Jono joined Rightford, Searle-Tripp & Makin as a copywriter in 1980, a few months before the agency won the Volkswagen account. The agency's first copywriter on VW, he became a Creative Group Head in 1982, and through the 80's and 90's was a creative partner in Ogilvy-Rightford's growth from a small hotshop to South Africa's largest and most creative agency.

Jono was appointed Executive Creative Director of Ogilvy Cape Town in 1994 and left in 2001 to focus on writing and family. Jono has won numerous creative and industry awards locally and internationally. He is a past Chairman of the Creative Directors' Forum, a past Chairman of IgilvyOne and Ogilvy Interactive SA, and was an Ogilvy SA shareholder and holding board member from 1989 to 2001.