Vodacom, Cell C spat takes nasty turn

11 Apr 2011

Vodacom's advertising agency, Draftfcb, has accused its former executive creative director, Grant Jacobsen, of unethical behaviour over Cell C's new advertising campaign and has warned it may sue him for damages.

The development comes as Vodacom and Cell C prepare to do battle at the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) on Tuesday, 12 April 2011, over the latter's latest campaign, which disparages the former's brand makeover.

Now the tussle is getting ugly, with Draftfcb CEO John Dixon suggesting Jacobsen used confidential Vodacom information in Cell C's advertising war with its bigger rival. Jacobsen has rejected the accusations, saying they have no basis in fact.

Jacobsen had been involved with Vodacom's rebranding campaign - the operator changed its brand and colours on 1 April to bring it in line with parent Vodafone - while still at Draftfcb. Jacobsen left the agency at the end of December to join rival DDB SA as executive creative director. DDB recently signed Cell C as a client.

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Source: TechCentral

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Award-wining Duncan McLeod is the founder and editor of TechCentral (wwwTechCentral.co.za, @TechCentral]]), South Africa's latest technology news site offering breaking news, in-depth analysis and opinion that launched in September 2009. Before that, he was associate editor at the Financial Mail/FM. Contact Duncan on email duncan at techcentral dot co dot za and follow him on Twitter at @mcleodd.