by Herman Manson (@marklives) Marcus Brewster, the founder of marcusbrewster Public Relations, is joining Media Revolution — a marketing and media services agency launched by Dharmesh Nagar seven years ago — as chairman emeritus. Brewster will be involved at a strategic level.
marcusbrewster becomes a ‘shop window’ to Media Revolution’s services: the brand continues to exist, and current and future clients, including those from the on-demand PR service launched by marcusbrewster earlier in 2016, will now be serviced by Media Revolution. The marcusbrewster staff members have all been retrenched.
Equity partner
According to Brewster, the process began 18 months ago when he started looking for an equity partner for the business he had launched in 1991. After meeting various agencies and coming close to several deals, Brewster was phoned by Nagar one Monday, who had heard that the business might be in the market. As it happened, a long negotiated deal had fallen through the Friday before.
Brewster says he is relieved to be “unshackled from the drudgery of running a company” and will instead focus upon expanding Media Revolution’s international client portfolio.
According to Nagar, Brewster is the right partner to add value and credibility to his company. In a tough economic climate, it has become important to partner with an established figure who can smooth entry into the local market.
MAC sector charter codes
Media Revolution is a Starcom MediaVest Group affiliate and serves that network in both Zimbabwe and Zambia. Current clients include Samsung, Hisense, Savanna Tobacco (Zimbabwe) and Fatti’s & Moni’s. It started in the media-buying space and gradually expanded its services to include creative, branding, events, digital, PR and media strategy. Today, Media Revolution employs 15 people.
Most of its attention has been focused upon servicing clients in several African markets outside South Africa. The barriers to entry locally remain high but Nagar is keen to grow its SA base, believing the new marketing, advertising and communications (MAC) sector charter codes will force clients to engage with smaller black-owned agencies (he describes much of the industry as continuing to be ‘colonised’).
More than just BEE credentials
He also says Media Revolution offers more than just BEE credentials; it adds value to client brands. It has invested heavily in the right people with the right skills — now it’s time for Brewster to assist in opening the right doors to other big client brands and strategically place the agency on the map and help it compete effectively in the SA marketplace.
Herman Manson (@marklives) is the founder and editor of MarkLives.com. He was the founding editor of media.toolbox (1998–2006) and Mobile.Works, and the co-founder of Brand magazine. He has served on the editorial boards of The Journal for Convergence, as well as of Fast Company South Africa. Winner of the 2011 Vodacom Social Media Journalist of the Year award, he was also a finalist twice in the Highway Africa Award for the Innovative Use of New Media in Africa (2003 and 2004). Over his 20-year-plus career, Herman has contributed to numerous journals and websites in South Africa and abroad, including the Mail & Guardian, .net, Intelligence, AdVantage, Men’s Health, Computer World and African Communications. He has consulted on web architecture to several financial institutions.
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