longtail and Pixel8 Studios Announce Merger

“This merger is a true marriage of equals, with each agency contributing complementary specialist skills to create a full-service digital agency,” said Ingrid Rubin, Managing Director of the new company.

Pixel8 Studios, part of the VentureWeb Group, played a leading role in the development of digital marketing in southern Africa. Over the past five years, its mix of creativity, leading-edge interactive functionality and marketing applications earned it a blue-chip client list that includes First Rand Bank Ltd, Citadel, Ethos Private Equity and Tiger Wheel & Tyre. Pixel8 Studios' experience in designing and developing high-impact digital solutions that help businesses successfully communicate and interact with customers, suppliers and employees will be its primary contribution to the new company.

longtail opened its doors for business just over two years ago and in that short space of time built up a solid reputation by helping several heavyweight clients create and implement effective digital marketing strategies. longtail joined forces with marketing guru, Tony Koenderman, to present the very successful “Cracking the Digital Code” workshops in September 2008. These workshops aimed to build understanding of the challenges and opportunities of the digital space.

Effective December 2008, the partnership between longtail and above-the-line agency Lowe Bull ended. longtail now has the freedom to provide all advertising agencies with the full range of digital services from strategy through search engine optimisation to creative execution.

Directors of the newly established company are Ingrid Rubin (Managing Director), Bryce Hancock (Creative Director and former Managing Director of Pixel8 Studios) and Matthew Jankelow (Non-Executive Director).

“longtail brings the strength of strategy, e-marketing and media buying and planning to the table whilst Pixel8 Studios, which is well known for creative design and development, adds this much needed element of expertise to the total company offering,” said Rubin. “The result: a full range of services to help clients create and execute a comprehensive digital strategy that fully exploits the tremendous opportunities the digital space offers.”

“We're very excited to unite two great teams and so offer our joint clients a much more comprehensive range of services,” said Bryce Hancock, Creative Director of the new agency. “With a bigger team of highly skilled specialists, our clients can expect even more effective digital solutions to help them meet their business goals.”