Creative Y&R team
Kenyan advertising agency Creative Edge has partnered with Y&R Advertising and VML and will rebrand to Creative Y&R. The new agency will be responsible for the East African region and will become Y&R’s hub in the region alongside South Africa and Nigeria.
Creative Edge Founder and CEO Prital Patel, started the business in 1995 as a design studio which then morphed into a communications agency offering services that include advertising, digital solutions, brand development, media planning and buying, strategy, packaging and custom publishing.
Creative Y&R will retain Prital Patel under whose leadership Creative Edge was able to have a client portfolio that includes Crown Paints, Oil Libya, EABL, Planet Yogurt, Kapa Oil, Daawat, Broadways, Cadbury GSK and Google amongst others.
Yossi Schwartz, chairman of Y&R South Africa and Africa had this to say about the partnership Y&R Advertising and VML are not new to the Kenyan market. Y&R Advertising has been in the market for many years, and this partnership comes from our ambition to seriously boost our reach. We are confident that Prital and her team are the right fit, and we are certain they will continue to deliver fantastic work. We are very excited to start this partnership and will soon start to bring our clients into the fold. Much like Nigeria, Kenya is one of the most energetic markets in sub-Saharan Africa, influenced by the growing trend of urbanisation in Africa and the innovation of high-growth markets. What’s more, according to the PWC Kenyan entertainment and media outlook: 2013-2017 Report, “the forecast annual growth rate for the entertainment and media market in Kenya in the next five years is 16.3% – one of the highest in the world.
Prital Patel also weighed in “We are thrilled to be partnering with Y&R Advertising and VML and to be afforded the opportunity to become their anchor agency for this market. Y&R Advertising is a proud, but humble network that is remarkably creative. At last year’s Cannes Festival of Creativity, Y&R was ranked the fourth global network for a second consecutive year. And the agency had more markets winning lions than any other agency. Our talented creatives have experience across several different disciplines and bring together a unique blend of creativity, passion and drive. We have a common objective of working with clients to strengthen their brands and share Y&Rs vision to be our clients’ most important partner, delivering outstanding creative work. We’re really looking forward to being a part of a global network with the ability to tap into resources, tools and knowledge and be able to return that value through local insights and market leadership.â
Creative Edge’s digital arm, Qube Ltd, will form part of this partnership too. Through this partnership Qube will have access to VML, a leading digital agency that’s part of Y&R Advertising, and serves as the network’s digital backbone.
Yossi highlighted, We understand the importance of synergies between the online and offline world, and will work as a collaborative, integrated team to ensure that we are absolutely single-minded about the creative product.
Ahmed Salim, the managing director of Qube added, This is an exciting milestone for us and with the support of VML, we will be able to make a greater impact in the digital industry in East Africa.
Creative Y&R will retain the 70-odd staff employed by Creative Edge.