De Villiers – who will assume the vice-chairmanship of the business – is one of Africa’s leading brand professionals who previously helped build Interbrand Africa into a pre-eminent branding consultancy.

Mathew Weiss, managing director of Brand Union Africa, says, "We’ve made this decision to better respond to the needs of our clients. The capability that Doug and his team bring will help us connect with the evolving needs of our clients in Africa in wider and deeper ways."

De Villiers adds, "This will afford our clients access to a breadth of local and global services, which covers almost every aspect of brand strategy and design."

Together, Weiss and de Villiers will lead a team of around 50 brand thinkers in the industry with offices across Johannesburg and Cape Town, as well as Cairo, Egypt.

Executive chairperson of the network Simon Bolton says, "I have known and admired Doug for over a decade. He has been a passionate advocate for the importance of building brand across the African continent, as well as in South Africa. Doug’s conviction, coupled with Mathew’s deep understanding of our business, will create a winning partnership." 

Brand Union has announced that it is to converge with four other WPP Brand Consulting agencies: Addison Group, Lambie-Nairn, The Partners, and VBAT, forming a network of 750 employees across 20 locations.

For more information, visit www.brandunion.com. Alternatively, connect with them on Facebook, Twitter or on Instagram.