MADE for people who hate advertising

By Darren Gilbert

It’s a worrying thought. In fact, the natural response could very well be panic. Especially if you’re a company using traditional advertising tactics. In the past, you could place your ad on TV or in a newspaper and know it would reach your audience. You could even do the same online. But not today. And this presents an intriguing problem for brands: what do they do now? How do brands gain the attention of their audience?

The answer is clear: brands need to think and act differently. They need to provide their audience with something of value. To do that though, they need a specific type of agency.

Let me introduce you to MADE. Based in Cape Town, they are no ordinary advertising agency. In fact, their creative director, Adam Holtrop, will tell you that while they technically work in the industry, they see themselves as existing entirely separate from it. “We call ourselves an agency for the post-advertising era,” says Holtrop. Essentially what he means is this: MADE is the agency for people who hate advertising.

Holtrop explains further: “We are currently living in a value-based economy.” And in such a space, advertising is not what it used to be. It’s changing. In fact, it’s literally not advertising at all. Instead, it’s a value exchange between consumer and brand but on the customer’s terms. “This means we spend a lot of our time understanding whether brands can authentically play and enrich someone’s life.” Why? Because if you don’t win the consumers’ interest, you have nothing.

Let’s take a regular coffee brand as an example. If you love coffee, you probably have your own favourite coffee spot. If you’re really serious, you may even have your own brewing method at home. So, how could such a brand enrich somebodies life? “We wouldn’t produce any traditional marketing,” points out Holtrop. Instead, there is the opportunity to invite coffee lovers to an evening where they can learn about how to get the most out of their AeroPress. Or have an exclusive tasting session with a coffee connoisseur.

“The result is marketing that becomes not only entertaining and relevant but useful,” points out Holtrop. And this is a MADE speciality. “This is what we do. We help brands add value to their consumers’ experience,” says Holtrop. “We help brands to understand what really matters to people. What their core needs and desires are. And then we find authentic ways for a brand to help them achieve them.”

Of course, there are dangers in going the value exchange route, admits Holtrop. There is the danger that you’re not actually offering any value at all. The more time you spend around a boardroom table, the more disconnected you become from your consumers. To the degree that your communication strategies are all built around internal agenda’s. So by the time you start speaking to consumers, you’re so far from what they care about, you may as well just go stand on the street with a sale board around your neck. “This connection to consumers, to society and to cultures – for brands to be a valuable part of their consumer’s lives – is what we help companies achieve.”

One reason why MADE appear to achieve this so effortlessly is down to the way they employ their staff. “We don’t just hire anyone,” says Holtrop. “I don’t want those creatives who are sitting in a box somewhere reflecting on this make-believe world. We, instead, hire people who contribute to the world around them,” he adds. “We hire people who are actively part of the world and creating it.” That’s why if you visit their offices in the Cape Town CBD, you’ll meet an array of musicians, street artists and writers. And one involved in the local witch house movement. “They’re people who understand what we do. We help brands contribute to the world around them.”

For MADE, this is the future of advertising. “If I really want to sell something, I need a connection with my customer. That should be the most valuable thing to me,” points out Holtrop. If businesses want their consumers to choose them, they can’t simply demand their attention, they need to earn it.

For more information on MADE, visit www.made.co.za. Alternatively, connect with them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.