on a business level?

You have to work hard at staying relevant. This business requires you to constantly communicate with consumers and facilitate an intimate and ongoing conversation. You need to be out on the streets engaging with consumers and understanding their daily challenges and desires. I would also advise doing intensive research into emerging trends and human behaviour as well as joining forces with other industry players where necessary to produce the best work possible.

In summary …

I feel a sense of cautious optimism as we have adapted to the pressures of the current business climate at The Hardy Boys. My favourite quote is that businesses are built in tough times and fail in easy times. It creates a vigorous environment as companies operate in a highly competitive market during these periods. It flushes the cobwebs out because there is no room for complacency in a difficult climate.