It takes a dollop of guts, a few tablespoons of confidence and a whole lot of chutzpah to launch a new media agency right in the middle of a global pandemic. But that’s just what the founders of Nybble have done.
“We knew we had the right recipe with Nybble from the outset, before the pandemic hit. Of course the onslaught of COVID-19 caught us off-guard like everyone else and we’ve had to very quickly assess our own business strategies and tactics and where needed, adapt them,” says Gustav Goosen, ex CEO of The SpaceStation who has over 20 years of applied business development experience, supporting brands across the Naspers group to achieve digital advertising and revenue targets.
“That in itself reflects the character of our team. Face the challenge head-on and find a solution. We’re confident the rich mix of experience, skill-sets, realism and pragmatism will see us through this pandemic and be of immense value for our clients to tap into,” Goosen adds.
The coronavirus pandemic has heralded a new way of working but the Nybble team believe ways of work were already changing, and COVID-19 “just stepped up with a ‘hold my beer’ moment”, says Goosen.
“It’s proven to be a catalyst of unprecedented magnitude to force remote working, digitisation and ecommerce, which we embrace. No one can accurately predict the ‘new normal’, but we do expect to see a renewed appreciation of humanity, purpose and wellness, which will impact business, society and consumerism,” he says.
The team includes Farah Thompson, who cut her digital teeth at Acceleration, after which she was approached to set-up campaign management for Media24’s Digital Division, and Deirdre Ingpen, the former commercial head of 24.com who also launched Brand Studio (a native content division) while also implementing marketing strategies that build audience engagement and loyalty across web, mobile and app platforms for News24 and its partner sites.
The trio had to thrash out Nybble’s business model, services offering, operations, infrastructure and tech-stack remotely. “Company registration, bank accounts, web development all executed whilst under lock-down. No physical interaction. Not in the same premises. It can be done. We just did it and we’ll continue to do it,” Goosen says.
It’s no secret brands and advertisers are not spending right now. “Marketing budgets are often the easiest to cut and we know many brands have momentarily pulled up the brake,” says Goosen. “Consumers have moved online with their time, attention and money. Smart marketer money will follow and we’re passionate that a sound digital strategy is paramount in these times. Investing in focused, smart digital campaigns will build brand and encourage customer spending beyond the immediate term.”
The Nybble team believe many traditional bricks and mortar businesses will need to re-evaluate the way they have done business and find they need to aggressively pursue an online strategy.
“It can seem daunting, but Nybble is geared to assist those marketers with reduced internal marketing resources and accommodate limited budgets with our pre-packaged or bespoke solutions,” he says.
The company’s founders have worked together before “in different roles, across different mediums, for many years”. Their offering is based around five core media services: strategy, planning and consultation; paid media; data and analytics; content creation; design and development.
As Thompsons says, “We assist with fully integrated marketing and advertising solutions across all channels and platforms, irrespective of creative format to ensure our clients connect with their customers and their message is delivered.”
