The Spirit of giving...

With the festive season approaching and the office parties flying thick and fast, we at Universal McCann would like to invite you to consider the following:

Many companies have issued directives and instructions that functions occurring at this time of year be referred to as "End of Year Functions" as opposed to "Christmas Parties". This is of course perfectly acceptable and it is in keeping with our cultural and spiritual diversity.

The caveat to this is that it becomes all too easy to marginalise a common thread that runs through all our cultures and spiritual leanings:

"Goodwill to others"

South Africa abounds with those less fortunate than ourselves. Poverty is rife, AIDS is becoming a pandemic of biblical proportions, and illness strikes irrespective of race, religion, gender or station.

It is with this in mind that we have unanimously decided to forgo our traditional UM "End of Year" gathering and channel the apportioned budget to something far more meaningful.

Innitiated by Nazeer Suliman and in conjunction with KFM we are helping a gravely ill young girl; her name is Wanita. Wanita is 13 years old and suffers from Metachromatic Leukodystrophy (MLD). By all accounts this is a truly horrible disease which slowly destroys the white matter of the brain and myelin cells in the body.

Wanita becomes tired very easily and even simple things like eating with a knife and fork or brushing her hair are serious challenges that are often too much for her.
All Wanita has ever wanted is a Television in her room for when she gets too tired.

We have granted Wanita's wish and provided her with a Television, a DVD player, and a DVD library. Our hopes and prayers are also with her and her family that she might overcome this awful affliction.

We are also going on a mission to buy toys for the children of Saint Mary's Children's Hospital.

We challenge all of to look to others less fortunate, to find a noble cause and to champion it. Join us in not merely thinking about those less fortunate than ourselves, but actually stepping up and doing something about it.

Spread the word within your department and tell your clients!! We look forward to hearing about what you are going to do for those in need.

Together we can make a difference this Festive Season.

Company Team Build - 18 October 2007

As Thursday the 18^th of October dawned with a clear and warm sunrise, McCannites across Jo’burg donned their colourful T-shirts, representing their team allocation for the day, and made their way to the Kyalami Function Venue.

The activity for the day was Art-Jamming – each team receiving a selection of designs and blank canvas tiles on which to etch and paint these designs. The tiles (all 56 of them), when placed together, created the Masterpiece (which now hangs in reception – no one can accuse us of not showing pride in our creative work). So what’s the catch in this seemingly simple exercise? No-one (besides Wim Spronk the mastermind Creative behind the Masterpiece) has seen the big picture and the segments were allocated randomly to the teams, with no team having received two adjacent pieces.

Without collaboration, integration and a dash of inspiration, the task would be impossible. After a half hour spent trying to figure it out in isolation, the teams came to the rapid realization that, unless they started sharing information, lining up their individual tiles with each other, and working hand-in-hand, the Masterpiece would become a Disaster-piece.

With the initially divided colours working in tight huddles around their tables, the venue was soon awash with a palette of bright t-shirts dashing around in excitement and eagerness. Competitive whispers were replaced with urgent echoes across the room and gleeful whoops when the right team with the needed information was located.

Three hours later, with the final brushes of paint having been made, it was time for the Masterpiece to be assembled. With the colourful tiles laid together, the segmented and somewhat meaningless pieces came to life. The big picture was revealed! A rare moment of silence prevailed as the realization hit home that the whole is greater the sum of its parts.

In true McCann style, the success of the morning’s activity was celebrated until well into the evening. Between fun soccer, extremely competitive volley ball and rhythmic (and some not so rhythmic) dancing, the McCannites spent some well-deserved time having fun in the comfort of friends.

Yet there is a moral to every good tale, so here’s a summary of the lessons of the day.

Collaboration, “the act of working together with one or more people in order to achieve something”, synonyms are “teamwork, partnership, group effort, association and alliance”.

Integration, “the process of coordinating separate elements into a balanced whole”, synonyms are “addition, mixing, incorporation, combination, amalgamation and assimilation”.

