by Herman Manson (@marklives) In which revenue band does which ad agency lie? It’s an important question — and one that isn’t always entirely clear.
Many ad agencies don’t reveal South African revenue figures (although listed groups such as WPP might reveal aggregated figures for the region or the network, often they don’t break down revenue by agency brands). Most agencies are willing to reveal publicly approximate revenue bands for their businesses; while this does make for inexact science, it gives an indication of where agencies are in terms of revenue.
Different agencies, different views
Even calculating revenue can be difficult as different agencies take different views on what constitutes revenue and what should be included in this figure. MarkLives encourages agencies to report revenue as opposed to billings: Billings is the amount of client money that flows through an agency to media, production houses and the like; what you can touch but you can’t keep equals billings. Revenue is the money agencies get to keep. This is the number we are looking for.
Agencies listed below are included based upon publicly available revenue bands in 2015/16, sourced from information available online such as interviews with executives placed in other media. Revenue bands for agency brands listed with an asterisk (*) have been confirmed individually with agency management.
Not listed? Want to make a correction?
Contact us with your revenue band for inclusion.
The information provided by agencies is impossible to audit and MarkLives accepts such information in good faith. If we couldn’t track down an agency’s revenue band and couldn’t convince them to share it with us, we didn’t list them.
Data set 2015/16
Revenue band |
Agency |
Group |
R550+m |
The Creative Counsel | Publicis Africa Group |
R450-550m |
TBWA\ Group | TBWA |
R350-R450m |
Ogilvy & Mather South Africa | WPP |
R250-350m |
No entry | |
R200-250m |
No entry | |
R150–200m |
FCB Joburg | Interpublic Group |
| King James Group* | Independent | |
R125–150m |
Ogilvy & Mather Johannesburg* | WPP |
| Joe Public United* | Independent | |
| ninety9cents* | Independent | |
| NATIVE VML* | WPP | |
| M&C Saatchi Abel* | M&C Saatchi | |
| The Jupiter Drawing Room & Partners [Group]* | Independent (WPP minority-owned) | |
R100–125m |
Publicis Machine* | Publicis Africa Group |
| DDB* | Omnicom Group | |
| Y&R South Africa* | WPP | |
R70–100m |
Zinto* | Independent |
| FoxP2 Group* | Independent | |
| ProActive Activation Agency* | Independent | |
R50–70m |
Grey Africa* | WPP |
| FCB Cape Town | Interpublic Group | |
| RADAR* | Independent | |
| Demographica* | Independent | |
| Saatchi & Saatchi* | Publicis Africa Group | |
| Liquorice* | Publicis Africa Group | |
| Net#work BBDO | Omnicom Group | |
| Hamiltons* | Independent | |
| Mortimer Harvey | Independent | |
R30–50m |
OwenKessel Leo Burnett* | WPP |
| 1886 | Interpublic Group | |
| Hero* | Independent | |
| Stretch Experiential* | Independent | |
| MullenLowe South Africa* | Interpublic Group | |
| 34* | Independent | |
| Promise* | Independent | |
| 140 BBDO* | Omnicom Group | |
| Black Africa Group | Independent | |
| Old Friends Young Talent | Independent | |
R20–30m |
Avatar* | Independent |
| Black River FC* | The Jupiter Drawing Room Cape Town | |
| Artifact Advertising* | Independent | |
| 360eight* | Independent | |
R10-20m |
The New Order* | Independent |
| Ebony & Ivory* | Independent | |
| Blast Brand Catalysts* | Independent | |
| Lima Bean* | Independent | |
| +27 Advertising* | Independent | |
| Conversation Lab* | Independent | |
Under R10m |
June15* | Independent |
| Pangea Ultima* | Independent | |
| Grenade* | Independent | |
| Duke* | Independent | |
| Red September* | Independent | |
| Utopia* | Independent | |
| The Cradle Partnership* | Independent |
Data set 2013/14
Revenue band |
Agency |
Group |
R250+ |
*The Creative Counsel | Independent |
R150–200m |
*FCB Joburg | IPG |
| Ogilvy & Mather Johannesburg | WPP | |
| *Aqua Group | WPP | |
R125–150m |
Ogilvy & Mather Cape Town | WPP |
| *JWT South Africa | WPP | |
| *Y&R Johannesburg | WPP | |
| Havas Worldwide | Havas | |
| *Native VML | WPP | |
R100–125m |
*Volcano/Grey South Africa | WPP |
| *TBWA\Hunt\Lascaris Johannesburg | Omnicom | |
| *Joe Public | Independent | |
| *M&C Saatchi Abel | M&C Saatchi | |
| Quirk | WPP | |
| *The Jupiter Drawing Room Johannesburg | WPP | |
R70–100m |
*DDB South Africa | Omnicom |
| Exp | WPP | |
| *Gloo | Kagiso | |
| *The Jupiter Drawing Room Cape Town | WPP owns 49% | |
| *TBWA\Hunt\Lascaris Durban | Omnicom | |
| *Ireland/Davenport | WPP | |
| MetropolitanRepublic | WPP | |
| *FoxP2 Group | Independent | |
| *King James Group | Independent | |
| *Lowe + Partners | IPG | |
R50–70m |
*Mortimer Harvey | Independent |
| *Saatchi & Saatchi Brandsrock | Publicis | |
| *Net#work BBDO | Omnicom | |
| *Hamiltons Advertising | Independent | |
| *99c | Independent | |
| *The Hardy Boys | WPP | |
R30–50m |
*34 | Independent |
| *BlackRiver FC | WPP | |
| *140 BBDO | Omnicom | |
| *OwenKessel Leo Burnett | Publicis | |
| *Promise Group | Independent |
Updated 19 April 2016: Conversation Lab added, as well as the category label for R20-30m, which had been left out by accident.
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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