Hansa says Cheers to Green Robot Design, the Dreamers.
Hansa Pilsener salutes Green Robot Design for being dreamers who work hard and make things happen in their latest TV and Radio campaign “Cheers to Dreamers”. We had the opportunity to interview Kgomotso Mautloa the Creative Director of GRD during these exciting times for them at Green Robot Design. Read the interview after the jump. 1.Hi Kgomotso, I remember hearing you speak about GRD at “I create we create” conference, how do you stay focus as a young person? For the most part I keep focused by never losing focus of the dream that made me start Green Robot Design. It’s always hard to stay focused and not give up, but with enough will power, tenacity and most of all passion it’s easier to take on the day to day challenges. 2.Owning a business as a young person (of colour) seems a big of a step, how have you managed the set-backs and doors being closed on you? I’ve never used or looked at them as set-backs, every experience is a stepping stone. You need to have a positive outlook on everything that you do. A person of colour, it means that you possibly might have a longer journey, but you will get there. I look at where we started and we are. We’re not were we’ve envisioned but we’re not stopping either, we just have to push and break boundaries while we do that. 3.If you were given a chance to speak at 2 lecture venues, one of drop outs and one of graduates-to-be. What would your advice be to each class? Uhm… This is a tricky question as I admire both parties and my advice would be different to both of them. I originally come from the school of the drop-outs but I admire the latter for keeping the focus with their studies. With that said, I think common lesson would be to keep working hard, hard work always pays off, whether it be monetary, experience, meeting people. Just do what you set out to do. 4.Do you still do flyers and do they still pay the bills? Hahahahaha, why would we stop? It’s what we’ve become famous for, they definitely still keep the lights on. It keeps us relevant in those circles. But yes, we still do… 5.After the Hansa campaign ends, where is GRD heading to in 2014 and beyond? 2014 should be an interesting year, we have a lot planned both internally and service offering that we want to offer to our clients. It’s important for us to stay relevant and to stay ahead with the work we do. The ever-changing landscape of the design world keeps us thinking...
I Create We Create.
It is not everyday in South Africa where you come across young people gathering to foster a new way of living and successfully giving it their all to achieve their goals. Recently we teamed up with the feisty and talented Thinz who attended the #ICWC2013 conference held in Newtown to bring us up to speed, in her own words.This is what she observed, a good article for creatives at large. The transformation debate in the South African creative industry is one that’s going to go on for a long, long time. What a pleasure it was then to see one (of many) individuals who’s decided to take it upon himself to contribute towards turning this situation around. Banele, a guy we consider to be the epitome of a hustler here at the Represent offices, literally had to pull rabbits out of hats to put together what we consider to be the most inspiring workshop we’ve had the pleasure of being invited to. Having identified a gap (the size of the rift valley) between creatives with skills to offer and creative agencies desperately in need of talent, he facilitated an event that brought the two parties under one roof. On a cold winter Saturday morning, in a venue so nondescript it has to be one of Joburgs best secrets, the 1st of many I Create We Create events got underway. Hosted by a guy who – in my opinion has to be the funniest comedian right now – Donovan Goliath, the room began to buzz with inspiring speaker after speaker as creatives from a wide range of disciplines – photography, graphic design and writing – absorbed inspiration for how to make it in the dog-eat-dog world of living your creative dreams in the city of gold. All the speakers had nothing but gems to contribute. Sarah Jane Boden of SoulProviders started the show by sharing her learnings from being a small and growing content business. Shy-guy (he said it) Green Robot CEO Kgomotso Mautloa told his story of a start- stop journey to the top. A story that inspired many young people who could identify with him because he’s young and, like many of us, was at some point overwhelmed with the feeling of being directionless in his life. Then there was copy guru Mbulelo Nhlapho who blew everybody away with his portfolio of creative work that has cleaned up at awards shows across the globe. We often never take the time to think that behind the great advertising messages and stories we see out there, sure there’s the brand they represent, but behind it there are actual people who graft for hours,...
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