We’ve Only Just Begun

Is it really possible to become one of Africa’s most respected consultancies in just one year?

Yes, and no.

2017 was an incredible period of growth for Clockwork Media. We went from relative obscurity to the top of the world – recognised in almost every forum as an agency worth watching, an independent powerhouse intent on changing the way PR is perceived in Africa, and indeed across the globe.

What many don’t see is five years of dedicated, passionate foundation building.

This is the story of how we, following our PRISM Large Agency of the Year Award in 2017, refused to rest on our laurels and instead continued to strive towards a much greater goal – redefining what public relations really means.

Modern Magic Formula

What you don’t know can’t hurt you.

In early 2013, two technology journalists with no agency experience – Tom Manners and NicSimmonds, founded Clockwork with a singular goal in mind – don’t follow the pack.

We set about following our own formula –understand the customer, be creative, produce incredible work and share it with the right audiences, in the right places.

In 2017 we took this a step further by adding a data and insights component to our strategy division, a dedicated conceptual team featuring a creative director, copywriter and art director, an interactive team focused on producing digital work on a global scale and an activations team aimed at bringing our concepts to life in the physical realm.

The response from the market has been incredible, resulting in sustained exponential growth.

Here are the key figures:

Revenue and Headcount

Headcount RevenueEnd 2013 8 R3 MillionEnd 2014 20 R12 MillionEnd 2015 39 R27 MillionEnd 2016 79 R40 MillionEnd 2017 98 R59 Million

Traditional offerings like content, video, PR and social have enjoyed continued support while strategy, concept and interactive have exploded – allowing us to bring a more integrated offering to the table.

Overall, Clockwork Media has mushroomed by 2000% in just five years – positioning us in an entirely unique spectrum of growth.

Top 10 Clients

Client RelationshipMicrosoft Global <1 Year Microsoft SA <1 Year NBCUniversal 3-4 YearsLG 1-2 YearsLafarge <1 Year Exxaro <1 Year Tile Africa 2-3 yearsTata Motors 3-4 YearsMimecast 3-4 YearsL’Oreal <1 Year

This year presented some truly incredible opportunities. In May 2017 we defied the odds and won Microsoft’s £1 million per annum global WDG account to run Windows.com, Xbox.comand Surface.com in 46 markets – establishing our 15 strong interactive team and putting us on the map internationally.

Other key wins included LaLiga, Lafarge and Exxaro – PR relationships that have blossomed into through-the-line accounts for the agency.

Putting Transformation First

Transformation has always been a key mandate. In 2016, we were required to formally qualify for BBBEE for the first time –having exceeded the EME turnover threshold in 2015.

At the time of our PRISM Large Agency of the Year award in early 2017 we had achieved a Level 6 QSE qualification, intending to improve to a Level 4 in the next period.

We are proud to say that we exceeded that target in achieving a score of Level 2 in June 2017.

This required a focused effort on expanding our graduate programme – which gave six students the opportunity to broaden their horizons at the Red and Yellow Academy and benefit from paid placement within the agency.

We also supported several black females in furthering their studies through The Clockwork Media Trust, which holds 10% equity in the agency, worked with a number of NGOs on a pro bono basis and reviewed our supplier list to include only Level 1 black owned small enterprise businesses.

Staff Turnover

Our staff turnover in 2017 was 21% - down from 28% in 2016 and 31% in 2015. In 2018, we anticipate continued decline through an ongoing focus on refined systems, building a strong culture and nurturing professional growth.

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Our Leadership Team

Tom Manners Managing Director

Tom founded Clockwork Media with Nic Simmonds and focuses on new business, finance, strategy and marketing.

Nic SimmondsExecutive Director

Nic founded Clockwork Media with Tom Manners and focuses on client services and operations.

Monica van der SpuyPR Business Unit Director

Formerly of Marcus Brewster PR, Cerebra and Ogilvy, Monica manages our PR division.

Lynne KrawchukDigital Business Unit Director

Former General Manager at NXT, Lynne manages our social and digital business division.

Marc de la QuerraProduction Business Unit Director

A former freelance stalwart –Marc has been with the agency since 2013 and manages our production creative divisions.

Emilia BrooksOperations Director

Former operations director at Aqua – Emiilia manages our ops division, overseeing traffic, finance, marketing, internal reporting and HR.

