Adding more to its creative firepower in the region, Grey Group has appointed Fran Luckin as Grey Africa’s Chief Creative Officer. Ms Luckin will oversee Grey Africa’s creative product and will work closely with Grey Africa’s Executive Creative Director, Glenn Jeffery and Creative Directors Francois Du Preez and Charlene Olivier.
“I’ve always admired Fran’s work as well as her rare ability to transition from the traditional world to the new world of integrated communications so heavily reliant on digital channels and technology to tell brand stories that people can connect with. Fran has helped lift numerous local and international brands to new heights at a number of leading global network agencies,” commented Paul Jackson, Group Managing Director of Grey Africa in a press statement.
Ms Luckin was named as one of the top ten most influential people in South African advertising in The Annual – South Africa’s most authoritative compendium of the advertising, media, marketing and branding industry and she has judged at every major marquee award festivals like Cannes Lions Film Jury, Cannes Outdoor Jury and Clio Awards.
“What makes Fran one of the all-time great creatives is not just the long list of awards won, or the many famous campaigns that have made it into popular culture – but rather that she was always prepared to venture out into the creative wilderness, to break loose of the expected and the ability to transcend traditional big ideas into truly integrated campaigns,” added Mr Jackson.
Ms Luckin’s career spans just on two decades. She’s grown from a copywriter at The Jupiter Drawing Room in 1997 – to Creative Director in 2000. She joined Ogilvy Johannesburg in 2003 and became Executive Creative Director of the agency in 2008. She has spent the past two years as Executive Creative Director at digital agency Quirk and continues as an executive committee member of South Africa’s Creative Circle.
Grey re-entered the South African market as Grey Africa after acquiring a majority stake in the Volcano Group. In 2015, the Grey Group won Euro Effies agency of the year as well as multiple Global wins at Cannes which amounted to a total of 113 Cannes Lions including: 21 Gold, 36 Silver and 48 Bronze. This translated into wins for 20 categories and four Grand Prix awards.
“This is one of the many reasons we need to keep adding firepower to our local South African team – we need to maintain the momentum of our global offices in producing Famously Effective work that remains relevant long after a campaign has concluded,” said Mr Jeffrey.
