Both will retain equity in the agency. Through this transaction, Joe Public United Durban now becomes a majority black-owned agency.

According to JPU, this deal sees Joe Public United grow its footprint and offering into the second-largest provincial contributor to the economy in South Africa. Joe Public United now has offices in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban.

Joe Public United South Africa is looking forward to bolstering the Durban office's existing offering with expertise in:
  • brand design
  • digital
  • data and analytics
  • media
  • PR, and
  • additional support in the areas of strategy and creative.
The focus will be on growing existing clients such as:
  • Dunlop
  • Cerebos
  • Independent Media
  • Irvine's
  • Halo Water, and
  • extending Joe Public United’s leading offering to new brands within KwaZulu-Natal and beyond.
"For us to partner with South Africa's number one agency group is a victory for creativity. Not just for us, but the province. For years we've been spearheading creativity in KwaZulu-Natal," says Brandon Govender, integrated executive creative director at Joe Public United Durban.

"Now being part of the Joe Public United family will allow us to take this to the next level and exponentially grow our people and our clients," adds Govender.

"We believe this collaboration serves as an incredible opportunity to further build on our growth purpose, and we are fully committed to supporting the team in Durban in every way we can. This is to ensure the agency can deliver the highest levels of creative and service excellence to grow their clients," says Pepe Marais, group integrated chief creative officer at Joe Public United.

"The newly acquired Joe Public United Durban is currently ranked as the number one creative agency in KwaZulu-Natal. In this regard, we are very excited to be partnering with a team that is not only aligned to our growth purpose and values, but one that will also be able to bring such strong creative capabilities to deliver more value to our clients," concludes Gareth Leck, group CEO at Joe Public United.

For more information, visit www.joepublic.co.za. You can also follow Joe Public United on Facebook, Twitter or on Instagram.