PowerPoint "Safety Officers" at Standard Bank PBB Conference

The idea of Corporate Theatre gets mixed reviews from clients all too often, and this is largely because some event production companies have absolutely no experience in writing professional scripts.

Although any company can buy in the services of professional playwrights, too often they choose to do it in-house, and the resulting scripts are written by people who mistake duration for drama, complexity for comedy and information for inspiration.

At Mann Made Media we don’t do that. We not only employ the services of practicing theatre professionals to write, direct and perform in our corporate and industrial theatrical productions, we also choose the project where this exciting live interactive medium will most effectively serve the intended message.

As we did recently for the Standard Bank Private Business Banking conference.

Here our client was looking for an engaging and compelling way to communicate critical subject matter to a mass audience over a series of one-day events. With content ranging from target market insights to corporate structures to inter-departmental relations, Mann Made Media came up with a host of unique and compelling characters, each of whom conveyed carefully scripted character-based information, performed in a personable manner that was both highly amusing and completely engaging!

You know you’ve got a hit on your hands as a production company when you have the audience reacting to your performers, and you know you’ve made the right choice as a client when you hear your audience quoting your content in the tea breaks.

That’s the true power of theatre – whether it be corporate or industrial – to be effective it simply has to be professional.

Newspaper Vendors tell the story of Toyota SA's 30 years of market leadership

Toyota National Dealers Convention

To create an event experience around the announcement of a new strategy that would connect the leadership to the staff, the staff to each other and the customers to the bank, the team arrived at the concept of “Let’s Connect” with a sub-textual message that dramatised the idea of “connecting the world to Africa and Africa to the world”.

The Team is Born

Any great event is a collaboration between the client that inspires the production company that delivers. These are the players that helped to put it all together.

Building the Set

Just as words need a page, an event needs a stage, and a set and lights, and sound special effects and an auditorium! Building the event space is the job of seasoned experts working with expert visionaries.

Casting the Characters

Just as the chemistry of the behind-the-scenes team is critical, it is vital to make sure that the performers who will bring the concept to life on stage are perfectly matched.

The dancers came from different worlds – literally: from the worlds of hip-hop and classical ballet.

The actors were auditioned separately and put into three teams of two that would eventually tour the country as separate productions.

Rehearsing and Reworking

A proposal document or a script is just the blueprint for the event itself. Which is why we rehearse and rework and rethink and rewrite during the pre-production phase to make what was really good truly great.

Final Dress

Working the performances in a studio is very different from bringing them to life on stage, under lights, with big sound support. Very soon all the hard work off site comes together under the watchful eyes of the directors and producers who make final adjustments and enhancements right up to the last minute.

Welcome Entertainment

Our Masters of Connection work the crowds while our Outside Broadcast unit relays live interactive imagery to the large screens to encourage audience members to connect with each other.

Celebrity DJ

Our celebrity DJ whips up the crowd and prepares them for the next emotional moment.

Celebrity MC

Our “Master of Connection” welcomes all, outlines the theme, raises the standards over the heads of the audience, and introduces the next big moment…

Kenneth Nkosi was the MC who charmed the audiences in White River and Polokwane.

Bloemfontein, Kimberley and Rustenberg were the venues for MC Martin Jonas, who delighted audiences with his own special brand of humour.

Trevor Noah rocked the house for three audiences on the same day at the ICC in Cape Town.

Solly Philander raised gales of laughter in the Windy City as he hosted the day at Port Elizabeth.

In Durban, it was Riaad Moosa who took on the role of MC, with his customary grace and great humour.

Choreography of Connection

Our specially conceived and choreographed dance piece dramatises the uniting power of Africa, through rhythm and celebration, with a rousing crescendo of fireworks and a kabuki drop of massive bank standards all around the venue.

The Real Stars of the Show

It is easy to get caught up in the glitz and glamour of an exciting new show, but ultimately the real stars of the Let’s Connect Roadshow are the Executive Committee members, who provide the drama of the central talk show component. As such, it is vital that they became familiar with the workings of the set and the complex technology involved in bringing their messages to life.

Let’s Converse

The real stars take over, and communicate the core and key messages in an informal and interactive Talk Show – complete with video support and actor interruptions!

Let’s Dance!

The show concludes with the MC calling all of the stars of the show back onto stage: the actors, the dancers, the DJ’s and the Executive Committee members to join with audience in one fabulous piece of mass dance action, culminating in an explosive eruption from the confetti cannons.

Moving Forward

At the end of the launch week at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg, the entire team gathers for a group photograph before dividing into three separate production units that will take smaller versions of the show to 18 venues throughout the provinces.

Sarah Anne Orphanides on Mann Made Media (testimonial) from Stephen Buchanan on Vimeo.

Mann Made Media puts on the Standard Bank Roadshow from Stephen Buchanan on Vimeo.

Mann Made Media put on Standard Bank’s Roadshow in 2009.

Two successful seasons of the web campaign have already been completed. The first season featured style guru and world-renowned party planner Colin Cowie. Colin is originally from South Africa, and has a client list that includes, JLo, Steven Spielberg, Oprah, Tom Cruise and even Hugh Hefner – to name but a few.

