Net#work BBDO’s move into its new offices meant unpacking 27 years of awards haul for the shelves. That triggered a meltdown. The leadership melted Cannes, Loeries, Prisms, D&ADS, LIAs, New York Festivals, Bookmarks One Shows … into liquid metal. And then those awards were reimagined.

“We are living in a new world, with new social contracts,” explained chief creative officer, Roanna Williams, “So rather than letting our awards gather dust in glass cabinets, we dusted them off, melted them down and reimagined how we could put them in the hands of the 670 employees that helped build this company. Net#work BBDO has always been about ‘the work, the work, the work’, but after these massive two years we have all been through, we really wanted to make this about the people, the people, the people, behind the work.”

The melted-down awards have been used to craft the 670 hashtag logo pendants, each with its own unique hand-carved employee number. “We’re igniting a new era of Network BBDO by looking back and showing our gratitude to every employee who has been part of our 27-year story,” stated Net#work BBDO managing director, Leo Manne.

“We all know that awards are won not just by those that get called up on the stage or listed on the credits, but also the layers of people who make the calls, manage suppliers, and even make the tea. This is a tribute to everyone who has walked through our revolving doors since 1994. The incredible people behind the work,” added Tebogo Koena, head of strategic planning at Net#work BBDO.

Manne and his team have reinvented Net#work BBDO into a 51% South African and black-owned business recently adding Oppo, SA Taxi, Ford After Sales, Budweiser, Stella Artois and Corona brands to their portfolio as creative lead partner.

[If you are an ex-employee of Net#work BBDO and have not received your pendant of appreciation, please DM on any of our social media platforms to arrange #ThePeopleThePeopleThePeople.]

Here’s how Net#work BBDO sees the idea:

You melted ALL your awards down from the last 27 years – why?

• So much has happened during the pandemic
• We’ve moved offices, said goodbye to great leaders like Mike Schalit and Boniswa Pezisa
• And it never felt like it was properly done, understandably, during Covid
• We have also taken our time to rethink where we are going and what else we wanted to stand for
• So, yes…
• We melted down our awards and turned them into tribute pendants for everyone that has been part of our story for 27 years: from the tea maker to the bookkeeper.

Does this mean you are anti-awards?

• Definitely not! We love them, we respect them, we want them.
• But just as awards have reinvented themselves over this period, it felt like this was a good time to showcase our awards better.
• So rather than letting our awards gather dust in glass cabinets, we dusted them off, melted them down and put them in the hands of the 670 employees that helped build this company.

So awards don’t just belong to the creatives?

• No, we all know what it takes for award-winning campaigns to actually happen.
• And that involves everyone from the person making the coffee to the producer managing the supplier, to the accountant paying the invoices.
• It takes a village – we want to acknowledge that.
• Awards are not just won by those who go up on the stage or who are listed on the credits.

How many pendants have you made?

• 670, that’s what our tally is of employees over the last 27 years.
• We start delivering them on Monday, so it will be exciting to see what the reaction will be.
• We have always been about ‘the work the work the work’ – but we would not have the work if it wasn’t for the people – so this is a moment about ‘the people, the people, the people’.

Did you use all the melted metal?

• A lot of them were melted
• With a few left overs, we may still make a sculpture of our # logo for our new foyer.

The agency has been through some changes itself the past two years

• Indeed.
• We prefer to refer to ourselves as a business ‘that delivers creatives solutions that move business’, and the market has reacted well – we have added Oppo, SA Taxi, Ford After Sales, Budweiser, Stella Artois and Corona brands to our portfolio.
• We welcomed Roanna Williams as our new CCO as Mike Schalit stepped down.
• And we said a sad farewell to our CEO, the inimitable Boniswa Pezisa as Leo Manne stepped up to the MD role.
• We also moved into new offices in Sandton in what has really become an Omnicom campus, sharing space with our sister agencies.
• So there has been a real passing of the baton that we wanted to mark.
• We wanted to thank them all for being part of our story and inspiring our next.