IDIDTHAT and Heineken Beverages present I SAID THAT, the Q&A series featuring South Africa’s top creative talent.

Forget turning water into wine. Harry MacKenzie can turn a beer into a Grand Prix!

Heineken has plenty to celebrate after being crowned Brand of the Year at this year’s Loeries, while LePub Joburg added a Grand Prix to the trophy cabinet for ‘Bar de Change‘. And the good news doesn’t stop there. Harry, one of the leading creatives behind the campaign, has just been promoted to Executive Creative Director. As proud sponsors of our ‘SAID THAT’ series, Heineken has given us the perfect excuse to catch up with Harry about this winning streak.

From the ideas behind the work to his love of making people laugh, Harry gives us a peek into his creative world, including life with his equally talented new wife, award-winning art director Sohyeon Bang. Turns out there’s quite a lot of creative talent under one roof, and no shortage of opinions either.

Q: You joined LePub in 2025, and it’s been quite the creative run, particularly for Heineken. What’s clicking at LePub Joburg right now?

Harry: I think right now we’re all just on the same page. We have a shared vision creatively. The studio is buzzing at the moment. It feels like everyone here kind of loves it and that makes such a big difference to the output. In terms of Heineken, we’re very lucky to have them. That team on client side is so jacked and so good at what they do. It feels as if they’re part of the agency with us.

Q: Talking about Joburg… you actually live in Cape Town. How does that work?

Harry: We actually have a really strong creative studio in Cape Town. There is no LePub Cape Town we’re just LePub Johannesburg in Cape Town. Funnily enough a lot of the ideas you see from us come from this studio. We’re also able to work really well cross-geography. A few of our teams are split across the two cities, like me and Graeme (Jenner) and a few others which makes working together on campaigns pretty easy.

Q: Heineken was just awarded Brand of the Year at the Loeries (shoutout to our partners in this series!). What’s the secret to getting a client to buy into some of your ideas, and what keeps the relationship strong?

Harry: We don’t need to put on much of a song and dance when pitching ideas to Heineken. Because like I said, they honestly feel like part of the team. When we pitch ideas to them it’s like pitching to your creative partner. I think the relationship is strong because we genuinely care about their brand as much as they do.

Q: ‘Bar de Change’ just picked up a Grand Prix at the Loeries. What was the hardest part of getting that idea into the real world?

Harry: Coming up with the idea was the easy part. Graeme and I were on a work trip to our head office in Milan, and after a night out with the global team, us two South Africans somehow got stuck with a bill equivalent to about a month’s rent in Sea Point. On the walk back to the hotel, I told Graeme there should be a bureau de change for beers at the airport for South Africans. He immediately said, “Write that down.”

Harry: Selling the idea was easy too. It’s one of those ideas you can explain in a sentence. Making it happen was the hard part.
It turns out activating in airports comes with a buttload of red tape, including security training. 

Building the digital platform was another challenge, which our friends over at Digitas helped us out with immensely. Then came almost daily calls with Heineken teams around the world to convince them to get their local bars involved. Explaining exchange rates to people who have spent their entire lives in first-world economies made for some pretty funny conversations.

Harry: When we reactivated for the World Cup, we encountered a whole new set of challenges. It felt like every day brought a new problem we hadn’t anticipated.

There were moments when we questioned whether the idea was even possible. But that’s what makes this Grand Prix special. It took such an enormous collective effort to turn a simple observation into something that worked across borders.

Huge credit to our partners at Sonic State, Digitas, Redstar, Duma Collective and MSL, and of course the entire LePub and Heineken team for not going totally nuts pulling it together with us.

Q: Looking back at your past work for Student Flights, City Lodge and Datsun, there’s a strong sense of humour running through it. Is there a specific type of work you prefer making? What’s your sweet spot?

Harry: I definitely gravitate towards humour. That’s my happy place. I’ve always felt that if you’re asking the general public to give you their attention, the least you can do is reward them with a little chuckle and try not to make them even more sad than they were going in.

