About Avish & Mandie

Mandie van der Merwe and Avish Gordhan are Executive Creative Directors at M&C Saatchi Sydney who have plied their trade across three continents over the last 19 years.

Their work has been recognised over 200 times at the biggest award shows in our business, including D&AD, Cannes, One Show, Clios and Spikes. 

 

They pride themselves on discovering, nurturing and developing the most sought-after young talent in our industry.  

 

But the thing that gets this team out of bed, is creativity that responds to culture, that starts dialogues, that gets them into bucketloads of trouble, and that makes change. They don't mind if their work is despised as long as it cannot be ignored.

 

Before joining M&C Saatchi, Mandie and Avish led Cummins & Partners Sydney into the 2018 Cannes Lions ‘Top 20 Independent Agencies in the World'. The team have also practiced their craft at Whybin/TBWA Sydney, The Jupiter Drawing Room, DraftFCB Cape Town, TBWA/Hunt Lascaris, FP7 Bahrain and Black River FC.

​

In 2021, Mandie served her second term as the National Head of AWARD School. She also judged the One Show Awards and was the Jury Chair at AWARD Awards. Mandie sits on SnapChat Creative Council and Award Committee. In the same year, Avish co-founded #OnlyOneInTheRoom. He was a keynote speaker at Rare Sydney and judged AWARD Award and New York Festivals.