Media agency UM had its origin in 1999 with McCann Worldgroup South Africa before it was swooped up with the launch of Mediabrands South Africa two decades later. 

UM South Africa's managing director Kevin Ndinguri says that the global accolade is a testament to UM's resilience and indicative of how its Futureproof proposition is built to deliver now and into the future for the agency's partners.

"Similar to many agencies throughout the pandemic, we've had our fair share of turbulence to navigate, but our team, with the backing of Mediabrands, has done exceptionally well," adds Ndinguri.

Over the past 18 months, UM has enjoyed some significant account wins and internal agency growth. Management has also been working to structure an agency that is ready to step onto centre stage.

Mediabrands' managing director Brad Smale says that UM's approach to futureproofing its business and that of its clients is one of the many reasons this agency stands out in the industry.

"We like to think of ourselves as a global business that really knows its local markets. We also understand that we are in this business for the long haul and that we cannot operate and continue in the future as we have in the past," says Smale.

"We cannot forget what made brands and advertising great right in the very beginning and that is compelling brand stories, which comes from solid and sustainable brand building," adds Smale.

During Covid, the agency has focused on strengthening its proprietary media tools and technologies and consolidating its focus in the industry. This, together with UM's merging into the Mediabrands structure, has provided the runway needed to achieve the wins that it has.

"Futureproof has been a complete shift in our mindset at UM and the way we work with clients through applying a more consultative approach to communication and media," says Ndinguri.

"The essence of Futureproof is that transformative media can be both a business and brand growth driver. By transformative, we mean better use of real-time data signals and technology, turning insight into action at speed, to deliver a competitive advantage for our clients," concludes Ndinguri.

UM also leads Forrester's Media Agency Wave, released in 2020. The study gave the highest ratings to the agencies that used data platforms to improve both media execution and ad creatives and created a more centralised, integrated experience for its clients.

UM placed first in part due to its Kinesso offering, which not only uses that data for typical insights, but the agency is now applying it to develop content for digital ad campaigns, identify audiences and target content to audiences in a precise way, according to Forrester principal analyst Jay Pattisall.

For more information, visit www.umww.com. You can also follow UM on Facebook, Twitter or on Instagram.