Harry: I’ve been lucky enough to work on funny brands throughout my career. Strategists call them ‘jester’ brands. I’ve probably been guilty of trying to turn every brand I touch into one, but I’ve learnt that humour doesn’t always have a place. So, I’m slowly learning to put the jack back in the box when I need to.

Harry: But funny will always be my sweet spot. Luckily, Heineken is a brand with wit, so I still get to have a lot of fun. I can’t imagine making one of those serious beer ads about hustle and ambition. Not for me, hey.

Q: You started out as a copywriter, and now you’re leading creative teams. Do you ever miss being able to focus purely on your own craft, rather than everyone else’s?

Harry: No matter what my title is, I’ll always be involved in making the work. It’s what I chose to do with my life, and I can’t imagine ever stepping away from it.

The difference now is that I get to do it alongside younger creatives. I try to make that a learning experience rather than just taking the work away from them and doing it myself. I think getting stuck in together is one of the best ways to teach, and often the best way to get to better work.

Harry: I was lucky enough to come up under people like Jenny Glover and my creative partner Graeme Jenner, who have always been very hands-on. So that’s just what good creative leadership has always looked like to me.

I’ve met CDs and ECDs who don’t really get involved in the work anymore, and I’ve never quite understood that. I’d go absolutely crazy.

Q: What do you look for in a director or production partner, and when do you know you’ve found the right person for the job?

Harry: It’s one thing being a creative force but I think there’s a level of responsibility and maturity that’s just as important. I don’t want to work with someone that I’m scared might try to force their creative vision on something where it doesn’t necessarily belong. The best directors I’ve worked with strike this balance really well. Creatives can be weirdos which is such a good thing, but stay cool: we’re in it together.

Q: What’s the one thing you wish more directors knew before they pitched on a job?

Harry: I love beautiful filmmaking as much as anyone, but sometimes I think directors get so caught up in the craft that they forget what the actual idea is. You can make the most beautiful film in the world, but if the idea gets lost, what’s the point? Craft should make the idea better, not compete with it.

Q: Looking back at your own body of work, which piece are you most proud of, and why?

Harry: I’m proud of the Heineken Grand Prix for sure. But there were these ads we did for MTN that were about a stoned guy ordering a pizza. He was so stoned he forgot he’d already ordered one so he calls and orders it again. It was for getting double your airtime bundle. So dumb.

Q: What’s one piece of South African ad work that makes you go, ‘Damn, I wish I did that!’?

Harry: I’m probably biased but Graeme (Jenner) has made so much work I wish I did. His early work on Chicken Licken with Rob Mc Lennan and the gang at Network BBDO. My favourite is still ‘Bunker’. Creatives working on that account today owe him a ‘Rock My Soul’ meal or two for gifting them the most iconic jester brand we have in this country.

Q: Name and fame: who’s doing work in South Africa right now that excites you?

Harry: It’s got to be those peeps over at Bananas. They haven’t made a shit ad… yet.

Secondly, I’d have to say Daniel Fisher. He’s consistent and I find his style of writing hilarious. He’s leading a return to form in the radio category which excites me a lot. His wins at Cannes and Loeries make that hard to dispute.

I’m also always a fan of TBWA\, maybe because I’m a former pirate. Big fan. And Carl Willoughby runs a solid ship there.

Q: Who opened a door for you early in your career that you haven’t forgotten, and what did they do?

Harry: There have been a few but someone who has always stood out as the reason I’m here is Pete Khoury. He gave me my first job, and my second job. And then later my fourth job. He was extremely encouraging to me as a young creative and I still reach out to him today for advice despite the time zone difference over in Singapore.

Q: Who is the best leader you have worked with and what was their leadership style?

Harry: Pete Little comes to mind. He’s not only our CCO at LePub but oversees creative across the entire group. Winning Regional Group of the Year three years running is seriously impressive, and I think his leadership has a lot to do with that.

