by MarkLives (@marklives) Avatar South Africa has announced the appointment of Grant Sithole (@blaxem) as joint executive creative director alongside Brett Wild.
“Veli [Ngubane] and Zibusiso [Mkhwanazi] have led the way, by winning and retaining huge pieces of business,” says Sithole. “I love the new positioning of ‘ideas that move people’ and it’s really exciting to be able to contribute my take on this vision – 2018 promises to be dope.”
Sithole joins Avatar from Bakone, where he was creative partner. He spent more than a decade at FCB Africa, rising from intern to creative director, and a year at Ogilvy & Mather South Africa, before joining Bakone. He has worked on various blue chip brands, including Coca-Cola, Vodacom, Toyota, Old Mutual, FNB, Tiger Brands, DStv and Standard Bank.
Growing up in Meadowlands, Soweto, Sithole entered the industry through a copywriting course at the AAA School of Advertising before being offered an internship at FCB.
“We have built Avatar on the premise that, to be respected internationally, we need to be preferred locally,” says Ngubane, who is chief creative officer of Avatar, an M&N Brands subsidiary. “We were lucky enough to bring on internationally awarded ECD, Brett Wild, earlier this year, and now we have Grant, who, as joint ECD, will help drive Avatar forward creatively.”
— Sign up now for the MarkLives email newsletter every Monday and Thursday, now including headlines from the Ramify.biz company newsroom service!