Raising the stakes in the Lowe Profile

Hot on the heels of Bruce Anderson’s appointment as new executive creative director of Lowe& Partners SA, comes the news of Katinka Pretorius joining the agency as MD. Hailing from esteemed agencies such as TBWA, Ogilvy & Mather and C Saatchi Abel, Pretorius joins her creative partner Anderson to facilitate an environment at Lowe Jozi that stimulates great innovative work.

Adelle Wapnick, CEO of Lowe & Partners SA, has made some strategic changes, leaning towards a vision of introducing a higher level of originality to the agency by developing existing resources, in addition to recruiting talents like Katinka Pretorius. The latter shares her philosophy of nurturing a learning organisation where training is part of everyday life and incentives are offered to young, gifted people who are eager to advance artistically. Being part of IPG (Interpublic Group) offers opportunities globally and Lowe & Partners SA firmly believes in encouraging and inspiring staff members by broadening their experience and consequently motivating them to challenge the status quo.

Wapnick commented, ‘I wanted her because of her leadership skills and her competence; she’s been in the industry long enough to fully appreciate the challenges and the opportunities; she’s analytical and systematic and extremely professional.’

Katinka started her career at the renowned TBWA/Hunt/Lascaris, joining Ogilvy & Mather in 2006 to lead the team on KFC for five years. She left Ogilvy to join the newly founded M & C Saatchi Abel early in 2012 to head up account management. Over the next two years, the agency grew from 10 people to 100 and was voted Breakthrough Agency of the year. She was promoted to the position of managing partner in 2013. She also holds a Psychology and Industrial Psychology degree from UJ, and completed the Coaching to Excellence and Associate Coaching Course from the University of Cape Town’s School of Business, which explains her passion for training.
Pretorius holds the view that the most important aspect of any job in the advertising industry is the chemistry between the client and the agency:
‘Choosing an agency is a bit of a match-making exercise. Trust, the understanding of the brand and common objectives are very important, but just like a marriage, chemistry is the thing that holds it together when times are tough. Therefore, for our future and existing clients, it is essential that they feel that they are in good hands, that we “get” them, and that they “get” us. It’s my job to ensure that our environment and talent will deliver great results.’

Some of Lowe’s blue chip accounts are Unilever, Sasol, SAB Miller, Hansa (Lowe CT) and Castle Light BTL (Lowe Jhb), Prudential (Lowe CT), Development Bank of SA, Merck, Nestle, Nestle Professional and AVI. More recently, Lowe Cape Town won a silver Lion at the Cannes International Creative festival for its Cape Times print campaign.

The last word goes to Adelle Wapnick, who is delighted that Pretorius is joining the Lowe Jozi team, ‘Katinka loves creative; she can manage creative people and processes effectively and most of all, she’s loved by clients…so she has a strength and warmth about her, which is a killer combination.’