by Herman Manson (@marklives) Today we reveal which agency leaders were most admired by their peers in Johannesburg during 2016!
Every year since 2012, MarkLives has been polling South Africa’s top agency leaders to find out what they think of their competitors, whom they see as effective managers and great creative leaders, and where they believe their future competition is likely to come from. Last week we announced the 2016 results from Cape Town. This week is dedicated to finding out the choice of Jozi’s industry leaders. National results will be announced next week.
- Today: Most-admired ad agency bosses in Jozi
- Tuesday: Most-admired creative leaders in Jozi
- Wednesday: Most-admired ad agencies in Jozi
- Thursday: One to watch in 2017 in Jozi!
- Friday: Most digitally integrated ad agencies in Jozi
The most-admired agency boss in Jozi
Brett Morris
Group CEO & group CCO
FCB Africa
For the third year in a row, FCB Africa’s GCEO & GCCO Brett Morris, has been voted as Joburg’s most-admired agency executive by his peers.
Morris lead the agency through an exceptional year, announcing a major empowerment deal with the non-profit Maharishi Education for Invincibility Trust (making the agency majority-black-owned); seeing the agency land the fiercely competed-for Barclays Africa Group ad account; and head-hunting Ahmed Tilly, the co-founder of Black River FC, as joint CCO alongside Jonathan Deeb. In Johannesburg, the agency doubled in size.
Asked how he would describe his leadership style, Morris says: “Anything that I can do to help people unleash the most-creative parts of themselves and achieve more than they ever imagined!”
Previously
In 2015 and 2014, it was also Morris; in 2013 and 2012, our inaugural poll, it was Gareth Leck (see below).
The runner-up
Gareth Leck
Chief executive officer
Joe Public United
Runner-up, Gareth Leck, is the CEO and co-founder of independent agency, Joe Public United. In 2016, the agency picked up business from Adcock Ingram, the sought-after Chicken Licken account, Hyundai (digital), Old Mutual iWyze, SAB and Unilever.
“Joe Public added a total of R 35m in new revenue by a process of organic growth and strong new business performance, with a pitch-win ratio of 80%,” says Leck. “The agency achieved 100% client retention and overall revenue growth of 25%.”
The agency has also reached BBBEE Level 1 status on the new MAC Charter.
Leck describes his management style as “collaborative and supportive, but firmly focused and prioritised on delivering excellent creative that will serve the growth of our clients”.
Previously
In 2015 and 2014, it was Leck, too. In 2013, it was Graham Warsop, founder and chairman of The Jupiter Drawing Room. In 2012, our inaugural poll, it was Nunu Ntshingila (then Ogilvy South Africa).
The contender
Zibusiso Mkhwanazi
CEO & co-founder
AVATAR
AVATAR CEO, Zibusiso Mkhwanazi, emerged as a strong contender in our Joburg agency poll. Mkhwanazi co-founded the agency with Veli Ngubane in 2012. It’s been growing rapidly, catapulting it into medium-sized agency status. In 2016, revenue growth exceeded 100% and the agency head-count now stands at 69.
In January 2017, it was announced that Mkhwanazi and Ngubane had acquired a significant minority stake in M&C Saatchi’s South African agency network. This has allowed M&C Saatchi PLC to acquire a 20% stake in AVATAR from Avatar Investment Holdings.
On his management style, Mkhwanazi says he does the things first that he wants others to do at AVATAR, including apologising first at times; he keeps people that are smarter than him in his exco team and he values their guidance at all times; and the goal for any AvaStar working at AVATAR is growth — he challenges and pushes people to grow because he expects them to do the same to clients.
How the poll works
Towards the end of 2016, Joburg’s agency leaders were invited to nominate their most-admired agency in Joburg, the most-admired creative leader in Joburg and the most-admired agency boss in Joburg. We also asked them which agency did the best at digital integration and which agency they saw as the one to watch in the future. Nobody could nominate his or her own agency or staff members, and only agencies or execs who work out of the City of Gold could be voted for. All the nominations were then tallied up for the final result. The editors of MarkLives had a single vote in the poll. The most-admired agency of the year is disqualified from the One to Watch category; votes cast in its favour in this category is discarded.
Note: Runner-up(s) will only be named if they achieved a good nomination tally relative to the winner’s position. Contenders are named if they stood out significantly above other nominees, but weren’t able to close in on the winner’s tally.
See previous poll results for Jozi:
Herman Manson (@marklives) is the founder and editor of MarkLives.com.
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