Ciaran BurnandInteractive Business Unit Director

Former head of project management and technical lead at Wunderman, Ciaran is responsible for managing our Interactive division, which oversees our global Microsoft WDG business.

Lisa CohnStrategy Business Unit Director

Formerly of Wunderman, Lisa is an experience brand strategist who oversees our strategy, research and insights division.

Think, Create, Make and Share

Today our offering is divided into four key streams: Strategy and Data, Concept, Production and Dissemination.

If 2016 was the year that our agency came into its own, then 2017 saw us take it a step further with a deeper service offering focused on research driven planning and strong creative, integrated work.

Think

Our research and data team – arguably the first of its kind in the local industry went from strength to strength in 2017.

With the introduction of Lisa Cohn as Business Unit Director, our work generated significant impact within our client’s businesses while constantly informing our approach as an agency.

Notable Work

We spent the latter half of 2017 re-defining the Alienware brand for Dell through data analyses and research.

After a decade of strong sales in the gaming notebook business, competition started to intensify resulting in lost market share for Dell.

To combat this, we embarked on an extensive research project featuring in person, telephonic and focus group surveys and data analyses culminating in a fresh local strategy for the brand.

This has influenced the way Dell perceives its own product in the South African market and will heavily impact its retail strategy in 2018.

Other notable work included reviewing IQ Business’s brand messaging, including the development of a change management strategy for the 1000 strong consultancy’s internal culture.

Create

2017 saw us invest in our creative muscle through the establishment of a standalone conceptual team featuring Creative Director, Lize Du Plessis, an art director and copywriter.

This trio is focused solely on translating the insights uncovered in our strategy work into unique and memorable creative concepts that can live across all channels, bolstering our PR and digital efforts while giving us access to new mediums such as radio and TV.

Notable Work

This team was instrumental in conceptualisingthe idea behind our dotsure.co.za ‘Doggy Day’ campaign, which saw us break the Guinness World Record™ for The Most Dogs Gathered in One Place Wearing Bandanas.

The campaign was unique, memorable and effective, generating significant amounts of coverage for our client while also delivering a 50% uptick in annual sales.

For Microsoft South Africa, our ‘Enter the Microsoft Age’ concept playfully outlined just how far we’ve come since the days of typewriters and telegrams while our ‘One Day to Day One’ concept focused on outlining out the company’s Azure offering is changing the lives of ordinary South Africans.

In 2018 this campaign will traverse the African continent outlining tangible examples of how newly established data centres are impacting small, medium and large businesses at every level.

Make

Our production team continued to expand in size and skill in 2017, building on our video, animation, editorial and illustration capacity.

At 38 strong, this beating heart of the agency has overseen the launch of L’Oreal’s content marketing efforts for ethnic hair on the African continent, television commercials for Tile Africa, radio ads for Lafarge and websites for Microsoft and Exxaro.

Notable Work

In late 2017 the team were responsible for producing Tile Africa’s ‘More Than’ national campaign. This included a television commercial, radio ads, outdoor, retail, social and PR components.

The effort was a massive success – boosting annual sales significantly while establishing Tile Africa’s Design Advisor service.

Share

Our dissemination team – which includes PR, social and digital, interactive and activations grew significantly in 2017 with the onboarding of several key clients including Microsoft Global, Exxaro and Lafarge.

These talented individuals are responsible for sharing the strategy, creative concepts and production work we create with the right audiences, at the right time.

Notable Work

This year saw us continue our relationship with NBCUniversal through the launch of E! Entertainment’s The Search and How Do I Look properties – two massive campaigns that exceeded expectations in terms of PR coverage and social media response.

We were also responsible for launching Microsoft’s Xbox relationship with Real Madrid in 11 key markets, resulting in a massive 20% game purchase click through on over 40 000 page hits. They key art for the campaign, which we created, was also used in Microsoft UK’s outdoor advertising.

Keep

It’s been an incredible year for Clockwork Media.

We believe that our ongoing success can be attributed to a refusal to do things by the book. In constantly pushing the boundaries of what a PR agency can be, and what PR is, we have carved a unique position for ourselves within an ever evolving market. [599 Words Excluding Captions]