2016 started on a high note for House of Brave, with the Automobile Association (AA) joining its stable of clients. This means House of Brave will manage selected new product launch campaigns for the year ahead and follows hot on the heels of the agency being appointed to both the Tiger Brands and Dairymaid accounts, which will see House of Brave manage much-loved South African brands including Jungle, Crosse & Blackwell, Black Cat Peanut Butter, Country Fresh and King Cone. Andrew Shuttleworth - MD of House of Brave, explains that the calibre of clients they’ve been able to attract in just four years is actually his agency highlight.
And it’s the perfect time for making bold, brave business moves as House of Brave further expanded its offering this year by acquiring Rogue Brand Agency, a through-the-line brand communication agency that specialises in the science of behavioural change. Shuttleworth calls it an acquisition of strategic intent to bring together “some of the industry’s best talent and puts the agency in a position where they are able to offer clients a complement of diverse skills and authentic solutions that meet their real needs.”
In addition, former CEO of Grid Worldwide Branding and Design Ashantha Thompson joined the House of Brave team as a non-executive director, to assist in pulling together the rapidly expanding company and grow it within the spaces of content marketing, PR and brand internalisation.
Some of HOB's work for clients Tracker, BLK Ops, SOIL Organic Skincare and BS Craft Beer
Shuttleworth says House of Brave is a full-service creative agency based in Johannesburg, “created in January 2012 by three industry entrepreneurs who believed in a better way.” He adds that in 2011, international magazine the Financial Times said it was the worst time in more than 100 years to start a new business and that anyone launching a company then would have to be incredibly brave or incredibly stupid. “We knew House of Stupid wouldn’t work well, so…” he leaves the rest to you to piece together.
It was certainly a brave move, and that’s why the agency’s creative workflow is based on the ‘BRAVE process”: An acronym that places emphasis on considering the Business challenge, market Relevancy, message Alignment, channel Vehicles and Evaluation. These five key phrases allow the ‘braves’ to develop a communication strategy and create a base for everything they do.
Add in the fact that the agency’s built on three key disciplines of relevancy, ideas and craft – in a collaborative model designed to create positive conflict, balanced ideas and generate better results, and it’s clear why they’ve been recognised by industry peers where the focus is on work that works, such as with their silver Apex award for client 1Life’s campaign, as well as being shortlisted as a finalist in the small agency category of the Annual AdFocus awards last year.
On the topic of awards, Shuttleworth feels the local standard of work is high from a creative perspective, but the appetite for risky work that results in creative genius is not as good, mainly because of the economic outlook locally and the ever-tighter budgets that clients provide.
Luckily House of Brave has been able to grow despite this, largely because they offer clients ROI – whatever that means to them: Whether it’s return on insight, return on innovation, return on inspiration, return on involvement or return on investment.
Seems that strategy’s proving effective for them, as they’ve just completed three huge pitches and so far this year has won everything they’ve pitched for, as they’re focused on growth.
Looking into his crystal ball, Shuttleworth says as an industry “we all need to be doing more with less and there is a constant need for a return to be demonstrated on everything. This has never been more valid. In 2016 clever thinking cannot be constrained by budget.”
True words for agencies to live by. For more on House of Brave, follow their Twitter stream.
