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Big Reads on MarkLives
Big Reads 2018 ad agencies

#BigReads2018: The agencies that made waves in 2018

  •   9 Jan 2019
  •   0
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by Herman Manson (@marklives) We list the agencies you made time to read about here on MarkLives during 2018.

south-african-coins-banknotes-money-currency courtesy of Pixabay

Image courtesy of Pixabay

1. We ranked South Africa’s agencies by revenue. You were super-interested (as were they).

We updated our 2014 agency revenue rankings in 2018 to help assist marketers gain a comprehensive overview of the relative scale of agencies in the South African communications landscape.

 

Y&R Cape Town receptionVML South Africa logoVMLY&R logo

2. Turns out Y&R Cape Town closing down, and the brand finally falling away in SA, was a precursor of what was to come

Although we published the first story on Y&R Cape Town being closed down story in September 2017, subsequent moves by WPP — first in allowing the Y&R brand to fall away in SA as VML took over, then in folding the Y&R network into VML globally — led to renewed interest in the original story. VMLY&R will be an agency of more than 7 000 people, and one of WPP’s principal brands. It is meant to be fully operational in early 2019.

 

2017 MarkLives Agency Leaders Most Admired South Africa ad agency3. Agency Leaders’ Most Admired poll 2017

Our announcement of the most-admired agencies and agency leaders count among our most-trafficked stories every year.

• 2017’s most-admired agency bosses in South Africa
• 2017’s most-admired creative leaders in SA
• 2017’s one to watch in SA in 2018
• 2017’s most-admired agencies in SA
• 2017’s most digitally integrated in SA
• 2017’s contribution to agency diversity and transformation (SA)

The Odd Number was our agency to watch, with Riverbed the runner-up. The most-admired ad agency in South Africa was King James Group, with Ogilvy & Mather South Africa and Joe Public United as joint runners-up. VML South Africa was our most digitally integrated, and Avatar took home the new Agency Diversity & Transformation award.

 

Publicis Groupe Africa4. Management shakeup at Publicis Groupe Africa, agencies

In late 2017, Publicis Groupe Africa and a number of its agencies underwent significant management changes; the group employs approximately 1800 people nationally across its various brands and a further 2000 people across the rest of the continent. With chief executive officer Kevin Tromp having left the group at the end of Q3 2017, former Saatchi & Saatchi SA CEO John Dixon was appointed as CEO: Publicis Groupe Africa — a newly constituted role.

 

Avatar logo5. Avatar on a hiring spree

In November 2018, Avatar put out a call looking for 43 contractors for a six-month project beginning in December 2018 and ending in May 2019 (hint, hint) — and an additional 12 permanent staff in its Johannesburg and Cape Town offices.

 

Ogilvy logo 20186. Ogilvy announced a new brand identity, structure

Ogilvy introduced a new organisational structure and brand identity. This integration has brought together the three distinct units of OgilvyOne, Ogilvy & Mather Advertising and Ogilvy PR — along with various company sub-brands and specialty brands — as a single, unified group with a common identity, positioning, client service model and P&L.

 

FoxP2 logo and Dentsu Aegis Network logo7. FoxP2 sold to Dentsu Aegis

Dentsu Aegis Network acquired a majority stake (52.05%) in FoxP2 Holdings after clearing final regulatory hurdles in the form of the Competition Commission; the deal was first announced in October 2017. FoxP2 — which was voted “The one to watch in Cape Town in 2018” in our MarkLives Agency Leaders’ Most Admired Poll 2017 results for Cape Town — has always been rated as one of SA’s most-creative agencies.

 

McCann Johannesburg logo and 1886 logo8. McCann merged with 1886

Early in December 2018, Interpublic announced that its McCann Johannesburg was merging with 1886 — the wholly owned subsidiary of the FCB Africa group (also an IPG agency) — to become McCann 1886.

 

Avatar and M&C Saatchi split9. M&C Saatchi Group and Avatar parted ways

M&C Saatchi Group and Avatar South Africa officially “parted ways” in 2018. In January 2017, it was announced that Avatar Investment Holdings (later rebranded to M&N Holdings) would acquire a minority stake in M&C Saatchi’s South African agency network, which today includes M&C Saatchi Abel, M&C Saatchi Connect, M&C Saatchi Africa, Dalmatian, Levergy and Creative Spark. At the same time, M&C Saatchi PLC had acquired a 20% stake in the agency Avatar from Avatar Investment Holdings.

