#NedbankIMC2025 | Melusi Mhlungu - "Are you playing to win, or not to lose?"

Melusi Mhlungu, We Are Bizarre's founder & chief creative officer, says all he has wanted to do in his career is be a sponge in the world and then come back to South Africa and wring out all that he has absorbed.

By Danette Breitenbach

2 Oct 2025

Creating the Most Interesting Brand in the Room, the topic of his talk at the IMC, is the philosophy of his agency and is inspired by his journey as a creative.

As a creative, he has worked overseas at agencies on global brands, with a Super Bowl commercial to his credit. Working on some of the world's most inspiring brands led his decision to come back home and create his own agency.

Creating the most interesting brand in the room is what sits at the core of his agency.

What this takes and the lessons he has learnt is what he unpacked for the IMC audience.

One of these is that you can only create an interesting brand with crazy ideas and trust. He also mentions instinct in this regard, and that you might get it wrong.

This, he says, will free you, and then you can create without fear.

The #NedbankIMC Marketing is Business conference took place on Thursday, 18 September 2025 at Mosaiek Teatro, Johannesburg. Bizcommunity was proud to be a media partner for the stellar lineup of international and local experts who shared their knowledge with 3,000 delegates who attended virtually and in person. Bizcommunity Managing editor Danette Breitenbach was on the ground to interview some of the speakers who included Charl Bassil, CBO, BBC; Bryony Rose, YEXT; Vaughan Croeser, VP Marketing, ABinBEV; Ryan Sauer, CEO Redwood Analytics; Stacy Jane Saggers, Kantar Insights Division; Melusi Mhulngu CEO, We are Bizarre; and others speaking on marketing trends from from data dashboards, to how culture drives revenue growth, how 42% of the world's youth will be in Africa by 2030, how Africa can get a competitive advantage with AI, data and tech and creative leadership.

Danette Breitenbach

About Danette Breitenbach

Danette Breitenbach is a marketing & media editor at Bizcommunity.com. Previously she freelanced in the marketing and media sector, including for Bizcommunity. She was editor and publisher of AdVantage, the publication that served the marketing, media and advertising industry in southern Africa. She has worked extensively in print media, mainly B2B. She has a Masters in Financial Journalism from Wits.