The story of Fifth Ring
Miyamoto Musashi is revered as the greatest samurai of all time.
This honour is great, because the Samurai did not only exist to do
battle. They were accomplished writers, poets, strategists and
philosophers. Musashi's legendary skill with a sword made him
famous, but his work with a pen is what inspires people today.
Just before his death in 1645, Musashi wrote The Book of Five
Rings. It is a book on tactics, strategy and philosophy, originally
wrote with the Samurai in mind. But over time the work has gained
significance way beyond its original idiom. It is prescribed
reading for many studying management and business.
When Cliff Collier - Fifth Ring MD read the book 20 years ago,
he found it amazingly relevant to his vision of an integrated
marketing communications company. When you read about each ring, or
'book', you'll see why.
The Book of Earth establishes the importance of
strategy. It champions the acquirement of relevant knowledge before
any important campaign, something Fifth Ring have done from day
one.
The book of water talks about the importance of
creativity and flexibility in the delivery of strategy. Our brand
strategists and creative departments agree.
The book of fire states that only with planning
and expertise that comes from training and study can a competitive
advantage be obtained. This is something we practice and
preach.
The book of wind emphasises the need to
integrate and deploy many techniques and disciplines instead of
relying on one expertise. Fifth Ring - Integrated
corporate communications. Need we say more?
The book of the void is just one paragraph.
This excerpt sums it up best - 'By knowing things that exist,
you can know that which does not exist'. Today we understand
this as the concept of intuition.
Strategy, creativity, expertise and integration are all
elemental in our business. Using these fundamentals we gain a deep
understanding of each client's market. This gives us the intuition
to go on and produce excellent results. Hence the name Fifth Ring.
Our two word name encompasses our vision, culture and values. Very
few companies can claim this.