by Herman Manson (@marklives) Today, we reveal which agency creative leaders were most admired by their peers in Jozi during 2017! This is part of this week’s announcement of the 2017 MarkLives Agency Leaders’ Most Admired Poll results for Johannesburg. Next week will be the national results; last week we revealed the Cape Town results. Monday: Most-admired ad agency bosses in Jozi Tuesday: Most-admired creative leaders in Jozi Wednesday: One to watch in Jozi Thursday: Most-admired agencies in Jozi Friday: Most digitally integrated in Jozi Monday 5 March: Contribution to agency diversity and transformation (Jozi) Every year since 2012, MarkLives has been polling South Africa’s top agency leaders...

by Herman Manson (@marklives) Iconic South African ad agency The Jupiter Drawing Room (Johannesburg) has been closed down, The Lionheart Brand Holding Company, owners of The Jupiter Drawing Room brand, has confirmed. The agency is no longer trading and the shutdown happened over the course of 3–4 months earlier this year. It no longer employs any staff. Two former senior managers at the agency, Gugu Madlala and Sizwe Kumalo, have contracted with Jupiter Joburg’s remaining client roster through their agency, Black Powder (as in gun powder). Madlala explains that he and Kumalo had initially joined Jupiter Joburg to help drive new business opportunities and to explore empowerment...

by Carey Finn (@carey_finn) The Mother City may 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, the agency has secured several significant accounts and seen strong growth. “Business has been great” “Since the day we opened our offices in October 2016, business has been great,” says managing director Mthunzi Plaatjie, who estimates that it’s won advertising accounts worth close to R85m in billings (total client marketing spend) over the past 12 months. He is hoping this figure could soon surpass the R100m mark. The agency...

After two years of actively searching for the right partner to add value and grow the business, Artifact Advertising South Africa has completed a new partnership, with Philasande Sokhela. The ad agency is now a BBBEE level 4 agency (under the new MAC codes), with several divisions offering specialities where needed, including digital (Level 4 SME), promotions (100% black-owned), integrated (51% black-owned) and print (51% black-owned). “We are immensely proud and positive about our new shareholding, especially since it is a completely transparent partnership, bringing new ideas to the business and offering increased value to our customers,” says Andy Taoushiani, Artifact...