#Newsmaker: Terry Mckenna is The Odd Number's new ECD

Terry Mckenna

This is the first move by Sitole and CEO Xola Nouse in integrating the agency’s offerings while building the team to accommodate for the agency’s increase in growth since launching in 2015.

“Having Terry on board will help me focus on evolving The Odd Number into an effective and integrated group,” says Sitole. “I’ll be a lot more available to all our clients and have more time to focus on our growth, as well as maintaining our culture."

“However, I’m certainly not out of the creative studio. I’ll be stepping into a CCO role, and a large part of my role will still involve creative leadership.”

Terry will invest most of his time leading our creative department, building a formidable and future-fit creative team, creating meaningful and effective work, and decorating our entrance hall with shiny statuettes.

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“He’ll also be a huge support strategically for our business. His unique style, energy and passion for ideas will revitalise our studio. His wealth of experience on big brands and producing integrated campaigns, as well as powerful award-winning ideas, will all be of huge benefit to The Odd Number.”

Here, Mckenna says that what means more to him than the work itself and even winning awards, are the people he gets to work alongside and collaborate with…

How do you feel about your appointment?
Extremely excited, yet humbled at the same time. To join The Odd Number, a young agency with so much potential, is an incredible opportunity. So, I’m looking forward to the challenges that lie ahead.

What do you love most about your career and advertising in particular?
I don’t have to wear a tie. No, I would have to say that it would be the incredibly diverse mix of people that you get to work with on a daily basis. Everybody is welcome, just so long as you are passionate about what you do.

Tell us a bit about your experience, what you bring to the agency and what you hope to achieve in your new position.
I started out in advertising as a copywriter roughly 18 years ago. In that time I have been fortunate enough to work with some insanely talented people, at agencies such as Grey, Leo Burnett, Hunt Lescaris and Joe Public. My last position, before joining The Odd Number, was at Ogilvy Johannesburg as creative director on the Castle Lager and Cadbury accounts.

My goals for The Odd Number are simple, really. Keep helping them to build on what they have already created. An agency that is passionate about the power of ideas, and nurturing young South African talent.

Any career highlights you’re particularly proud of?
Winning awards is always nice, and I have been fortunate enough to win a few, but the highlights for me have been the amazing people that I have worked with over the years. From clients who are more passionate about their brands than you could ever imagine, to film directors that can turn the smallest idea into a true masterpiece.

What are you most looking forward to working on?
For me it is not so much about what I will be working on, it’s more about whom I will be working with. I believe that The Odd Number already has some of the most talented young creative working for them. So, I am looking forward to collaborating with them, for sure.

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What’s at the top of your to-do list?
Figuring out how to do my time sheets before I get into trouble, and getting to know everybody.

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What are you currently reading/watching/listening to for work?
Valley of the Boom. A mini-series that tells the true story of how the internet we know today, was first brought to consumers fingertips on a truly global scale.

Tell us something about yourself not generally known?


I actually have an incredible sense of rhythm.