hoola celebrates rapid growth with a new look

For more information on hoola, visit hoola.agency.

hoola Modern Agency has been growing rapidly over the last four years, and to celebrate, the company has unveiled a new look for their brand.

The digital advertising and design agency, previously known as BrandIt, has been partnering with clients in the Eastern- and Western Cape, and are now diving into the KwaZulu-Natal market.

From being one of the only digital agencies in PE in 2016, to building a thriving modern agency from the ground up, hoola CEO Danie Brink said the time had come to freshen up on how they presented themselves to the market.

“The vision was always to start locally, move into the national space over four to five years, and then into the international market in 10 years. Things change very quickly, so if you’re not reinventing and repositioning yourself in a way to remain relevant, the consequence is that you become redundant quite quickly,” Brink said.

For many businesses, 2020 has been a tough year, both locally and abroad. Brink said adapting to challenges as they arise, staying agile and fluid enough to adapt, while having robust structures in place to absorb economic shocks, was vital to any business’ continued success.

“At hoola, we want to add value to our clients. Our aim is to always be a relevant, ‘modern agency’.” He said, “solving remarkable problems with incredible solutions,” was what it meant to be a ‘Modern Agency’, “we aim to add value to our clients through our innovative and modern solutions, which speak to ‘real’ business challenges.”

Brink continued to say that it was also important for them to continue testing and ensuring that this was in fact what they were doing.

There is often a common tendency for people to think that modern, innovative agencies are based in places like Johannesburg or Cape Town, but with hoola successfully servicing clients within and outside of their vicinity, the company has proven this stereotype can be broken.

“When we started the business, I told everyone of how I often view all the agencies as ships. We have some battleships, some cruise ships, which I sometimes wish I was on for a day or two, and then there’s hoola.”

Steering away from these choppy waters and heading for blue skies, “I really see us as a rocketship. We’re travelling in a different direction, at different speeds, going different places to most other agencies, and, yes, it’s a fast, bumpy ride, so you have to make sure you are strapped in and ready for the challenges, but it’s also incredibly exciting.”

There was no doubt that the excitement of continuously evolving and growing hoola as a business brought with it many challenges, one being the risk of losing sight of the company’s core values and culture, which has served as a foundation for their rapid growth.

Brink, however, said they truly understood this risk and that their core values to Practice Passion, Ignite Integrity and Harness Humility, as well as their company culture, will always remain important to them.

“When it comes to values, you’re only really tested when you’re under pressure and I can say, with a lot of humility and thankfulness, we’ve been able to do that in many different instances over the years.”

Brink said when he looked at the team and how much the company has grown, not only in revenue, but in staff and clients serviced, it was incredible to see that they still serviced clients with the same, if not better, levels of passion, humility and integrity.

“For me, the ultimate dipstick test is when a client walks in and says this is what they experience or feel when they walk into hoola.”

Looking ahead, Brink mentioned that more growth was definitely on the cards. “The end of next year takes us to the end of our five-year cycle, so hopefully with our new presence in KZN and through the great opportunities we currently have in the pipeline up north in Johannesburg, we will be able to tick the box of being a true national agency.”

“Beyond that, the vision really starts to shift to the global market,” he said. “How and when, we aren’t sure yet, but it’s just about understanding where the opportunities will be for us, and staying close to God and His plan.”