By Cassy van Eeden

What Roed didn’t realise at the time was that the words of the then CEO of Ferrari South Africa, would become his mantra and ultimately, the philosophy behind his entire business.

In 2005, World Wide Creative (WWC) was still a brand new agency. Both Roed and his friend Mike Perk – WWC managing director – were facing an uphill battle when it came to selling their services as a digital agency. “I was literally going door-to-door, looking people in the eye asking them: ‘What kind of digital services can we interest you in?’” says Roed. “There was very little money to be made. The first two, three years were a massive struggle for us. We really battled.”

But when Roed visited the Ferrari dealership in Cape Town, things changed. “I asked him (the then CEO) what he meant and he said: ‘I’ve looked at all your stuff and you’re not doing what you’re trying to sell to me. You’re not eating your own food. You’re a skinny chef’.”

Not only was Roed completely humbled by this experience, it was also the moment when he and Perk discovered the secret ingredient that would eventually lead to a whirlwind of success for WWC. “So we came up with this idea that we needed to become heavy chefs,” says Roed, “And it became our mantra.”

Roed and Perk began working proactively at putting on a little weight. They started a blog, for example, which was one of the core services they were offering to prospective clients. And in 2007 they started inviting established heavy chefs into their kitchen to share their recipes for success.

Initially, these sessions with industry influencers were held only for the benefit of the WWC team. However, when other people started getting word of the events, they asked to join. And they brought their friends with them. Before long, the Heavy Chef digital marketing initiative was born.

And it took off at lightning speed. “It’s been a wild ride. But it’s also been super fun.”

The Heavy Chef project consists of thought leadership events, where industry forerunners are invited to present and share their insights on things that are not only topical to the agency, but to the digital marketing industry in general. For example, the most recent Heavy Chef event, held on Thursday, 30 July at the WWC headquarters, focussed on app development. App development is currently a large part of WWC’s focus, as much as it is for the industry.

“The philosophy of this agency is learning and sharing,” says Roed. The WWC team are firm believers that teaching and learning leads to mastery. “The more we learn and the more we share, we become really good at it.” This is the foundation that Heavy Chef is built upon. “What we’ve distilled [Heavy Chef] down to is exactly the same as the culture of the agency.”

The latest addition to the initiative is a magazine. A significant amount of fresh, engaging content that was being produced as a result of the events. And the team decided to use this overflow to create and publish their very own Heavy Chef Quarterly Review magazine. The title is published on a quarterly basis, in conjunction with the events.

Roed wanted to create something that is well-curated, beautifully designed and that adds value to people’s experience of Heavy Chef. So far, the agency has published two successful editions of the magazine.

The truth, according to Roed, is that no one at WWC will ever become a heavy chef. Instead, it is about the journey towards constantly striving to be as close to a heavy chef as possible. World Wide Creative is walking the talk. Practicing what they preach. And most importantly, eating their own food.

Click here to download the latest copy of the Heavy Chef Quarterly Review.

For more information, visit the World Wide Creative and Heavy Chef websites. Alternatively, connect with the initiative via Twitter and Facebook.