The Lead Creative

What does it take to build a challenger brand with integrity in a market dominated by global players? In this episode of The Lead Creative, Mongezi Mtati talks to the founder and CEO of Desert Salt, Samantha Skyring, about growing with intention, encouraging customers to buy less, and why attention to detail matters more than scale. 
The conversation explores storytelling, founder-led brand trust, social media as a tool for connection, and how long-term thinking creates brands that last. 
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Marketing effectiveness is under pressure as short-term metrics continue to shape decision-making. Recorded at the Effie Awards South Africa as part of The Lead Creative Effies Series, this conversation with Gillian Rightford, Effie Awards South Africa Lead and ACA Executive Director, revisits the long-term cost of short-term thinking, now viewed through award-winning work. 
Conversation highlights
 Why long-term brand building is back in focus
 Why vanity metrics carry less weight in judging
 The limits of AI in creative effectiveness
 Why playing safe is a brand risk
Produced in collaboration with our partners, Soweto Media.
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The Lead Creative Podcast is available on:
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What separates effective marketing from short-term noise? Recorded at the Effie Awards South Africa, this conversation with Thami Majola, Executive Head of Brands and Communications at Vodacom, unpacks advertising effectiveness through a brand and business lens. 
Thami shares insights on data-driven marketing, customer understanding, AI and the discipline required to build trusted, loved brands. 
Produced in collaboration with our partners, Soweto Media.
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The Lead Creative Podcast is available on:
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Simple work is often the hardest to make. In this episode, Kenosi Matsebatlela, Head of Marketing for Vaseline, and Tumi Moutlana, Creative Director at VML, share how trust shaped the Mntana Ka Gogo piece. 
We explore why the idea resonated, how cultural memory works in advertising and why clarity outperforms complexity. They share how instinct, chemistry and timing help teams create work that feels familiar and honest. 
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The Lead Creative Podcast is available on:
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Advertising faces a growing challenge: too much work is created to avoid failure rather than pursue meaningful success. In this episode, creative consultant and Number 10 founder Ahmed Tilly breaks down why this mindset persists and how brands can move beyond it.
Ahmed’s work includes Nando’s campaigns across 14 countries and the launches of Virgin Money, 1LifeDirect and Mazda. As Effie Awards South Africa Co-Chair (2024 & 2025) and Loeries Jury President, he offers clear insight into what makes work effective.
Midway through our conversation, he recalled an insight he shared two years ago: trends are diluting creativity.
 “Trends are the opposite of creativity. If you’re not different, you’re dead.”
Conversation highlights
True creativity requires resisting trends, not chasing them
Distinctiveness drives real effectiveness
Trend-chasing weakens creativity
Effies work requires rigour and originality
Many marketing issues are rooted in strategy
Thank you to the Effie Awards South Africa team and Soweto Media.
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The Lead Creative Podcast is available on:
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Make a donation to Threads for Ikasi, a foundation that provides school uniforms, dignity packs and other essentials to children in townships, rural areas and under-resourced communities.
To support them, go to: https://threadsforikasi.org
Support the show
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