Colin arrived in South Africa and checked in to his favourite Johannesburg hotel, “The Westcliff” for a welcome cocktail party. The culinary journey began here.

Colin then headed out to Molori Game Lodge in Madikwe for a few days of ultimate relaxation. The outstanding service and extravagant setting made Molori a destination to remember. Colin invited his long-time celebrity friend, chef Rocco Dispirito, for this part of the trip. Rocco thoroughly enjoyed his first trip into the “bush”.

The next stop on the culinary journey took Colin to the fabulous 12 Apostles Hotel in Cape Town.

The Twelve Apostles Hotel appears to stand “at the edge of the world”. On one side, a line of majestic mountains, The Twelve Apostles, reaches towards the heavens; on the other, the sun sets on the crashing Atlantic rollers.

Colin headed out to the heart of Stellenbosch, to taste some of the award-winning wines of the Tokara wine farm. Tokara is a sophisticated contemporary wine farm and features some renowned blends in its range. Colin was impressed by the quality of the world-class wine on offer.

After tasting some delicious wines, Colin enjoyed lunch at one of his favourite wine farms in Cape Town, Vergelegen Estate. Colin chatted with the Managing Director, Don E. Tooth, about the history and legacy of this famous Estate.

For dinner, Colin visited the restaurant Pigalle for some seafood, peri-peri style. Along with their delicious cuisine, the restaurant served a unique beer from Portugal named “Rafael”, regarded as the “Moët” of beer – served in wine glasses and complementing the food perfectly. Pigalle restaurant overlooks the nightly hustle and bustle of Somerset Road in Greenpoint, Cape Town. This stunning 300-seater restaurant oozes glamour, has a spacious dance floor and a live band every evening.

The next day featured a short drive out of Cape Town to the idyllic town of Franschoek, in the heart of the Cape winelands. Colin was here to explore the top-class restaurants and chefs that are on offer. The first stop was the restaurant “Reubens’”, where Colin cooked a dish with award-winning, up-and-coming restauranteur Reuben Riffel.

Dinner was at the famous ‘le Quartier Francais’. Colin met with another award-winning chef, Margot Janse, and she cooked us some of her exquisite dishes that are a unique fusion of African and French culinary traditions.

Colin flew to the town of George on the beautiful Garden Route, and arrived at Tsala Treetop Lodge. The majestic lodge is situated between Knysna and Plettenberg bay and is surrounded by the Tsitsikamma forest.

There are many great sights to see and activities to do near George, and the next stop, “The Elephant Sanctuary”, was an unforgettable opportunity to get up close to elephants and literally touch them.

Next up was a bit of thrill-seeking as Colin experienced “treetopping” in the Tsitsikamma forest, sailing from tree to tree on slender cables high above the ground – all perfectly safe, of course!

A little further along the Garden Route was Colin’s final stop: lunch with one of his oldest friends (and his first boss!) restaurant-owner Enrico. Enrico’s restaurant is situated in Keurboomstrand, Plettenberg bay, situated with a spectacular view of the sea, where the ingredients for much of his outstanding food is sourced.

Travelling with the irrepressible Colin Cowie was a lesson in “Everything, all the time, at 180miles an hour”. As demanding as the shooting schedule proved to be, it was a pleasure to work with SA tourism and one of the world’s greatest style gurus.

Look out for our next Case Study, recalling the second season of this campaign featuring celebrity Ethiopian-born chef Marcus Samuellson.

DMX approached Mann Made Media with a challenge: to create a sales tool for potential clients in the retail industry, to demonstrate the power of using music inside stores. Mann Made Media is proud to be associated with the DMX brand.

Mann Made Media worked with Standard Bank to deliver a training conference in Hangzhou China between Standard Bank and ICBC China. The goal of the event was too strengthen the relationship between these new partnerships, impart some of Africa & Standard Bank’s culture to ICBC, and take a relatively formal training environment and make it fun.
Mann Made came up with the theme, “Harmony Through Partnerships”, a thread that ran through all aspects of the conference. 9 video modules, powerpoint presentations styled for the theme, and icebreaker activities (all in mandarin) communicated Standard Bank’s message beautifully.
The task was no small feat: from initial creative to completed event in only 6 weeks, all in a foreign language and culture. Mann Made heavily researched Chinese culture in order to be fully relevant to the audience. The training was considered highly successful by both Standard Bank and ICBC and facilitated a stronger “Guanxi”, or relations (mandarin), between the two banks.

The video wall was truly massive – composed of 21 individual “frameless” plasma screens joined together. High definition content, shot on a Sony XDCAM HD camera, was combined with titles, stills and graphics to create an eye-catching display stand feature.

The video itself comprises five modules communicating Toyota’s environmental initiatives – using children, nature footage, and no cars! The unique imagery was created using a combination of studio and location shots, stock footage, stills and motion graphics. The actors were shot in studio against blue screen. The layers were composited and animated in Apple Motion.