The solar panel billboard actually works, saving a school in Alexandra thousands in electric bills every month. The campaign gained the agency a Gold Bullet and the first Jury Chairman’s Choice Award at the 2006 Annual YoungGuns International Advertising Awards, also bagging the 2006 Silver Loerie for Outdoor & Ambient Advertising. It also has the coveted Grand Prix for Outdoor in 2007, the first for the agency and for South Africa.
Clearly, “goodvertising” is what makes Mike Schalit tick. In his article “Power for Good,” he writes, “I’ve always been happy to nag at the conscience of the advertising industry to use creativity as a way of generating a symbiotic relationship between its clients’ brands and society. But actually, given the times we’re living through…I genuinely believe it would be wise for all companies to adopt the outlook ‘creativity for good’, if they want to remain relevant to their customers.”
When he writes “In a country like ours,” he may as well referring to the Philippines and not South Africa, because he adds, “…creativity has the power to change things. With outrageous imagination, we can put something back. Ideas are our most enduring and stable currency right now and this is one affordable way to add value, if you harness it responsibly.”
Starting his advertising career as a copywriter in TBWA/Hunt/Lascaris, the enterprising Schalit turned agency owner. Partnered with longtime associate Keith Shipley, the two set up Net#work BBDO in May 1994.
Borne of what Schalit terms “naïve optimism”, the agency launched amidst the country’s fledgling state, of financial status quo. Describing the partnership as “ridiculously optimistic” the duo weathered the crisis.
“We were committed to making it work. That is why we succeeded.”
