Scopen Release for Brave Group

Brave Group has been named a category leader in the 2025 2026 Agency Scope South Africa report, a biennial study run by Scopen in partnership with the Independent Agency Search and Selection Company (IAS). The findings position Brave as a standout performer across the capabilities marketers are prioritising most right now: advanced digital delivery, AI adoption, measurement, and credible transformation.

What the report found

According to the release, Brave Group ranked number one across six categories, including Advanced in Digital, Use of AI, Black Empowerment and Diversity, alongside operational categories such as Management Involvement and Earned Media.

The study also notes momentum in overall market perception, with Brave climbing four positions to number 16 overall, and ranking eighth for new business activity among the agencies surveyed.

Why Agency Scope matters

Agency Scope is designed as a perception based benchmark for the communications industry, built from face to face interviews with more than 500 professionals, including 311 senior marketing decision makers from leading spenders in South Africa. The 2025 fieldwork analysed 474 client agency relationships across 38 creative agencies, conducted between June and September 2025.

IAS, Scopen’s local partner on the study, positions its work around improving marketer agency fit through transparent and impartial selection processes, making the study particularly relevant for brands evaluating partners in a complex agency ecosystem.

The shift brands are making: measurable AI, not AI theatre

The release frames Brave’s performance as a response to a real market tension: marketers want algorithmic precision without losing the cultural connection that drives affinity. Brave Group CEO Musa Kalenga describes this as a deliberate strategic positioning at the intersection of technology and human insight.

This focus lands at a time when South African digital advertising revenue has been expanding. Industry reporting tied to the IAB and PwC Online AdSpend work shows revenue reaching R17.7 billion, with strong year on year growth and a rising share of overall ad spend.

What this signals for marketers and business leaders

The Agency Scope findings highlight three practical expectations that are shaping agency selection decisions:

First, advanced capability must translate into measurable business impact. The study points to rising pressure on marketing leaders to prove ROI and effectiveness, and the release links Brave’s standing in analytics and measurement to that demand.

Second, integrated thinking is becoming the default. The report data cited in the release notes that a majority of marketers already work with integrated agencies, and many prefer that model going forward.

Third, transformation credibility is not a nice to have, it is a competitive lever. Brave’s top rankings in Black Empowerment and Diversity are framed as an advantage in a market where authentic connection across cultures and communities directly affects brand performance.

About Brave Group

Brave Group describes itself as a multidisciplinary group offering services that span strategy, creative development, media planning and buying, content, public relations, design and production, with integrated offerings that include AI focused capability. Brave Group

As the marketing and communications landscape continues to converge around data, platforms, and performance accountability, recognition in studies like Agency Scope provides a useful signal of which partners are building the capabilities required for the next cycle of growth.