What I admire most is that he doesn’t lead from above. He’s more of a support system underneath each agency, giving people the backing, confidence and freedom to do their best work. There’s very little ego in his approach, which is refreshing for someone in that position. Whatever he’s doing, it certainly seems to be working for us.

Q: You’ve been mentoring young creatives through initiatives like Lisbon Ad Guiding Stars. What’s one thing the next generation needs to learn, and one thing the old guard could learn from them?

Harry: Advertising is about people. Go out, meet them, have experiences. There’s a new collective called Five to Nine that’s trying to bring some of that culture back into the industry, which is amazing. 

The old guard have all these stories about places like the Royale, Zoo Lake and those legendary long Friday lunches. Some of my best friends today are people I came up with as a junior, often from competing agencies. That sense of community seems to have faded a bit.

There’s motivation in a bit of healthy, or even unhealthy, competition with your peers. Knowing what they’re working on, wanting to do something better, getting jealous of what they’re working on, and then having a beer together afterwards. It certainly pushed me to be better.

So my advice to young creatives would be to become part of the industry you’ve chosen. Make friends outside your agency, share ideas, learn from each other and build a culture of your own.

I think that’s what the old guard can learn from them too. Rather than constantly reminiscing about how great the industry used to be, we should be helping the next generation make it great for themselves. 

Q: What’s your day-one advice for someone starting out in advertising?

Harry: Find someone more senior than you and do your best to make their lives a little easier. They’ll remember that and give you more and more opportunities because of it.

Q: Your new wife and one of our faves, Sohyeon Bang, has been cleaning up with Spotify’s ‘Don’t. Stop. The. Music.’ campaign. Is there a healthy bit of competition in the household, or are you each other’s biggest cheerleaders?

Harry: I’m her biggest fan honestly. I’d say our agencies are more competitive than we are. Watching her collect her trophies for all her hard work was such a proud moment. 

Q: You’re a writer, she’s an art director. Do you show each other work in progress, and who’s the tougher critic?

Harry: We bounce ideas off each other all the time. She’s an encyclopedia of creative references, so she’s very quick to tell me when something’s been done before. I’d say that makes her the tougher critic.

Funnily enough, I remember seeing her hand-drawn scamps for ‘Don’t. Stop. The. Music.‘ lying on our coffee table at home and immediately knowing she had something. I told her to present it straight away.

Soh actually worked with us on a Heineken print campaign called ‘HeHeHe‘, which also picked up at the Loeries. Graeme and I were cleaning up some Heineken cans in his kitchen when he noticed the crushed cans looked like they were laughing. I sent Soh a picture, and by the next day she’d turned it into a layout. So, there’s definitely a lot of work talk in our house, but I think we make a pretty good team.

Q: What’s something we’d be surprised to find out about you?

Harry: Something people find surprising is that I’m weirdly good at admin. Timesheets are in, claims are processed, ethics and compliance training is complete. You sent me these questions on a Friday and I was done by Sunday. I like getting things off my plate right away. I’d say that’s a surprising trait for a creative person.

Q: What are you binging right now?

Harry: Besides binge eating carbs after successfully fitting into my wedding suit, I’m currently watching a series on Apple called Pachinko. It follows four generations of a family starting in 1910 colonial Korea through World War II and into 1989 Japan and America. It’s a history that not many people know about and it’s told beautifully. Highly recommend it.

Q: If you weren’t in advertising what else would you be doing?

Harry: I’d love to own a laundromat to be honest. Or something like that. A wine bar. A hot dog stand on the beach. Something where every day you have the same problem to solve. Advertising is fun, but it can be pretty stressful knowing that tomorrow you’ll be faced with a brand new problem you didn’t even know existed today. There’s something quite appealing about a business that’s predictable.

Although, knowing myself, I’d probably end up spending more time marketing the laundromat than actually running it. So, I suppose there’s no escaping advertising after all.