14 Aug BWD August Newsletter Featuring Wayde van Niekerk
Good morning Vuyelwa,
Ultimately, we’re all in business for the same reason… growth. Growth of profit, growth of our people and growth of our clients.
But consistent growth is becoming an increasingly elusive concept. It is for this reason that we at BWD appointed a full time growth hacker. The purpose of a growth hacker is to place marketing data under a microscope – to find the most effective ways to grow your business.
We started building up to this milestone last year already, by creating our own marketing ‘data warehouse’ – to track and record all our marketing related statistics. The rationale behind it is simple… if you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.
Having a dedicated growth hacker has the added advantage that it empowers management to make informed strategic decisions – that are based on actual data. As a result, you have less variables and more predictable outcomes. Plus you’re more likely to yield a return on your marketing investment – much faster. Bonus right?
In June we were part of an awesome project. We assisted the international company T-Systems with the launch Un-Outsourcer. Un-Outsourcer is a revolutionary way of outsourcing huge IT contracts. It challenges the industry by transferring risk from the customer – to the service provider.
This is done by giving the client an easy ‘out’, should the service provider not live up to the agreed service levels. It also pushes service providers to deliver. We expect that Un-Outsourcer will mark a historic milestone in the history of the IT arena. And we’re humbled by the fact that we formed part of it. An added advantage of this cool project – was that I got to snap a selfie with the 400m World Champion Wayde van Niekerk, a South African track and field sprinter who is sponsored by T-Systems. Check it out…
We also assisted Statistics South Africa in the launch of the 2016 community survey results. This is the biggest research project that Stats SA has conducted outside of the census to date. Its objective is to help bureaucrats plan for service delivery, infrastructure development and so forth. It will also direct government policymakers to conduct targeted interventions.
The launch of the event was broadcast on live TV. Of course the hype around the event presented even more selfie opportunities ;). Unfortunately, I did not get a chance to take pics with his Honorable Minister in the presidency Jeff Radebe and Statistician General Pali Lehohla.
We also have a semi-celeb amongst ourselves. Our colleague, the awarding- winning designer Zweli Gamede delivered a talk at the esteemed Digital Economy Conference. The event took place at Monte Casino on the 22nd of July 2016.
An interesting fact that surfaced from the StatsSA survey results – is that unemployment remains of the biggest challenges facing the youth of South Africa. The Mahikeng Mail recently also wrote an article about the issue and mentioned how some entrepreneurs are addressing it. BWD was one of the entrepreneurial companies that were referred to.
Based on the great feedback we got from the initiative in 2015, we had our Graduate Development Programme again during the June holidays. The programme serves to help some members of our youth get exposure to the working world. These are the young aspiring professionals who joined us:
John-dean Ashton – Designer – University of Pretoria
Edmond Hlophe – Copywriter – Vega
Nicola Graves – Strategist – University of Johannesburg
Mlungisi Kunene – Designer – Design School of South Africa
Erica Teng – Designer – Design School of South Africa
Sabelo Sibisi – Designer – Design School of South Africa
Nompumelelo Mdluli – Designer – Design School of South Africa
Nikita Lalita Garagh – Video Animator – AFDA
Nikita directed the shooting of the video diaries that the interns created. You can take a look here.
In hindsight, we managed to grow our company a little, grow ourselves a little, and grow others a little. Most importantly, we trust that we helped you grow a little. If we haven’t – please let us know so that we can change that.
Bongani Gosa
Creative Director
Email: bongani@bwdadvertising.co.za
Phone: 011 321 0193