What does this mean to us? We are all loyal bearers of the logos of our three operating companies. But, without collaboration and integration we will never achieve the potential masterpiece that McCann Worldgroup South Africa holds for us all.

We must work together towards the goal, the masterpiece, and the promise of McCann Worldgroup South Africa as a seamless operating company.

And what is the goal, the big picture for McCann Worldgroup South Africa moving into 2008 and the future beyond that? Watch this space! As we perfect the art of pulling together as a force to be reckoned with in this industry, this market and this region, the big picture will soon be revealed by end of year.

That dash of inspiration? Each of us needs to be accountable and committed to working together in ways, manners and behaviours that keep all of enthused and inspired! McCann Worldgroup SA is demonstrably greater than the sum of the individual disciplines.

So here’s to the future, the fun and the ultimate success that each of us individuals play in this greater picture.

McCann Worldgroup People News

We have been asking you to send us your news bits and pieces on a monthly basis for the staff meeting. We would like to know:

• Who's getting born
• Who's having a birthday
• Who's getting married
• Who's recently single
• What's happening in general around the building

The following juicy tales were received for the last staff meeting held on 17 August 2007 :D

• On 3 August the offices were flooded ... Lance showed off his pretty feet; many other people also helped by getting their feet wet by sweeping water out of offices and boardrooms. Now the UM bar will take longer to complete :(
  

• SUE Rooney is having a baby in September.

• MANDY Waddington will be giving birth to little Isla Plum Waddington mid December 2007

• JANE Simpson got a new puppy on the 18th - Enzo Chase Simpson

• ARCHIE Masebe and MPUMI Mthembu recently paid labola!!!!!!!

• DAVID Selikow stopped smoking - congratulations!

• DEE Hufkie, TRACY Doye & JANE Simpson has been unsuccessful in their non-smoking attempts :(

• DICHABA Phalatse just bought a new car - happy travels! :D

• SALLY Makgopa ordered her new car from GM - so proud of her a brand loyalty ;)

• ANTHEA Weldon is getting married on 29 September

• PAULINE Cindi will be celebrating the big "50" on 15 November

• CHRIS Potter is getting married on 8th December
  

An Introduction to McCann Worldgroup Solutions

Staff Meeting 17 August 2007

In the past all service divisions were housed under Herdbuoys McCann Erickson. With the announcement of McCann Worldgroup SA, this is what the structure now looks like.


The solutions provided are:

• Executive Group Management
• Finance
• Information Technology
• Human Resources
• Facilities Management & Office Administration
• New Business & Public Relations

Our aim is to:

• be the best solutions provider to any advertising / media group in South Africa
• be the employer of choice
• offer best practice / be trend setters
• become strategic business partners to you, our clients

Our key differentiators are passion and knowledge.

How do we plan to get there? ONE STEP AT A TIME! And by building bridges and relationships with internal clients and suppliers.

Some initiatives for the next six months are:

• Finance: Implementation of the Navision operating system
• Facilities & Admin: Office refurbishments & new telephone system
  
• IT: Office 2007 for PC's & Adobe Creative Suite 3 for creatives
• PR: Intellectual Property Seminar
• HR: Company Teambuild end September & Performance based increases in April 2008

And to prove our slogan "Service with a Smile!" ... the team dressed up as waiters and served those who attended the staff meeting :D

"grrrrr .. I'm struggling to upload pictures! grrrr .. I will try again tomorrow :D"

McCann Worldgroup welcomes ...

McCann Erickson appoints MD

McCann Worldgroup’s plans to become South Africa’s leading communications company were boosted today with news of the appointment of Andrew Shuttleworth as its new Managing Director, effective from 1^st October 2007.

"As we restructure McCann Erickson to meet the increasing needs of our clients and the growth opportunities ahead of us, we conducted an extensive search to find an individual who could partner with the agency's senior players to achieve our agenda", said Martin Hummel, Group Chief Executive for McCann Worldgroup South Africa. "Andrew is our guy. He's young, bright, energetic, driven and a natural leader. He understands our business and has a track record that will bear fruit for McCann. Andrew brings with him a wealth of knowledge and experience, a sense of humour and a healthy perspective of this industry...essential ingredients for success. We're absolutely delighted that Andrew is joining us as Managing Director of McCann Erickson."

