First week at Jupiter and I was shipped off to Uganda. Yes, UGANDA.

Four days in and I hopped on a plane to work on a pitch with a Ugandan team for one of their clients. What an experience. It's difficult to describe a place like Uganda. It was surreal. Being the first African country that I've visited (other than Mozambique and I was so close to the S.A. border it doesn't count), it opened my eyes. We, in South Africa, do not live in Africa. To put it in perspective: driving towards the capital city Kampala, we passed UN camps, set up because of the genocides happening in the rural areas. A hotel has a resident flock of vultures. Why? Because it used to be used as a "prison" except no one ever received parole or freedom. The ever-present giant Maribou storks (which have a striking resemblance to pterodactyls when flying) circle the city in tornado-like towers along with crows and hawks.

Beyond the obvious, it also taught me a lot about advertising in different cultures: Assume nothing. You have to go in with a clean slate; no paradigms or frames-of-references or whatever it is they teach in the marketing class at college. Whatever you think you know, you don't. There may be some universal truths when it comes to people, but how these are expressed in each culture is different. The importance of the truths in one's life, is different. I, honestly, do not know how people can do advertising for a market they have never had a direct experience with.

Tracey out.

P.S. I apologise for the unedited pics - I don't have access to the awesomeness of Adobe at the moment.

TBWA\Whybin, New Zealand

My lovely art director, Natalie le Roux, and I were lucky enough to be sent to TBWA\Whybin in Auckland, New Zealand. We were working on the pitch for the ASB bank and wow, what an experience. The agency is amazing and you can’t help but feel inspired. People are so passionate there – some even have tattoos of the company’s logo. We’ve learned a lot (it was such an honour working with the likes of Andy Blood and Karen Maurice-O'Leary) and hopefully made some friends along the way. Thanks guys, ‘twas too, too awesome and we have never met such generous and such damned nice people.

Activation: Samsung Beatbox Pitch (2009)

My lovely art director and I worked on a pitch for Samsung's new music phone - the Beatbox. We wanted to position the brand as the supporter of youth culture and youth music, helping young artists get exposure and the youth to listen to music.

There was a huge roll out but in short, the main element was a music festival showcasing local talent at varsities with the stage being a replica of the phone, showcasing the USP of the B&O speakers. As the band changed songs, the screen behind the band would switch to the next song on the phone's playlist. The audience could send requests and shoutouts via sms which would be shown on the screen as though the phone had just received an sms. It was all designed to show off the phone and link it to music.



Client absolutely loved it but the thinking was "too big" for this activation. They ended up having a shmodel listening to the phone on a couch in the middle of a mall... O_o

Darned budgets.