M&C Saatchi Abel

ABOUT US

TWENTY TWO YEARS OLD, SEVEN YEARS YOUNG.

In 1995, when Maurice and Charles Saatchi left the first ad agency they founded after a difference of opinion between them and a group of investors, they opened M&C Saatchi within a matter of days. A year later, they had offices in London, Singapore, Hong Kong, Sydney, New York and Auckland.

BRUTAL SIMPLICITY OF THOUGHT

Their overriding philosophy of Brutal Simplicity of Thought, and the spirit of entrepreneurship that was entrenched from the start, means that today there are 23 M&C Saatchi offices globally. Making it the largest independent agency network in the world.

M&C Saatchi Abel opened its doors in Cape Town in 2010 with 13 people and no clients. This is the team just a year later. 

Less than five years later, we had grown to become one of the largest in South Africa, with offices in Cape Town and Johannesburg, as well as a presence throughout sub-Saharan Africa.

The Group consists of M&C Saatchi Abel, Connect & Africa, Creative Spark, Dalmatian & Avatar. Our family has grown to almost 190, and we’re proud to service some of the bluest blue-chip clients, locally and internationally.

All of which goes to show what 22 years of Saatchi experience has brought to bear on our own remarkable seven-year trajectory.

NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE

SERVICES

ATL

You may think of it as “traditional” advertising, but we see TV, radio, press, print and out-of-home as the perfect opportunity to make big brand statements, in ways that are both relevant and refreshingly unexpected.

Retail

Whether retail or e-tail, few agencies have the experience and the agility to manage quick turn-around, high-impact retail campaigns, which is exactly what we do for clients such as Edgars, Nedbank and takealot.com. Our services extend to promotions and POS for MWEB, Yardley of London and Lil-lets, as well as category branding for brandhouse.

Design

M&C Saatchi Abel’s design talent has won gold awards at Cannes, Clios and Loeries, and has been awarded design projects by clients based in Europe, the rest of Africa, and of course, here at home.

Digital

If there’s one area in which remarkable change is expected on an almost daily basis, it’s in the fast-moving digital space. From the desktop and mobile Internet to the universe of social media and even the Internet of things, our team is passionate about pixels – and about what they can do to give your brand the edge.

Strategy

Great work may be at the heart of what we do, but it’s most effective when rooted in simple, sharp and incisive strategic thinking. This is where our ethos of Brutal Simplicity of Thought truly comes to life, and our strategists strive to cut through the fluff and the noise to produce clear, cogent strategies that provide practical and powerful departure points for the creative work

Channel

Darwin said that it’s not the strongest that survive, it’s the ones most responsive to change. At Connect, our channel-agnostic approach provides clients with clear, measurable and objective solutions to complex communication problems. It’s simple, really – as long as we remember that consumers will always connect with content that is relevant to them.

CRM

The world of CRM has evolved to a level of complexity that, if allowed to, is potentially paralysing. That’s why we provide simple but very effective CRM services to clients such as the Edcon Group, MWEB and Heineken.

Activations

As our CEO Mike Abel says, behaviour is truth. And there’s no better way to invite consumers to experience the reality of a brand – and to raise engagement – than through carefully-planned and executed activations. From Heineken to MWeb, Frisco to Mr Delivery, and of course The Street Store, an open-source activation that has changed the lives of homeless people around the world, our activations have literally brought our clients’ brands into the hearts and minds of the consumer.

Content

From video to photographic, written or online content, we are able to work beyond our advertising skills and to generate longer-format content for your brand.