Reg Lascaris is the co-founder of TBWA Hunt Lascaris and currently the advertising agency’s president for Africa and the Middle East. In this interview he tells us about his career and gives insight into his new book, Lessons from the Boot of a Car.
The book takes its title from the way in which Lascaris and John Hunt started their company. Not having enough money, the duo operated out of the boot of a yellow Toyota Corolla until they secured enough clients to afford an office space. The book highlights Lascaris’s life in advertising and gives plenty of advice for up-and-coming creatives and entrepreneurs.
I really want my book to encourage young entrepreneurs to be brave, Lascaris says.
Along with advice regarding advertising, Lessons from the Boot of a Car aims to educate people on how to start their own business.
Lascaris also speaks about his work with famous fast-food company Nando's. Most of the advertisements he created for the company focussed on irreverence and taking the mickey out of everything. During South Africa’s second democratic elections, Lascaris registered Nando's as an official political party using cheeky slogans such as “We will deliver… within a 5km radius”, “We’re here to serve the people… open from 10am till late”, and “You can vote for the left wing and the right wing… and you can eat the whole chicken”.
Lascaris also speaks about creating the campaign for the ANC during the 1994 elections, his famous BMW mouse ad and some of his previous books.
People ask me what the key is to making a good ad… It’s not about a good ad, it’s about a great idea, says Lascaris.
TBWA Hunt Lascaris was the first South African ad agency to win gold at Cannes. It was named the first-ever international ad agency of the year and the ad agency of the century in Ad Age magazine.
