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The Buz Factor leading the way in public relations and event production

By Edward Tsumele, CITYLIFE BUSINESS Editor-In-Chief

One of the most prominent companies in event management, public relations, technical productions, and arts marketing in Johannesburg The Buz Factor is run by two dynamic professionals Bridget Van Oerle and Thabo Pule. The two seasoned professionals in public relations and technical production recently merged their two respective companies to form this new entity, whose scope has therefore been expanded, offering a wide range of services in the cultural and creative sector as well as their plan to get into other areas, such as training and producing their own shows and events going forward.Bridget, co-owner of The Buz Factor  spoke to CITYLIFE BUSINESS Editor-in-Chief Edward Tsumele about what the boutique company offers to clients as well as plans for the future.


Edward:
The company you run and co-own, that is The BUZ Factor was formerly called BUZ Publicity? What is the background of the company and why and when was the name changed?

Bridget: I ran BUZ Publicity for 26 years and in March 2022 approached Thabo Pule with the suggestion that we merge our business’s. We have worked together for many years on different projects and alongside each other and it made sense that we join forces, we offer different skills but combining that made good business sense. We took the names of both our companies and The BUZ Factor was born.

We were both working on the Beautiful Things Exhibitionat the Graskop Gorge , it was there that we agreed to do the jump to the left and the step to the right and create the new company and voila on that beautiful, curvy road between Graskop and Sabie the new business name was decided on and The BUZ Factor was born. We do a lot of work in Mpumalanga, so it all seemed apt.

Both of us come from the creative sector and have worked in that space for many years and our skills complement each other.

We were also lucky enough to have colleagues that we have worked with gifted us in getting started – with designs, pictures, social-media platforms, writing media releases to help us get on our way.

BUZ PR would have celebrated 27 years in April so we gently launched on 1 May 2022.

Edward: BUZ Publicity for years focussed on marketing the arts, from theatre to music festivals, but recently it looks like it has gone beyond those two areas of the arts and why is that so:

Bridget: We still work in the creative industries and that will never change, but the transition into other sectors was a natural one and was seamless.

We have been working on NGO, NPO, educational institutions and certain corporate spaces for a while, it made sense for us to move in that direction, it happened seamlessly.

The experience from working in the creative sector for so many years and being able to be agile and offer different values to clients has been an asset in the business and has stood us in good stead. The alignment of both the companies has just upped our offerings.

It also keeps us working and being able to move from differentindustries and organisations keeps us on our toes and able to keep growing.

The NGO, NPO and education space is also an exciting place to be inat the moment and coming from the creative sector we find we have a lot to offer other sectors and our versatility is a positive thing.

Edward: What are the core services that The BUZ Factor offers and what is its target market?

Bridget: We have combined our offerings and deliver a ‘one stop shop”, where clients can utilise our services– we are as someone said ‘start to end – end to start”

We have each come with our own offerings and we will continue to give that but combining our services means that we can give far more value and look at new ways to work

What we do not offer directly we have suppliers that we work with that we pull into jobs

We do use a pool of freelancers when needed

It is very much about us being on site and engaging with the clients – owner service is important it’s very easy to get lost and lose the hands on approach that bot Thabo ad I like if one is working with a big company or too many people

We are an owner run business

We do PR, marketing, technical production, sound and lighting, social media, eventing, hybrid and training.

We also use suppliers that are smaller companies or individual that have often been unable to get into a mainstream space because of gate-keeping or not been given a chance but are of an excellent standard.  

We do not have specific target audiences and work right across the board – we work in very different spaces ranging from rural to urban spaces.

Edward: Running a small or medium enterprise business is not simple as sometimes you have to deal with bad payers, such as late payments or no payments at all, but seemingly over the years you have navigated this difficult terrain and how did you or do you deal with such challenges?

Bridget: Running an SME or SMME is hard, staying in business is hard, we have been lucky to have had some incredible clients and projects over the last few years and for that we are very grateful.

We have seen though budgets shrink in the sectors we work in or stay the same after so many years later. Thabo and I come from different trajectories so our experiences when used in business have given us a broader palette to pull from.

  • You have to be fluid and agile, listen to what clients say or want for their job
  • Having the networks and connections is a great asset as we are able to leverage from those for a variety.
  • There are bad payers especially in the creative sector and its incredibly worrying given the fact that they are often people who got funding or had money to pay and do not doit.
  • Despite legal contracts and systems in place often the bullying and non-payment is hugely damaging to smes /smmes.
  • You also need to learn to change direction and be agile.
  • Have a good network that you can call on and suppliers that are on the same page as you to deliver an excellent product.

Edward: BUZ Publicity is known for having trained young people in the area of arts marketing over the years and some of whom have gone on to do wonderful things elsewhere. Why do you think every company should try to bring young people into the fold wherever it is possible?

