It started almost by uncanny coincidence. A magazine editor and a company executive sit next to each other on a plane to London from Johannesburg. As the wheels lift, they don’t drift away into the in-flight entertainment, but instead begin to talk.
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The executive is from retail giant Pick n Pay. The supermarket chain is embarking on a new project, he says, to launch a food magazine with an upcoming brand revamp. The magazine man listens intently. He ’s William Sitwell, editor at the time of high-end food magazine Waitrose Food and editorial director for John Brown UK, a company that at the time already has about 20 years’ experience in content marketing for clients such as Virgin, Emirates, John Lewis and Orange.
No sooner do the wheels touch tarmac again when Sit well calls Justine Drake, SA celebrity chef and food editor. “A few months later I had the proofs of the first issue of Fresh Living magazine spread out on my kitchen table,” says Drake. The year is 2007 and John Brown SA is launched — one magazine, three staff members, a chair and a computer each. In 2010, publishing heavyweight Lani Carstens joins as MD, and swiftly new accounts are won. Fast forward a couple of years and John Brown SA becomes a fully fledged content marketing agency with offices in Cape Town and Johannesburg, 58 employees and more awards than wall space, signing contracts with prestigious clients from Discovery Health, Old Mutual and Edgars to BMW, Mini, Life Healthcare and Capitec.
Being the product of a collaboration across the pond means we are part of a wide international network — John Brown Media’s team of 300 highly skilled professionals are distributed in 12 offices from London to Toronto through Dubai, Boston, Helsinki, Singapore and Madrid. With our recent acquisition by multinational media and digital marketing communications giant Dentsu Aegis Network (DAN), this number has grown exponentially, giving us access to over 500 top agencies in 57 cities. But our hearts and our roots remain deeply local. “While we’re JBSA, the SA content hubs, e-commerce and apps.
Everything is based on SEO and data insights, speaking to our clients’ audiences in their language on the platforms they prefer. But one thing will never change: our belief in the power and value of the creative human mind. So by combining the capabilities and reach of digital communication channels and data-informed intelligence with human intelligence and creativity, we believe we’ve found the secret sauce for growing brands in SA: A combination of the best local talent, world-class digital marketing and global best practice. Mixed in equal parts.
John Brown
2019 AdFocus Corporate Profile
It started almost by uncanny coincidence. A magazine editor
and a company executive sit next to each other on a plane to London from Johannesburg. As the wheels lift, they don’t drift away into the in-flight entertainment, but instead begin
to talk.
The executive is from retail giant Pick n Pay. The supermarket chain is embarking on a new project, he says, to launch a food magazine with an upcoming brand revamp. The magazine man listens intently. He ’s William Sitwell, editor at the time of high-end food magazine Waitrose Food and editorial director for John Brown UK, a company that at the time already has about 20 years’ experience in content marketing for clients such as Virgin, Emirates, John Lewis and Orange.
No sooner do the wheels touch tarmac again when Sit well calls Justine Drake, SA celebrity chef and food editor. “A few months later I had the proofs of the first issue of Fresh Living magazine spread out on my kitchen table,” says Drake. The year is 2007 and John Brown SA is launched — one magazine, three staff members, a chair and a computer each. In 2010, publishing heavyweight Lani Carstens joins as MD, and swiftly new accounts are won. Fast forward a couple of years and John Brown SA becomes a fully fledged content marketing agency with offices in Cape Town and Johannesburg, 58 employees and more awards than wall space, signing contracts with prestigious clients from Discovery Health, Old Mutual and Edgars to BMW, Mini, Life Healthcare and Capitec.
Being the product of a collaboration across the pond means we are part of a wide international network — John Brown Media’s team of 300 highly skilled professionals are distributed in 12 offices from London to Toronto through Dubai, Boston, Helsinki, Singapore and Madrid. With our recent acquisition by multinational media and digital marketing communications giant Dentsu Aegis Network (DAN), this number has grown exponentially, giving us access to over 500 top agencies in 57 cities. But our hearts and our roots remain deeply local. “While we’re JBSA, the SA content hubs, e-commerce and apps.
Everything is based on SEO and data insights, speaking to our clients’ audiences in their language on the platforms they prefer. But one thing will never change: our belief in the power and value of the creative human mind. So by combining the capabilities and reach of digital communication channels and data-informed intelligence with human intelligence and creativity, we believe we’ve found the secret sauce for growing brands in SA: A combination of the best local talent, world-class digital marketing and global best practice. Mixed in equal parts.