 

End of 140 BBDO10. BBDO folds CT agency into main op

BBDO South Africa folded its Cape Town agency, 140 BBDO, into its primary agency, Net#work BBDO, in Johannesburg. Net#work BBDO now operates on the one-agency-two-offices model, with Cape Town having the operations and services role, and creative and strategy sitting in Jozi.

 

The Odd Number founders and Hoorah exec team11. The Odd Number bought into Hoorah

In June 2018, The Odd Number acquired a minority equity stake in Hoorah, the new digital agency launched the month before by Shaune Jordaan, Jay Thomson, Tasmin Kingma and Neil Pursey.

 

Avatar logo and Avatar Cape Town interior12. Avatar broke through in Cape Town

The Mother City might traditionally have not been seen as welcoming to black-owned and operated agencies, but Avatar Cape Town hasn’t let that hold it back. Though not yet two years old at the time of writing, the agency had already secured several significant accounts and seen strong growth.

 

Herman Manson 2017Herman Manson (@marklives) is the founder and editor of MarkLives.com.

— One subscription form, three newsletters: sign up now for the MarkLives newsletter, including Ramify headlines; The Interlocker, our new monthly comms-focused mailer; and Brands & Branding, launching soon!

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Columns

  • #AdChamps, #AdOfTheWeek & #AdOfTheYear
    #AdChamps, #AdOfTheWeek & #AdOfTheYear
  • #AgencyLeaders – Most Admired Poll
    #AgencyLeaders – Most Admired Poll
  • #CoronavirusSA – Special Section
    #CoronavirusSA – Special Section
  • #CustomerFirst – Craig Hannabus
    #CustomerFirst – Craig Hannabus
  • #NotSoOrdinary – Taazima Kala-Essack
    #NotSoOrdinary – Taazima Kala-Essack
  • #TheInterlocker – Emma King
    #TheInterlocker – Emma King
  • #Transformers Transform 2020
    #Transformers Transform 2020
  • #WritersBlock – Tiffany Markman
    #WritersBlock – Tiffany Markman
  • An Accountant in Adland – Siwe Lawrence
    An Accountant in Adland – Siwe Lawrence
  • Big Q – MarkLives Panel
    Big Q – MarkLives Panel
  • Big Reads on MarkLives
    Big Reads on MarkLives
  • By Invitation Only – Motive
    By Invitation Only – Motive
  • Campaigns – MarkLives
    Campaigns – MarkLives
  • Circulation Data – ABC Analysis
    Circulation Data – ABC Analysis
  • Clicks ’n Tricks – Charlie Stewart
    Clicks ’n Tricks – Charlie Stewart
  • Curiosity – Marguerite Coetzee
    Curiosity – Marguerite Coetzee
  • Dear Radio – Paulo Dias
    Dear Radio – Paulo Dias
  • Extracts — Books & Research
    Extracts — Books & Research
  • Fair Exchange – Erna George
    Fair Exchange – Erna George
  • Hard Relate – David Alves
    Hard Relate – David Alves
  • Herding Words – Wendy Shepherd
    Herding Words – Wendy Shepherd
  • Hermaneutics – Herman Manson
    Hermaneutics – Herman Manson
  • Masterclass Notes – Johanna McDowell
    Masterclass Notes – Johanna McDowell
  • Media Redefined – Martin MacGregor
    Media Redefined – Martin MacGregor
  • Mission – Tom Fels
    Mission – Tom Fels
  • Press Pass – Carey Finn
    Press Pass – Carey Finn
  • Q5 – Carey Finn
    Q5 – Carey Finn
  • SA TV Ratings – MarkLives
    SA TV Ratings – MarkLives
  • Spotlight – MarkLives
    Spotlight – MarkLives
  • The Martini Shot – Bobby Amm
    The Martini Shot – Bobby Amm
  • The Power Report – Megan Power
    The Power Report – Megan Power
  • The Suit – Jason Harrison
    The Suit – Jason Harrison
  • Thinking B2B – Warren Moss
    Thinking B2B – Warren Moss
  • Watched – Richard Lord
    Watched – Richard Lord
  • WTF?! – Leigh Tayler
    WTF?! – Leigh Tayler
  • Young, Gifted & Killing It – Veli Ngubane
    Young, Gifted & Killing It – Veli Ngubane
  • Zeitgeist of Now – Jason Stewart
    Zeitgeist of Now – Jason Stewart
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