MediumAgencyoftheYear

MEDIUM AGENCY OF THE YEAR: DUKE Group

Growing business and gaining clients in tough climate

his was a highly competitive

Tcategory from a judging perspective. What stood out for the judges in this category was the consistency in the standard of entries, demonstrating that medium-sized agencies have clearly identified their points of d i s t i nc t io n .

The finalists in this category, DUKE Group and The Odd Number, both clearly articulated these points of distinction, with the result that this was the category where the scoring was the closest and the judges’debate the most r o bu s t .

DUKE Group, this year’s winner, is a 100% black-owned, independent agency group formed out of DUKE, a five-year-old creative agency; Positive Dialogue, a 12-year-old public relations agency; and Mark1, an 11-year-old digital and media business. More recently, the group has added Duchess, a newly minted 100% female production company, to the fold.

Impressively, the agency has never been funded and remains 100% owner-led and m a n a ge d .

Last year it initiated a new group-wide position of “thrive in tumultuous times”. Little did they realise the extent to which they would be tested on this positioning in 2020.

Given the dramatically altered consumer public relations landscape with the onset of the pandemic, Positive Dialogue switched from a retainer to a fee-based system. Its largest client at the time, Marriott, reduced its spending to zero within two days of the lockdown, with the result that three staff members were retrenched. Revenue has subsequently recovered to its pre-Covid level.

DUKE Group’s approach relies on a Warren Buffett quote: “It ’s wise to be fearful when others are greedy. And greedy when others are fe a r f u l .”

In the last 18 months, the agency has made some significant investments in people: industry heavyweight Ahmed Tilly (formerly the chief creative officer at FCB Joburg) joined as creative consultant, acting as the chief creative officer across the group, while Suhana Gordhan, another creative heavyweight, was appointed executive creative director. Gordhan has worked at agencies such as Ogilvy, the King James Group, Black River FC, VML, Net#work, BBDO and FCB.

The work produced by the group is testament to the integration of the business. In one short year the agency has gone from just a few shared clients to the majority of clients now being shared across the entire group.

DUKE has long said no to pitches, a position it continues to hold to this day. Despite this stance, it has continued its trend from previous years of picking up great clients without the creative pitch process.

In 2019, DUKE Group was a finalist in this category. The previous year —as DUKE —it was a finalist in the small agency category. Last year we said that once the new group structure was bedded down, we would have a clearer idea of the shape and potential of the expanded entity.

That is certainly the case now. One of the best barometers for an agency is growth. DUKE rose to the occasion for the period under review and, despite a particularly tough period, grew its business by 23.8%, something it can be justifiably proud of.

The Odd Number, AdFocus’s Small Advertising Agency of the Year for 2019, has grown in size over the past year and now falls into the category of a medium-sized agency.

Despite the disappointment of losing the Adcock Ingram account during the AdFocus review period, this loss was mitigated by the acquisition of exciting new clients, which has resulted in overall growth of a phenomenal 60.4% over the past year. The Odd Number’s largest accounts by revenue include Nedbank, Game, Brand SA and Assupol.

Both The Odd Number and DUKE Group are agencies to watch in the future.

The 2020 winner of the medium-sized agency category, DUKE Group

DUKE Group CEO Wayne Naidoo