The Loeries Africa Committee: Nandkishor Buty

How many people does your agency employ?
Nandkishor Buty: At Ogilvy & Mather Africa, we employ a total of 250 employees of various nationalities and capabilities. They are spread across multiple disciplines comprising strategy and planning, creative, media, PR, digital, shopper marketing and management.

A team of back office staff comprising commercial, finance, HR & IT are part of the WPP back office providing services to all WPP agencies in the region.

What have been your highlights or most relevant take outs of the recent Loeries Africa Roadshow being held in your region?
Buty: This Loeries Roadshow was an eye opener for agencies in Africa that have not been exposed to higher order creative awards. It also showcased how agencies from sub-Saharan Africa can make their mark on the larger African landscape including South Africa.

Nandkishor Buty

We believe that this Roadshow will cultivate a new breed of creative talent which shall aspire to produce better quality work and compete with the best in the business in Africa. Events like this also create a positive trend with regards to work at the client's end. Similar to creative employees at agencies, junior and mid-level employees at the client are also keen to pursue higher calibre of work for their brands thereby creating an environment which is conducive for the agencies and enables them to tread into unchartered territories.

What major clients and types or products does your agency work on?
Buty: At Ogilvy & Mather Africa we manage Pan African clients as well as local clients in the various markets. Below are some of our major Pan African clients:

• Telecom Network - Airtel across 17 countries in sub-Saharan Africa
  
• Telecom Handsets - Tecno Mobile across Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya and Tanzania
  
• Banking - Barclays Bank across 11 countries in sub-Saharan Africa
  
• Breweries - SAB Miller across sub-Saharan Africa for Castle Range and Redds
  
• F&B - Nestle across sub-Saharan Africa
  
• F&B - Coca-Cola across CEWA region for Dasani, Fanta, Sprite, Schweppes, Tea, Burn & Special Projects on Brand Coke. We manage one of the global charters for Fanta
  
• Tobacco - BAT across 21 countries in sub-Saharan Africa
  
• Automobile - Bajaj Auto for its Boxer Brand of motorcycles across six countries in Africa
  
• Technology - Philips (Pan Africa initiatives for Consumer Lifestyle, Lighting & Healthcare)

Has your agency or you personally had any major highlights in the past few years that you would like to share?
Buty:

• Ogilvy & Mather Africa was ranked as the No.1 Agency in the Africa & Middle East Category & No.9 across Africa, Middle East and South Africa at the Loeries Africa 2013 Awards. In addition to this, we have also won 4 Bronze, 1 Silver and 1 Gold Loerie in 2012/2013.
  
• Ogilvy & Mather Africa has been the Financial Mail AdFocus Network Agency of the year for five years in a row right from its inception in 2009 till 2013.
  
• We also won the Forbes Africa Network Agency of the year at the inaugural Forbes Africa AdAwards in 2012 (it didn't take place in 2013).

What inspires you at the moment?
Buty: It is inspiring to see the growing African advertising landscape and the willingness of clients to invest in good creative product; to train and develop local talent to fill the resource gap in Africa; to exploit new streams like digital and PR which today are our fastest growing verticals; to be able to provide global standards of creative and strategic services to our clients; and all this resulting in us being recognised as the Network Agency of the Year and the most rewarded and reputed agency at Loeries.