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‘Anyone who talks about this job 24/7 can’t ever be very good at it’

Still working together as a creative duo, Mandie van der Merwe and Avish Gordhan have had to find ways to separate life and work, as their long-term partnership continues to extend beyond just the advertising industry.

“It’s not easy,” Gordhan told this week’s Mumbrellacast. “I think when we were starting out, it was a lot easier to sort of separate life and work and be able to delineate roles.”

Gordhan and van der Merwe

Gorhan and van der Merwe started working together around a decade ago, when the pair were in a relationship, later holding roles at Cummins&Partners and M&C Saatchi, before recently being appointed as co-chief creative officers at Dentsu Creative.

“We used to have this thing when we used to get onto the ferry to go to Pyrmont, as soon as we get off we could start talking about work, and then in the afternoon we got back on the ferry, that was us not being able to talk about working anymore. ”

“We had really strict visual cues and visual rules,” he said. “I think as you go up this food chain in advertising, the reality is it’s much harder to find the balance in work and life, and so as a result, Mandie and I have a lot of hobbies, because I don’t think anyone who does this job 24/7 and talks about it 24/7 can ever be very good at it.

I think it’s a debilitating thing to just be talking about one thing for your whole life. I think creatively it stunts you, so we’ve had to find ways to add other things to our life.”

“I also think I would say there’s just a radical honesty in our relationship, whether it’s a personal or a work relationship in terms of where our priorities lie,” said van der Merwe. “We very seldomly have the difficult conversation of  ‘I’m so sorry I have to cancel on you, I’m working late’. It’s like there’s a look that you give each other and you’re like, yep, buckle up, we’re pushing through.”

“There’s no guilt or resentment, I’d say, but equally I’m very fortunate that I get to work with a person that like, maybe you just need a break, maybe you’ve just been here for too long. Let’s go for a walk around the block, let’s see the blue skies and let’s reset.”

During the conversation, the pair talk about their move to Dentsu Creative and the purpose-driven approach that attracted them.

The pair joined the unified Dentsu Creative brand last month

Sanpo Yoshi is Dentsu Creative’s “driving force behind the work and the way we do business”, Gordhan said, which “basically means it’s good for our business, good for your business, and good for society”.

“I think when you distill what success looks like with those three markers, it’s easy to then recognize when you’ve won and when you’ve not.”

“If any one of those parts is lacking, I think it’s a mess. So success is where we pull those three components together and actually create work that fulfills that and offers something that I don’t think the industry currently has in place.”

“We’re not built to think about all three parts of that triangle.”

Listen to the full conversation with van der Merwe and Gordhan on this week’s Mumbrellacast.


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