Jeremy Sampson steps down from Interbrand

After leading the brand debate in South Africa for over 41 years, Jeremy Sampson has announced that he will be stepping down from Interbrand Sampson de Villiers, the company he founded in 1973, but will continue to support and advise in a non-executive role. He will now also have more time for his other interests.

Having come to South Africa from the UK in 1968, Jeremy worked as a senior designer at Unimark International, NA&D/Grey Advertising and creative director at Graphis Design in Johannesburg as a launch pad to the establishment of the country’s first professional branding consultancy – which began life as the ‘thinking man’s design agency’ Jeremy Sampson Associates – in 1973.

“Many of the country’s leading brands were handled by Jeremy and his colleagues including SAB, Nedbank, the South African Rugby Union Springboks, Transvaal Lions, Sasol, and the creation of Distell,” reveals Group CEO of Interbrand Sampson de Villiers, Doug de Villiers. “In fact, Jeremy is the guy that turned the Springbok around, making the logo jump from left to right – the correct direction most would agree.”

In 1992, he was approached by Interbrand, the world’s leading strategic branding consultancy, to take the multinational into Africa – a challenge he readily accepted by establishing an active office in both Johannesburg and Zimbabwe.

Over the past 21 years, Interbrand Sampson de Villiers has become one of the industry’s best known brand consultancies on the continent, with leading brands featured as clients, including ABSA, Airports Company of South Africa, Altron, the JSE, Aurecon, Bestmed, Nedbank, MTN, Standard Bank, Renault, Mpact, Wits Art Museum, Coca-Cola, City of Jo’burg, University of Johannesburg, the branding of Kenya and hundred’s more. His long-standing partnership with Interbrand making him one of the longest (and most active) serving members of the Group.

Most deservedly, Jeremy has become a leading brand in his own right: winning well over 100 branding and creative awards and working, training and partnering with over 1 000 top marketers and branders globally.

As Jez Frampton, Global CEO Interbrand, puts it: “Without Jeremy, our business in Africa simply wouldn’t exist.  His tireless efforts to educate, inform and to constantly push thinking in the area of branding are an inspiration to branding professionals the world over.”

During his chairmanship of Interbrand Sampson de Villiers, the company received multiple awards including a Distinction Award in the Global 2014 Rebrand 100 Awards, Finweek’s AdReview Best Branding and Design Agency consecutively in 2009 and 2010, and three Print Golds at the 2014 Creativity International Awards, among many others over the years.

His commitment to business and marketing is well recognised through his drive, participation and efforts in the community as a whole. This includes being a founding member of the Marketing Association of South Africa and the South African Brand Council, an advisor to Vega, Da Vinci, a Visiting Professor at UCT Graduate School of Business and, previously, a board member of the SA Institute of Directors. He has chaired hundreds of judging panels both in South Africa and abroad, including the Shell Design Awards, Sappi and the Loeries.

Sampson’s contribution to the marketing community was recognized when he was awarded the AdFocus Lifetime Achievers Award in 2010 and was recognized by The Annual as one of South Africa’s top 10 most influential people in branding and design in 2009/2010.

A Canterbury graduate, Jeremy has been a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and the Chartered Society of Designers, a member of the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising in the UK and President of South African Designer.

“Having been Jeremy’s business partner for the past 8-years now, there is no doubt that Jeremy is indeed South Africa’s, and the continent’s, original brander,” Doug de Villiers comments, “He is widely recognised as the face of branding in South Africa through his prolific writing, interviews and TV appearances”.

”We thank Jeremy for his legacy, and look forward to staying close as he embarks on a new journey in his life.”, concludes Interbrand Group CEO Jez Frampton.