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TodayTuesday, May 05, 2026

MCL McCann

Peter Magona believes the future of advertising will be decided by how quickly agencies learn to work with AI, not fight it. With clients already using powerful tools, he argues that relevance now depends on integration, combining human insight, strategic judgment, and creative instinct with AI’s speed, scale, and analytical power before the gap becomes impossible to close.
Peter Magona believes the future of advertising will be decided by how quickly agencies learn to work with AI, not fight it. With clients already using powerful tools, he argues that relevance now depends on integration, combining human insight, strategic judgment, and creative instinct with AI’s speed, scale, and analytical power before the gap becomes impossible to close.

AI, Automation & the Future Adman: How Technology Will Rewrite the Advertising Industry

If the first four parts of this MadMen, Dreamers and Deal-Makers series were about the machine, how it was built from accidents, battered by economics, bruised by burnout, and handed to a
December 16, 2025
Uganda’s advertising veterans sit at familiar desks, but the industry around them has transformed. Once fuelled by fat retainers and overflowing media commissions, agencies now battle thin scopes, shrinking budgets, and relentless pressure to do more for less. Amid late payments, eroded ethics, and generational tension, leaders fight to protect creativity, integrity, and value. This is the quiet, stubborn struggle to keep an old machine alive on fading fuel.
Uganda’s advertising veterans sit at familiar desks, but the industry around them has transformed. Once fuelled by fat retainers and overflowing media commissions, agencies now battle thin scopes, shrinking budgets, and relentless pressure to do more for less. Amid late payments, eroded ethics, and generational tension, leaders fight to protect creativity, integrity, and value. This is the quiet, stubborn struggle to keep an old machine alive on fading fuel.

An AD Agency Industry in Pain: Broken Retainers, Shrinking Budgets and the Fight for Value vs Ethics

If part one of MadMen, Dreamers and Deal-Makers was about how Uganda’s advertising giants stumbled into the industry, this part, which is precisely part two, reminds you of what happened after they
December 11, 2025
A photo collage of Jeffrey Amani, Adris Kamuli, David Case, Peter Magona, Daniel Ligyalingi, Rommel Jasi, Alemu Emuron, and Joshua Kamugabirwe. Uganda’s ad industry was built by “accidentals” who wandered in through cricket pitches, rugby chats, art schools, and random interviews. With no clear pipeline, they learned by doing, then became founders, mentors, and standards-setters—turning side doors into institutions and asking how to keep luck alive, but kinder, for others today.
A photo collage of Jeffrey Amani, Adris Kamuli, David Case, Peter Magona, Daniel Ligyalingi, Rommel Jasi, Alemu Emuron, and Joshua Kamugabirwe. Uganda’s ad industry was built by “accidentals” who wandered in through cricket pitches, rugby chats, art schools, and random interviews. With no clear pipeline, they learned by doing, then became founders, mentors, and standards-setters—turning side doors into institutions and asking how to keep luck alive, but kinder, for others today.

MADMEN, DREAMERS, AND DEAL-MAKERS – The Accidental Admen: How Uganda’s Creative Giants Found Their Way into the Industry

If Uganda had built a proper advertising pipeline, this story would be very boring. There would be brochures in Senior Six career offices defining “account management.” Parents would nod proudly when their
December 10, 2025
Daniel Ligyalingi, Maad Advertising Uganda, Uganda advertising industry, financial discipline in advertising agencies, building sustainable ad agencies, media investment management Uganda, Mike Daugherty MCL McCann Uganda, Adris Kamuli Maad Advertising, QG Saatchi & Saatchi Uganda, Warid Telecom advertising campaigns, ethics and integrity in media buying, agency leadership and culture Uganda, Maad Advertising success story, managing agency finances for growth, Uganda creative industry business lessons, CEO East Africa Magazine, East Africa Business News, Uganda Business News, Mad(Wo)Men of Uganda, East Africa creative industry
Daniel Ligyalingi — Co-Founder of Maad MCann, seasoned media strategist, and industry mentor — embodies the discipline, integrity, and financial prudence that have defined his two-decade journey in Uganda’s advertising industry. His story is a testament to how sound money management, ethical leadership, and a culture of accountability can build agencies that endure.

An Agency Rises or Falls on How It Handles Its Money: Maad MCann Co-Founder Daniel Ligyalingi on Building Agencies That Endure

Let’s begin with your personal journey. How did you first step into the advertising world, and more specifically, the media buying industry? What inspired or influenced that move—were there particular mentors who
October 19, 2025
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