by Herman Manson (@marklives) Interpublic Group-owned FCB has announced structural changes to its African network of agencies. Affiliate contracts have been renegotiated for standardisation by FCB, a move to ensure all its African affiliates are contractually on par with its other affiliates worldwide. All agencies in the network have added the prefix “FCB” to their names, following this renegotiation.
FCB South Africa is being rebranded to FCB Africa to do away with the misnomer that there’s a South African agency network which sits apart from its other African counterparts.
Headquarters
FCB Africa will be the headquarters for the African network. Its former co-ordinating agency in the network, which used to be called FCB Africa, will be renamed FCB Connect. It remains under the leadership of Philip van Rensburg. Brett Morris will continue to hold CEO responsibility for all FCB agencies on the continent.
According to Morris, the renegotiated contracts prove the network values and aim to strengthen its African partnerships. Relationships are now based upon mutual benefit; he describes the new deal as “real economic partnerships”. The network isn’t planning on buying up its network agencies — he says it prefers to have its affiliates owner-managed. “We don’t require ownership to build a real partnership,” he states.
90 years in Africa
FCB, through various incarnations, has had a presence in Africa for 90 years. Broughton Advertising in Zambia become the first agency outside of SA to join the network in 1995.
Pan-African clients include WingsCorp (SoKlin, Goodmama, Boom, Soklin Protect and Mie Supreme), Tiger Brands (Tastic, Crosse & Blackwell, Fattis & Monis, Doom), Engen, Davita Trading (Davita Juice, Jolly Juice, Benny Stock), Moneygram, Aldor (Pin Pop, Yougeta), Distell (Savanna), Advans Micro Finance Bank, Old Mutual, SA Tourism and PPC Cement.
There are currently 21 agencies affiliated to the FCB Africa network, covering 24 markets across sub-Saharan Africa.
FCB Africa affiliates
| Country | Agency |
|---|---|
| Angola & Mozambique | BACK |
| Cameroon & Chad | FCB Palmares |
| DRC & Congo | FCB Oxygene |
| Ethiopia | Astar |
| Ghana | FCB Admedia |
| Ivory Coast, Togo and Burkina Faso | FCB Intuition |
| Kenya & Tanzania | FCB Sema House |
| Liberia | Premier Group |
| Malawi | FCB Times Communication |
| Mali | FCB Publistar |
| Mauritius & Madagascar | FCB Cread |
| Namibia | BlueBerry |
| Nigeria | FCB Brandfirst (Media agency) |
| Nigeria | FCB DpPartnership |
| Senegal | FCB Insights |
| South Africa | 1886 |
| South Africa | FCB Cape Town |
| South Africa | FCB Durban |
| South Africa | FCB Johannesburg |
| Zambia | FCB Zambia |
| Zimbabwe | FCB Zimbabwe |
A further three agencies, in Botswana, Uganda and Rwanda, are expected to be on board by the end of this year.
Herman Manson (@marklives) is the founder and editor of MarkLives.com. He was the inaugural Vodacom Social Media Journalist of the Year in 2011 and has, over his 20-year-plus career, contributed to numerous journals and websites in South Africa and abroad, including AdVantage magazine, Men’s Health, Computer World and African Communications.
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