KWP’s 25 years of famy and infamy

Today, April 2, independent Adelaide advertising agency KWP celebrates its 25th anniversary.

29/3/16 KWP front cover image. Executives from KWP outside their office in Solomon Street, Adelaide. Picture by Matt Turner.

WHEN the Adelaide Football Club celebrated its 25th year in the national competition in 2015, plaudits came from politicians, pundits, and even Port supporters. Well, maybe not the latter, but it was a big deal. After all, the Crows are the pride of South Australia. Or so their song says.

Today, April 2, independent Adelaide advertising agency KWP celebrates its 25th anniversary. And while the adoration afforded to the Solomon St business won’t be as widespread or high-profile, the importance of the role it plays within the state — not just for its clients — cannot be overlooked or discounted.

“Good advertising agencies and good communications agencies build businesses — that’s their job,” managing director John Baker explains.

“We’ve been involved with and helped build some iconic businesses in this state, which have achieved much success, not just locally, but nationally and overseas. As they’ve grown, we’ve grown, and vice-versa.”

Starting out with no clients, no work and no desks, the agency founded by Andrew Killey and Peter Withy has formed enduring partnerships with some of South Australia’s most recognisable organisations. The mutual success since is no coincidence.

The most obvious example is KWP’s partnership with Coopers. Since coming together in 1994, the family-owned South Australian brewery has experienced an unbroken sequence of annual growth.

In the most recent financial year, Coopers bucked the national trend by posting 4.7 per cent growth in beer sales. This 78.8 million litres of beer equates to 5 per cent of the overall Australian market, resulting in revenue of $235.1 million.

“One of the greatest complements we’ve ever been paid was from (Coopers’ managing director) Dr Tim Cooper,” Baker says.

“On more than one occasion he has attributed KWP as one of the top reasons for they company’s success.”

There’s no doubt that KWP has contributed to the success of Coopers over the years.

Together, they have put SA front and centre on Australia’s beer-drinking map.

And of course there’s the intangible morale boost that South Australians get when Coopers wins national awards and, more generally, talked about in reverent terms.

A similar success story exists with the South Australian Tourism Commission. KWP first secured SATC work in 1999 and its many campaigns since have helped bring record numbers into the state. During 2015, there were 2.2 million interstate visitors and 408,000 international visitors to SA, who collectively pumped $5.6 billion into the local economy.

Again, the many benefits that stem from KWP’s award winning work in promoting the state — Barossa, anyone? — stretch far beyond the walls of the two organisations involved.

“When the campaigns we work on are successful, that success translates directly to the tills of the state. In the Barossa, for example, more tourists spending more money on rooms, tours, food and wine,” creative director James Rickard says.

“With Coopers, more beer sales means increased production, more brewing shifts, more sales staff, more transportation and so on.”