The true definition of ROI: Return on Investment, Ideas, Insight and Innovation
19 Dec 2017
With six successful years under its belt, House of Brave co-founder and ECD Vanessa Pearson shares what makes them a top-five SA agency with first-rate strategic planning and digital effectiveness, as per Scopen's AgencyScope 2017/18. Hint: its all about broadening the traditional industry definition of ROI.
It’s been a year of excellent results from House of Brave. Founded by Andrew Shuttleworth, Rob van Rooyen and Vanessa Pearson, these are three industry entrepreneurs who simply believed in a better way, with their philosophy of being brave proving to be something the entire agency rallies around, as they challenge the status quo with strategic and creative intelligence that integrates neuromarketing principles.
As a result, they were named by Scopen global president and CEO César Vacchiano as one of the independent SA agencies most successfully providing services within the region, especially sub-Saharan Africa, as well as strong position among South African marketers in the inaugural 2016 Scopen AgencyScope study.
This year, House of Brave executive MD and cofounder Andrew Shuttleworth was elected to the Association for Communication and Advertising’s (ACA) board of directors for 2017/2018
They also sponsored Industry Leader of the Year at #FMAdFocus2017, which went to Robyn de Villiers, chairman and CEO of Burson-Marsteller: Africa.
Pearson explains that the agency has sponsored the Industry Leader of the Year for two years in a row, and prior to that, sponsored the New Broom Award as they firmly believe that:
We need to highlight, incentivise and recognise those who are making a fundamental difference to the growth, success and creative thinking that drives our industry.Scopen Agency Scope 2017 further highlighted the courage of House of Brave, with the young agency shown to be strongly perceived as innovative and creative around integration; as well as great strength in using research, understanding client’s business, understanding the consumer and senior managers getting involved in the accounts, having good professional team and being innovative.In addition, Van Rooyen, Pearson and Shuttleworth were named by marketers and agencies as stand-out professionals in the industry and House of Brave proved itself as a top contender in the areas of research, innovation and understanding both the client business and consumer. According to Johanna McDowell, CEO of IAS and partner for Scopen South Africa:
This is high praise from marketers who understand the value of knowledge of this nature intimately.
With 15 TV commercials under our belt in 12 months, and a consolidation of our digital and PR offerings, 2017 has been a jam-packed and fulfilling year. We’re ending with two significant wins, having been awarded the Ascendis Health account, comprising some 40-plus brands; as well as part of the Tiger Brands account, including Perfect Touch, Halls and Roses.
Share the year that was, in light of working with high quality ‘lighthouse brands’ with emotional resonance, in an industry that constantly pushes the need to up your game.
The world of advertising has truly changed and continues to be reframed at a rapid rate. Not only in terms of channels and the growing demand for fully integrated communications agencies with full-service PR and digital offerings, but also in respect to client expectations for effective delivery and a return on every cent of their ad-spend. HOB has, therefore, become entrenched in this sales-related/results-driven culture and has worked hard at understanding the needs of our clients and how every piece of communication can positively impact their bottom line.
Impressive! Let’s touch on the Scopen AgencyScope results in particular, and what it means to be seen as innovative and creative around that current buzzword, ‘integration’.
We are really pleased and proud of our Scopen results. Bearing in mind that HOB is only six years young, to have been featured, prominently, on a list of established agencies making an impact on the advertising and communications landscape, is quite an accolade. At Brave, we believe that great ideas are never born out of isolation, but integration.
With the rapid evolution of technology and the fast-changing pace at which the world, and in turn, advertising, is advancing, agencies cannot afford not to be at the forefront of innovation if they are to continue delivering effective communication that grows their business.
It is, therefore, a great honour to have been highlighted and recognised in the Scopen report as an innovative agency that delivers creative thinking for our clients. And it is precisely this integration of strategic innovation and creativity that will continue driving our business forward in the future.
Explain your first-rate strategic planning and digital effectiveness in particular.
Great ideas can only be born out of an understanding of the market, our clients’ business, their needs and a truly strategic approach that delivers ROI; in which the ‘I’ stands for investment, insight, ideas and innovation. Our strategic tools and processes are built around creating effectiveness across every touchpoint with our consumers. At the end of the day, if our creative big ideas do not translate into real returns, our work has failed.
In light of this, our strategic hub, led by Rob van Rooyen, focuses on integrating neuromarketing techniques to ensure that when consumers receive information, they interpret it in a way that achieves positive results for our clients.
Why is it so important for HOB to invest in talent and tools to continually improve client satisfaction? Talent and tools are the two things we sell. It’s the dynamic infusion of these that gives life to ideas; ideas that make a difference to people’s lives and our clients’ bottom lines.
We continually need to review our strategic and marketing tools, alongside our talent pool, to ensure that our work is up there with the best and delivers the ideal results for growing both our clients’ businesses as well as our own.
We would like to build on this in 2018, ensuring that we grow at a rate that is right for the business – which essentially means we will continue investing in areas that are growing, like digital and PR; and that we seek opportunities that stretch our capabilities so we can effectively deliver return on investment, ideas, insight and innovation.There’s no doubt your agency has made its mark on the local landscape. Talk us through your aims for the coming year.
While we are very young, we’re driven by competing with the best, and when we pitch, we pride ourselves on the fact that we’re going head to head with big network agencies or those who have been around for longer than 10 years. This is a testament to both the type of talent and clients we have been able to attract to House of Brave.
Lots to look forward to from 2018. Click here for more on House of Brave, and visit their Twitter and Facebook feeds for the latest updates.
About Leigh Andrews
Leigh Andrews AKA the #MilkshakeQueen, is former Editor-in-Chief: Marketing & Media at Bizcommunity.com, with a passion for issues of inclusion, belonging, and of course, gourmet food and drinks! Now follow her travel adventures on YouTube @MidlifeMeander.
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