The fallout from Draftfcb’s loss of the lucrative Vodacom account continues. The agency has announced that following the loss of the Vodacom account last week, it will be retrenching 40 of its 687 staff members. It said it is “taking an active role in seeking employment for affected staff with other agencies”.
Ogilvy & Mather South Africa announced last week the appointment of Neo Mashigo as the co-executive creative director for Ogilvy & Mather Johannesburg. Mashigo, of course, looked after the Vodacom account – among others – at Draftfcb.
“As the leading creative and effectiveness agency in the country, we are looking to further reinforce our creative firepower, focusing on talent who can help raise our creative excellence to even greater heights, produce work that resonates and inspires South African society and helps build an agency environment in which a diverse pool of talent can thrive,” says O&M South Africa CEO Abey Mokgwatsane.
Mashigo is no stranger to O&M having worked there as creative group head. His rapid departure from Draftfcb follows the announcement last week that the agency had lost the Vodacom account, which it had held for 19 years.
“The lost amounts to approximately 10% of Group’s revenue and will unfortunately necessitate a restructure which will affect the current staff.
Account wins and losses are a feature of life in advertising,” the agency said in a statement. “Draftfcb has had amazing success of late and we have decided to take this setback as an opportunity to build a better agency. We are energised by the prospect of focusing our passion and resource on our current clients, which include market-leading brands in seven categories.
Draftfcb said it was notified in early December that it would have to repitch for the account. “Draftfcb and two WPP agencies, with whom Vodafone has global alignment, were shortlisted. Draftfcb was notified this week that Vodacom does not wish to pursue a further relationship with Draftfcb and that they would be making a decision about their new agency at the end of this week,” it said.
Mashigo worked on several Vodacom campaigns including, Player 23 and the We’ve Been Having It campaigns as well as the voice behind the Bafana-Bafana campaign that won best campaign at the 2010 global Vodafone advertising awards.
“Neo’s accolades speak for themselves and I am excited to join forces with him as co-executive creative director at O&M JHB. His creative energy will undoubtedly contribute towards the ongoing success of our client’s brands as well as inspiring future talent into the industry,” says O&M JHB, executive creative director, Fran Luckin.
Marklives posted on Friday that the Vocacom advertising account hadbeen awarded to boutique agency, Ireland Davenport, which looks after accounts such as BMW, Investec and SA Tourism. It is a WPP associate, and WPP, of course, handles the business of Vodacom parent company, Vodaphone,in the UK.
