Ad expert pledges to transform Zimbabwe's advertising

The new advertising agency, iDesign, was set up at the end of 2010 and is already handling the advertising for iClik, Zimbabwe's new authorised Apple reseller and has recently won some exciting clients.

"The agency iDesign was created to stir up feeling and meaning in advertising because what we see on billboards and in magazines in Zimbabwe is really poor and shouldn't even be considered advertising. No one is thinking about what they are creating anymore. Advertising here has become lazy and obvious. Things need to change," Pretorius told Bizcommunity on Wednesday, 5 January 2010.

Creative thinking, personal partneships

"Clients need to be aware of the choices and options they have but ad agencies or design studios should be striving to find new ways of selling their clients' products or services instead of milking off the fees. iDesign is all about creative thinking and creating solid personal partnerships after all that's why we originally got into design and advertising," he said.

Pretorius first worked in advertising at Michel Hogg Young & Rubicam (MHY&R) in 1998 after several stints in print origination following training as a print apprentice.

The job at MHY&R gave him a great foundation and insight into the world of advertising and design and he says working on huge campaigns with great local designers "was a massive incentive to be creative" and pushed his own ability and thinking.

He left MHY&R to freelance for a number of years for agencies and studios, working on clients such as Nandos and Dunlop before setting up his own studio Genesis Digital Media.

Vast international experience

"When Genesis ended I joined Troy Reid who had set up Gecko Digital Media and through that gained invaluable knowledge in client facing. We had a great team with GDM and worked on Faithwear and Pinnacle Micro to name a couple.
I still found that my curiosity was running wild so moved back to England where I freelanced for Aquent, the leading creative recruitment agency, and found myself with Leo Burnett in London, Y&R London as well as some smaller but powerful agencies. During this time I developed as a creative and with a great team successfully pitched for new business from Motorola, BBC Haymarket, Harrods and Greenwhich Council," said Pretorius who grew up in England before coming to Zimbabwe.

"With the new set of skills I learnt in the UK and with a great team here in Zimbabwe, the possibilities really are endless," Pretorius said.

"Whilst we are still new in name only there is a wealth of experience and energy that we hope to pass on to which ever client walks through the door. It is our goal to change the way advertisers think too, to stop playing it safe but to make their own product something worth shouting about. A lot of advertising is tasteless; yes it tells you that there is a product out there but why should I buy it, subscribe to it or tell someone else about it? It seems that the advertisers are not proud of their brand because there is no emotion in it. We will change that."