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Clockwork is a Johannesburg, Cape Town and London-based through the line agency focused on building meaningful connections with brands and their audiences. Independent. Integrated. Inspired.
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Clockwork shortlisted as PRovoke Media EMEA 2024 Digital Consultancy of the Year
South African creative agency, Clockwork, has been shortlisted as one of five candidates in PRovoke Media’s EMEA 2024 Digital Consultancies of the Year category. 26 Mar 2024 Read more

Brands need to be cautious when it comes to tech trends. Look at what’s happening with NFTs
Over the last few years, you’ve probably heard about how non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, are something you should totally get into. A form of crypto asset that certifies ownership of a digital file like an image or video, NFTs sprung onto the scene with individual tokens selling for millions of dollars and major brands such as Nike, Starbucks, and DC Comics offering collections to fans and customers. The trend was a rocket ship heading “to the moon”, as people in crypto circles would say. 22 Jan 2024 Read more

Clockwork welcomes Sergio Santos-van Vuuren as public relations director
Clockwork, a leader in communication solutions, is thrilled to announce the appointment of Sergio Santos-van Vuuren as its new public relations director. Sergio brings globally recognised expertise in strategic communication and reputation management, and is set to elevate Clockwork's public relations to new heights. 16 Jan 2024 Read more

Drunk Drivers Stay For Free
Clockwork and Aware.org launch festive season campaign to challenge holiday season drinking and driving 6 Dec 2023 Read more

Clockwork to launch Menyetla programme to support learners, interns, and bursary holders
Meaning 'opportunity' in Sesotho, Menyetla aims to empower the next generation of marketing professionals. 13 Nov 2023 Read more

Clockwork releases trends forecast for marketers: What you can't not know in 2024
Clockwork has released a comprehensive industry white paper and trends forecast that unpacks the marketing landscape's latest developments, current trends, and what to expect in the year to come. 10 Oct 2023 Read more

Jacques Shalom joins Clockwork as chief creative officer
Clockwork is thrilled to announce that, as of 1 August 2023, Jacques Shalom has joined the agency as Chief Creative Officer. Jacques has an extensive industry background, having worked in advertising for over 20 years. 10 Aug 2023 Read more

Threads unravels: What this means for brand strategy
Threads, a new microblogging app by Meta, burst onto the scene in July 2023, reaching 44 million daily active users (DAUs) at its peak. However, within just two weeks, the user count plummeted by 70% to 13 million DAUs, according to data from Sensor Tower. What does this mean for brands who made use of it hastily? 31 Jul 2023 Read more

Celebrating GrowthLab's two-year anniversary: Empowering young talent at Clockwork
Clockwork's youth mentorship programme, GrowthLab, celebrates its second birthday during Youth Month. GrowthLab is the advertising agency's junior leadership programme, actively supporting the workplace journeys of younger staff members and guiding them towards career success. 6 Jun 2023 Read more

In the age of AI, how do we define writers' relationship with technology?
"No one should trust a robot to conjure an award-winning campaign idea or draft a life-changing op-ed. At least, not yet." 25 May 2023 Read more

The right skill for the right job: How enterprises can ace digital skills recruitment
The pace of innovation and the deployment of new enterprise technologies mean that the hiring needs of businesses are constantly changing. If they want to capitalise on new, cutting-edge tech solutions, they need the knowledge and technical capabilities to deploy, optimise, and maintain them. And in the face of a shortage of critical skills in South Africa and across the world, businesses need to get smart about how they search for and secure skills. 17 May 2023 Read more

The Al-Imdaad Foundation joins forces with Rescue SA to provide hands-on support during emergency situations
The Al-Imdaad Foundation has partnered with disaster response NGO, Rescue South Africa. Now, the Al-Imdaad Foundation can jointly deploy with Rescue South Africa as part of the first response during emergencies. The partnership came about as the foundation is often one of the first organisations on the ground in emergency situations, and the team identified a critical need for specialised rescue and recovery services. 9 May 2023 Read more

Looking beyond ChatGPT: The introduction of artificial resources
This isn't another ChatGPT story. OpenAI, best known for ChatGPT, has a vast portfolio of tools, from image generation to voice transcription, which provide a compelling business case - provided businesses find the square peg for the square hole. 28 Mar 2023 Read more

Clockwork announced as Canon's digital and PR agency of record
Clockwork is pleased to announce its recent appointment as the digital and PR partner for Canon South Africa. The account win and extensive scope of work includes all digital and social media, paid digital media, strategy, and PR solutions across Canon's photography and printer ranges. 16 Feb 2023 Read more

