#BehindtheSelfie with... Andrew Brand

On their AdFocus win, Brand says:

Retail advertising is demanding, volume-driven and fast-paced, and delivers instant results. You see the success of your work almost instantly in your client’s sales, and if it doesn’t deliver the expected results, you have to work quickly to turn it around.

Checkers has been with us from our inception and we are privileged that, eight years later, our relationship is as strong as ever. To work with clients as smart and committed as the Shoprite Group is a privilege that we don’t take lightly.

Our reason for being is to serve our clients and deliver value to them every day, so being acknowledged like this, with an award that recognises our collective achievements, is incredibly rewarding and one of our most treasured accomplishments.

One of these is Brand in real life…

1. Where do you live, work and play?

Live: Plattekloof; Work: Cape Town/JHB /Lusaka; Play?

No small change: 99c opens Zambian branch

Ninety9cents  8 Jul 2016

2. What’s your claim to fame?

Reigning Spur Surfabout Burger-Eating Champion (2007).

Ninety9cents awarded Spur Steak Ranches

Ninety9cents  18 Oct 2017

3. Describe your career so far.

Just getting started...

Thrilled to win #PartnershipOfTheYear at the @FMAdFocus with our day one, @CheckersSA! ��#FMAdFocus2017 pic.twitter.com/CPPzxpYPkg

— 99c (@99c_CT) November 22, 2017

My wife and kids, my colleagues, my clients, our flag, cappuccino, Islay whisky, wooded Chardonnay, horse-racing, Southampton FC, Stormers/WP/all of our national teams, braais, low-score golf rounds, journalists who expose corruption, happy clients with growing market share.

5. What do you love about your industry?

The undying commitment to create under pressure and against all odds.

6. Describe your average workday, if such a thing exists.

There is no such thing – if any two of my days look the same, I’m missing something.

7. What are the tools of your trade?

My brain, my ancient 17” MacBook Pro (why, oh why, did they discontinue them?), my iPad Pro with its overused pencil (that always finds the worst time to run out of charge).

8. Who is getting it right in your industry?

Depends what you mean by “getting it right”...

9. List a few pain points the industry can improve on.

• Attract more diversity.
• Care more about our client’s interests than our own.
• Be more honest and transparent.
• Try to make a difference.

10. What are you working on right now?
Completing my #BehindTheSelfie questionnaire!

11. Tell us some of the buzzwords floating around in your industry at the moment, and some of the catchphrases you utter yourself.

• Big Data (Big BS)
• AI (Excited that it’s happening, but sometimes wish we first sort out our own human intelligence before focusing on the artificial type)
• Programmatic (Genius idea, not-so-honest execution)
• My own catchphrase? I love how the word “apropos” sounds...

12. Where and when do you have your best ideas?
If I had a time and place, I’d be wherever it was at the same time every day.

13. What’s your secret talent/party trick?

For a large man, I can Ninja Bomb with the best!

14. Are you a technophobe or a technophile?

I have a lot of things with microchips in them.

15. What would we find if we scrolled through your phone?

Too many apps I never use; screenshots of my kids’ Minecraft and Pokémon Go achievements.

16. What advice would you give to newbies hoping to crack into the industry?

• Attitude trumps experience
• Clients are our reason for being, not our opportunity for excuses
• Be professional
• Don’t be an asshole

Simple as that. Visit the Ninety9C press office for their latest news, click here for more on Brand, and interact with Ninety9C on the following social media platforms: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram.

*Interviewed by Leigh Andrews.