At the just-ended Uganda Creative and Media Awards (Silverback Awards), TBWA\Uganda won seven out of the thirteen open-for-contest award categories- Agency of the year, Brand of the year, Campaign of the year, Best TV Ad of the year, Best Creative Director, Best Copywriter and Best Art Director. Albert Mucunguzi, the TBWA\Uganda Chief Operating Officer, spoke to CEO East Africa Magazine, about the disruptive process behind some of Uganda’s most outstanding communication campaigns.
TBWA Uganda and TBWA Worldwide identify as The Disruption Company. What exactly is this about?
When we say we are The Disruption Company, we mean that we generally don’t follow convention. “Convention” is what is going on in the market and what the market is currently doing. The status quo. But we look at the status quo and we try to overturn it; it’s like fitting a square peg in a round hole. We identify triggers that are driving conversations and are rooted in culture, and we leverage them to create disruptive or nuanced campaigns for our clients.
Looking at the advertising agency industry landscape, what would you say is your competitive advantage? What are some of the things that you do better than your peers?
First, you have to understand what we do. We are a creative agency. Our lead output channel is digital but we also do production, media, events, public relations, and strategy. Our strength lies in the ability to get one bespoke big idea and get it to market across all those channels I have spoken about in an integrated way.
One of the most critical ingredients of our current success is a very strong team. I believe we’re quite strong across the various disciplines but specifically in Creative and Digital.
Speaking of digital and looking at the industry, the advertising industry and the consumers are all moving – to a large extent digital platforms. How is TBWA adjusting itself, to future-proof the business?
We are known for sparing no effort to stay ahead of the curve. We do that through training, and continuous professional development for our staff, and teams. We also try to be innovative – in not just the way we communicate but also in what informs what we communicate.
And that is where data comes in. We are setting up a new business unit for data, just so we get more insights into the data that we get in contact with – either through research or through campaign execution. We will be learning from our own campaigns- the processes – as well as the market responses and actions, such as patterns of purchase. We try and learn as much as possible – even as we work, because it is only when we learn and unlearn, that we can get better in a sector or in the field that is as fast-changing as digital and advertising on the whole.
Over time, we have seen a certain degree of business that used to be with agencies, revert to the client’s in-house communications and marketing departments. I bet out there, someone is asking themselves, if, in this fast and furious digital era, they still need an advertising agency. Why do agencies still need to use advertising agencies?
True there are a lot of movements in the industry and yes, different organisations are adjusting their models, but what hasn’t changed is the principle – letting or deploying resources to an area where you have expertise. If you are good at marketing, then do marketing. If you are good at brewing or selling beer, you invest your resources in that.
Agencies like ours are specialists in creating messaging that influences the perceptions and buying decisions of customers – and that’s the value they bring to clients.
Working with an agency gives you creativity, that peace of mind as a client to focus on creating the right products and solutions for the market and being able to disrupt the market at the same time. Your ad agency is your full-time independent creativity machine.
It has often been said that every agency is as good as its people. What is TBWA’s people strategy and do the recent wins, especially for your people say something about this strategy?
We operate under four pillars – our core values, if you may:
One is humanity. We make sure that the work – and our entire existence our existence, has an impact on the people that we interface with. That means people who are involved in the work, and people who see the work. We always ask ourselves – does the work we do, connect with the people whom we intend to see it? Does it leave a positive difference on the people who are involved in the work? Are they happy? Are they growing, etc.,
Number two is agility. The agency world is very difficult to work in – because you just never know when the next crisis comes up and you’re required to swing into action. That is the nature of our field. So it is always important to ensure we prepare our people to be agile enough; to stay sane in the fast lane. Are we able to establish processes that allow us to, in some cases, bend over backwards, while at the same time, taking care of the people who are bending over backwards? Are we able to answer a request from a client at midnight, if it is very core to their business, even though it is midnight as opposed to saying no, we will talk to you in the morning? For example, one of our clients had their Twitter account hacked and unpleasant content placed there and they reached out at 03 am. So the question is, are we able to respond at 03 am? And the answer is yes. That is the agility that we drive.
Pillar Number 3 is Data; data-led decision-making. Making sure that we are collecting and learning from data as much as possible and then using the insights drawn from the data in the execution.
The final pillar is Disruption. We try not to do work that’s similar to the convention. I spoke about this earlier. I think the example we usually use is Dick Fosbury, who at the 1968 Mexico City Olympic Games revolutionised the high jump with a back-layout style. The convention at that time was jumping legs first, until wet over the bar, head first and achieved more height. From that time, he disrupted the high jump and now that is the convention. The next person to disrupt the jump will have to discover how to achieve more height with a – I don’t know what trick. So, in doing our work, our starting point is always the convention and then we work towards defying and or changing it.
TBWA Uganda is part of the wider TBWA Worldwide universe. In a world where increasingly local insights and knowledge are being emphasised, is it still important to be a global agency?
I think it makes us supercharged. We have access to all these minds and tools from across the globe.
Sometimes, it helps to start with an existing tool and use it to make your thinking process and your work better. Being part of TBWA Worldwide gives us access to tools, and case studies from other markets which helps us to build on great work out there, as well as avoid mistakes. It gives us immense power and keeps us supercharged- from the process point of view.
From the business point of view, it is also vital, because, let’s face it, we are in the part of the world where some of the biggest decisions that could affect our industry and or business are not made. So it helps when you have a presence in some of the world’s decision-making capitals, especially at a time when some of the global brands are seeking to harmonise their global communications. So from a business point of view, it makes sense to be associated with a network that is as big as TBWA Worldwide.
From a career-guidance perspective, there is someone out there finishing school and wants to join advertising. Seeing TBWA win 7 awards could have inspired them to want to join you- but they are probably wondering, what they need to study to be able to join the advertising world. What crazy things does one need to study to become an Ad man?
I think any specific answer to that question would be anti-disruption. The conventional answer would be any course related to communication, such as journalism, marketing, or business. But Disruption is when you have a Managing Director who is a pharmacist, which is our case, or a Chief Operating Officer, who is a Statistician with a strong passion for IT, in my case. So we don’t think in straight lines. Whenever there is an opening, we look at the merits and demerits of all the candidates that we receive.
We have received interns who have studied all sorts of programs and sharpened them into the best Ad men. One of our most successful interns studied Political Communication in Cape Town, and now she is in a senior position. So, I wouldn’t set a convention on how to get in. It is more about your passion than what you studied before joining.
Lastly, about sweeping the awards and disrupting the inaugural Silverback Awards- beyond the bragging rights, how important is it to you and the business?
It is very great that we won. We are delighted that we have been recognized, but not necessarily surprised, because the work we have done over the years, has really defined the industry. That said, winning challenges us, now that there is a formal platform where our work will be judged against that of our peers. It is a challenge to remain on top of our game – which is a good thing. But yes, the win came at a good time because, over the last few years, we have really put in our best to create some ground-breaking work.