Resume
Sarah is an award-winning Associate Creative Director whose career has spanned over 16 years and 3 continents.
Born in Canada and raised in South Africa, she has lived in a total of 5 different countries. After studying psychology and law, she decided to pursue her passion for creativity and writing which resulted in an honors degree in CreativeCommunication.
Sarah has judged numerous award shows including Dubai Lynx and the Immortal Awards. She has been featured in Campaign Middle East and been invited to speak at Brands & Beyond in Nepal.
Sarah’s work has been published in Lûrzer’s Archive, been recognised internationally by D&AD, Cannes, Ciclope, Apex, the Assegais and Promax, and she has won a plethora of coveted awards at South Africa’s most prestigious award show, The Loeries.
As a result, she has placed twice in the top 30 writers in South Africa.
After leaving South Africa, Sarah obtained an English copy leadership role at the top agency in Germany, David + Martin, which in itself is no mean feat as she was informed that Germany is a country that does not “do” English.
She was headhunted by FCB Chicago which meant leaving Germany and moving to the US.
From there, she was headhunted again and is currently an ACD at the top agency in the region, and one of the top agencies in the world, Impact BBDO.
Sarah’s career began as the very first permanent copywriter hired at Havas South Africa (Euro RSCG), straight out of college. From there she has been headhunted by some of the most prestigious boutique and international agency networks. Sarah has extensive experience in CPG, FMCG and QSR and has worked on some of the biggest brands in the world, including Sprite, Fanta, KFC, Burger King, Bosch, Ritter Sport, PowerBar,Reckitts, Converse, Summer’s Eve, Dramamine, BMW, Volvo, OceanQuest, Beyond, Google and many, many, many, many, many… many more.
Sarah firmly believes concepts are king when they are based on titillating, intriguing and unique cultural and human insights. Sincerity is a medium in and of itself in her opinion. She is on a never-ending mission to create great work, and to craft work until it cannot be crafted any more.
And then she will craft it again.
In her spare time, Sarah runs and reads (not at the same time) baking and cooking books without ever baking or cooking a thing. She luckily has a kind husband who feeds her.
Notable Experience
Impact BBDO/ Associate Creative Director
JUL Y 2024 - PRESENT, DUBAI
Sarah moved to Impact BBDO and has been working across a multitude of accounts, including Etihad, Google, Beyond (by Omniyat), Sadia, Starbucks, Ora, OceanQuest, Samsung and DP World. As she works alongside these brands, she also focuses on new business which entails multiple pitches a month in the pursuit of acquiring new projects to grow the agency.
FCB Chicago/ Associate Creative Director
JAN 2024 - JUL Y 2024, CHICAGO
Sarah was headhunted from Germany to be ACD on the Prestige account at FCB. She leads a team working notably on Dramamine, Summer’s Eve and Dentek.
David + Martin / Team Lead and Senior Concept Creative
MARCH 2023 - JAN 2024, MUNICH, GERMANY
Leading a large social media team, Sarah was at the helm of Burger King Germany’s social media account - following closely what was happening in trends, technology and the digital space. She excelled conceptually on the Ritter Sport account as well as local brands Asana and Toom.
C3/ Senior Concept Creative
AUGUST 2021 - MARCH 2023, MUNICH, GERMANY
Winning pitches, complex messaging matrix’s and social media content planning and production were the name of the game of Sarah’s time at C3. Here she notably played a vital role in the agency winning sport’s nutrition brand PowerBar and VW battery producer Power Co. She also worked on concepts and content aimed at the DACH region for Continental tires, Bosch, Hilti and many more brands in the C3 fold.
FCB Joburg / Senior Copywriter
DEC 2020 - AUGUST 2021, SOUTH AFRICA
At FCB Joburg, Sarah worked in the team that successfully won an international pitch in Morocco. Here she worked on some of the biggest, most prestigious brands in the world, including Fanta, Sprite and Toyota.
Ogilvy Cape T own / Senior Copywriter
OCT 2019 - NOV 2020, SOUTH AFRICA
Sarah was head hunted to relocate from Johannesburg to Cape T own towork on one of their biggest accounts - Carling Black Label, the most consumed beer brand in the country, with nearly two million South Africans buying it in any given week. There she worked with the brand’s CSR partner, No Excuse. As a result, they won a Black Pixel at the Bookmark Awards - a beacon of excellence, recognizing outstanding achievement in digital creativity, strategy, and execution.
Joe Public United / Senior Copywriter
JUL 2014 - SEPT 2019, SOUTH AFRICA
Sarah left the industry to pursue her love for fashion, however she was headhunted by the No.1 Agency in South Africa and on the continent to return to her advertising roots. Sarah’s awards during her time at Joe Public helped place them at No.1 in the country for multiple years. Here she won at Cannes, Loeries, Ciclope, Apex, Promax and many more prestigious national award shows.
Edcon / Mock Shop
JUL 2012 - JUL 2014, SOUTH AFRICA
Sarah followed her passion for fashion and was hired by the Trends Department for one of South Africa’s biggest fashion retailers . Here she was responsible for putting together collections to shop for different in house brands within Edcon.
Ireland/Davenport / Copywriter
JUL 2009 - JUL 2012, SOUTH AFRICA
Sarah was headhunted by John Davenport of Ireland/Davenport to join the team. This is where Sarah’s taste for awards truly began, having work recognised at D&AD and Loeries. She enjoyed working on major, world famous accounts such as BMW, National Geographic, Avis, The Walking Dead, Fox, Toys R Us, and was a vital member of the team that won the South African Tourism account, a very prestigious account to have.
Havas South Africa / Copywriter
DEC 2007 - JUN 2009,, SOUTH AFRICA
Then called Euro RSCG, Sarah was the very first permanent copywriter ever to be hired by the agency in South Africa. As such, and being a member of the only creative team at the time, was thrown into deep end of CPG/FMCG advertising, creating TV, Radio and Print, OOH and more for Reckitts, which included brands such as Vanish, Finish, Gaviscon, Strepsils Dettol and Harpic.
Education
Vega Johannesburg/Bachelor of Arts
JAN 2007 - DEC 2007, SOUTH AFRICA
Honors in Creative Brand Communications
Major: Copy
University of the Witwatersrand / Bachelor of Arts
JAN 2006 - DEC 20O6, JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA
Dual major: Law & Psychology.