Andrew joins McCann Erickson from Grey Worldwide where he has been at the helm of its operations in Africa since 2001. “I believe that McCann Erickson has all the ingredients to be one of the top agencies in South Africa within the next few years. This is a challenge which I am looking forward to achieving together with McCann’s talented team who offer a wealth of experience and a fresh approach.” says Andrew Shuttleworth.

In the last few months since McCann Worldgroup announced Zwelakhe Sisulu’s partnership in McCann Worldgroup South Africa, the agency has entered a new era. Under the leadership of Martin Hummel the Agency made significant strides in positioning itself as a world-class communications solution to local and international clients. In addition, a number of dynamic, experienced and innovative executives have joined the McCann family, bringing with them not only their expertise but a new energy that compliments the Agency’s direction.

Beauty (In the Eye of the Beholder)

So what do YOU reckon?



This logo was designed for London's Olympic bid in 2012 and launched in London during the early days of June 2007. If you've seen it, continue reading, if not, have a good look at it before forging ahead into this post.

The company responsible for the design is Wolff Olins - www.wolffolins.com - who claim to be "the world's most influential brand business". They are BEEG players in the design world (globally) and have an exceptionally high pedigree of work including Orange, Tate and Renault. I'll leave you to explore their website in your own time. (And when I find the time again, I'll post something on Orange - which is a fascinating case study in itself, but I digress...)

The emblem, which will be available in pink (is this a fairly obvious attempt to be completely PC, I wonder?), blue, green and orange, is supposed to answer the awfully simple brief of "raising awareness of both itself (the logo) and the Games".

At first glance it looks like something a 12 year-old doodled in his notebook during a maths class. It also seems, well, rather ugly, but having said this, what I can't stop wondering is how on earth a company like this designed something like that. Were they smoking their socks, did the client design this in his notebook during his maths class OR, are we all just being a little short-sighted and afraid of the new, the different or even the future itself?

Having had these questions floating around in my brain archives since June you can imagine my absolute delight when I recently stumpled (quite literally, but that's another story) across an article that claims to "tune out the noise and examine the arguments for and against the London logo". The point I'm hoping to make by sharing this with you is that if we really believe that something we have done actually does the job properly, we should stand by the strength of our own conviction. Alternatively, that we should not allow our clients to do our jobs, and finally because like it or not, the fact that it even exists raises some interesting questions about the future of our business.

And so, I share with you the following snippets from the latest copy of Creative Review.

The positives (yes, I was also surprised!):

1. The Shock of the New. Anything that is genuinely orginal is met with almost universal condemnation at the outset.
2. The Only Thing Worse Than Being Talked About. If the primary task of this logo is to raise awareness of the Games then it's done its job. If you ask just about anyone in London, they would have seen the logo which is not something you could say about most logo's that are a mere 2 months old.
3. IT'S #%$!ing EXPENSIVE. The client paid the princely sum of 400 000 GBP's for the logo (folks, that's 5.6 million SAR). This means that we can charge clients at least 2 bar for a corporate id and once they've picked themselves off the floor, we'll simply cite the London logo as an example!
4. It Works Because - it's not boring, it's different, it's reproducible, it's the basis for a graphic design system, it's timeless, it's English, it's simple, it's unexpected.
5. It Represents the Birth of the Anti-Logo - (and watch this space for more about anti-branding)

The negatives (prepare yourself!):

1. A "puerile mess". It's an inelegant, crude, misconceived and misguided attempt to be down with the kids that opens up worldwide ridicule of the UK design industry.
2. It Doesn't Work Because - people hate it, it'll date too quickly, they won't wear it, it's trying to do too much, it's painful, it's ugly
3. The Brand Bubble Bursts. Lets face it, we've all been fed quasi-religious mumbo jumbo about the power of brands and the unique insight into their operation possessed by the likes of Wolff Olins. In the face of such spectacular failure, will the message be "cut the @#%!"?

