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On a mission to bring the Post Office to... |
Hunt steps into Hall of Fame
The SA advertising pioneer has been recognised by his peers and rivals, writes JULIE WALKER
Hunt is the second recipient, and the first still to be engaged in the advertising business. Hunt Lascaris TBWA, which was launched 15 years ago by Hunt and partner Reg Lascaris with a single client, is the second-largest agency in the country in terms of billings with about R450-million worth of accounts on its books. The first client was Kelly Girl, followed by Big Jack Pies. "It was hard to forecast great things from that beginning," says Hunt. "We had no office and made our first client presentation out of a car boot." Since then, Hunt Lascaris has outgrown its offices several times and is currently enlarging its Weirda Road, Sandton, premises. "Five years ago when we moved here, we filled only two-thirds of the building and worried that we had made a costly mistake. We have subsequently taken over the adjacent building as we now employ 350." Today's clients cover a diverse spectrum such as BMW, Standard Bank, Edgars and Nando's, and even the ANC in its 1994 election campaign. "We live with a lot of different cultures," notes Hunt. The company's vision is to be the first world-class communications group to come out of Africa - a target it already achieved: three years ago Hunt Lascaris was voted the world's best agency by America's advertising fraternity. "Awards are only benchmarks," says Hunt. "In this business it really is true that you are only as good as your last advert. Past success is no judge of future success and you can't coast on it. The pace of technological change - Internet, interactive, international, multinational - means a business has to keep changing."
Hunt Lascaris saw a gap in South Africa's media infrastructure and established a public relations company in conjunction with Welcome Msomi, who is now to head Sasani Investments. "Welcome organised the events leading to the presidential inauguration in 1994 and we have since built up Msomi Hunt Lascaris into a 15-strong team."
The title of creative director fits Hunt perfectly. "We have to create original ideas to sell products. Advertising must be relevant: that's the easy part. What is creative is putting forward what people already know, yet in an unexpected way. The product then moves." Hunt says advertising is only one part of the business process. Poor performance could be due to a number of issues such as pricing, availability, management and so on. Telling this to a client can result in losing the business, but Hunt is pragmatic: good clients stay.
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