TBWA\South Africa restructures

The first phase of the re-structure sees the consolidation of TBWA\Gavin\Reddy and TBWA\Hunt\Lascaris Johannesburg, to be headed by David Wingfield, current CEO of TBWA\Hunt\Lascaris Johannesburg. Wingfield has been appointed Managing Director and tasked with taking this business to its next level, reporting in to Mike Bosman.

The advertising business, including MTN, Bradlows and Proudly South African, as well as the creative and client service staff which service these accounts, will be consolidated into TBWA\Hunt\Lascaris Johannesburg.

The current TBWA\Gavin\Reddy design team will move to \GRID, under the leadership of Nathan Reddy and Louis Gavin, as a wholly owned subsidiary of TBWA\South Africa.

Justin McCarthy, current MD of TBWA\Gavin\Reddy, will move to TBWA\Hunt\Lascaris as Head of Client Service and will also have a seat on the board.

Bosman commented: "Wingfield and McCarthy form a strong team and will work closely with me in building the agency in line with group strategy."

Retrenchments to be managed

Following TBWA\Gavin\Reddy's loss of the Edgars account, a number of retrenchments are expected at TBWA\Gavin\Reddy prior to the consolidation. However, preliminary talks have been held with Graham Warsop at Jupiter on the subject of work continuity. These negotiations are still in progress. Wherever possible, staff will be retained within the TBWA\South Africa Group.

Flowing from a renewed emphasis on strategy and leadership, Marie Jamieson, currently Chief Executive of TBWA\Hunt\Lascaris, has been promoted to Group Strategic Director. She will drive new business and will also dedicate a larger portion of her time to strategy development. She is also expected to work closely on group strategic issues.

Bosman noted: "Marie has been with the group for 11 years and has been a key driver of the Disruption concept in South Africa and internationally. Her new position enables us to deploy her incredible depth of strategic knowledge and reputation more effectively. She was also able to lead TBWA\Hunt Lascaris Johannesburg through a tough patch and the agency ended 2004 with significant new business wins and on budget. I am delighted to have her in the group leadership team."

In addition, TBWA\Hunt\Lascaris Johannesburg has appointed Colleen Anderson (Head of Production) and Theo Ferreira (Executive Creative Director) to its Board of Directors. The current TBWA\Hunt\Lascaris EXCO will be dissolved. David Wingfield will appoint a new EXCO following the consolidation.

Development Task Force

A cornerstone of the new structure is the newly created Development Task Force. It comprises Lapeace Kakaza (currently Creative Group Head), Caureen Stowman (currently Group Financial Controller), Priniven Pillay (currently Deputy Strategic Director) and Unati Mabandla, who has been appointed as Group Operational Development Director. All four members of the Task Force are appointed as full directors on the Board of TBWA\Hunt\Lascaris Johannesburg.

The members of the Development Task Force retain their current positions and will work together to help drive empowerment, development and transformation across the group. As such, they will assist in carrying some of the duties previously managed by Mohale Ralebitso, former Group Development Director.

Bosman pointed out: "Unati Mabandla's appointment has strategic importance. She brings a wealth of experience from 702 Talk Radio, Gauteng Cricket and First National Bank. Her expertise and the enthusiasm and passion for this business demonstrated by Kakaza, Stowman and Pillay will enable us to entrench our position as a fully representative company that is proud to be South African.

"We are committed to continual training, talent identification and promotion from within our organization while constantly seeking to strengthen the group by looking externally for talented, senior black people, many of whom we expected to come from non-traditional advertising backgrounds," continued Bosman.

Open Space becomes Disruption Consultancy

The Open Space group is to be renamed the Disruption Consultancy and will be headed by Group Executive Director, David Wright. The Disruption Consultancy is a TBWA Worldwide initiative which will be led out of South Africa. It will focus on high-end consulting for South Africa's blue-chip corporate base.

David Wright will also work in the Africa, the Middle East and the Mediterranean region with regional director Reg Lascaris. Here Wright's focus will be strategy and training.

In line with \Tequila Worldwide, Digerati\Johannesburg was merged into Tequila\Johannesburg under the leadership of Val Bourdos, who sits on the \Tequila Board as Managing Director. Jason Levin, former Managing Director of Digerati\Johannesburg, has accepted an appointment as a partner at the Disruption Consultancy and will work closely with David Wright. "We can't go forward selling sales promotion and direct marketing as separate from our digital offering," commented Bosman.

Rick de Kock, the current Managing Director of \G1, has been appointed non-executive Director of Tequila\Johannesburg.

Mike Bosman concluded: "These changes harness the best the group has to offer. The resultant consolidated business will be very much stronger and ready to deliver more for our clients in the most efficient way."