CHANGING OF THE GUARD
Another high-profile advertising elder is quitting the industry
Another high-profile advertising elder is quitting the industry. Y&R Africa chairman Yossi Schwartz is leaving the agency group he founded 16 years ago. His departure follows that of TBWA chairman Reg Lascaris earlier this year and is a sign of the gradual changing of the guard in SA advertising leadership. Schwartz is recognised as an industry maverick, famously shooting a high-cost television commercial in a weekend to win a pitch, starting his own whisky brand and managing the Pick n Pay account for decades before losing the business last year. He believes the current structure of ad agencies won’t survive. "It’s an outdated format. Advertising disciplines don’t work in the digital space. The industry needs to change in order to keep moving forward and there’s a definite need for structural change within the industry," he says. "I also don’t believe in a special-purpose structure offshoot. It didn’t work for us as a retail unit within Pick n Pay and results in spreading agencies ...
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