22 Sep 2011 Cheers to 50 years of SAB and Ogilvy

SAB and its key ad agency, Ogilvy, enjoyed a mutual love-in recently in celebration of a 50-year old business relationship. But, asks journalist, Christine Greyvenstein of Coup Magazine, what makes a business relationship work? Better yet, what makes a business relationship work for 50 years?

She writes:

South African Breweries (SAB) and Ogilvy recently celebrated this distinctive anniversary, which in all sense of the term, has been like a marriage.

Even the media roundtable was kept small and intimate with heavyweights from both sides of the family, sharing warm greetings with hugs and kisses.

The meeting was opened with tales of many a good evening enjoying their products (a.k.a beer) and not only bonding, but coming up with brilliant marketing ideas. It became even clearer just how strong their bond is, when SAB MD, Norman Adami, cleared his voice at the table.

“When SAB and Ogilvy came together half a century ago we knew early on that there was the potential to develop and cultivate a long-lasting partnership. Ogilvy is more than just an advertising agency to us. They are our partners and they understand that brands are the lifeblood of our company. At every juncture and at every interval Ogilvy South Africa has been at our side. They have been instrumental in building some of the legendary beer brands in our portfolio today.”

And with any anniversary there have to be gifts. The gift from Ogilvy to SAB was big indeed, but it didn’t just jump to mind, instead Ogilvy really thought about what would be the best gift.

“We thought of getting a painting, but nothing beats SAB’s art collection and a bar wouldn’t work either. So we simply did what we do best.” The result; a very special ad that is a montage of all of the different beer brands that Ogilvy has worked on over the past 50 years accompanied by the song synonymous with the Castle brand, Toto’s Africa……

Coup Magazine: Read the full article here… what did SAB give Ogilvy?

See the special anniversary ad Ogilvy created – brings a little choke to the throat, it does!

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