The M&C Saatchi Group SA announces two key digital appointments

As the former Executive Creative Director at Gloo @ Ogilvy, Dallas was integral to the digital agency’s successes in Southern Africa over the last 10 years. In his career he has worked on blue chip brands like Puma, Samsung, Castle Lite, Dove, FNB & Allan Gray. He has accumulated numerous local and international awards and accolades as a digital pioneer

In addition to this key digital appointment, Ernst van der Merwe has been named the new Creative Director at digital agency Creative Spark, part of the M&C Saatchi SA Group companies. He will work across the Cape Town and Johannesburg offices. Van der Merwe was formerly at Aqua Wunderman, and has led a number a fully integrated, multi-platform campaigns for brands like Coca-cola, MTN, Mercedes-Benz and Investec.

“The thing that really drives us, is creating beautifully simple solutions for an increasingly complex world. We call this Brutal Simplicity of Thought. Having Dallas and Ernst in the team will allow us to bring the very best of digital innovation and creative leadership to our clients in pursuit of this purpose,” explains Gordon Ray, Founding Partner & Executive Creative Director

“Ultimately, our goal is to become one of the most creative companies on the African Continent. So we are incredibly excited to have such dynamic digital leaders joining our ever growing group of companies”, says Mike Abel, Founding Partner and Chief Executive.

The independent global advertising network, M&C Saatchi, was established in 1995, when Maurice and Charles Saatchi left the agency they first founded, Saatchi & Saatchi. It is the largest independent agency network in the world with 26 offices globally. The M&C Saatchi Group (South Africa) comprises six separate companies, one of which is M&C Saatch Abel, already regarded as one of the most influential agencies in South Africa.