Ogilvy & Mather expands investment in local office

Mashishi told Bizcommunity.com that discussions have been ongoing for a while now as Ogilvy & Mather had previously expressed a desire to increase its exposure to emerging markets in Africa and elsewhere.

Few operational changes expected

As Ogilvy SA is a private company, financial details of the transaction have not been disclosed. According to Mashishi, the transaction will not affect the company's BEE score level. He expects few operational changes as Ogilvy & Mather is already represented at board level at the local group and has expressed confidence in the local management team. Nunu Ntshingila, CEO of Ogilvy SA, was recently appointed to the global board.

The investment gives the local group access to equity needed to drive further expansion in to Africa, says Mashishi. Ogilvy Africa is already operating in 25 African countries and territories and the SA office will help drive growth of the group's current African footprint.

In a media release announcing the share acquisition Miles Young, Global CEO of Ogilvy & Mather, stated, "Obtaining majority share of our South African operations was an inevitable next step for our growth strategy in Africa, which I passionately believe is one of the last great frontiers in global communications... It is one of our network's strongest performers in terms of creativity and business growth."

Increase stake in Mindshare SA

WPP, owner of the Ogilvy & Mather network, also announced that it has agreed to increase its stake in Mindshare South Africa - acquiring shares previously held by Ogilvy SA. Mindshare will now form part of the GroupM network of companies within SA. According to Mashishi, Ogilvy SA will exit the media buying business in a bid to focus on its core offering and to properly consolidate it investments.

Ogilvy SA has over 700 staff based in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban. Clients include BP, Cell C, KFC, MultiChoice and SABMiller.

Mindshare, a media buying and planning operation, has offices in Johannesburg and Cape Town and employs 96 people. Key clients and partners include Kellogg, KFC, LG, MTN, MultiChoice, Sun International and Unilever.