Scarcella has had the great privilege of working on SA’s best loved brands, from cutting his teeth in the ‘beer world’ of Castle Lager, to the ‘creative content’ world of M-Net, then the brutal retail environment of Edgars, onto Vodacom and now Telkom.

As a non-executive director of the Loeries, representing the marketing community, he explains that he tries to be “the left brain in a largely right-brained board”. His job is also to read the numbers and ensure that the CEO explains them nicely.

Scarcella stays at the CMYK.

1. Where do you live, work and play?

Scarcella: I live in the Parks, I work in Centurion and I play all over Joburg on my bike.

2. What’s your claim to fame?

Scarcella: I guess I have grey hair from managing some of SA’s best-loved brands, but this has not catapulted me to fame. A quirky fact is that I once played croquet for Harvard University.

3. Describe your career so far.

Scarcella: My entrance into marketing was by default rather than design, as I studied economics and anthropology at university. My career has been in marketing and brand management. I started by being a part of the launch of MTN in South Africa, then spent eight years at SAB, finally becoming marketing manager on the Castle portfolio. After that I took on my first assignment as marketing director at M-Net. Two years at Edcon doing retail marketing really drove my ability to work at pace and under pressure. This prepared me well for the heady world of Vodacom where, amongst great creative work, I managed the migration from blue to red. Now I’ve been working with a team turning around the fortune of Telkom, doing this at BoltSPEED pace!

4. Tell us a few of your favourite things.

Scarcella: My kids, my wife, Joburg, South Africa, bicycles, food, coffee, clothing, art and folk music!

5. What do you love about your industry?

Scarcella: Very few horrible people. Right-brain thinking. Unlocking value through non-linear thinking. The ‘long lunch’ seems to have disappeared, but there are still some good parties.

6. Describe your average workday, if such a thing exists.

Scarcella: Up at 4.30am. I think about cycling, but instead read the papers. Relieve paranoia by reading email, then lining up work for the day. Drop off kids. Take the drive to Pretoria, make calls, swear at the thick-skinned politicians on the radio. Meetings. Meetings. Presentation. Lots of coffee in between. Wait for it to get dark then drive down the N1, free of traffic. Supper with family. Try not talking about my day. Read stories. Sleep.

7. What are the tools of your trade?

Scarcella: An eye for creativity. A decent grasp of strategy. Loads of resilience and fortitude.

8. Who is getting it right in your industry?

Scarcella: I think Diageo is doing good work. Sanlam too.

9. What are you working on right now?

Scarcella: If I told you I’d have to kill you!

10. Tell us some of the buzzwords floating around in your industry at the moment, and some of the catchphrases you utter yourself.

Scarcella: Programmatic. Disintermediation. Digitalisation. Engagement.

11. Where and when do you have your best ideas?

Scarcella: When I’m running or cycling (which is very seldom). And then first thing in the morning.

12. What’s your secret talent/party trick?

Scarcella: I read and memorise number plates… boooooring.

13. Are you a technophobe or a technophile?

Scarcella: Technophile bordering on gadget geek.

14. What would we find if we scrolled through your phone?

Scarcella: Business. News and lots of rubbish my kids have loaded.

15.What advice would you give to newbies hoping to crack into the industry?

Scarcella: Treat people the way you want to be treated. Listen.

Simple as that. You can read more about Scarcella by clicking here, and interact with him on Twitter.

Remember to visit the Loeries website and our special section to keep your finger on that creative pulse if you can’t wait for Loeries® Creative Week™ Durban from 15 to 21 August!