Sue Napier, who has been at the agency since its launch in 2005, had resigned, she confirmed. Napier, who was born in Durban, is returning to her home city to become marketing director of retail chain Mr Price's apparel division.
She will leave the agency at the end of next month, and no successor has been chosen. Until the middle of last year, Ireland/Davenport was considered one of the most successful independent startups in SA's advertising industry.
Named after founding partners Philip Ireland and John Davenport, its first client was car maker BMW. It was followed by names like Avis and Plascon before South African Tourism, in 2010, and Vodacom, in 2013, catapulted it into the big league.
The success persuaded global advertising and communications group WPP to buy a stake and the agency's management won a national leadership award at the 2014 industry AdFocus awards.
But it all unravelled in a few weeks in mid-2015, when Vodacom, SA Tourism and BMW all moved their business to other agencies. Vodacom accounted for 40% of Ireland/Davenport's revenue. This led to substantial job losses at the agency.
"It was incredibly hard to do," said Napier. "We had never retrenched anyone before."
Since then, Ireland/Davenport has regained some ground with the Isuzu vehicles and Budget Car Rental accounts.
Napier said Mr Price approached her with a job offer in late March and the deal was done. "The offer was simply too good to ignore."
furlongerd@bdfm.co.za
Source: Business Day
For more than two decades, I-Net Bridge has been one of South Africa’s preferred electronic providers of innovative solutions, data of the highest calibre, reliable platforms and excellent supporting systems. Our products include workstations, web applications and data feeds packaged with in-depth news and powerful analytical tools empowering clients to make meaningful decisions.
We pride ourselves on our wide variety of in-house skills, encompassing multiple platforms and applications. These skills enable us to not only function as a first class facility, but also design, implement and support all our client needs at a level that confirms I-Net Bridge a leader in its field.
Go to: http://www.inet.co.za
