M&C Saatchi Group South Africa has announced the appointment of long-time partner and group co-founder Jacques Burger to group chief executive officer. The group says that Mike Abel will be assuming the role of executive chairperson.
According to the brand, with the South Africa Group experiencing significant growth over the last two years, an expanded leadership team for the group has also been appointed.
The move also allows Abel, part of the global Exco of M&C Saatchi Plc, to focus more on his global portfolio, which includes driving the group’s overall creative product and continually engaging with the South African team on key initiatives and high-level projects.
“Over the last 12 years, we have focused our energy on building an agency group founded on strong values, deep smarts and meaningful client partnerships. With an expanding group, this move gives us even more ability to unlock powerful and connected creative solutions for the challenges our clients face,” says Abel.
Burger adds. “Indeed. This is a new chapter of radical collaboration across our group and the multiple disciplines and solutions they each bring.”
Burger says, “The ability to connect these opportunities while constantly and relentlessly applying our trademark approach of ‘Brutal Simplicity of Thought’ is a powerful proposition. It is most certainly where the future of communication lies and will deliver greater value to our clients.”
With this focus on connected creativity and radical collaboration, the expanded group leadership is orientated around six pillars:
1. Creativity
The focus of chief creative officer Neo Mashigo is to unlock the power of creativity and creative solutions to every part of the business — not only the advertising solution — and to drive greater brand impact and effectiveness.
2. Data fluency
Accelerating data fuelled solutions across the group, including a partnership with Fluency (the group’s United Kingdom-based data consultancy), to help clients more precisely define where growth will come from, and unlocking this growth across the marketing and communication levers.
To this end, Black & White managing partner Diana Springer will also assume the role of chief data and intelligence officer leading the data offering for the group.
3. Strategy
Co-founder Robert Grace will move from head of strategy to chief strategy officer to build on the group’s longstanding strategic credentials with an evolutionary strategic approach that sees a much broader mix of marketing and communication solutions coming together to drive more precise positionings.
The result will be stronger equity and faster conversion rates for clients.
4. Diversity
Further accelerating success to deliver relevant and resonant solutions through unlocking ‘Diversity of Thought’.
Key to this is a continued groupwide focus on diversity in terms of talent and ways of working with the appointment of head of strategy (Johannesburg), Makosha Maja-Rasethaba to chief diversity officer, leading Diversity and Inclusion at a group level beyond her current remit on the M&C Saatchi Abel board.
5. Agility and innovation
Building tighter collaborations across groupwide disciplines matched with operational excellence to enable increased agility and the ability for our group companies to move at the speed of culture and change will be led by Jason Harrison.
Harrison will assume the role of chief operating officer from being group managing director.
6. Commercial excellence
Graham Mears as chief financial officer continues to ensure that the group’s strategic growth plans are underpinned by astuteness, simplicity and shared value for innovative start-ups and key acquisitions. In addition, he will also lead the ESG mandate for the group.
“You get succession planning, and then you get this level of planning,” says Abel, as he reflects on a 25-year friendship and business relationship with Burger.
Abel adds, “This move opens up an exciting new chapter in the executive and operational leadership of our group to see it deliver more connected, creative solutions for our clients. It also enables me to apply sharper focus on our priorities locally and internationally.”
“Burger is a formidable leader with impeccable credentials and an incredible track record. He was the highly successful managing director of Ogilvy Cape Group, was CEO of the Campaign Palace, Australia and returned to South Africa in 2010 to start M&C Saatchi Abel, Johannesburg and to co-lead the South African group with me and a few trusted friends and business partners,” says Abel.
The M&C Saatchi Group South Africa leadership team is structured as follows:
- Mike Abel — executive chairperson
- Jacques Burger — chief executive officer
- Neo Mashigo — chief creative officer
- Jason Harrison — chief operating officer
- Robert Grace — chief strategy officer
- Makosha Maja-Rasethaba — chief diversity officer
- Diana Springer — chief data and intelligence officer, and
- Graham Mears — chief financial officer.
Just 12 years old with 350+ diverse team members, the M&C Saatchi Group South Africa comprises six distinct creative companies:
- M&C Saatchi Abel (integrated advertising solutions)
- Razor (reputation and public relations)
- Connect (media and touchpoint)
- Levergy (passion-point marketing)
- Dalmatian (through-the line-advertising), and
- Black & White (marketing consultancy).
Powered by a unique partnership model, the new leadership structure will bring about radical collaboration across individual best-in-breed specialists within the group.
M&C Saatchi Group South Africa is also one of only two finalists in the Financial Mail AdFocus Awards 2022 in the category of Agency Group of the Year.
Mashigo says, “We speak a lot about wanting to be the most admired creative company and marketing group on the African continent, and we are further gearing ourselves to do this with our new structure and relationships in our agency and with our clients.”
“We’re excited about what this means for our group as an increasing data-fluent and diverse team of specialists with creativity at our core,” Mashigo concludes.
For more information, visit www.mcsaatchiabel.co.za. You can also follow M&C Saatchi South Africa on Facebook or on Twitter.
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