by Herman Manson (@marklives) Joe Public is exiting Cape Town, Joe Public South Africa chief executive officer Gareth Leck has confirmed.
The group launched a Cape-based agency called Joe Publicⁿ in June 2013, under the leadership of executive creative director Leon Jacobs and MD Franco Raffa. At the time, it had acquired digital agency, Knnktr, headed up by Raffa, Shawn Roos and Wayne Ashley Berry.
According to Leck, Raffa and his partners will now lead a management buy-out of the business and rebrand it as Next, which will be focusing on strategy and software development. It opens for business on 7 November 2014.
Retains the brand
Meanwhile, Joe Public retains the Joe Publicⁿ brand.
The Cape Town agency had been moving towards product development, when the needs of the Joe Public group meant it required a digital communications agency. The Cape Town agency also hadn’t managed to attract a broad client base, says Leck.
Joe Public will now focus on expanding its digital capabilities in the Johannesburg agency, and has appointed Dylan McLean as managing partner and ECD of Connect Joe Public to help achieve this objective.
Not a priority
While the initial intention was for Joe Publicⁿ to function as the group’s core digital agency, that capability will be moved to Johannesburg. Leck says the agency will rethink a Cape Town presence at some point but it’s not a priority at this time.
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