Havas appoints Joint Executive Creative Directors

Havas is proud to announce the appointment of Tumi Sethebe and  Fiona O’Connor as joint Executive Creative Directors to lead creative out of the Havas Southern Africa stable. O’Connor and Sethebe will be taking over the reins from Eoin Welsh, who  will be leaving the agency group at the end of 2017 to pursue passion projects. Welsh had been the Chief Creative Officer at Havas since 2013.Speaking on the announcement, Lynn Madeley, CEO of Havas Southern Africa bid farewell to Welsh and said, ‘We are grateful for everything Eoin has done for the Group and we will certainly miss him. His departure gives us the opportunity to flatten our structure further and become even more focused on being future-fit.’

“Our people are at the core of our business and as such, we looked inside the organisation for talent that would take our agency to the next level. Tumi and Fiona have proven themselves with their incredible work ethic and are well deserving of this promotion. I’m particularly excited to see them leading the creative team and I’m positive that their different perspectives will lend our work the right amount of tension needed to maintain and continue asserting our excellence,” concluded Madeley.

“I’m grateful for the dual recognition that both Tumi and I have been given. It’s an exciting time to lead brands through this maze that is the consumer landscape and it demands a new kind of clever from us  as custodians. Two heads are certainly better than one and I believe that Tumi and I have both the smarts and the grit needed to lead our creative team to success,” said O’Connor.

O’Connor started her career in 1997 as an Art Director at Ogilvy & Mather and in an upward growth trajectory, has worked with various agencies that include Lowe Bull and Leo Burnett, on various local and international brands. Her portfolio of experience includes brands within the FMCG category like Crosse + Blackwell,  Kit Kat, Sprite, Axe, Sunlight, Veet, Durex and Harpic; and quick service restaurant brands like KFC and Chicken Licken. She has also worked with leading automotive brands including Peugeot, Volvo, Fiat and Mercedes Benz and leading financial services houses like Nedbank, Sasfin and RMB, to mention a few.

On his appointment Sethebe stated, “It is an honour to be appointed along with Fiona, whom I have incredible respect for. This is a huge moment for us, the business and our clients, as it represents a new chapter that will redefine how we navigate and stay on course doing great work for our clients in this ever changing world that we live in, characterised by a consumer that is moving at an incredible pace and purpose. I am a serial collaborator and so I am very excited about what Fiona and I will achieve given our very diverse backgrounds, experiences and points of view.”

Sethebe began his career in 2001 as an Art Director and over the years has worked on household brands such as, SABC, DStv, Wimpy, Standard Bank, MTN, Tiger Brands, Castle Lite, South African Airways, and international brands such as Land Rover, BMW and Miller Genuine Draft. He started off his career at Young & Rubicam and over the years has worked with TBWA/ Hunt Lascaris, Metropolitan, and before he came to Havas, was Creative Director at Ogilvy Cape Town.

O’Connor and Sethebe take over the reins as joint Executive Creative Directors from 2 January 2018, and will be based at the Havas Johannesburg office.