We grow brands that matter.

Purpose and profit can pull in the same direction.

Purpose and profit can pull in the same direction.

See our work
Work with us

ABOUT

Agile.
Purpose-driven.
Proven.

When we opened our doors in 2010, our office overlooked Cape Town’s port. We were surrounded by derrick cranes, simple mechanisms that use smart leverage to lift things higher. It was the perfect analogy for how we work; we’re dedicated, agile, and able to elevate brands beyond the ordinary.

Built on Triple Bottom Line principles, Derrick solves the problems other agencies don’t touch. The complex challenges, the ones that look further forward, the ones that take deep understanding and tight agency-client trust to raise up high. We’ve helped all the brands we work with grow responsibly, creatively and measurably.

Independently
Owned

Independently Owned

BBEEE Level 2

Clean Creatives Signatory

Based in Cape Town
Servicing Internationally 

what matters

First, we get to grips with the tough stuff.

We help you grow your brand into one that matters by deeply understanding complexity and solving it with simple, scalable, sustainable ideas. They can’t just be clever or perform well. Ideas at the heart of your brand must stand for more to last longer.

Consumers, investors, and society demand meaning.

Brands that matter earn loyalty, last longer, and drive real impact.

For us, sustainability is broader: ethical, social, cultural, creative.

IDEAS THAT RISE

Every idea we create must be:

Relevant to the challenge
Insightful and rooted in truth
Sustainable in advantage
Effective in the market

Why our clients choose us:

  • Implicit trust. It’s why clients often stay with us for more than 5 years
  • You get senior teams on every project
  • No bureaucracy. Briefs go straight to the doers
  • Our agile teams scale to your needs
  • Access the leadership team directly

FOCUS

How we can help your brand matter more.

It’s solving the real business challenges that drives us. We partner with brands to help them turn their complexity into clarity. We take on the hard stuff; waste management, recycling, low-interest categories, complicated B2B operations.

We turn complex offerings into simple, compelling stories.

By first grappling with and distilling technical, financial, or layered propositions into clear, engaging narratives, we’ve helped our clients like Petco and Mpact drive real change.

Build distinctive brands in cluttered markets.

We create unique brand platforms that are relevant, based on insights and innovative, cutting through sameness to truly differentiate. Like we did for PayJustNow or how we took 10X Investments from obscurity to unprompted recall in under 6 months.

Scale creative across channels, markets and touchpoints
.

From Motherbrand to execution, from Hong Kong to L.A., we understand your challenge and design systems and solutions that ensure consistency, efficiency at scale and fast deployment. Just ask TransUnion.

Drive tangible, measurable behaviour change.

We want to influence decisions, change perceptions, move customers from interest to action. And we want to be held to that. It’s exactly the way the City of Cape Town drove us to reduce all its residents’ electricity consumption by more than 15%.

Turn sustainability into commercial advantage.

While there are many brands that matter, it’s the ones that drive sustainability where we’ve cut our teeth. We help brands translate their ESG commitments and sustainability into easily accessible messaging that educates and builds trust. See our work on Woolworths and Mpact, for example.

WORK

How we’ve helped our clients grow and matter.

Making sustainability shelf-ready.

Woolworths is one of South Africa’s most trusted retail brands. With sustainability at the heart of their long-term strategy, they needed that commitment to move beyond reports and packaging and engage with consumers at store level, in an approachable and accessible way.

Low fees made famous.

10X Investments had a strong product offering but very low brand awareness. Fewer than 10% of people had even heard of the brand, even when prompted. We were tasked to move 10X Investments from obscurity to meaningful awareness within 6 months.

BNPL. Now with a South African accent.

In a crowded Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) market, brands often sound interchangeable. PayJustNow needed a voice that could stand out and resonate with South Africans in a way competitors hadn’t yet attempted.
See more work

CLIENTS AND TESTIMONIALS

Trusted by brands
that matter.

Average client tenure: 7 years

Longest-standing client: 14 years

Average client tenure:
7 years

Longest-standing client:
14 years

“Derrick are true professionals.
Their attention to detail, creativity, responsiveness and reliability … moves the needle for our company.”

TRANSUNION

Andrew Goss

Enterprise Marketing Thought Leadership

“Innovative solutions with cultural respect.”

GEBERIT


Rory Talbot

Managing Director

“A young, fresh and mindful agency.”

PETCO

Cheri Scholtz

Chief Executive Officer

“Derrick’s work was truly outstanding.”

CITY OF CAPE TOWN

Sarah Ward

Head of Climate Change & Sustainability

LEADERSHIP

Trust takes time. We’ve had both.

Our leadership team stays close to the work. From start to finish, we bring experience, good taste, and craft to every project. Nothing is handed off. Nothing is left to chance. It’s how we’ve built lasting relationships. And how we continue to earn them.

Shameema Isaacs

Creative Director

Jehan van Vuuren

Managing Director

Mark Stead

Design Director & Co-founder

Livio Tronchin

Executive Creative Director
& Co-founder

What matters
to you?

See our work
Work with us

Shameema Isaacs

Shameema has a National Diploma in Graphic Design. She preferred the patterns in words and became a copywriter, while maintaining a strong design sensibility. With 20 years’ industry experience, she has worked across blue-chip and retail clients. A believer in authentic, insight-led work, her approach has earned a Gold Loerie on one of SA’s largest grocery retail chains. She unwinds with Tai Chi and painting.

Linkedin

Jehan van Vuuren

Jehan completed a BA in Communications, followed by BCom Honours degrees in Business Management and Marketing. He joined Derrick in 2017 as a junior account executive and worked his way up through the ranks. Today, as Managing Director, he leads the agency with a sharp strategic eye and hands-on approach, bringing experience across a diverse range of local and international clients while building sustainable, people-first businesses.

Linkedin

Mark Stead

Mark holds a degree in Information Design from the University of Pretoria. He spent 16 years delivering packaging, CI, signage and installation work at leading SA agencies, earning multiple industry honours, including 3 Loerie Grands Prix and a D&AD Gold Pencil. He co-founded Derrick to focus on purpose-led communications and behaviour change. He mentors emerging creatives and regularly speaks at STADIO’s School of Media and Design.

Linkedin

Livio Tronchin

Livio completed an Information Systems degree, with distinction, at Wits University but had more fun writing copy than code. So he spent the next 15 years working at SA’s top agencies before starting Derrick. He’s won awards at all the major festivals, including 4 Loeries Grands Prix and Cannes Gold Lions, and has been ranked in the top 5 creative directors in the country. He’s an entrepreneur, a competitive cyclist and an artisanal pasta maker.

Linkedin