He’s built one of South Africa’s most successful advertising groups, but Pepe Marais believes his greatest achievement has very little to do with awards or money. This week, he shares why purpose is everything.
Johannesburg, South Africa (21 October 2026) – What if the secret to success wasn’t about how much money you make, how many awards you win or how far you climb up the corporate ladder, but rather about understanding who you are, what you stand for and the difference you want to make?
It’s a question that has shaped the life and career of one of South Africa’s most celebrated creative minds.
On this week’s “Good Things with Brent Lindeque” poddie, I got to sit down with Dr Pepe Marais, the founding partner and Chief Purpose and Vision Officer of Joe Public, one of South Africa’s most successful advertising groups. Pepe has been recognised as Creative Agency Professional of the Decade by Scopen and holds a doctorate in Business Management, but his journey has been anything but straightforward.
We chatted about his life, the advertising industry, building Joe Public, nearly losing everything to bankruptcy, and the lessons that changed how he understands success.
“I had a huge internal narrative from childhood that I’m not good enough. And then that becomes quite a powerful driving force for wanting to be the best, but not really a sincere reason for wanting to be the best, quite a selfish reason.”
That realisation helped reshape his approach to business and eventually inspired One Word, his latest book exploring the idea that every person and organisation has a defining word that gives them purpose. He even dreams of helping South Africa discover its own word!
But what does that mean? How do you find your word? And could discovering it change your life? Well, you’re going to have to watch the poddie to find out!
Pepe and I even share a philosophy about making a difference. Being good. But aggressively so.
“But the only people who really shift the needle are aggressively good and aggressively bad people. So, I’m proudly aggressively good.”
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Catch the full conversation on this week’s Good Things with Brent Lindeque podcast. It’s a goodie!
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