by Herman Manson (@marklives) After recently ending its relationship with Ogilvy & Mather Cape Town, Allan Gray has announced the appointment of its new agency partner, King James the Second (II).
Allan Gray had left the King James Group in early 2014 after the Cape Town agency won the Sanlam account and had to resign its business. At the time, the group said it “did initially explore all possible avenues to conflict manage both accounts within the King James Group, but sadly could not find a satisfactory structure for all parties.”
Cape Town vs Joburg
King James Cape Town will continue to handle the Sanlam business; all parties have agreed to ring-fence the two regional offices to enable both pieces of business to be run independently from each city. Neither James Barty, King James Group CEO, nor Alistair King, King James Group CCO, will be working on Allan Gray; instead, they’ll remain focused on running the Cape Town agency plus Sanlam. In Joburg, creative founding partners Rob McLennan and Graeme Jenner take responsibility for Allan Gray.
“As a like-minded South African-based business, Sanlam has committed to supporting the growth and further transformation of King James as an independent local agency group through this approach. We are delighted to be welcoming Allan Gray into King James II and are equally delighted to have Sanlam’s full support on this. This is the kind of truly empowered partnerships we pride ourselves on,” says Barty in a statement released to MarkLives.
Barty also says he is grateful for the mature approach adapted by Sanlam to ensure the continued growth of one of SA’s largest independent ad agencies.
“We are thrilled to partner with an agency that shares the culture and creative ethos of the original King James and is led by people with a sterling reputation and a track record of producing great advertising,” adds Henk Pieterse, Allan Gray head of marketing.
Herman Manson (@marklives) is the founder and editor of MarkLives.com.
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