Senior thinking. Sharp turnaround. Zero fluff.
I’m a senior creative partner for marketers & agencies
I bring senior, through-the-line thinking across brand, performance, social, content and video.
When you don’t need a full agency, but do need one accountable senior mind to move fast and deliver—I’m that.
When you need more firepower, I assemble and lead expert freelancers so quality stays high and timelines stay tight.
A calm, commercial approach to creative.
Senior-led from start to finish (less translation, cleaner decisions)
Fast momentum from tight feedback loops and clear direction
Through-the-line consistency across brand, product, content and conversion
Craft that holds up—smart ideas, strong writing, and confident execution
Flexible scale via a trusted freelance network when the work needs it
What you get
‘No one tells a story like a local’ TVC
Sport has a new player
The launch of Showmax Pro across SA, Kenya, Ghana and Nigeria.
We brought the legend Ali alive. Awards: Promax Africa Grand Prix, Ciclope Gold, Loerie craft.
An extension of your in-house team when you need senior capacity quickly
A project lead for launches, campaigns and brand moments
A partner to agencies that want senior craft, writing, or concepting support without adding permanent headcount
A connector who can bring in specialist talent (including directors) when production value matters
Where I’m most valuable
Join the Night’s Watch: Game of Thrones
Season 8 was coming, and we had to get people to binge all 7 previous seasons before it landed. We drove a 281% increase in episode views, and elevated the Showmax app to trend at #1, winning multiple awards.
You can run, but you can’t hide…
A chilling integrated campaign for a horror series. Awarded Promax integrated Grand Prix.
Words from clients & colleagues
“Under Philippa’s guidance, our creative projects were not only groundbreaking but also directly contributed to tangible business successes. She is a strategic thinker with a profound understanding of business dynamics.”
- Karabo Makenna: Creative Director Showmax
“Philippa is by a rather wide margin one of the most strategic creative directors I have ever worked with. Philippa is masterful in her craft, strategic in her approach and obsessive about work that delivers against business objectives.”
-Nicola Van Ast: Founder & CMO Growthink
“I appreciate Philippa’s ability to zoom out and see the full picture — how each campaign or piece of content fits into a broader narrative — while also diving into the weeds to guarantee we delivered excellence.”
- Kourtney Simons: CMO Yoco Technologies
St Agnes: where the only saint is in the name.
The murder mystery ‘The Girl from St Agnes’ required a campaign as mysterious as its plot. We propelled the show to break viewership records, and won multiple awards.
Investec, Coca-Cola, Drive Alive & Nestle
Investec Private Banking: digital video. The campaign won Silver and Bronze Bookmark Awards.
Drive Alive TVC. This is one of four commercials that won a One Show Merit, 4 Gold Vukas, and a campaign Silver Loerie.
Coke social campaign to reward and share happiness. The campaign broke all previous campaigns’ engagement records, and won a Gold Assegai and a Gold Sigi.
Nestle Maggi Senses web series about a Wok that’s lost its purpose. It drove major brand love, and won a Bronze Assegai.
Our Audi Xenon Plus print won a bronze campaign Loerie, and my Hotel De Ville copy was nominated for Loerie craft writing.
Print & copywriting craft
The Handmaid’s Tale
South Africa’s domestic violence statistics are some of the highest in the world. We repurposed the Season 3 trailers of Hulu’s Handmaid’s Tale to bring awareness to the state of women abuse in South Africa and provide an outlet for help. The work won a bronze Promax.
Some see conspiracy everywhere
To market the UFO series Project Blue Book, we created lo-fi stock footage YouTube pre-rolls that tactically alluded to conspiracy theories in a sequential targeting campaign. The strategy resulted in an 11.5% view-through rate increase. We also won a Bronze Loerie.
Here comes the pride
The Original reality series Somizi & Mohale: The Union documents the famous couple’s wedding journey. It was a landmark event in the LGBTQ+ community, and our campaign drove record-breaking viewership, a #1 organic Twitter trend and a 38% increase in Showmax’ Instagram following. We won 2 Promax Golds in Integrated and Social.
Our social media campaign drove the show to trend at #1 on Twitter, and increased Showmax’ Instagram following by 38%.
We edited footage from the reality series to provide a glimpse into Somizi and Mohale’s beautiful union.
What I help you do
Define (positioning, messaging, product and campaign narrative)
Create (concepts, copy, launch assets, content across channels)
Align (tone, brand expression and cross-channel coherence)
Scale (assemble and lead the right specialists, end-to-end)
How we’d work
Align (a focused session to get to the commercial goal + audience truth)
Build (clear territories, messaging, and creative direction)
Ship (production-ready assets with efficient iteration)
Refine (improve based on feedback or performance)
The reimagined Yoco App
Fintech company Yoco reimagined their app, and needed to encourage merchants to upgrade to the new version through a CRM campaign.
Yoco Counter
Introducing a sleek new counter-top point of sale, Yoco Counter.
The Wife Original Series
Succeeded subscription targets by 222%. Trended on Twitter every week for 14 weeks. The most-watched show on Showmax of all time. Here is the integrated campaign overview, and count down videos.
Showmax Original content key art
I creatively-led the concept, copy and execution on key art for local Showmax originals, and international adaptations.
This was tactical outdoor, situated right next to Neighbour Good's market in Joburg
