For Thusi, the role comes at an interesting time for the discipline. Strategy has shifted from “the unwanted second cousin” to a creative propellant, only to become one of the first areas to be cut back in retainer models. Now, she says, it is increasingly being positioned as a product and a new revenue centre for agencies.
“‘The gag is…’” she says, borrowing Keke Palmer’s now-famous phrase. “Strategy has always been a have-to-have. And that’s why building for it is now more critical than ever.”
Her approach at Orchard on 25 will be built around three key areas: problem articulation, insight and commercial value.
“Clients want clarity and well-articulated problems. Great strategy starts at problem articulation before it gets to problem solving,” says Thusi.
She also wants to create a culture where strategists challenge observations rather than simply accepting them, digging deeper into the motivations behind human behaviour to find insights that can travel beyond a single execution or brief.
“Observations must convert into universal insights,” she says.
The final piece is developing strategy as a valued commercial product — one that can demonstrate its own worth while ultimately helping clients make a profit.
Thusi’s strategic philosophy is rooted in a deceptively simple idea: a well-defined problem is already halfway to being solved.
“Over the years the quote ‘A problem well put, is a problem half solved’ has been drilled into my subconscious,” she says.
That thinking has shaped how she approaches her role as a leader. She wants her strategists to see themselves first as problem articulators, creating the clarity that allows creatives to do their best work.
Creatives need problems well-put to obsess over
It is also a lesson she says she only recently came to fully appreciate in her own career: creatives do not necessarily want strategists to arrive with the answer. They want a problem worth obsessing over.
As artificial intelligence, data and changing consumer expectations reshape the industry, Thusi believes the next generation of strategists will need to reclaim their position as the person creatives and clients instinctively turn to.
“It’s almost a knee-jerk reaction to have AI tools be our go-to. The next generation of strategist will reclaim that space,” she says.
For her, curiosity will be central to that.
Referencing Khaya Dlanga’s observation that AI may replace many things but not the human ability to be inherently curious, Thusi says strategists will need to actively protect and use that quality.
“The next generation of strategists will fight to protect their curiosity and leverage it,” she says.
That philosophy extends to the culture she wants to build at Orchard on 25. Thusi says a high-performing strategy department needs to balance the ability to simplify complex problems with having fun, inspiring others and thinking adaptively.
She also wants strategists to feel safe challenging assumptions and voicing dissenting views.
“Top talent questions the status quo,” she says. “Within my department, strategists must feel safe to challenge assumptions, voice dissenting views, and stress-test ideas without fear of organisational friction.”
For businesses navigating constant disruption, Thusi believes the difference between those that successfully adapt and those that struggle comes down, in part, to their ability to respond rather than react.
“Responding means taking a moment of pause to approach something with the clarity and wisdom that it deserves,” she says. “Reacting is emotional too, but often to the detriment of that thing.”
She points to the way businesses define themselves as an example. One may anchor its identity in the core customer problem — the job to be done — while another may reactively tie its identity to legacy products or channels.
The distinction, she says, is ultimately about having the clarity to understand what needs to remain constant while everything around it changes.
One of the most significant recent influences on Thusi’s career was her attendance at Cannes Lions in June.
“It was the single most impactful thing I have ever done for my career,” she says.
She returned from the festival feeling like a different strategist and marketer, having been exposed to new ways of looking at ideas and the things that advertising professionals can sometimes take for granted.
“I came back, not the strategist or marketer that had left,” she says.
Beyond the work itself, Cannes gave her the opportunity to meet people who have since become industry peers and friends. It also forced her to become clear about exactly why she was there and what she wanted to take from the experience.
That intentionality appears to be central to how she approaches her next chapter at Orchard on 25.
Asked about the women who have influenced her, Thusi starts with her mother, Nokuthula Thusi.
She describes her as “soft and strong”, an intellect and learner, a giver and receiver — and someone who has endured experiences that many people could never handle.
Her wider list includes Alicia Keys for her authenticity, Oprah Winfrey for her perspective, Brené Brown for her thinking and Nunu Ntshingila for her “bravado” throughout her advertising and marketing career.
For women looking to build influential careers in strategy, branding and the wider creative industries, her advice is direct: lean into challenges and make an impact where possible.
But she also believes cultural taste should be taken seriously as a professional skill.
“Treat cultural taste as a professional superpower,” she says, “and invite God wherever and whenever your superpowers fall short.”