Marketing strategy: Why bother?
It's expensive, restrictive, and, say some, the enemy of the fleet footed. 6 Feb 2023 Read more

War of the words: Is a robot a better writer than a human?
At the end of 2022, I had the opportunity to familiarise myself with ChatGPT, a language model chatbot developed by American AI research laboratory, OpenAI, the same folks behind the DALL-E AI art generator. 16 Jan 2023 Read more

Clockwork Empowerment Fund: Bursary applications are now open for 2023
In line with the Clockwork's commitment to empowering lives through education, the agency has now opened applications for young students who wish to apply to further their education through fully funded bursaries. 10 Jan 2023 Read more

The Twitter saga shows the importance of a multi-platform social media ecosystem
Since concluding his acquisition of Twitter in October, Elon Musk has ushered in a wave of disruption that shows no sign of dissipating anytime soon. 28 Nov 2022 Read more

2022 - A year of misery or optimism for marketers? Part 1
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair." - Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities. 7 Nov 2022 Read more

More empathy and sensitivity needed in the post-Covid workplace
These days, it seems that almost everyone you speak to is going through a difficult time. The current cost of living crisis, the climate crisis, war in Ukraine and conflicts in other parts of the world, coupled with the scars of Covid-19 that remain, are all placing serious strain on our mental, physical and emotional well-being. 17 Oct 2022 Read more

Clockwork opens applications for its 2023 Marketing Learnership Programme
Full-service agency Clockwork, in collaboration with Red & Yellow, has opened applications for graduates in the media and marketing field to be considered for its 2023 Marketing Learnership Programme. This opportunity combines the aspects of an internship with formal training at one of the top institutes for advertising professionals in the country. 4 Oct 2022 Read more

Brands, it's okay to have an opinion
Voicing an opinion of any kind is not something businesses like to do. The negative consequences can be in proportion to the scale of the business in question, and even when they have the best intentions, they run the risk of reputational damage, being accused of politicising issues, or alienating stakeholders that weren't considered or consulted. Just this year, we witnessed Disney, one of the world's biggest entertainment conglomerates, subjected to intense criticism (both internally and externally) owing to its lack of a stance on the US state of Florida's contentious 'Don't Say Gay' law, followed by political repercussions when it corrected course. 22 Sep 2022 Read more

Can brands learn from Netflix's Nailed It?
Alright, so I'm sure that those of us who haven't binge-watched Netflix's Nailed It have at least seen the trailer. Time-pressed and inexperienced contestants are tasked with recreating mouth-watering, magical masterpieces out of cake. Sheepishly, they reveal their creations, and 10/10 they're fantastic flops. 23 Aug 2022 Read more

Clockwork: Empowering young women with free higher education
The Clockwork Empowerment Fund celebrates another year of empowering young Black females, through their in-house non-profit division, which strives to elevate the lives of women through higher learning. 2 Aug 2022 Read more

Clockwork wins Bob Martin account
Clockwork is thrilled with its recent appointment as the digital strategic partner of Bob Martin, a pet care, food, and health products company. The retainer appointment includes the strategy and roll-out of social media and digital executions for seven of the company's sub-brands, namely Bob Martin, Husky, Beeno, Bon Appétit, Pamper, Olympic Professional, and Butch. 26 Jul 2022 Read more

Clockwork appointed as content agency of record for Peroni Nastro Azzuro UK
Clockwork will lead digital content creation and production across the Peroni Nastro Azzurro portfolio. 14 Jun 2022 Read more

Clockwork's mentoring programme, GrowthLab, invests in young staff for comprehensive career growth
Clockwork's youth mentorship programme, GrowthLab, celebrates its first successful year this Youth Month as the agency's primary internal junior leadership forum. GrowthLab has 20 junior staff members under the personal guidance of Clockwork's Exco committee, and was specifically created and designed to actively put younger staff on a path to self-improvement, whilst enjoying purpose-driven careers. 2 Jun 2022 Read more

Kids these days
Kids are becoming more powerful and influential in the marketing industry than ever before, and the new generations of kids have grown up in a world with unlimited access to devices and technology. We call these generations Generation Z (or Gen Z) and Generation Alpha (or Gen Alpha). For this piece, we will be focusing more on Gen Alpha - those who were born in the early-to-mid 2010s. This generation has been comfortably existing in a virtual world as much as in a physical world, and they expect seamless integration between the two worlds. The level of comfort these kids have with all digital mediums makes them key decision-makers when it comes to purchases because they are starting to actually know more than older generations. 17 May 2022 Read more

