Leagas Delaney debuts in SA, aims for top mid-tier agency spot with 10 bespoke clients

Legas Delaney has officially launched in South Africa. L to right: Ray Langa - SA group chief executive, Tim Delaney - founder and global creative director, Margaret Johnson - global CEO , and Ann Nurock - partner at Relationship Audits and Management. (Image: Danette Breitenbach)

Launching at the Mesh Room in Rosebank the agency's founder and global creative director, Tim Delaney, and Margret Johnson, global CEO were both in attendance from London, joined by local group chief executive, Ray Langa.

Together, under the auspices of Ann Nurock, partner at Relationship Audits and Management, they outlined the agency’s official entry into South Africa as well as its ambitions in the region

Delaney was clear that the agency has never been imperialist; explaining they only became a global company in the nineties.

Leagas Delaney, he says, is a local UK-based company with work that is about 70% Pan-European or global. Five years ago, Investec asked them to consider opening an office in South Africa to service the bank, which they did.

“Now we are ready to kick off and be an agency in South Africa. We are here to build an investment and grow an agency,” says Delaney.

Finding the right talent

Moving into a new market presents several opportunities and challenges, including finding the right talent.

As Johnson puts it, “Without the right talent, we don't have a business as we are first and foremost a people business.”

She explains their formula when setting up an office. “Our formula is to find super talented people, who share our values, and who we can trust.”

She elaborates further that not only does the agency want people who can deliver against the incredibly high standards the agency requires, but it goes further than that, it is about the kind of people who have the right values.

“Because without the right values, you can end up with very talented people who are horrid to work with,” she says.

Trust, she says, is important. “From the outset, when we started opening offices internationally, we never wanted that arrogant view that you could fly people in from London to set up an office.

“We always believe that the offices would have to be run by local talent who know their local culture and clients.”

Luckily, as both Delaney and Johson agree, South Africa has the best talent.

“Whenever I say to clients from other countries that we have an office in South Africa, their eyes light up because we all know, South Africa has the best talent,” says Johnson.

Local autonomy

One of these talents is Langa, who says he was attracted to the agency when he was still a young and hungry creative. He adds that he has always wanted to make his imprint in the marketing industry.

“So, when this fantastic opportunity came up where I could be part of this global giant, which I love, but also have the autonomy to grow and develop the agency in the best way locally, I was all in.”

He adds that the exciting part for the local agency is that they were not given a guideline.

“We were not given an instruction. No one from London has told us how we need to work; instead, what they have said is let me know if you need me.

“That is the most important thing and the most powerful thing.”

Competing in the mid-agency space

Langa sees the agency competing in the mid-sized agency space, which he says is the perfect gap in the market right now for them.

“With some of the recent agency mergers, the mid-sized agency in South Africa has, to some extent, disappeared, and there are clients, the type we are looking to work with, that are looking for this size agency to service them.”

He adds that the agency will only service up to 10 clients. “We want to position ourselves so all of our clients are our number one priority and as a management team, we believe we can manage 10 clients well and in keeping with the agency ethos.”

Also, he says, they want to collaborate with clients who share their values.

Commenting on this, Delaney says, "We always want to do our best working with best in class because that's how we see ourselves and we are always pushing to make sure that our clients are moving in an upward trajectory.”

He says they want to make sure they are working with brands that are aspiring and ambitious.

Everything matters

This builds on the overall agency motto, Everything matters. Delaney is still active on every single account, and Johnson’s day job is analysing client-agency relationships.

Delaney says that agencies do not have enough empathy for their clients. "By empathy, I mean knowing and caring what the challenges their clients have, because advertising is only one tiny part of that.”

He says, that from the day he founded the agency, he wanted to go deeper and learn more about clients to understand their business and then provide a more profound solution, something meaningful across the company, from the sales force to the end consumer.

The Dark Arts

The agency has also set up a production facility in Cape Town, Dark Arts, underpinned by technology and AI.

“Imagine setting up a company from day one that is future-proofed for this amazing world that we're going into, where clients are going to get not just the extraordinary creative talent in South Africa, but this will be delivered with the latest technology and AI, to their benefit,” says Johnson.