So there you have it, and I hope it's made you think about things a little. If you want to know more, visit this site www.creativereview.co.uk/crblog.

Until the next time, I wish you peace, love and understanding.

Yours in arms,

Peta Ratt

Die Zoode Komedie Vry-dag

McCann Hosts Learners from Mafori Maphehlele High School,

Five years ago Cell C introduced a special day into the school curriculum to help educators provide tools to assist them with knowledge about the world of work, and also with basic skills to enable them to face their futures with confidence.
With this in mind, it was time to take a girl child to work again and this year, the team at the McCann Worldgroup wanted to give extra purpose to the day by motivating and inspiring girl children through empowering activities that will get them one step closer to achieving their goals and ambitions.
McCann WorldGroup decided that they wanted to empower the girl child with a clear knowledge and understanding of how the creative processes work in advertising agencies – and for each girl who participated to walk away with the knowledge that her individual talent has a home and place in the advertising world at McCann. On Thursday 24 May 2007, McCann Worldgroup hosted 20 girl learners from Mafori Maphahlele High School in Soweto and 5 additional learners from neighbouring schools. The girls ranged from 16 to 18 years of age (Grades 10 to 12) and were all hand-picked to participate in the day.

Representatives from all the major areas of business within McCann were invited to come and speak to the girls about their areas of expertise. The girls got an insight to the dynamic world of McCann Erickson, Momentum McCann and Universal McCann. They gained relevant information about possible lines of study and the honest highs and lows of the world of work.


Splitting up into groups, the girls were taken on a tour around the company, visiting and witnessing first-hand the departments and work that they had just heard about. It was an opportunity for them to ask more specific questions of the experts at work. Thereafter, the girls were then given an assignment. They were provided with sample lipsticks from one of McCann WorldGroup’s cosmetic clients (L’Oreal) and were asked to develop an advertising campaign for either print, radio or TV.

The girls were immediately thrown into the deadline driven and crazy world of advertising and they had to set their creative juices to work. An hour and a half later, the teams presented their campaigns to various staff and management from MWG, including (in their words) the “big big boss” Martin Hummel (Group Chief Executive). Martin encouraged and inspired the learners, giving them detailed commentary on each of their presentations and awarding them each with a personalized certificate of participation. “We will be forming an ongoing relationship with Mafori Maphahlele High School and will be spending more time with their learners again in the future” said Mr. Hummel after the presentations.

2007’s ‘Cell C’s Take a Girl Child To Work’ day at McCann WorldGroup, was a day well spent. This initiative formed part of the ongoing search for new talent, which the McCann WorldGroup has undertaken since the announcement of Zwelakhe Sisulu as the Executive Chairman of the group.

THANKS TO OUR ART TRAFFIC ANGLES MCCANN GIVES BACK TO THE COMMUNITY

Our Traffic / Art Buying Department decided to do something worthwhile for the poor and needy and they initiated a collection at the office. They convinced those of us that wanted to help, to bring in old stuff or to donate money, which was deducted from our salaries.

They successfully collected R 2 500-00, with which they went out and bought blankets (from Pep Stores (R60 each) and soup (Makro).

They delivered it to The Salvation Army in Simmonds Street to be distributed accordingly. The Salvation Army has sent us a beautiful letter of thanks for our generous donation.

It is wonderful when we come together & give back to our community! So here’s a big thanks to our Art Traffic Angels!

They have extended a challenge to us to get chatting to our friends at other agencies and encourage them to do a similar drive. I know that many people at McCann have passed on this challenge of Goodwill. Please keep us posted as to what has happened in the interim...

SOCCER WITH HKLM

On Friday the 25th of May 29, 2007 we had a soccer match with HKLM,
Both teams were prepared, but weren’t prepared for the same thing. The one team
Was prepared to play soccer and the other was just prepared to have fun.

