Operating as a digital media planning and buying specialist agency, the Cape Town media offering quickly grew into one of the largest digital media agencies in South Africa with more than 20% of all bought digital media in South Africa originating from Isobar & Aegis Media clients in 2010 and 2011.
Willem Van der Merwe, MD, says, "The growth of over the last four years is testament to the advantages of belonging to the Aegis Media Group. The Cape Town branch effectively became the digital media planning extension for the Aegis Media sister agencies and was soon able to compete with other giants in the industry in terms of buying volumes and publisher negotiations."
One of the main objectives for this year was to transform the Cape Town business into a creative agency by mid-2012. Therefore, the digital media planning and campaign team in Trigger Isobar was transferred to its sister agencies to answer to the growing demand for digital specialists in the integrated media planning field. The Cape Town business now offers the full range of creative communication services and retains all digital media strategy and planning for clients nationally.
Newly appointed CEO from the Isobar network, Markus Grannenfelt, comments, "We have successfully completed the transformation of this formidable agency and aligned the business with the Isobar network. I'm happy to announce that the MD and the team have managed to attract some of the best talent in the industry. Marco Russolilllo (formerly Gloo) joined in January as creative director in Cape Town and has since built up a formidable creative team around him."
In Johannesburg, Hanlie Kriel joined Gustav Greffrath as a creative director in April. Kriel has 11 years' worth of experience at top South African agencies such as The Jupiter Drawing Room, DraftFCB, Joe Public and Saatchi & Saatchi, plus two years at a boutique digital agency in London.
Greffrath adds, "The diversity of our team of creative directors enables us to solve communication and business problems for our clients on all fronts. We are already seeing great results since they joined the team and our recent client acquisitions are testament to this."
Recent client wins for the agency include the Baileys Africa digital account, Wild Fruit Juice, Nike Retail, Nokia Content and the Nokia East Africa social media business.
