Black Jerusalem

Black Jerusalem tracks the events and people who shaped the growth of the HerdBuoys advertising agency through successful and sometimes not-so-successful new business acquisition. As the first (and still, only) black-owned advertising agency in South Africa, it was at the forefront of the 'change-management' occurring in the country from 1991 to 2006. With typical flair, humour and a sprinkling of mischief, Happy Ntshingila tells the behind-the-scene stories of advertising campaigns for clients such as SAA and Telkom - from working through the night and pretending to have an office, to dashing off to buy television sets minutes before a presentation. It is a story about big brands, creative energy and friendship in a country in transition. The book's title acknowledges (with a dose of levity) the root of the word Jerusalem, which means legacy, because of the large number of previously disadvantaged people who found a career in an area of marketing that before HerdBuoys had been denied them and who became some of South Africa's major ads people.