It was good game, even though the score at the end was a big shocker.
None the less we had fun, playing as McCann.

Thanks to Nigel for scoring our only goal (hopefully he is going to score more goals in the games to come).

Thanks to Salome for helping organize the food and drinks, thanks to Lebo and Tracy for helping with the T-Shirt.

The whole idea was to have fun and we did, why.
Because We Cann.

P.

GM TEAM ATTENDS NAMPO AGRICULTURAL CAR SHOW

On the 16th May, the GM team once again ventured out on a day away. This time the destination was the Nampo Argricultural Car Show in Bothaville (just 20 minutes outside of Potchefstroom). We were assured that the journey would take a mixmum of 2hrs traveling at 100km/hr. So off we went with our darling Obed at the wheel of the staff bus. Our schedule was to leave the Agency at 09h00 and be back by 15h00 latest with a couple of hours to spend at the show. In true GM team style, we finally arrived in Ventersdorp at 12h30! Funny that we were in the completely opposite direction to Bothaville. So, it was pies from the OK Bazaars and a sheepish request for directions from a local farmer. Our arrival at our final destination was 13h45!! 4hrs and 45mins to Bothaville – the GM team has set another world record! Feeling totally drained and exhausted we wondered into the show – visited for 10 minutes on the GM stand, glanced at some competitor stands and then realized the only highlights left were tractors and harvestors! We were briefly drawn back into the show by the smell of boerie rolls but the queue of safari suited Eugene Terblanche lookalikes was enough to convince us to get back into our staff bus and head for the nearest Mac Donalds. So our 20 minute tour of Nampo was over and back we traveled to the safety of JHB – arriving at 17h40!!! Exhausted from our days travels.

Special thanks to Obed for his unending patience with us and don’t worry our friend, we’ll cover the speeding fine!!

McCann Worldgroup Office Party

Pause and allow clip to cue to avoid choppy playback. Alternatively, check the Pool drive for the original Hi-Res version!

Let's hear it for Tammy!

Outstanding!

We have a company blog!!
Thanks Tammy for setting this up for us.

Now can IT please let us folks in UM see the pictures?

BEHIND THE SCENES

Go on, you can do it, leave us a juicy or funny story so that we can all share in the humorous events that happen behind the scenes at McCann!

Simply click on the comment tab below!

BRING A GIRL CHILD TO WORK DAY

McCann Worldgroup SA (that’s us) has taken on “Cell C Bring a Girl Child to Work Day” as our CSI (that’s Corporate Social Investment) project for May.


We will be hosting 20 girls from Mofari Mphahlele High School in Soweto. We have the capacity to host 25 girls and thus have spots open for 5 more girls. If you have a daughter, niece, cousin or even if your domestic worker at home has a daughter, between the ages of 16 and 18 (Grades 10 to 12 at school) who would be interested in joining us for the day, please let me know (by no later than the 11th of May).

We will be following a structured programme for the day in an attempt to maximize the value of the experience for the girls – will be sending out details of such in the near future.

It is going to be an exciting and fun-filled day! Everyone’s input and enthusiasm will be a valued imperative in making the day a success.

DO BROADBAND CAMPAIGN

The Telkom shoot was an absolute blast, it was camera’s, stunts, explosions, dancing girls all rolled into one. We had great fun and although it was hard work, it felt like filming in Hollywood.

The shooting began on Saturday the 21st of April with Bond stunts, a free fall jump off a thirty storey building (Very exciting) and a war scene with genuine war uniforms. And of course, the essential dancing girls to finish it off. In conclusion and you will see for yourselves- it was an amazing experience and we are looking forward to viewing the finished commercial. Watch this space!

