Vodacom's Andre Beyers goes solo

Beyers' experience on one of South Africa's leading brands has encouraged his love of brands, and a passion for converting them from simple commodities to much-loved, household personalities. This, and his brand-building know-how, should prove invaluable to his clients.

“I've been very privileged to work with wonderful brand architects throughout my time at Vodacom, and I've learnt that understanding consumer behaviour, solid strategic planning and spot-on creative execution are critical for a brand's well-being.

“Sharing all the knowledge”

“I've also learnt that my time in highly creative agency environments – I spent nearly a decade at Draftfcb South Africa agencies – has helped me develop an ability to think creatively when facing marketing challenges. I'm looking forward to sharing all the knowledge I've gained over the years with other marketers, so that they too can grow their brands and businesses,” he said.

“A very hands-on type of person who enjoys team work, I'm keen to work on a number of different brands and will be considering taking on clients from diverse industry sectors rather than specialising in one or two areas.”

After his studies at Stellenbosch and at the Cape Technikon, Beyers' obvious flair for marketing attracted the attention of advertising man Len van Zyl, and he joined Lindsay Smithers Cape Town (now Draftfcb) in a client service capacity. It was at this agency that he was exposed to numerous stars in the South Africa brand firmament, before being taken on board personally by Vodacom CEO Allan Knott Craig to help him grow the cellular service provider's brand on the continent.

Largest marketing budget

Here, he was responsible for formulating marketing strategy, managing all aspects of its implementation and overseeing one of the largest marketing budgets in SA. Under his marketing captaincy, Vodacom launched numerous new products and achieved considerable subscriber growth, in addition to building the Vodacom brand. For example, Vodacom improved its position in Markinor's “Best liked SA Brands” survey from 10th to second; the same survey also rated (in 2007) Vodacom as the fifth “Coolest Brand” in the country.

The advertising campaigns Beyers has overseen have also fared well. For example, the 4U campaign was awarded Silver and Gold Loeries, received Tusk Award's Marketing Role of Honour, was named as the Best Youth Campaign award for 2003 (Finweek) and also received a Kid's Choice Award. The ‘Yebo Gogo' campaign was awarded a Gold Apex for effectiveness and ‘Mo the Meerkat' was named the Brand Marketing campaign of the Year 2006 by Finweek's AdReview and ‘Blueteeth' received the Product Marketing campaign of the year 12 months later from the same publication.

Beyers and his family will be settling in Cape Town later this year.