Graham Warsop started his career in advertising as a junior copywriter at Meridian Advertising (part of Ogilvy), South Africa, followed by a stint at Lindsay Smithers FCB as a senior copywriter. Eighteen months after starting at Lindsay Smithers, Warsop left to form The Jupiter Drawing Room, Johannesburg, in May 1989. Between '89 and '94, Warsop served as managing director and hands-on executive creative director. For the first two years he was also the only full-time copywriter at the agency.
    In '94 he stepped down as managing director of The Jupiter Drawing Room, moving on to become chairman (and continuing as executive creative director) of the company. Additionally, he was appointed CEO of Jupiter. In this latter role, he set out to build a communications group. This began with the launch of The Jupiter Drawing Room business in Cape Town.
    In '05, Warsop stepped down as chairman of The Jupiter Drawing Room in Johannesburg, a position filled by Given Mkhari. Warsop is currently chairman of The Jupiter Drawing Room, South Africa, which comprises both the Johannesburg and Cape Town businesses. He remains hands-on executive creative director of The Jupiter Drawing Room in Johannesburg.
    This year, he served as president of the London International Awards' 2006 Advertising and Design Jury.
    Over the years at the London International Awards competition, Warsop has won more than 25 statues, including best copywriting honors in both TV and print. Last year at the LIA's 20th anniversary retrospective, The Jupiter Drawing Room, Johannesburg, was recognized as the most awarded independent agency and Warsop was honored as the number one creative director in the hallowed history of the festival.

 

SHOOT : What was your impression of the work submitted in the Television/Cinema competition of the 2006 LIA, and how did you select the Grand Prize in this category?
WARSOP: It was a vintage year. For TV I got down to four for the Grand Prize and I would have been happy to award it to any of the four. They are wonderful ambassadors for the business of advertising. Big ideas, which differentiate clients' brands in the marketplace, build loyalty and increase sales. Commercials like these are living proof that the advertising business is still alive and well and adding enormous value to clients' brands.
    I had to choose between Sony Bravia's "Balls" (the winner, for Fallon London, directed by Nicolai Fuglsig via bicoastal/international MJZ), Honda's "Impossible Dream" (Wieden+Kennedy, London helmed by Ivan Zacharias who directed via Stink, London, and who is repped in the U.S. by bicoastal Smuggler); Guinness' "noitulovE" (Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO London, helmed by Daniel Kleinman, who directed via now former Kleinman Productions and who is currently a partner in London production house Rattling Stick); and Canal Plus' "March of the Emperor" (BETC Euro RSCG, Paris, directed by The Glue Society of bicoastal/international @radical.media ).
    [On Sony Bravia] It was an interesting brief—to communicate, on TV, a TV set with better color when the vast majority of viewers will be watching it on a TV screen with inferior color. Quite a challenge. That aside, how many TV manufacturers' advertisements can you remember?
    Advertising for TV sets generally tends to fall into a vast amorphous wasteland of features, more often than not given to you all at once with a questionable voice artist and the product center screen.
    It was a challenging brief. They didn't attempt to show it having better color, but promoted a sense of color. It just blows the category apart. ... "Color like no other"—it's a big, global idea that plays in many markets. I think this particulate ad deserved to clinch it.

 

SHOOT : What are your thoughts on the role of new media in advertising?
WARSOP: Nobody is entirely sure what the future is. It's a digital future, but not with the exclusion of current media. I believe we are going to see an explosion in the area of integrated media... [Integrated media] has yet to be fully realized. I still believe it's about the power of a big idea.

 

SHOOT : What are your thoughts on mobile services as vehicles for advertising?
WARSOP: Mobile is going to be a very powerful tool; it's about a two-way street. It is important to engage in a conversation with [the audience] and to get them to interact with you.
    There are no real tangible results yet. Some are finding it a bit of an irritation if it is used to talk to people rather than listen to them...Some [mobile advertisers] have been fined and taken to court. I worry mobile as a medium could attract marketers using it inappropriately. That ends up spoiling it for everyone.

SHOOT : What is the state of commercial production in South Africa?
WARSOP: We had a fantastic year at Cannes. We represent 0.3 percent of worldwide advertising, yet we won 30 Lions including the Grand Prix in print. We've got quite a healthy industry...We have some excellent production companies and directors who are in demand globally. It's a fantastic country to come to and shoot an advertisement.
    There's very little rain; we're geared toward the logistics and crew support for foreign production.
 

SHOOT: The 2010 FIFA World Cup is scheduled to be played in South Africa. What impact has that had on the advertising market?
WARSOP: In the services industry-whether hotel or airlines-people are bracing themselves for an exciting time. We are anticipating that advertising dollars for the brands of the key sponsors will be significant.
    That will raise the water levels for all clients...there's also potential for brands that have never been in the [South African] market.

 

SHOOT : What challenges does the advertising industry face, and what would you recommend to the industry?
WARSOP: It seems to be a trend for clients to form closer relationships with branding companies, and agencies are loosing their preeminence because of that... [Agencies] should include everything from packaging to the electronic media, but they've been relegated to above the line media. When it comes to integration, advertising agencies need to seize the opportunities.
    [Second,] we need to embrace technology [and understand] how it impacts communication around the world. We are undergoing profound changes. We need to have a thirst for knowledge and use technology to our advantage.
    We should be on the forefront of ideas as an industry—the people telling clients where technology is taking them.
    [Third,] we need to recruit the new generation of creative people and encourage them to think across all media platforms; they are comfortable in new media terrain as well as the [current] media terrain. I think we'll see that a lot of young people could help all advertising agencies to the next level....We should take and guide them. It's idealism tempered with wisdom.