Innovative responsible social marketing dominates for Clockwork at the Sabre Awards 2022: Africa and EMEA
As well as being a finalist in the highly coveted Consultancy of the Year category for Africa, Clockwork is thrilled with the latest SABRE Awards: Africa and EMEA announcements, some of which resulted in wins, with other results still to be revealed at the live show on 27 May. 13 May 2022 Read more

Trust journalists to have a good approach to PR
South African media has taken several blows to the head in the last 24 months. In 2020, print media was rocked by mass retrenchments at Media24 and Caxton, and just this year it was reported that eNCA's staff was being subjected to "consolidation". It's a word that every editor should fear because it usually ends with their workload being multiplied tenfold, with probably a smaller salary to boot (hell, consolidation already defines local media ownership - there are only a handful of big names left in town). 28 Apr 2022 Read more

The ads have eyes - is surveillance advertising worth the risk?
In today's hyper-connected world, few things are eerier than being spammed with hundreds of furniture ads immediately after having a WhatsApp conversation with a family member about your impending move. Or talking to your significant other about craving pizza for dinner, only to see Uber Eats banners popping up everywhere you look. Surveillance advertising is alive and well and has become a subliminal part of modern life. 30 Mar 2022 Read more

Inverroche, the pioneer of handcrafted luxury gin brand appoints Clockwork for global creative task
Full-service advertising agency Clockwork has recently been appointed the lead agency for South African premium luxury gin brand Inverroche, with a global vision towards brand awareness, positioning, and distribution. 25 Mar 2022 Read more

Advertising in the metaverse: What does it mean for us?
The metaverse has been on the minds of people in the ad world ever since Meta (previously Facebook) CEO Mark Zuckerberg delved into it during the Facebook Connect 2021 event in October last year. In this online event, Zuckerberg called it a "virtual environment where you can be present with people in digital spaces". He asked us to think of it as "an embodied internet that you're inside of rather than just looking at". While he didn't coin the term himself - it comes from the 1992 sci-fi novel Snow Crash - he believes in it enough to rename his company after it. This is future-forward and fascinating. 4 Feb 2022 Read more

Clockwork's Tayla de Beer profiled for design and illustration excellence
Clockwork is proud to announce that one of its finest illustrators and designers, Tayla de Beer, has successfully completed her commission by advertising media platform leader MarkLives and delivered a powerful creative for their #AgencyLeaders 'Most Admired Poll' Awards poster design. 24 Jan 2022 Read more

Empowering and educating the deaf community for employment
eDeaf is making room for the deaf community by striving to improve their social and economic lives through a variety of empowerment and skills development programmes. 29 Nov 2021 Read more

Clockwork reaches BEE Level 1 whilst maintaining full independence
With its head office in Johannesburg, South African-born full-service communications agency Clockwork has achieved Level 1 BEE status in 2021 whilst remaining an independently-owned company. 17 Nov 2021 Read more

Clockwork takes home 17 wins at the 2021 DMASA Assegai Awards
South African and London-based full-service advertising agency Clockwork saw another successful night of wins at the DMASA Assegai Awards 2021. 15 Nov 2021 Read more

The creative industry needs a leadership overhaul
The vast array of creative industry titans, both individuals and companies, to have fallen on the wrong side of moral history in the last 10 years may be a profoundly illuminating sign of the state of leadership in these spaces. I mean, if the mind behind the wholesome Pixar classic, UP!, turned out to belong to an altogether unwholesome man, then is anything sacred? 19 Oct 2021 Read more

Clockwork delivers integrated marketing excellence with 17 finalists in the Assegai Awards 2021
Clockwork is proud to announce strong results in the Assegai Awards 2021 finals announcements, with 17 nominations across five campaigns. 14 Oct 2021 Read more

Let's stop calling content marketing 'thought leadership'
We're all nauseated by industry buzz words. Phrases adopted in the marketing world lose weight, meaning and gravitas through sheer misuse, ultimately reducing them to lesser or, in fact, incorrect versions of themselves. 5 Oct 2021 Read more

Clockwork takes home 7 Supersonic New Generation Awards for digital excellence
Clockwork celebrates another seven wins after the announcement of the 9th annual Supersonic New Generation Awards 2021, held virtually on 23 September. 28 Sep 2021 Read more

People are people so why should it be?
So we're different colours and we're different creeds
And different people have different needs
It's obvious you hate me though I've done nothing wrong
I've never even met you, so what could I have done
 15 Sep 2021 Read more

