As the year edges to a close, this piece offers a sharp reflection on how 2025 reshaped Leagas Delaney South Africa and Dark Arts Studio, from creative breakthroughs to global expansion, and sets the stage for the ambitions guiding 2026. It explores the growth of the group, the rise of Dark Arts Studio as a global delivery partner, and the lessons drawn from a year defined by pace and possibility. The perspective comes from Ray Langa, Group Chief Executive, whose fifteen years in creative and strategic leadership bring clarity, depth and direction to the journey ahead.
As 2025 comes to an end, I’ve been reflecting on how this year has shaped our group creatively, strategically and globally. It has been a year of meaningful expansion: across categories, across capabilities and across markets.
A Year of Momentum Across the LDSA Group
We strengthened our footprint in South Africa’s FMCG landscape with the addition of the Tiger Brands Grains portfolio, a significant step in broadening the categories we now influence.
With Pharma Dynamics, we delivered a bold and culturally resonant Testosterone campaign in November, opening vital conversation in the men’s health space and demonstrating how creativity can unlock topics often left unaddressed.
Our long-standing partnership with Investec continued to grow across portfolios, underpinned by clarity, ambition and a shared commitment to work that delivers genuine value.
Internationally, we extended our collaboration with Gorilla Energy, reflecting the versatility of our teams in youth culture, lifestyle and emerging global categories.
Across Johannesburg and Cape Town, our teams have expanded in capability and cohesion grounded in our philosophy that “Everything Matters”.
A defining evolution in 2025 has been the rapid ascent of Dark Arts Studio (DAS) as a global creative delivery partner.
DAS represents a new model designed for the realities of modern brand-building: high-volume, multi-market, platform-rich environments that require consistent, high-quality output delivered with speed and precision.
Powered by exceptional South African talent, DAS brings together:
- world-class craft
- rapid and reliable delivery
- deep category awareness
- agile production capability
In 2025, DAS delivered into Dubai, the United States, Australia, the UK, Italy and Germany integrating seamlessly into global creative pipelines and enabling brands and agencies to scale without compromising quality.
As global teams face increasing pressure to deliver more at pace, DAS is meeting that need with a model built for modern creative demands. It continues to carve out space as a creative delivery partner for internal brand studios and agency ecosystems worldwide.
What 2025 Taught Us
Several clear lessons have emerged this year:
- Expanding across industries strengthens strategic intelligence.
Working across FMCG, finance, health, lifestyle and youth culture has sharpened both our insight and our creative output.
- Strategy is central to modern creativity.
Clients are looking for clear diagnosis and direction. Strategy now sits at the heart of every impactful idea.
- Scalable craft is a global advantage.
Through DAS, we’ve seen how South African precision, agility and consistency meet a growing global need.
- South African creativity is globally competitive.
Our teams are contributing meaningfully to work across multiple continents and categories.
Industry Ambitions for 2026
To thrive in 2026, our industry needs to adjust its posture and pace.
We need to simplify. The brands that stand out will be the ones that communicate with clarity, humanity and purpose.
We need to match the rhythm of culture. Relevance is an everyday practice, not a campaign milestone.
We need deeper partnerships. Value will come from relationships where ambition and accountability are genuinely shared.
We need to build globally from Africa. Our teams have delivered into multiple international markets, not as an outsourcing solution, but as creators of work that stands confidently on the global stage.
Looking Ahead
2026 presents a clear opportunity: to refine how we work, expand where we play, and strengthen how we deliver value.
Our ambition is to:
- build a group that is fit, focused and future-ready
- expand our influence across a broader range of categories
- grow Dark Arts Studio as a globally recognised creative delivery model
- unite LDSA and DAS as a powerful creative and strategic partnership
- continue producing work rooted in African creativity with global relevance
We move into the new year not with something to prove, but with the intent to grow, expand and lead one category, one market and one meaningful idea at a time.
2026 is going to be an exciting one.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Ray Langa, Group Chief Executive of Leagas Delaney South Africa and Dark Arts Studio, is a dynamic leader with over 15 years of experience across creative, experiential, and sponsorship agencies. His expertise in marketing, automation, and strategic innovation has positioned him at the forefront of industry transformation. Passionate about creating real impact, Ray is dedicated to driving business excellence while fostering an inclusive and growth-oriented leadership culture.
For more information about Leagas Delaney Group South Africa, enquiries can be directed to info@leagasdelaney.co.za
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