The Hardy Boys to drive Sunlight in Africa

The Hardy Boys CEO, Dale Tomlinson

BBH, which is responsible for global brands like Johnny Walker, has been appointed by Unilever to handle its detergent brand in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Turkey. The agency has strategic and creative responsibilities for Sunlight in Latin America, North America and Europe.

All account and creative work for Asia will be led out of BBH Asia Pacific while BBH has partnered with The Hardy Boys for Africa, the Middle East and Turkey.

Simon Sherwood, CEO of BBH Worldwide said: "This is a very important global consolidation for us. Much of the brands future growth will come from the developing markets."

The Hardy Boys CEO, Dale Tomlinson said the London announcement followed presentations by BBH and his agency to the global Unilever team in Durban.

He said working with BBH exposed his agency to some of the best advertising and strategic minds in the world and allowed a South African company the opportunity to influence the direction of a global brand.

"This is huge for us. In Africa alone it involves raising Sunlight's presence across the continent. Growth in western and European markets is nothing near the exponential growth that can be achieved in emerging markets.

"We will be taking BBH's thinking and making it relevant across a huge diversity of consumers right down to the shopper in local retail or their equivalent in Nigeria or Ghana. We have a network across Africa and insight specialists in these countries will make sure the campaign content in each country is relevant.

"We also have to make sure it is sensitive to local cultures and habits.

Tomlinson said Unilever was impressed with The Hardy Boys' ability to "work" brands across multiple channels and complex consumer groups.

"In tough times you can't simply produce classical campaigns and sit back and wait for them to work their magic. You have to drive them deeper and get involved in more personal and relevant consumer engagement campaigns across a greater diversity of communication disciplines."

Tomlinson said the Sunlight work would see The Hardy Boys creating a network of more than 50 people across the continent, all co-ordinated from Durban.

"This is fantastic work. We've had considerable success on other brands in Africa and have affiliates in 11 countries, which will be greatly strengthened. There are markets that Unilever may require us to have a presence where we don't have.

"More than 50 people will be networked across Africa as a result of this. This will give our agency greater insight into different and relevant consumer habits. It will allow us to gain a greater understanding as to how people utilise products across the region. We have an understanding of banking and personal care. Now we are able to strengthen this with a better understanding of home care. It will give us a more rounded knowledge of African, Middle Eastern and Turkish consumers."

The Hardy Boys has experience across Africa, most recently when it worked on British Airways with BBH. It also did total communications for Barclays for four years across all channels in nine countries. The Hardy Boys is also partnered with BBH on Vaseline in Africa, Middle East and Turkey markets and is the global lead agency on Vaseline Petroleum Jelly.

Tomlinson said it was gratifying to see business grow, especially in a recession.

"We're cherry picking great new people to handle the growth in our business which is against the trend as many agencies are cutting back. It's sad but incredible how much rich talent is out there, possibly as a result of the current climate."