18/05/2022
𝐌𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐓𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐥𝐚𝐧
𝙄𝙩’𝙨 𝙖𝙪 𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙤𝙞𝙧, 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙜𝙤𝙤𝙙𝙗𝙮𝙚
In answer to the many questions I’ve had about my next chapter, I thought I’d make it official. After almost six decades in the industry I’m saying goodbye, for now, to advertising and marketing. I’m "consciously uncoupling" from One Lady & A Tribe in a somewhat emotional au revoir. The exciting news is that I’m planning a pilgrimage to the origins of the McGillivray clan, but more on that another time.
Making this formal announcement gives me the chance to pay a short homage to the world of communications. 𝐈𝐧𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 and I’m enormously grateful. I’ve learned so much about the world of brands, and it’s been a thrill creating market share as well as driving the success of products and businesses.
While I was communicating and growing, the media landscape evolved, but not everyone saw the big picture. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐭𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐠𝐨𝐝𝐝𝐚𝐦𝐧 𝐟𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠. Clients simply didn't get the brilliance of the ideas being presented to them. I remember many of those concepts, and they remain in the advertising graveyard - File 13.
But there’s been a lot more beauty than beast in my career. What I did enabled travel with leading global agencies - J Walter Thompson, Lintas, De Villiers McCann, TBWA and Saatchi & Saatchi. 𝐈 𝐦𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐬 𝐚𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐋𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐬, 𝐭𝐨 𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐘𝐨𝐫𝐤, 𝐭𝐨 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐠𝐨, 𝐭𝐨 𝐌𝐨𝐦𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐚. And there is much wisdom that will remain with me, always.
It’s crazy to think that in 1966 Mary Wells of Wells, Rich and Greene NYC was who I looked up to. 𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐚 𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐚 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐫 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐝𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭, which was what my first boss (no names, no pack drill) offered me. It was a man’s world, but thanks to the likes of Mary Wells I had other plans! In fact Ms Wells went on to win the Lion of St. Mark for her lifetime achievements at the 2020 Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity. Glass ceiling shattered.
One of my most memorable advertising moments happened in 1987 when I initiated the first-ever live TV commercial broadcast in South Africa Hyperama in conjunction with M-Net. Pricebusters. In those days this was a radical notion. But the forward-thinking talent embraced the “big idea” and the 120 sec TVC broadcast during M-Net Open Time was born! It happened on a Friday night, via a microwave-link in Randburg from Toron Studios in Balfour Park. 𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐞-𝐚𝐝𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲’𝐬 𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝.
I have also had the privilege of working with enormously brave clients. I commend you. 𝐌𝐲 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐞 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐧𝐨 𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐬𝐢𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐞𝐝𝐠𝐲. The industry and these visionary partnerships gave me the opportunity to realise big ideas. They also supported my passion for Cause Marketing.
One of 𝐦𝐲 𝐛𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐨 𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐞, 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐦𝐲 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐂𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐋𝐚𝐝𝐲 & 𝐀 𝐓𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐞 ad agency. I went on to spend 12 successful years creating memorable marketing. I loved working like-minded professionals, who supported my vision of finding for ways of doing good and doing good business.We brought in amazing collaborators; designers, actors, techies, chefs, musicians, scientists, and sports stars.
These are a just few of the many projects that make me proud -
𝐌𝐚𝐳𝐝𝐚 𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐅𝐮𝐧𝐝
In every journey there are milestones; turns taken that change the path of history, and choices made that will be remembered as landmarks. Some 20 plus years ago the Mazda Wildlife Fund (MWF) was founded over a lunch with Ian Shepherd, the CEO of Grey Advertising, and the head of the Endangered Wildlife Trust, resulting in the groundbreaking MWF.
A highlight was the 2010 TVC we produced, called ‘I Believe I Can Fly’with the Vulture Research Centre. It starred a hand-reared vulture called Cody. We were somewhat ambitious of what we expected Cody to do, but he really rose to the occasion. Perhaps it was his way of showing appreciation for being hand reared by Kerri Wolter, the owner of the Research Centre.
𝐂𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐦 𝐆𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝟏𝟑 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤 𝐓𝐕 𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝟐𝟎𝟎𝟖 𝐭𝐨 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟓
What started as interviews on 3 Talk on SABC morphed into a hugely successful 13 week TV Series. We showed the Guardians (South Africa’s world-class Emergency and Rescue Service Personnel) for what they were. EMS pulling trapped passengers from beneath a capsized boat, rescuing elderly victims from a burning inferno or giving an unborn baby, inside a dead mother, a miraculous chance at life.
Our work on Centrum Guardians was recognised with numerous awards including Pfizer Global- Living the Strategy in January 2011, Winner of SAFTA Awards 2014 and AMASA Best Branded Content - Highly Commended in 2014.
Thank you to South Africa’s world-class EMS Personnel for allowing us to share their stories. This was Cause Marketing at its best, and I was privileged to help inspire it, and to have worked with a team whoput their heart and soul into delivering exceptional work.
𝐉𝐨𝐨𝐬𝐭 -𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐆𝐚𝐦𝐞
The Centrum TV series was not my only film venture, I also helped to raise funds for the Joost: The Glory Game, a documentary profiling Joost van der Westhuizen, showing the former Springbok’s prowess and his battle with Motor Neuron Disease. This took me to Murrayfield Stadium for the SA-Scotland match in 2016, and to visit the Euan McDonald Centre at Edinburgh University. There I met Euan and had the privilege of spending time with Scott and Jenny Hastings and the remarkable team tackling a cure for MND, headed by Professor Siddharthan Chandran.
𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐚 𝐂𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟖
It’s been an honour to work with the Nelson Mandela Foundation and their Board of Trustees. In 2018 we created their Centenary logo, brand identity andcommunications strategy.There were many hugely talented people who helped to make magic happen. From strategy, to design to the event production, everyone was outstanding. Special thanks to Tilt, for a world class social idea, Nick Boraine and Adam Howard, for developing a script for the Centenary Tribute Concert, in conjunction with the Quartet of Peace. The event was just sheer brilliance. I will forever be indebted to the team for honouring Madiba and supporting this superb Cause Marketing project.
𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐚 𝐃𝐚𝐲 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟗
I actually had the privilege to launch the first Mandela Day campaign in South Africa in 2010, just after the United Nations General Assembly announced that Mandela's birthday, 18 July, would forever be known as Mandela Day, marking his contribution to world freedom.
The 2019 communication asked South Africans to take up a challenge, recalling Mandela’s words:“What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead.”
The 2019 campaign was a powerful call to action. To accept that we shouldall play our part, to walk a moment in Madiba’s shoes, and to help bring his legacy to life by supporting others.The team I worked with - creative, film, post production and Nat Ramabulana- will always be etched in my heart for giving their talent and time pro bono to honour Madiba.
So much has changed (we’re sending people to Mars now), but what remains true forever is the immense talent that I’ve had the privilege of working with. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞. The stimulation and the challenges over the years have made me think beyond a brief - both in advertising and in life. Now I’m going to eat delicious food and walk in the sunshine. The pleasure has been all mine and I hope that I made a difference.
𝐁𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐲. 𝐁𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐢𝐫𝐝. 𝐁𝐞 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐧𝐨 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐞.
Sheila McGillivray
[email protected]