 Bridget: The legacy of training is something that both Thabo and myself think is vital and with the merging of the companies this will not change, we are adamant to keep it going and do so whenever we can. We both believe this should be standard practice

  • We think it’s vital that we train and share skills. If we do not train young people and ensure we are passing the baton how do younger people learn in business.
  • Not everyone can afford to study after school and in our sector many people have learned on the job if you do not give people opportunities how do we create a workforce of young people who want to come into our sector.
  • We feel strongly too about mentoring or training from projects we are involved with or with young people from community space.
  • We both feel that companies should be training on most jobs this opens up a door for younger people to learn and skills transfers to happen.
  • Regardless of the size of a company we should all be doing  what we can to assist the youth.

Edward:  What is The BUZ Factor’s strategy of growing in the next 10 years?

Bridget:We would like to see the bouquet The BUZ Factor offers grow and that we could employ more people and expand our business. We would like to look at producing, look at more training and empowering the youth through training.  

We have just moved into a new office space at the Transwerke studios at Constitution Hill, which is a curated space and is very exciting as there are many other creative companies and organisations there. It will be fantastic to see more collaborations, more performance spaces being created out of the traditional spaces we see now.

We would like to be thought leaders in the sector looking at negotiating partnerships.

Look at creating a space to fundraise which is essential in some of the sectors we work in.

Late this year we are co -producing a musical and we are very excited to be involved in this process. It is something we would like do more of.

Being involved in the education space is also something we want to investigate.

A decade seems a long time but it is not. But being on top of one’s game and looking at trends and being able to be nimble is important, long term plans can change and we are open to that.

We would like to have MOU’s with other like-minded companies and see more people moving out of silos.

In whatever we do we would like to be part of a positive change and to leave a legacy that has made a difference.

Edward: The past three years have been difficult especially because of the effect of Covid-19 which decimated several businesses, some even closed shop. How was the experience of The BUZ Factor during this difficult period?

Bridget:COVID really knocked us badly, We both in our own business’s lost work and contracts. Due the nature of the industry work was cancelled was the most awful time one never expected business to be knocked this badly and almost have to start again.

In the creative sector one needs to be agile and to be able to make a plan but during Covid-19 this was so limited and many of us had to almost start again.

I was very ill in ICU and hospital for three weeks. It took me a long time to recover and the long Covid-19 is something that I personally have had to deal with.Howeverpartnering with Thabo means that I do not have to be a lone ranger and having a business partner means that there are 2 of us to run the business and bring work in, source new clients and service clients and create work and new ideas.

During Covid-19 I was very active in assisting organisations and other creatives with PR and admin to keep busy and it was frustrating.

The creative sector is only really bouncing back and I think it will be a long time till we recover. But it has also taught us ways to re imagine, relook and look at what our needs are.

People’s habits have changed. How they go out and how they spend has changed, and we need to be aware of this and talk to that.

The arts is a luxury item and with economies as they are post Covid-19, people are more aware of where and how they spend money.

Theatre shows need to start earlier to accommodate the new work environment.

We have had to work smarter post Covid-19. So we have a core team and then use freelancers or consultants on a project basis. We partner with other companies on projects.

We also look at making our own work and not waiting for it to come our way or be funded.

Edward: These times of digital disruptions are challenges for many businesses calling for innovation, agility and adaptability as strategies to survive this age, what new innovations is The BUZ Factor is considering implementing going forward?

Bridget:The digital world has created spaces and often it is the saying “the shoemakers children do not have shoes” –so one is buy making work for other people that you sometimes neglect your brand

We are looking at an online training course that we can run, we are wanting to expand our business into that. I have some training qualifications and in the next while we are both looking at more training qualifications that we can utilise and adapt to work online

We are working on our online brand from a marketing point of view.

We do in our business offer a hybrid solution which we would like to see clients making use of.

We are this year looking at how we create a brand footprint online and leverage that but also being aware that we do need to be live and interacting within the sectors we work in and networking face to face.

 Edward: Who are your most recent clients?

Bridget: Our clients since we have merged or brought into the company include The South African National Editors Forum, Constitution Hill, 67 Blankets For nelson Mandela, Sacred Heart College, Keiskamma Projects, Robin Orlin, Moving Into Dance, Arts and Culture Trust, Legal Resource Centre, Department of Sport, Arts and Culture, Pieter-Dirk Uys, My Body My Space Festival, Forgotten Angle Theatre Collaborative, Buskaid, Joburg Philharmonic Orchestra, The Dance Factory, NAF (National Arts Festival), Nyakaza Dance and Theatre Festival, Mark Banks,  Leftfoot Productions, Mzansi National Philharmonic Orchestra, Keismma Tapestries, Human Rights Festival-Con Hill, Africa Day Festival-Con Hill, University of The Witwatersrand, Locrate Market and Artaid.

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