Why we should #RewriteOurProverbs to change the GBV narrative in SA
Proverbs are a part of us as a collective society. They can be called axioms, sayings, and adages and are only really explicable by action. Generally, it's an older saying without a known author that's considered wise and true across certain societies. They're important, timeless, and comforting in their general relatability, truth, and reflexiveness on society at large. Basically, they're indicative of the values of a society and all it holds as true. Through the ages, proverbs have been used to indicate how women should conduct themselves and proverbs all over the world carry the tradition of misogyny as ingrained within its words passed down from generation to generation. 13 Sep 2021 Read more

Clockwork's Marketing Learnership Programme is now open to applicants
Young marketing learners can jump on the right path with free education and work experience by applying for Clockwork's annual Marketing Learnership Programme, which is now open to applicants. 9 Sep 2021 Read more

Green Door Women's Shelter rewrites African proverbs to shift the narrative on gender-based violence
"We can't change the past, but we can start a new story for all South African women." - Brown Lekekela, founder of Green Door 24 Aug 2021 Read more

Gaming as a new marketing platform
Gaming, including online gaming, as a hobby has seen incredible rapid growth over the last few years, with lockdown and Covid-19 just acting as accelerants. Shifting drastically from niche cliques into extensive mass markets, alongside gaming's growth comes new opportunities for brands to align appropriately and turn the sector into a lucrative playing field for brands and organisations to explore. 13 Aug 2021 Read more

Clockwork brings home 9 Cannes Lions for Xbox with McCann collab campaign
Clockwork, once again, delivers for the Xbox account by scooping a total of nine Cannes Lion Awards, with a further five shortlists for its Visit Xbox - The Birth Of Gaming Tourism campaign. 29 Jul 2021 Read more

Clockwork welcomes Mathabo Diale as client service director
Clockwork is thrilled to announce the appointment of Mathabo Diale in the position of client service director. 20 Jul 2021 Read more

No more tough guys, just good fellas, please
Since around the 1920s, when the sales era of advertising was introduced, marketing has been building visual gender stereotypes to convince people to purchase products and leaning heavily on societal biases for genders as part of their product or brand story. 8 Jul 2021 Read more

Clockwork digital campaigns receive 5 nominations at the Bookmark Awards 2021
Clockwork's interactive communications campaigns continue to make waves in the South African advertising and marketing industry, with five solid nominations at the annual IAB Bookmark Awards - the benchmark for tech, digital and leading edge innovation. 22 Jun 2021 Read more

Q&A with Penny Motsamai, public relations director at Clockwork
Penny Motsamai takes us behind the scenes of Clockwork and her new role as public relations director. 21 Jun 2021 Read more

Is YouTube being underutilised by South African brands?
YouTube has grown rapidly over the past few years in South Africa. However, the channel is still an enigma to many brands, especially in South Africa. 15 Jun 2021 Read more

Clockwork named African Consultancy of the Year at the Sabre Awards EMEA 2021
The winners of the Sabre Awards EMEA 2021 were announced on 9 June 2021 with fantastic news for Clockwork, which walked away with big wins in some of the stronger contested categories. 10 Jun 2021 Read more

Clockwork appoints Penny Motsamai as public relations director
Clockwork is proud to announce the appointment of Penny Motsamai as public relations director. Motsamai has been with the agency running the Standard Bank public relations accounts since 2019 and is a seasoned professional with a tremendous amount of experience in both client and agency side of corporate and consumer divisions. 8 Jun 2021 Read more

Clockwork picks up major wins at the 2021 Prism Awards for Netflix: Blood & Water
Clockwork has enjoyed another successful run at the annual Prism Awards with the dynamic communications campaign for local production Netflix: Blood & Water, a collaboration effort with Eclipse Communications that took home a total of four awards across various categories. 7 Jun 2021 Read more

The power of using Segmentation and Personas in marketing and defining the role of both
The rise of digital media and the demand for personalisation by the ever-evolving connected consumer has put pressure on brands to become more specific in their advertising efforts. 21 May 2021 Read more

Clockwork excels at the African Sabre Awards with clients Netflix and Xbox as forerunners
South African full service advertising agency Clockwork is proud to announce six take-homes from the globally-revered African SABRE Awards, with two Winner trophies and four Certificate Of Excellence Awards. Clockwork's clients Netflix, Xbox, Standard Bank and Acer were among the campaigns that picked up accolades. Clockwork has recently opened a brand new branch in the UK. 5 May 2021 Read more

Clockwork expands to the UK
Ex-Engine CMO Richard Dutton and ex-Wunderman Thompson head of strategy Marcus Reynolds are heading up Clockwork UK, the first expansion of South African full-service advertising agency Clockwork, founded in 2010 in South Africa. 1 Feb 2021 Read more