INDUSTRY LEADER OF THE YEAR
AdFocus Industry Leader of the Year is someone who has made a significant contribution to the industry. This year’s recipient is Pete Case, CEO of Ogilvy South Africa.
The AdFocus judges said Ogilvy South Africa’s return to its former heyday is largely attributable to Case and that it was a masterstroke on the part of Ogilvy’s board to get him back as CEO. His determination to return Ogilvy to the A league, they said, speaks volumes about his determination and talent.
Pete Case is one of the industry’s most awarded leaders and previously ranked in the top 10 best-performing CEOs globally by the World Advertising Research Center. He was also voted one of the two most admired agency leaders for 2022 in the annual MarkLives poll.
A leader with an unusual blend of both creative and business skills, Case never intended to conquer the ad industry. His school results were certainly no early predictor of his later career success, and it was only after he’d left school that he discovered he was severely dyslexic. Embracing this as a superpower rather than a hindrance, he went on to attain an honours degree in graphic design and became fascinated with film and technology. He taught himself how to code and developed a skill for film, typography and motion graphics.
At 22, he took a small business loan and
It’s every agency’s responsibility to started his own company, based in his bedroom. Armed with one of the first mobile phones on the market, he directed and produced music videos, short films, commercials and motion graphics. He developed a good reputation in a tough market, even winning two Emmy awards for design and directing.
After being headhunted, he spent two years creating and redesigning the brand identities of television stations around the world.
He then fell in love with a South African and followed her back home, expecting to carry on with his blossoming directing career. What he hadn’t factored into his move was that his reputation in the UK as an up-and-coming film director meant nothing in South Africa.
Pivoting into a different industry, he established a digital design business in 1999, which was, he concedes in hindsight, way before its time for the local market. “We created some industry-leading work for local but mostly global clients, and it was an important business lesson in timing,” he says. Several years later, after his business partner died in a car accident, he decided to close the business for a fresh beginning.
A meeting with Net#work BBDO founder Mike Schalit led to a joint venture with Network to establish a new digital agency called Gloo. “Again, we were still too early, but the establishment of Gloo was the start of an incredible journey,” says Case.
The business grew from seven staff members to more than 140 and, to all intents and purposes, pioneered the digital agency category in South Africa. For seven consecutive years, Gloo was named AdFocus Digital Agency of the Year.
When you’re creating
Case attributes much of Gloo’s success to the people he hired. “When you’re trying to make things that have never been created before, the people you surround yourself with are so critical. They believed in what we were trying to grow and really helped push the boundaries of our industry forward at the time,” he says.
things that have never been done before, the people you surround yourself with are so critical grow the next generation of talent
Some of his proudest moments to this day, he says, are when he meets up with people who used to work for
him and he learns that they have gone on to do even more impressive things with their careers.
In 2014, Case decided to merge Gloo with Ogilvy, assuming the position of chief creative officer, helping the agency evolve its creative product to meet the needs of more digitally enabled consumers.
He dived into the full through-the-line capability, leading Ogilvy South Africa through one of its brightest periods, during which time it won four Grands Prix at Cannes, five Grands Prix at the Loeries, and some of the top awards for creativity and effectiveness around the globe. Ogilvy South Africa frequently topped the local creative rankings and was voted the most integrated agency by its peers for five consecutive years.
Case left the agency at the end of 2019, intending to take a break from the industry. “I’d been commuting weekly between Joburg and Cape Town for years, and with a young family at home, I wanted a break and a reset,” he says.
Choosing to work with a few start-ups, Case was then invited to take on a temporary creative role for the global Ogilvy network to assist with implementing its latest strategy across various offices. A fully remote position, the mix suited Case perfectly.
But while Case was thriving, some industry analysts felt Ogilvy South Africa was losing its spark and its way. He was subsequently approached by Ogilvy’s board to come back as CEO and reset the tone, culture and course of the agency.
“While my previous role focused on the agency’s end product, there were times where this limited focus was frustrating because I was actually just as interested in the more holistic business discussions. This time around, my focus would allow me to apply the business skills and experience I had acquired while building my previous businesses, as well as implementing the strategies I’d been helping the Ogilvy country offices put in place.”
We need a more generous attitude to building a pool of industry talent
Case returned to Ogilvy South Africa as CEO and creative chair in early 2022 with a goal to attract, grow and nurture talent and unlock value. His priority, he says, was to listen.
“The ingredient I knew we already had was great people. What I helped bring to the table was a new and clearer ambition of what we could all achieve together. My agency leadership style is as much about ensuring we have a good creative product as it is about trying to create the best working environment for everyone across the business. Motivated people are ultimately a very powerful differentiator for any agency.”
This focus on the people aspect of the business was part of the reason for Gloo’s phenomenal success. Staff productivity and creativity, says Case, is inextricably linked to how happy people are in their jobs. The Ogilvy agency culture has recently been boosted by more time in the office. This year, all staff were required to be in the office for three out of five days.
Case firmly believes that great work requires teams to be collaborating in person alongside the flexibility of working virtually. “There’s no question that more time together has resulted in better work, which promotes the growth of our people and clients.”
The results of some of Case’s initiatives and energy have been apparent. Ogilvy South Africa won the Agency of the Year Award at the 2023 Loerie Awards, including two Grands Prix and four golds. It was the most awarded agency at Cannes for creativity for the second year in a row and the most awarded South African agency at The One Show, where it won 16 awards.
It has been just as successful when it comes to effectiveness awards, winning the Grand Effie, three golds and four silvers at the 2023 Effie Awards across four of its biggest clients: KFC, Volkswagen, Mondelez and Carling Black Label.
“Winning awards for both creativity and effectiveness is central to our ambition: creating big impact for big brands,” says Case.
Admitting he believed the agency’s turnaround would take longer than it has, and knowing there’s plenty still to do, Case says he is delighted at how quickly it has happened. Coming out of the challenging pandemic years and given a tough local economy where client budgets are under pressure, these achievements are nothing to sneeze at.
Case is determined to position the agency for even more success. Far from seeing artificial intelligence (AI) as a threat, he says its potential needs to be embraced. Ogilvy is putting every employee through AI training to ensure the entire team understands how to use it as a tool to create greater efficiencies and opportunities.
“This is a hugely fascinating time to be part of the advertising industry and, increasingly, technology will be part of the creative process to create maximum impact for our clients.”
My leadership
He’s also passionate about their talent pipeline. Ogilvy is one of the biggest industry contributors to developing new industry talent, fully funding more than 40 graduates for its graduate programme each year. This year’s graduate intake has overindexed on copywriters and digital talent, given the market shortage of these skills. Graduates are not tied to Ogilvy on completion of the programme, which underlines the open ambition to help the industry and not just the agency itself.
style is as much about ensuring we have a good creative product as it is about trying to create the best working environment
If every agency could create a version of this kind of internship programme, says Case, the industry wouldn’t have such a large skills shortage. “As an industry, I believe we need a more generous attitude to building a pool of industry talent,” he says. “It’s every agency’s responsibility to grow the next generation of talent.”
... Motivated people are a very powerful differentiator for any agency