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Redhouse picks MD for its Media Edge agency

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Mr Gil Kemami. COURTESY PHOTO

Integrated communications services firm Redhouse has appointed Gil Kemami as managing director of its creative agency BBDO Media Edge.

The appointment follows the recent promotion of the agency’s founding managing director Esther Ngomeli to group chief operating officer and deputy chief executive.

Redhouse Kenya Group chief executive Koome Mwambia said the appointment of Mr Kemami was meant to inject freshness, superior skills and diversity into its stable as the firm moves into a future dominated by digital communication.

“Gil is a genuine Pan-Africanist who integrates with ease across multiple geographies, forging a reputation of a reliable, trustworthy and Africa-first business leader,” Mr Mwambia said.

Mr Kemami is one of Africa’s most prolific advertising agency leaders with a career spanning over 15 years across sub-Saharan Africa.

He has previously worked for leading Pan-African communication agencies FCB Advertising (SA), Ogilvy & Mather (Kenya and Ghana) and Exp Marketing (Nigeria).

In Kenya, Mr Kemami is known as the turn-round leader who drove the transformation and revival of then Ogilvy East Africa’s flagship agency Ogilvy & Mather to become the group’s most profitable company.

This included oversight of major campaigns for regional blue-chip companies — British American Tobacco, GSK, Barclays, Nation Media Group, Airtel and Telkom Kenya among others.

His performance in Kenya earned him a regional assignment in Ghana in 2012 where he founded and oversaw Ogilvy’s growth in West Africa.

Fluent in French and English, Mr Kemami is South African with roots from Cameroon. He is a Publicity Secretary of Experiential Marketing Association of Nigeria and Consulting Advisor of the International School of Advertising (Kenya).