TBWA\ Hunt Lascaris gives international business students an eye-opener

Dris Naidoo, New Business Director of TBWA\ Hunt Lascaris Johannesburg recently welcomed 30 American MBA and under-graduate students from Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey to a half-day workshop at the agency in Sandton, Johannesburg. The delegates were given a taste of TBWA\ proprietary tools put into practice in the South African environment.

According to Rory Maradonna, Associate Vice President of Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, "The tour was initiated when the University's MBA course changed its focus to include a business section that concentrated on advertising. TBWA\ Hunt Lascaris was selected as a visiting site for their 'Abroad Business Programme' to South Africa because of their standing in the industry. Aside from the numerous awards and their connection with the TBWA network - who have the accolade for 'Advertising Agency of the Century – we were very keen to learn more about their concept of "Afro"-Disruption.

The workshop elaborated on TBWA\ proprietary tools of Disruption, Idea Fusion and Connections which are being hailed as breakthrough concepts in the industry creating new agency-led marketing services and creativity that works. A number of client case studies were explored including those of the ANC (During election days), ICC (During the Cricket World Cup 2003), Sea Harvest (One of the first brands in the world to make use of Connections Planning) and Nando's (A cheeky brand with an irreverent and entertaining approach to advertising).

Dris reported that "the feedback was excellent. The students and the chaperoning professors all felt that the workshop was a real 'eye-opener' in terms of approaching creativity in advertising for world-class results".