Sport and entertainment agency Levergy, an M&C Saatchi sports and entertainment company and part of M&C Saatchi Group South Africa, is excited to begin a new chapter with the promotion of Ray Langa from business unit director to managing director. Langa will assume control of all day-to-day management of the business, with co-founder and CEO Clint Paterson’s mandate shifting heavily towards strategic growth in line with the M&C Saatchi Sport and Entertainment group strategy.
“I’m humbled and excited by the opportunity,” says Langa. “I am joining an exceptionally strong leadership group that drives a remarkable culture inside the agency. To be given the chance to lead the ‘Levergists’ into the future alongside the other partners is a challenge I’m relishing. Our sector has never faced more uncertainty, but it brings about massive potential to evolve and take quantum leaps forward for our industry. I have no doubt that we’ve got exactly the right mix of people and partners to make sure we maintain our position as market leaders in sport and entertainment.”
Coming off the back of an incredibly challenging year, 2021 and beyond promises to be an era of unprecedented digitisation and transformation for agencies in the sport and entertainment sector. Langa’s transition to MD signals an injection of youth and new thinking into the senior leadership team at Levergy. Having been inside the business for two years leading the Nedbank account, Langa is now charged with building on the notable success of the three-time South African sport agency of the year. Prior to his time at Levergy, Langa held various roles within the experiential and entertainment sector responsible for a host of blue-chip accounts.
“Ray’s appointment to managing director follows his incredible performance and delivery as an invaluable part of the Levergy executive team,” says M&C Saatchi Group South Africa CEO, Mike Abel. “With his unique problem-solving ability proven throughout the pandemic, always finding imaginative solutions, his clear leadership skills and effortless charm, I have no doubt Ray will be supremely successful in this important new role.”
Concludes Paterson: “Ray has proven in his short time with us, that he’s got what it takes to lead Levergy into a new and exciting future. Our sector is demanding us to innovate, transform and find new ways of creating meaningful change for our clients at lightning speed. Ray’s appointment, along with a host of exciting developments to come from Levergy this year, ensures that we can be optimistic about the growth of our people, clients and the greater industry for many years to come.”
About Levergy
Levergy is a communications agency specialising in sponsorship, activations, experiential, sport PR, entertainment PR, content creation and social media. Founded in September 2012, they are the most awarded agency within the industry, working for some of the world’s biggest brands and have proved time after time that a brutally simple approach not only delivers big, market leading creative ideas, but also generates commercial impact. Their purpose is to ensure trusted advice and partnership without conflict of interest. Levergy were acquired by M&C Saatchi PLC in June 2017, joining the M&C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment network and are part of M&C Saatchi Group South Africa. In 2020, they were awarded Hollard Sport Industry Awards Agency of the Year for the second year in a row.
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About M&C Saatchi Group South Africa
Established in 1995 by brothers Maurice and Charles Saatchi and founded on the philosophy of brutal simplicity of thought, M&C Saatchi is today the largest independent advertising agency network in the world, with 30 offices globally. Locally, M&C Saatchi Group South Africa comprises seven creative companies: M&C Saatchi Abel, Connect, M&C Saatchi Africa, Black & White, Dalmatian, Levergy and Razor. The Group’s doors opened in 2010 and, in less than five years, grew to have offices in Cape Town and Johannesburg, as well as a presence throughout sub-Saharan Africa.
www.mcsaatchigroup.co.za
