It certainly is time, our time.
Never before has one event excited so many South Africans and hopefully Africans. Six years ago in May 2004, FIFA awarded the 2010 FIFA World Cup to SA. In the six years following that SA has upgraded airports, hotels, guest houses, built magnificent new stadiums and exposed our country and continent to the best footballers on the planet and the thousands of supporters who follow them.
Being proudly South African I don’t believe it’s possible to view the upcoming World Cup and not be excited about the possibilities. For Fleishman-Hillard SA the World Cup has opened so many doors for our team. We have been intimately involved in FNB’s and Visa’s sponsorship strategy. FNB’s activation plan has primarily been local while Visa has conducted a global programme resulting in our staff and partners interacting closely with our global network and bringing us closer to the international PR market.
On a larger scale I believe the World Cup has provided us (all South African’s) with a once in a lifetime opportunity to change the perception of SA and our continent. The world’s eyes will be on us and it is our time to tell great stories, show our global visitors the best of our land as well as the tourism and investment opportunities that we would all benefit from ultimately.
The World Cup coupled with renewed energy around emerging markets has heightened the importance of Africa within the OmniCom Group, FH’s holding company. Plans have been made for all the OmniCom agencies to meet and strategise the short and medium term future for the OmniCom Group in Africa. The inaugural meeting of OmniCom companies in Joburg in March will bring a new era for our firm as we’ll have a better organised network of marketing agencies. We hope to better leverage all our existing relationships and form new ones. All of this will be completed with only one person in mind, our client.
Ke Nako. Cheers,
Kevin Welman
