Not a boom, real growth

By Herman Manson (@marklives) The African continent isn’t quite the growth honeypot ad agencies had been hoping for. That said – it’s certainly a growth market. While it doesn’t match the growth rates in Asia or even Latin America, listed agency networks seem to have decided any growth is good growth given the state of especially their European operations. North Africa remains fragile – ZenithOptimedia forecast only 1% growth in ad revenue in the Middle East & North Africa as political turmoil post the Arab Spring continues to rock the region. The company expects 2%-3% annual growth from 2013 to 2015.

Growth in adspend globally is predicted by ZenithOptimedia to hit 4.1% in 2013 and 5.6% in 2015. South Africa will be one of the top ten contributors to that growth between 2012 and 2015.

South Africa in the South, Kenya in the East and either Nigeria or Ghana in the West of Africa generally gets the most buzz from agencies seeking investment in the region.

Letter from NY: An immigrant to New York, building an ad agency

by Matthew Bull (@StixBull) There was an ad for Porsche many moons back that I have never forgotten. It was a picture of a Porsche flying over a rise on a road. The headline said: “It’s like children. You can’t understand until you have one.” That’s kind of how I feel about owning an agency in New York – you never really know what it’s like until you own one.

EXCLUSIVE: Ninety9cents lands Capitec, sees 43% growth y/y

Cape Town headquartered agency ninety9cents has landed the Capitec account – probably the most exciting banking brand any agency can hope to work on.

Design Indaba 2012: John Bielenberg is wrong (and right about it)

It seems like graphic designer John Bielenberg will not be defined solely by his creative credentials. And there are plenty of those, including arms-full of awards, exhibitions, honorary degrees and fellowships.

Martin MacGregor, ex-MD of Nota Bene CT, joins M&C Saatchi Abel

Martin MacGregor, the former MD at Nota Bene MEC Cape Town, has joined M&C Saatchi Abel as managing partner: connection (we’ll get to that in a moment).

Damon Stapleton on picking Saatchi & Saatchi Australia

Damon Stapleton, executive creative director at TBWA\Hunt\Lascaris, has announced that he is heading to Saatchi & Saatchi Australia to take up the role of ECD at that agency. This follows initial reports that he would be heading to London (additional job offers landed on his desk as soon as initial reports revealed he was preparing to leave TBWA).

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