Don’t worry, we can’t pronounce our name, either.

We’re a Johannesburg-based consultancy. The company was established in 2001. We help businesses develop:

  • Business strategy
  • Brand strategy
  • Brand positioning
  • Brand ideas
  • Logo and brand identities
  • Brand campaigns

We work, as required, with website developers, social media experts, architects, internal architects and PR agencies.

Mark Varder is a qualified civil engineer. Which explains the fondness for bridges. A surprising number of strategists have started out as engineers: Richard Rumelt, author of Good Strategy Bad Strategy, is an electrical engineer by training. Michael Porter, the creator of positioning, is a mechanical engineer. Bruce Henderson, founder of The Boston Consulting Group, was an engineer; Henry Mintzberg, author of The Rise and Fall of Strategic Planning, studied mechanical engineering at McGill.

Joost Hulsbosch believes every business needs a Big Hairy Ambitious Goal – a BHAG. It must be motivated by the idea of making a difference. The job of the brand is, first and foremost, to solve a business challenge. By building creativity into a brand, you will see the results in the way your brand starts to look, speak and behave. It will suddenly acquire an energy and a personality. Your brand will become something people want to share.

Our careers started in the 1980s. Mark Varder worked as a copywriter at South African ad agencies – Saatchi, Ogilvy and Leo Burnett. Joost Hulsbosch worked as an art director at agencies in the Netherlands and South Africa – DDB Result, Grey and Leo Burnett. We first worked together at Leo Burnett Johannesburg – South Africa’s fifth largest agency at the time, with an enviable track record and enviable clients: Mercedes-Benz, SAA, SAB, Liberty, Tastic, Schweppes, Honda…

We have won 125 awards for our work, locally and internationally. 25 of those, we are proud to say, are for effectiveness. We have been lucky enough to work on everything from iconic brands to nerve-wracking start-ups.

We have worked extensively:

FMCG – Beacon, Ciba-Geigy Self Med, Coca-Cola, Interbrew (Jupiler), Nestle (chocolate slabs), PG Windscreens, Pillsbury, Reckitt & Colman, Reebok, SABMiller (Hansa Pilsener), Schweppes, Sony, Tampax, VDB&J (Floro), Wrangler jeans.

Motor vehicles – Honda Motor Cars, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz Cars, Mercedes-Benz Commercial Vehicles.

Retail – Sales House (clothing), The Lighting Warehouse, OK Bazaars.

Pharmeceutical – AltanaMadaus, Hoechst Casella Med, Medical Nutritional Institute.

Financial – The Johannesburg Securities Exchange, MasterCard, Satrix Investments, 10X Investments.

New economy – Ixchange (Ability Business Management Software), One Technology Group.

Corporate – Gemini Consulting, Johannesburg Festival Orchestra, MultiChoice Africa, South African Airways.