Ian Young heads the mother city office which is the home for Saatchi & Saatchi Cape Town and its specialist offerings, Saatchi & Saatchi X, AtPlay and Saatchi & Saatchi S which also service Group clients.

Ian was formerly a client ‘on the other side’ and spent the early part of his career in a variety of Sales and Marketing positions in the textile industry, locally for Romatex and internationally for Milliken. He joined Saatchi & Saatchi in 1996 in the position of Account Director, moved to the position of Deputy MD in 1999 and took up the reins of MD in 2003.

Ian and the Cape Town divisional heads have built the agency into a 90 strong team of diverse individuals, each one of whom add to the truly through the line offering.

In addition to his Saatchi & Saatchi board responsibilities he sits on the local board of Operation Smile who is a pro bono client of the agency and a personal Lovemark of his.

His experience spans a number of sectors including textiles, petroleum, insurance, retail fashion, private banking, alcohol, convenience, conservation and tries to spend as much spare time as possible with his wife and 5 year little boy.

He enjoys sport, is a frustrated creative and would have been a chef if he hadn’t followed his passion for marketing and the opportunity to be involved in an industry that uses creative thinking to create relationships between people and products. He is particularly excited about being involved in creating a movement that will help preserve the planet.