GETTING TO KNOW OUR CLIENTS

GM Immersion Day

On Saturday 21st April, the GM team was invited to attend a GM Immersion day at Gerotek testing station. It was a wonderful experience with the whole team having the opportunity to test drive all the products including Opel, Chevrolet, Hummer, Isuzu, SAAB and Cadillac. The day started on the 4x4 track, followed by a really cool speed module around the oval and then lots of slipping and sliding around the skid pan. The whole event ended with a wonderful lunch and prize giving and our very own Tracy Doye won the ladies prize for the fasted time around the skid pan (are we surprised?) and our new dude on the block – Archie – won the men’s fastest time. Brad from UM won the fastest men’s time in his group on the skid pan as well. Our very own Martin Hummel was brave enough to attempt the 4x4 track and is now officially entrenched in the rugged life in Africa. Special thanks to all those team members who participated – a great time was had by all.

GM Factory Tour

On Thursday 19th April, the GM team flew down to PE to attend a factory tour. What an amazing experience – it’s difficult to describe the experience of entering a building filled with sheet metal and walking out 2 hours later with a perfectly made car driving off to the wheel alignment bay. It certainly gave us all a whole new perspective on the process of car manufacturing. In true McCann fashion, we went straight out to lunch on the beachfront immediately afterwards and enjoyed a lovely meal with loads of alcohol (thanks to Wim). Needless to say, we travelled home exhausted from a fantastic day away.

UNIVERSAL WON RUNNER-UP AT ADFOCUS AWARDS

At the AdReview awards Universal McCann was announced as the runner-up for the best media agency award. There were 9 of us there (Sue, Brad, Lucretia, Linda, Anthea, Kim and Gareth) along with Lance and Martin.

The awards are based on new business growth, awards won and a media owner survey rating agencies on professionalism, innovation, negotiating ability, transparency and strategic thinking. It’s great news that we were acknowledged in this way and we’d like to take the opportunity to thank all of you who have helped us along this road.

This really sets us in good stead going forward and we have every intention of knocking Nota Bene out of the number 1 slot next year!

HR NEWS

General Staff News

Congratulations to two staff members who both got married last month, Dinah & Michael.

Tamsin finally got her kidney; we wish her the best of health!

Our thoughts are with Lance & Emmanuel & we hope that they get well soon.

Birthdays' in May

Rachel Rantho 05
Emmanuel Tshwagong 17
Kate Alexander 25
Ziani Janse van Rensburg 31


Welcome to our New Starters

Festus (Creative)
Archie (Account Management)
Mpumi (Strategy)
Gape (Account Management – Contractor)
Nikki (Traffic)

Best of Luck to Leavers
We will miss you!

Wendy
Gina
Hadar

FUN MCCANNICS

Upcoming Events

May: Office Party (11th)

Please RSVP to Marisa Louw before 4 May 2007.
Take a Girl Child to Work (24th)

June: Pool Challenge Finals
Soccer with HKLM (1st)

July: Christmas in July

BARUMBA NEWS

Timetable

Barumba open Friday 4 May for lunch only – closed for evening drinks.
Barumba closed altogether on Friday 11 May because of Party. Barumba open as usual from Friday 18 May onwards.

MOMENTUM NEWS

Yes, Yes, Yes! We got Isuzu Trucks and we’ve got it in black and white. Congratulations to the team: Nigel, Hazel, Ian, Wim, Wayne and Sam (freelancer).

It’s been a busy couple of weeks up stairs, with late nights and early mornings. Everyone has been pulling together to get work out for SABC, and we haven’t even had time to celebrate our acquisition of Isuzu trucks. I have to say that this place definitely feels like an advertising agency now, and even though its hard work, there’s a buzz of life!

Some of us were fortunate enough to attend the General Motors Immersion Day, where we got to drive some of their cars. . It was a blast and now we can confidently say that we were among the first people to drive these fabulous rides.

The head of Momentum EMEA Peter McGuiness was here this week to check out what is going on. His purpose is to establish and grow the Momentum business in the region. He was very impressed with the work we are doing, so that’s a thumbs up!

Gina has decided South Africa doesn’t do it for her. She’s going to New Zealand and she’s sold all her stuff so I guess she’s not coming back. I wonder if she’s been keeping up with the cricket. Good luck and hope you enjoy yourself Gina.

If the walls could talk what would they say?
Keep your fingers away from other people’s stuff!