"To these companies, creativity is what counts. They are seeking highly strategic, trend-leading ideas that enable their customers to actually experience their products and services, beyond seeing their ads and hearing their sales pitch," says Morne Fourie, thirtyfour's Head of Consumer and Retail Activation.
“It is paramount for South African marketers to acknowledge that traditional marketing methods are outdated and that we now live in a world that is completely interactive, what with interactive TV, the internet, viral marketing, podcasting, mobizines and blogging, to mention a few of the incredible options. Evolving brands must keep pace with consumers and their ever-changing lifestyles. Today's marketing needs to deliver strategic, channel-neutral solutions to create product demand in the minds of consumers and ultimately deliver sales. It's also about promising liberated thinking to get out of the rut of traditional advertising campaigns,” says Andrea Mitchell, Head of Digital Activation at thirtyfour.
thirtyfour fully acknowledge that brands are no longer owned by companies, but by customers. Therefore the team first listens to what consumers want and then, though a variety of creative strategies, delivers it to them via five different brand activation categories: DIGITAL, DIRECT, RETAIL, EXPERIENTIAL and SPORT.
“The team at thirtyfour have been a revelation for the activation industry. They are an agency that really understand brand activation at consumer level, and have an awesome ability to take brand strategy and convert it into brand activity that drives the brand objectives. thirtyfour have developed unique, innovative and creative solutions across a number of our brands including Castle, Carling Black Label, Sarita and Pilsner Urquell. I am really eager to watch the consumer excitement grow over the next six months as these innovative campaigns start to roll out. I have no doubt that the various brand objectives will be delivered together with the incremental growth that SAB is looking for,” says Grant Hillary, Brand Activations Manager, SAB.
”Brand activation involves neither randomly simplistic nor degree-based, 'try-me or buy-me' techniques, but is sharply defined and targeted. To qualify as true brand activation, it is imperative that a sale is made. No matter if the offer was 'try me' or 'buy me', the consumer or shopper has to either buy into the idea of the product or actually buy the physical product – an interactive process with the end result a 'sale' either way," says Fourie.
