The combination of Shaneel’s practical background as an accomplished marketing expert, balanced with his big-picture thinking led to numerous local and international account wins while in this role.
Last month, when MediaCom announced that they would be rebranding as EssenceMediacom, part of the process involved identifying those rare individuals that have the natural ability to disrupt old models across media, creative, data and technology.
Not surprisingly, Shaneel Singh was recognised as a person with the expertise, passion, and extra-mile mentality to help charter new growth paths for the next 5 to 10 years and build the agency of the future.
From 1 March 2023, Shaneel Singh is EssenceMediacom’s new chief operating officer (COO), a strategic leadership role where he will be responsible for enhancing and developing the overall capability of EssenceMediacom in SA, which will deliver performance, profitability, market position, talent and growth in the market.
I want to create an innovative, inclusive environment that encourages people to have an experiential mindset – one that navigates and ideates. People have always been at the heart of what MediaCom is about, and now that we are EssenceMediacom, that will only become more relevant.
Shaneel elaborates on this: “I see EssenceMediacom as a new kind of agency, built to pioneer the new communications economy. It is clear that the consumer landscape has shifted, what we call ‘the new communications economy’. Our intent is to be a guiding light for brands to transform these opportunities into breakthrough growth that delivers on business objectives.”
Within his role as COO, Shaneel says that he will be diligently and passionately working towards the new agency becoming current and future clients’ trusted advisors. This, he says, will be realised by delivering world-class capabilities delivered by the best talent in the market.
“For our clients,” he explains, “this translates to a service offering that is even more enhanced and purposefully built around diverse capability, to test and learn at scale, and to keep pace with ever-evolving technology to make a true difference to their businesses. I want to work with our current and future clients to uncover solutions that actually drive change.”
In a South African context, he says that this will be achieved by partnering with progressive clients and talent who are hungry for growth and scaling into the future.
Further responsibilities in Shaneel’s role as COO will include ensuring client objectives are met with capability, effective business operations, and efficient ways of working while achieving strategic growth and business targets for EssenceMediacom. One of the ways this will be achieved is the agency’s specialist teams with sought-after capabilities across the relevant discipline areas.
“I want to create an innovative, inclusive environment that encourages people to have an experiential mindset – one that navigates and ideates. People have always been at the heart of what MediaCom is about, and now that we are EssenceMediacom, that will only become more relevant.”
