Thule Ngcese: "Time to lead, not follow. SA needs to up its game."
I’m grateful to have been a judge at the Loeries for a number of years now. But I’m also disappointed. Because, over the years, I’ve watched what was once a celebration of South Africa’s creative excellence slowly become a Middle East awards show
Thule Ngcese, creative partner & co-founder at Distrikt 9, a supplier development partner of VML South Africa, has watched from the jury room as work out of the Middle East increasingly dominates the Loeries. The South African creative industry, he says, needs to up its game (Image supplied)
To be clear, this is no fault of the Loeries – I believe the issue lies with us. The creative industry in South Africa just hasn’t evolved enough and the result is that our work has fallen short compared to previous years.
Same stuff, different year
This year, judging the radio and radio crafts categories – which, incidentally, I believe should be merged into a single category across English and South African languages, given the amount of duplication between the two – I noticed that most entries felt like iterations of the same brief, often using the same voice, tone, and approach.
As a hip-hop fanatic, I have to quote Biggie: “Stop rapping about Versace, because I did that”.
The same applies to us. Let’s stop writing the same ad over and over again.
Dezemba. Januworry. Lobola. Lobola negotiations. Nosy neighbours. Stokvels. Going back to the village. Black names as punchlines. That’s not culture anymore.
That’s autopilot. And that s**t is played out.
What’s missing from South African work is identity. Bravery. Innovation. Craft.
And most importantly, the kind of brand-aligned thinking from bold agencies and clients that makes an idea unforgettable. In other words, everything that makes ads great.
When you look at work from the Middle East, it is unapologetically Middle Eastern. Ours, by contrast, feels like it’s trying to fit in instead of standing out.
We’ve started our descent
In Larry David’s style, “Having said that…” this is not a perennial South African problem. It’s a symptom of the industry now.
When I look back at some of our past work, it was brave, original, and full of local truth. We have, in the past, produced work that didn’t just translate well internationally, but rather travelled well because it was unapologetically us.
History shows that we, in South Africa, can make work that holds its own by international standards. We’ve done it before. We can do it again. But only if we stop repeating ourselves and start evolving the narrative.
2 things holding us back
I believe two things are holding us back: clients who aren’t brave enough and creatives who aren’t good enough.
Too many clients are afraid to challenge the category, challenge their boards, and stand for something that might get them in trouble before it gets them noticed.
The result is that playing it safe has become a strategy – and it’s killing the work.
And then there’s us, the creatives. We are also part of the problem.
We’ve become comfortable – working on formula, rather than instinct. We mimic what’s trending instead of making what’s true.
As an industry, we’ve lost our curiosity, our craft, and that dangerous spark that used to make South African creativity unmissable.
If we’re going to stop making lacklustre work that does the job and return to making attention-grabbing work that gets people talking, clients need to find their courage, and creatives must rediscover their edge.
Culture favours the brave
People will talk about the poor quality of work coming out of our industry and point to budget constraints. But the truth is, we need a mindset shift before we need more budgets or resources.
When we started Distrikt 9, we never wanted to do ads. That’s why our positioning has always been that of the outsider. We didn’t just want to sell, we wanted to make people feel something.
To start conversations. To move culture and take products along for the ride. You can’t do that when you’re focusing on making ads. Ads interrupt people. Ideas invite them in.
Our industry needs more ideas.
4 things we need to do
- Clients have to start rewarding bravery.
Not the kind of bravery that wins awards, but the kind that moves business and culture at the same time. The kind that says, “We’ll try something different, even if it makes us uncomfortable.” Because comfort doesn’t create culture.
- Agencies have to stop treating briefs like templates
Too often, we’re recycling formats instead of rethinking ideas. We need more cultural curiosity, more experimentation, and more respect for craft. We used to obsess over the work, the writing, the details, the sound design, the edit... all those things that gave our work soul. Somewhere along the way, we lost that.
- We need collaboration instead of competition
Agencies, production houses, and clients should be building together, not protecting their turf. That’s how the Middle East and Latin America have raised their standards. They treat creativity like a collective mission, not a transaction.
- We need to believe again
We must believe that South African stories are enough. That our humour, our rhythm, and our contradictions are what make us special. The moment we stop imitating and start owning our identity again, the level of work we produce will rise – and not just locally either, but globally.
What the industry needs more of
One of the pieces I’m most proud of is a radio campaign we did for Primedia Studios’ Wheel of Fortune.
I remember saying, “Forget the traditional radio spot, but let’s make a Maskandi song.”
So, we made a track about people who hate on others the moment they come into instant riches.
It was storytelling that sounded like us. The brief became something alive, local, and deeply South African.
That’s what this industry needs more of – ideas that outgrow the media plan and work that becomes part of what people say, share, and sing. When people start quoting your ad, it’s no longer an ad. It’s culture.
Our goal is to prove that South African creativity can lead, not follow. That we can export ideas, not just talent. That’s exactly what we’re seeing from the Middle East right now and it’s time we did the same.
About the author
Thule Ngcese is a creative partner & co-founder at Distrikt 9, a supplier development partner of VML South Africa.