HaveYouHeard started 2020 with five new clients: Absa, Campari Africa, Jameson Global, Jeep Clothing and Trotters UK.
Absa Retail Banking appointed the agency to address its influencer marketing strategy and implementation, while Campari Africa tasked it with similar responsibilities, primarily in Nigeria as a starting point and rolling out onto the continent later in the year.
Jameson Global has appointed HaveYouHeard to develop its global experiential and activations strategy, based on its current Global brand platform. Jeep Clothing is seeking strategy and execution within South Africa while Trotters, a children’s clothing brand in the United Kingdom, has appointed the agency as its digital partner.
HaveYouHeard has also appointed its Head of Integrated Execution, Victoria Gabler, as managing director. Gabler joined the agency two years ago after several years spent running her own business, heading FlicFlac and spending time in the corporate world overseas. She takes over from Co-Founder, Jason Stewart.
Stewart, who has been largely responsible over the past three years for restructuring and re-skilling the agency to transform it from a small specialist mainly active in the influencer and social media spheres to a full-service agency able to meet the needs of any client or project regardless of size, hands over responsibility for the day-to-day running of the agency to Gabler. He will focus on adding value for the agency’s clients, as well as exploring unexpected opportunities for growth and building new revenue streams.
‘HaveYouHeard is in an incredibly healthy position with a very strong foundation, culture, team and systems that make doing good work exciting and stimulating, if not easy. We have a very unique offering and approach that clients are enjoying, have picked up exciting brands as new clients, and are perfectly positioned to be able to deliver very powerful work,’ he said.
‘It is therefore the perfect time for myself and Co-Founder Ryan McFadyen to relinquish day-to-day control and focus on what we do best, innovating within the creative world, by sharing responsibility for the agency’s future with someone who understands its idiosyncrasies, who shares our passion and vision, and who has the skill set to – quite frankly – do a great job. Gabler is undeniably that person. From day one, she leveraged her strong operational skillsets, financial acuity and street-smarts to make us more efficient and pass those benefits – financial and time savings – onto our clients.’
‘As Head of Integrated Execution, she managed all execution departments from experiences, to activations, to influence, to digital, to production, to PR. Here, she did a phenomenal job of integrating our departments and teams, morphing them from silos into collaborative units. This had an immediate impact on our work and made us more efficient and effective so that we were delivering better outcomes, easier. With her incredible ability to bring out the best in people and the teams they form, she is able to simplify and systemise excellence, and has earned the respect of everyone in the agency. We’re very proud of her, how she has grown through our in-house development and leadership programme, and look forward to seeing her positive influence on our clients’ businesses,’ said Stewart.
Gabler has a strong background in FMCG, a deep understanding of the South African liquor industry, and a solid track record in activations and brand events. She studied Marketing Management at the Institute of Marketing Management and has a Diploma in Advertising from The Institute of Marketing Management.
Read the top 5 stories weekly on WhatsApp or sign up to our newsletter.
