Dustin is a Partner in the M&C Saatchi Group South Africa and Managing Director of Razor PR.
Dustin is recognized as one of the top reputation managers and communicators in Africa, having been named South Africa’s best PR Professional in 2021 by the Public Relations Institute of SA (PRISA) and as one of the Top 25 Innovators in public relations across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa by leading industry publication Provoke. Dustin sits on the board of the Public Relations Consultants Association (PRCA), the world’s leading body of strategic communicators.
He advises CEOs, C-Suite leaders, government ministers, and community organizations on reputation and specializes in strategic reputation as well as issues and crisis management.
He has extensive communications experience, having managed various multi-national brands and campaigns including developing the reputation management strategy for Brand South Africa, successful engagement campaigns at the World Economic Forum in Davos, and domestic mobilization efforts for the 2010 FIFA World Cup (where he help develop the highly successful Football Fridays campaign). His other experience includes roles as the communications lead on state visits and international trade missions for Brand South Africa, where he managed proactive issues outreach in building South Africa’s profile as an investment destination. Dustin has served as a member of the National Communications Task Team, a body set up to advise the Minister of Communications on South Africa’s country positioning as both a tourism and investment destination locally and internationally.
His deep sector experience covers a range of industries and sectors, including food and beverage, agriculture, technology, mining, automotive and financial services. Dustin has deep pan-African communications experience having managed the multimarket communications programs for companies like the Western Union Company where he drove its continent-wide thought leadership strategy. This work was recognized as global best practice.
Under Dustin’s leadership, Razor has been named the World’s Best New Agency by the global industry magazine Provoke, beating out long-established agencies in established global hubs such as New York and London. This is the first time EVER that a South African PR agency has been recognized on such a global footing. In its 2022 annual global rankings Provoke named Razor one of the five fastest-growing agencies globally, and the overall best-performing agency across the Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa. Razor was named African Agency of the Year at the EMEA SABRE Awards and was awarded grands prix for the best overall campaign in Africa as well as the best overall reputation management work in EMEA over the last 12 months. Globally, Razor is the most awarded agency in Africa and from Africa, recognized as the fifth most creative PR agency in the world. Razor has won the grand prix for superior achievement in reputation every year since 2020, something no other agency has ever achieved.
He was previously Head of Strategy at Ogilvy, where he led areas such as communications strategy, planning, insights, data & analytics, and issues and crisis management across the group. Dustin was also previously a journalist for some of South Africa’s most respected media, including Business Day and Talk Radio 702, and was managing editor of the financial services industry title Money Marketing.
