About me

The ability to build deep and enduring relationships with clients is fundamental to growing agency business, and is as important now as it has ever been. Over 20 years I have been privileged to work with some of the best marketing minds operating across Africa and the Middle East, to develop and implement integrated marketing campaigns for the region's best-loved brands.

Key to putting the client's business first is building and leading a strong multi-disciplinary team able to integrate across all consumer touch-points. Both at The Hardy Boys and M&C Saatchi Abel, this has been a major focus, transitioning agencies from a single discipline into a true 360-partner, able to both advise clients on relevant strategies and execute to the most basic level of detail.

Since my earliest days leading BP across Africa for Ogilvy, I've always believed in the need for a strong brand idea to sit as a central organising thought around which integrated campaigns are built. The launch of "beyond petroleum" as a new positioning line for the mighty oil-giant gave me exactly that opportunity, as we rolled the new identity out across brand, product and retail communications for eight markets.

Launching an activation business from scratch, OgilvyAction brought me back into contact with my first employer Unilever, and taught me the value of brand engagement as a powerful tool for changing behaviour. For ten years, first at OgilvyAction and later at The Hardy Boys, Unilever were my biggest client, and I've played a major role in building integrated campaigns for Vaseline, Sunlight, Knorr, Omo, Magnum, Axe and many other great brands. All these brands have grown market share and won awards for our work.

I've also loved working on alcohol brands, both for Diageo and Heineken. This has included trade engagement programmes, digital activation and traditional advertising. I've built a network of agency contacts as far afield as Addis Ababa, Lagos and Nairobi, localising work throughout.