Check out Wunderman's new global identity

Wunderman celebrates 50 years in business in 2008, and to celebrate this milestone, the network has launched a new corporate identity.

Have a look at the new Wunderman look on the global website here.

Not your typical receptionist

When you phone Wunderman, chances are that it will be the dulcet tones of Thulane Khumalo that you will hear when somebody picks up the phone.

Thulane, who was born near Dundee in Kwazulu-Natal, has not had an easy time of it; in 1994, he was the victim of a hit-and-run accident and his left leg was amputated at the knee. Nevertheless, he persevered through school and college and eventually landed a job at the National Prosecuting Authority as a typist (somewhat ironic, given that he is a fan of Jacob Zuma!) Before long, the father of no less than two sets of twins was promoted to the position of receptionist and he has never looked back.

After working for the government, Thulane says Wunderman is a much more pleasant environment.
"I really like it here," he says. "People are friendly, they understand how I am."

Why you won't find insights behind a desk

David Sable is our New York guru. Every week he sends all the Wunderman offices around the world a few select words of wisdom. These are his most recent thoughts:

Insight. The ability to see clearly and intuitively into the nature of a complex person, situation, or subject.
Key words. Nature. Clearly; Intuitively; Complex.

Insight is the greatest competitive edge in our business—in any business. Still.
Insight is what drives a company to launch a product that the experts claim will fail—see Walkman. Insight is what changes a boring category forever—see NIKE. Insight is what compels people to use one service over another—see Google. Insight is what drives people to buy and buy again—see Amazon.
What makes insight critical is that it deals with the nature of the issue—the deeper meaning, the motivation, the reason. And, it can often be pre-data.
Pre-Data??
Let me explain. Before the Walkman there were no sales or usage data that could be analyzed or modeled to predict sales of a non-recording portable cassette player. In fact, had you used data alone, you would have concluded that there was no sales potential…as many did, including GE.

To be fair, had you done consumer insight work—interviews, focus groups, usage labs, whatever, I believe an insightful analyst could have used cross industry sales and usage data to draw analogies and to paint an even richer picture of the potential, even though it wasn’t exactly apples to apples. But again, the process would have to begin with real deep consumer insight as in clear and intuitive. I’d argue that the iPod years later didn’t need the deep insight, already proven, but rich analytics using real sales and usage data. Ah!!!!

Make the analogies for Nike, Google and Amazon; it’s all very clear.

We don’t use insight enough. We don’t spend enough time digging deeply into consumer’s needs and motivations, desires and wishes. While we know a lot, we don’t know everything. If we did, industry conversion rates would be higher and so would sales.
So, you know I bought something. You know how much I paid. You know how I paid and maybe even where I sent it. And you know what I bought previously. But do you know why? And why is the key to exponential business.
Check this out: http://youtube.com/watch?v=D3qltEtl7H8
It’s the danger of thinking we know everything…
Or try this: Wired; Issue March 2008; 16.03 (not yet posted online) story called The Netflix Challenge by Jordan Ellenberg
So here is the thought:
A desk is a dangerous place from which to watch the world.
John le Carre.

If what we bring to the table is strictly what we pull from digital sources we are shortchanging ourselves and our clients and our business. Our greatest competitive advantage is to take deep understanding, link it to deep knowledge, overlay brilliant analytics and modeling and continue to learn.
Key words. Nature. Clearly; Intuitively; Complex.
Get out there. Work in the bank. Sell a car. Answer an insurance call. Watch people use computer products. And then, look at data. You will bring clarity to a complex world.

Meet the warm heart of Wunderman

Meet Emily Seleise. Maker of the best cappuccino in Joburg, lifter of spirits, she's the heart of our agency."Guuyys....the bar is open!" is her signature cry on Fridays.

Emily is always laughing or smiling, always happy to see us. She has charmed her way into the heart of many a client. She exemplifies goodness: if we could bottle Emily's infectious spirit, we would.

Why did Microsoft advertise in the Daily Sun?

Microsoft is probably not the sort of brand you would expect to find in the Daily Sun. After all, why would the average Daily Sun reader be interested in Microsoft?

The fact is that, over the long term, home computer penetration outside of the core PC market must increase if growth in this category is to continue. The affluent end of the market - LSM 8-10 - is more or less saturated. It is in LSM 5-7, the emerging and mid level middle class, where the most compelling opportunities lie.

But many of the adults making the decisions as to whether to buy a PC are themselves not familiar with why a home computer would be relevant to their lives. When you are shopping at your local furniture retailer and you must decide between a computer and a fridge or a new bedroom suite, what would make you choose the PC? At Wunderman, we were convinced that laying the platform now would pay dividends later.

We also believed that it was important to communicate with the market in a way that helped computers become familiar and less intimidating. Using a comic strip format had worked well for a very successful sms education campaign we had executed for MTN, so we decided to explore the same approach here.

We created a family who would go through the exercise of buying a home PC and then discuss how to use it. Each character would serve a specific function: a school child to explain the education message, a student to talk about using MSN, a mother who would demonstrate how a home PC could be useful to people running a household, and an uncle who would reach the family how to use the PC properly. Over time, we would use the characters to expand on different story lines and explore different uses for a home computer in an entertaining way. It's a much more flexible and adaptable kind of advertising than a traditional print execution with a product shot and a blurb about its functionality.

The comic strips ran in the City Press and Sunday Sun as well as the Daily Sun, while on African Language Stations we ran a series of educational inserts that used the same characters as in the print work. Knowing that it was important for the market to interact with the product, Microsoft also put up stands in key shopping malls. These replicated the Mazibuko homea and the way in which computers could be used in different areas such as the kitchen or the bedroom.

Up2Date with the Mazibukos represents a different approach for Microsoft. So far, it has paid off, and we're looking for ways to extend it into other areas.