How Brand 2D earned its place at the big boys’ table

With social media increasingly becoming a vital weapon in Kenya’s war on poaching, digital branding firm Brand 2D has developed an efficient bullet through its Save our Heritage campaign.

The initiative that started as a casual conversation among the firm’s employees has grown into one of the most popular anti-poaching campaigns, focusing on the diminishing number of elephants at the hands of merciless ivory traders.

Save our Heritage hit the online streets running in July, 2013, looking to inspire Kenyans into raising their voices against the poaching of the already-endangered jumbos.

“The idea for the campaign was spawned out of conversations in our team and by the conservationists we work with. The campaign was just to give back to the society; it had no strings attached to any of our clients and was not for profit.

“We wanted to create awareness and inspire more people to join the fight against those poaching our jumbos,” says Anthony Magayu, a Brand 2D co-founder.

The effort paid off quite well, as #SaveOurHeritage to date still trends on social media sites like Twitter.

Brand 2D invited artists and other creative minds to submit works in support of the campaign, which gave the crusade vital mileage.

Some collectors soon expressed interest in buying some of the artwork. The artists agreed to sell their creations and contribute part of the proceeds to Save the Elephant, one of the country’s most reputable anti-poaching organisations.

“Some of the artists’ work caught the eye of collectors and conservationists. Most of the proceeds went to Save the Elephant to help it keep up the fight against poaching,” Mr Magayu adds.

Having started as two friends with one computer in an 8x10 metre room, Brand 2D has graduated to the big boys’ table of Kenya’s digital branding industry in just five years.

Information Systems Technology major Anthony Magayu and International Business Administration graduate Danson Nduati pooled their meagre resources to travel the relatively unchartered waters of digital branding—a service that was then just transforming into a necessity in most industries.

Much like any start-up, netting clients and keeping afloat was a challenge, until the firm was hired to develop a website for the Martin Njuma Foundation in memory of the slain pilot.

“Our very first job was to develop a website for the Martin Njuma Foundation and it paid about Sh30,000. We did not have consistent work but worked on a project-to-project basis with clients which created some uncertainties. By the end of the first year, good references came along with more clients which helped steady the ship,” says Mr Magayu.

Securing clients who pay retainers has also provided consistency in revenue-generation and stability in work flow.

The firm, which turned five years old last Thursday, has served over 90 clients, including household names like Coca-Cola Kenya, Proctor and Allan, Chase Bank and Nivea. The firm has also created employment for 21 young Kenyans.

The team bagged the best digital marketing campaign award in last year’s Marketing Society of Kenya awards held on the Carnivore grounds in Nairobi. The award followed an online campaign for skin care firm Nivea.

Brand 2D marked its fifth anniversary with a party at its headquarters, attended by the who-is-who in the industry, including comedian Churchill and social media guru Stephen Musyoka.

The massive growth of the Internet mixed with the changing tides in most industries has created a need to not just be seen but to make an impact on one’s clients and target market.

The situation has created an opening for firms like Brand 2D, as more companies opt for agencies over in-house teams, hence buttering the bread for branding firms.

Brand 2D’s big break came in 2011 when Coca-Cola approached it to develop a Facebook application for its Sprite brand as part of a promotion campaign.

“Coca-Cola put us on the map in regard to talent, quality of work, and value for money. This opened the door for other major clients such as Microsoft and Sierra,” Mr Nduati adds.

Brand 2D has taken up three slots at Nelleon Place along Rhapta Road. The 8x10 metre room where everything begun has come to be known as the “factory” and houses the firm’s website and social media teams.

Management sits in a neighbouring chamber called “Upperhill” while the creative team has an office on the fifth floor, in a room they call the Orchard.

“We call it the Orchard because in here we only use Apple products, from phones to computers,” says Steve Njogu, a designer, as he takes me on a tour of the firm’s premises.

The non-formal work environment has brought out a free spirit in just about all Brand 2D employees, a system that the management says encourages creativity and strengthens the team.

At the office, Mr Nduati is known as The Funk, while Mr Magayu goes by the nickname Magugz.

After beating the financial stability challenge, the firm met a new, equally harder test in keeping its employees. It would occasionally lose talented employees shortly after teaching them the Brand 2D way.

“Talent retention was a challenge in the first three years. This is because as a small company in a relatively new space (the digital space), we took the risk of sourcing raw talent which we would then grow only to get poached by bigger agencies,” Mr Magayu adds.

As the ship steadied, Brand 2D opted to expand its services. Today it also offers professional photography, application development and social media coverage.