MELUSI MHLUNGU

Chief Creative Officer, We Are Bizarre

Melusi Mhlungu is the Founder and Chief Creative Officer of We Are Bizarre, an independent creative company he started in South Africa in 2023. Before We Are Bizarre, Melusi spent close to eight years working in the US at agencies including DAVID Miami, Ogilvy Chicago and Johannes Leonardo in New York, before returning home to South Africa.

Today, We Are Bizarre works with some Iconic South African brands like Nando’s South Africa, AB InBev, Standard Bank as well as brands across the African continent. Melusi is also a founding partner of Jozi My Jozi, a movement bringing people and organisations together to help re-love, re-imagine and re-experience Johannesburg.

Over his years in advertising, Melusi has had the opportunity to work on brands including Nando’s, adidas, Coca-Cola, Budweiser, Instagram, Uber, Burger King, KFC, Vodacom, Toyota, FNB, DStv, Cadbury and Old Mutual. Some of his career highlights include being named Young Creative of the Year for Africa & the Middle East in 2016, winning the Young Lions competition in 2018 while at DAVID Miami, and working on two Super Bowl commercials for Budweiser and Kraft.

His work has also been recognised at Cannes Lions, D&AD, One Show, Clios and Sports Clios. These days, most of his energy goes into We Are Bizarre, the people he gets to build it with, and making work from Africa that can live anywhere in the world.