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Ogilvy’s work playground -
Ogilvy’s work playground -
Ogilvy’s work playground -
Ogilvy’s work playground -
Ogilvy’s work playground -
Ogilvy’s work playground -
Ogilvy’s work playground -
Ogilvy’s work playground -
Ogilvy’s work playground
PHOTOS Dook PRODUCTION Annemarie Meintjes WORDS Lisa Johnston
The offices of advertising agency Ogilvy in Johannesburg promote creative play through tongue-in cheek decor.
A mischievous element of play is not immediately apparent when you caste a glance around the grounds of Ogilvy & Mather in Bryanston, Johannesburg. Based around an original Cape Dutch farmhouse the complex spills out into neat gardens, a soothing duck pond and a large office complex, which on appearance could belong to any means of business from insurance to market research. From the outside there’s little to give away that the buildings are those of one of South Africa’s leading advertising agencies – responsible for promoting mainstream brands from Cell C and KFC to DStv and Audi.
It’s only when you look up to the rooftop that you get an inkling of the creative minds buzzing inside the office walls. Grafted to the roof tiles is a rainbow of brightly molded plastic lettering in the style of alphabet fridge magnets, which spell out the words “Dream Humungous”.
It’s the first of a series of details that illustrate the company’s precepts of “playfulness” and “idealism”. Large-scale dreaming certainly worked for the company’s founder, David Ogilvy, who started out as an AGA salesman and went on to be dubbed the “father of advertising” in the 1950s and 60s, to the extent that in 1962 Time called him “the most sought-after wizard in today’s advertising industry”.
There is continued evidence of this idealism and joyful spirit as you wander through the buildings. Some sections have colour-coded beanbags for chilling in while others offer a nod to the founders of advertising with posters of ads from the 50s and 60s. From the tongue-in-cheek plastic ducks in the canteen, which reference the duck pond outside, to offices clad in bold photographic floral wallpaper.
In some ways the decor is disjointed but this is because sections are divided according to clients – so you’ll have the entire DStv team working in area and KFC in another. Their client-based loyalty is taken to its zenith with details such as a colour-coded guardhouse and decals on the entrance doors to promote DStv’s screening of the Brazil World Cup. The PR department is known internally as “the heart of the business” and is decorated accordingly with desk dividers upholstered in a textile print featuring a human figure with a bright red heart on its chest.
Pulling it all together is an enormous Lego wall comprising 10 000 large-scale Lego blocks, which originally spelled out the word “play” in primary coloured glory. These days it features some brand names and meandering squiggles, obviously built by some creative dreamer on a coffee break. After all, if you’re going to spend your days at work, it might as well be as good as play.
