Retroviral

South Africa

Over the past few years, Retroviral has made a pretty strong case that it is the most creative public relations firm in Africa and—pound for pound—one of the most creative in the world. Two years ago, the firm’s work for client Lil-Lets earned the Platinum SABRE Award for the best public relations campaign of the year in Africa and finished in the top five at our Global SABRE Awards. Last year, its “GranBoks” campaign for Castle Lager was a finalist in both Africa and Global, and this year it earned six African SABRE trophies—more than any other agency—for its clients.

Founded in 2010 by serial entrepreneur Mike Sharman (also the co-founder of influencer marketing platform webfluential.com and athlete ecosystem MatchKit.co), a former actor who had decided to redirect his passion into a different kind of storytelling, Retroviral was uncommonly focused on data-driven campaigns and the digital landscape, a “challenger agency for challenger brands.” It now excels in branded storytelling that converts to sales and is home to a diverse team that includes managing director Pippa Misplon and creative director Koketso Masisi.

The creative success of the past few years has been a significant contributor to the firm’s broader business success. Having surpassed 50 million ZAR in revenues last year, the firm is on course for 20% growth this financial year (which ends in June), growing to more than 20 people. There was new business from Showmax, and SA Breweries; the firm’s work on Lil-Lets in Africa led to picking up the Lil-Lets USA account, and the firm was unvited to pitch for (and win) one of the largest businesses on the African continent, telecom giant Vodacom.

But once again it was the creative work that stood out: a viral campaign with a live TV stunt for Showmax featuring soccer great Eric Cantona; work with BIC to melt hearts and break brand KPI records for the work with Paralympian gold medalist Mpumelelo Mhlongo; turned the humble coffee machine into a music studio with the Beatbox Baristas campaign for iconic QSR brand Wimpy; and travelled to war torn South Sudan to uncover real joy on the basketball court for Castle Lite. The firm also created a documentary series about four up and coming swimmers who all went onto represent Team South Africa at the Paris Olympics.—Paul Holmes