Abey Mokgwatsane new VWV Group CEO

29 Nov 2007

VWV Group, one of South Africa's leading business-to-business experiential communication specialists, announced the appointment of its new CEO, Abey Mokgwatsane, at its 25th birthday last week. Mokgwatsane has been VWV Group marketing and sales director since 2005, when he and his partners Jameson Hlongwane and Wanda Shuenyane acquired a majority stake in the group.

Founded in 1981, VWV is a hub of specialist business units focusing on video and film production, event management, Internet and multimedia applications and corporate and direct theatre. The group is best known for its creative track record both here and abroad, including the most awarded experiential agency at the Loeries for the last five-years running.

Mokgwatsane started his career as a marketing trainee at VWV, after which he joined the South African Breweries marketing team. He worked as brand manager for Castle Loud – a young adult, 360-degree brand activation property for Castle Lager. Castle Loud went on to win the 2002 super budget (budget of over R10 million p/a) Raptor Award for sponsorship excellence.

In June 2003, under the auspices of senior brand manager, Mokgwatsane went on to spearhead the launch of Miller Genuine Draft to the local beer drinking market. MGD reportedly had a phenomenal entry into South Africa and is still one of the fastest growing premium beers in its category. At SAB, Mokgwatsane was the recipient of three “Managing Director's Award for Marketing Excellence”.

Since 2005, he has been heading up the group's drive to live up to its vision of “Redefining Experiential Marketing”. Over-and-above delivering on its core experiential marketing offering, Mokgwatsane has been facilitating the formation of alliances and partnerships with international organisations such as Eat Big Fish (a challenger brand thinking consultancy based in the UK), with the intention of developing organisational workshops that unlock challenger brand thinking.