Wunderman Thompson SA names Parusha Partab as group strategy director

Partab will lead strategy for the group and join the group exco. Miles Murphy, CEO of Wunderman Thompson SA, commented: “Parusha is one of the most exceptional strategic leaders I have met in my 30-year career. Her experience, knowledge and strong strategic approach make her invaluable to our clients and the stand out work we create for them. Our agency is a strategic-led organisation with an appreciation of the value and impact of strategy for our clients, the work we produce and our culture. Parusha’s not afraid to offer daring thinking, always finding new heights to conquer and collaborate.”

Partab expressed: “The Wunderman Thompson mission of inspiring growth for ambitious brands is the core influence of our culture, capabilities and community. Managing a large strategy team involves directing what inspiration, growth, and ambition mean to the brands we service and our internal talent.”

Consequently, she describes Wunderman Thompson as a rewarding environment for a strategist to work in, saying: “There is no dissonance in the relationship between strategy and creative output; we have a robust and thorough rigour to our strategies because we are all working towards inspiring creative outputs that are acute and effective. There is no singular framework or preconceived methodology indiscriminately applied to all brands and briefs. Every strategy is backed by data insights and tailored to the business, brand and consumer it aims to influence.”

Having completed a BA (Hons) focused in Information Design from the University of Pretoria, Partab has gained more than ten years of experience in digital and creative strategy, strategic brand consulting, marketing strategy, customer experience (CX & UX) and e-commerce strategy. She’s worked with many brands, including The Coca Cola Company, The BMW Group, Standard Bank, Mondelez, Vodacom, Beirsdorf, South African Tourism, Colgate-Palmolive, Ford, RCL Foods, Tomorrow Trust, and Telkom, amongst others.

Partab believes in the diversity of thought and skill and how that results in better outputs, so she actively focuses on bringing cohesion and collaboration into her approach. She added: “It gives me a sense of belonging and trust that I am in an organisation that advocates inclusive growth and truly nurtures it, makes space for it, and enables it. That is somewhat rare to experience, which makes it special. What’s more, throughout my career, all the leading strategists I admired and aspired to be almost always never reflected my identity. Few were people of colour, and fewer were female. I hope there are many strategists not just seeing my appointment but moreover seeing themselves.”