Levergy, which is part of the M&C Saatchi Abel Group, has undergone a paradigm shift in the past year. In a bid to attract new business more broadly it moved away from being purely a sport sponsorship and entertainment agency to being what it calls a “passion agency” — an agency that specialises in creating brand connections with a target audience.

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An important message in this repositioning was that connecting through passion does not need a significant sponsorship and does not need to be connected to sport. The engagement can be created, owned, partnered or lent, because opportunities relating to passion come in many shapes and guises.

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Levergy’s goal was to cement the simple, but highly compelling, premise that passion is a powerful solution for resonating more profoundly with a desired audience. As discipline-neutral sector specialists, the agency plans to continue to lead creatively and land on the most appropriate execution for each brief to deliver hard-working solutions.

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The results of this shift soon spoke for themselves, in: recording an impressive year-on-year revenue increase, achieving four new client wins, retaining its six core clients and being the most awarded agency across sport, sponsorship, entertainment and activation in the period under review.

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The AdFocus judges were impressed with these remarkable results and said the agency’s excellent growth is not surprising considering that it takes the role of creativity seriously.

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Levergy grew its talent pool by 11%, with eight promotions, and boasted a staff turnover rate of just 15%. This is no small achievement given the industry-wide challenge of attracting and retaining talent. Instead of competing against other agencies on remuneration and benefits, it focused on the most important factor in job satisfaction: the actual nature of the work.

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The agency’s trump card is that it is the recipient of some of the most exciting briefs in the industry, many of which are centred on connecting creatively with people through sport, entertainment, gaming, music and lifestyle platforms. It deliberately landed this message as a hook to lure the best marketing talent. To help with retention, the agency encourages them to do what they love, with their passions embedded into the agency’s staff engagement programme.

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A highlight of the past year was the global campaign for the 2023 International Cricket Council Women’s T20 World Cup event. The campaign’s objective was to drive interest and engagement across multiple markets globally, with a focus on turning around the underwhelming performance associated with women’s sport in South Africa. Besides being a prestigious piece of work, it was also lucrative.

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Because the agency did not have any existing client-agency performance metrics in place, this year it commissioned the Relationship Radar tool to track its performance and assess itself against industry benchmarks.

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Levergy has been Telkom’s sponsorship agency since 2020, with a mandate to create meaningful impact for its brand and business through consumer passions. Telkom chief marketing officer Gugu Mthembu says the team operates at an exceptionally high level, despite the agency’s relative youth, and is collaborative, inquisitive and deeply passionate about delivering ideas that work.

“They take the time to understand our business challenges, the market and our consumer strategy. They have redefined how we view ‘sponsorship’,” Mthembu says.

Read the full 2023 FM AdFocus here.

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The big take-out: Levergy was the most awarded agency across sport, sponsorship, entertainment and activation in the period under review.

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