Advertising industry sees new green blood

International placement

Ian Manning comes from ZenithOptimedia International in London, where he was head of client services, to take up the position of CEO for MediaCom South Africa. He joins the group on 1 November 2010 and will spend the first week working with the global leadership team in London before joining the Johannesburg team to work closely with MD Britta Reid and the management team to develop the business in South Africa and the sub-Saharan region.

He has worked for Mindshare in South Africa and the UK and, at ZenithOptimedia, he led the relationship with Toyota, HTC, Lexus and Electrolux. As part of the group's People First programme, he will continue to grow the company's talent pool, encouraging a nurturing environment where the company plays an active role in identifying and employing the most talented and motivated staff in the industry.

"Ian will provide leadership for our South African office, nurturing some of the best media thinkers in the marketplace. His international experience and solutions-oriented style is precisely what we need to ensure that the best tools from across the network are incorporated into the service we offer our clients in this very important market," says Nick Lawson, CEO for MediaCom Europe Middle East and Africa region.

Internal appointment

Derek Bouwer

Derek Bouwer is TBWA\South Africa's new CEO, having joined the agency in October 1996 after qualifying as a chartered accountant. In 2006, he took up the role of group chief operating officer, assuming responsibility for the commercial and operational leadership of the group.

"Having grown from three independent agencies in 2000 into a Media Arts group of 11 specialist companies in 2010, we are aiming to drive the cohesion that will enable us to deliver great ideas to our clients in a seamless fashion," says Bouwer.

Bouwer says he will concentrate with his team on, "effectively integrating digital thinking and capability throughout the entire group." The other major focus will be on marketing the group's entire service capability, which includes brand strategy, research, design, PR, shopper marketing as well as experiential marketing and activation.

Expansion, growth, development and consolidation of business in Africa will be one of its other focus areas. "Africa is taken exceptionally seriously by the network internationally. Historically there was a level of hesitation about expansion into Africa and doing business on the continent. That has changed completely. It will play a major role for us in developing our own capabilities - we have more to learn from our partners across the continent than they have to learn from us. If we get this right, we are confident that our ability to effectively partner with the agencies that form part of our network in Africa will become one of our most appealing attributes."

In spite of the challenging economic climate, the agency remains on track to deliver double-digit growth in both revenue and profits in 2010.

Back to earth

Gavin Heron, former TBWA\Hunt\Lascaris\Johannesburg group MD, is doing something green and noteworthy as he and Karen Heron have created Earth ProBiotic, a company that focuses on the conversion of food-waste into probiotic fertiliser for companies. Using Bokashi probiotic bran, it provides environmental solutions to help households and businesses recycle food-waste into a rich natural (non-chemical) soil enriching fertiliser.

"In South Africa most food-waste is simply dumped into landfills. We are working with companies to divert food-waste from landfills and then turn this into a rich probiotic soil-enriching fertiliser/compost - enriching earth one kitchen at a time," explains the website, www.earthprobiotic.com.

Gavin Heron's former title corrected at 12.31pm on 1 October 2010.