The Creative Counsel

The Creative Counsel is a South African advertising agency that was founded in 2001 by Gil Oved and Ran Neu-Ner.^[1] Herman Manson, founder of Marklives, reported they were the only South African agency earning more than R250 million in annual revenues.^[2]

In 2015, French advertising giant Publicis acquired the company in record deal, estimated to be worth over R1.5-billion.^[3] The primarily focus of the agency is the below-the-line advertising and it has investments in a number of other advertising plays operating across a number of fields. Other divisions include events and activations, and creative conceptualisations. One of its notable investment in the digital space is in PopiMedia, which specialises in social media strategy development and campaign creation.

In 2016 the agency announced they will incubate five black-owned startups in media, marketing, digital, mobile industries.^[4] They will be supported and mentored by the agency’s management team. The companies co-CEO Ran Neu-Ner stated the group has no interest in taking equity in participating businesses. He believes that successful black-owned businesses were the true measure of transformation in South Africa.^[5] South Africa has extensive laws to encourage Black Economic Empowerment, a policy to help black-owned businesses to grow and develop.

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