“In differentiation, not in uniformity, lies the path of progress.” – Louis D. Brandeis.

When Altivex first opened its doors 10 years ago, the ‘digital landscape’ as we now know it was more of a series of projections and assumptions on the potential of technology to solve problems. A small team started out with a plan to change the Joburg agency landscape while having a great time building creative tech solutions as friends, and staying true to one key mission and reason for being – problem-solving using technology and our combined experience and expertise. Shifting over the years from all things creative to all things digital, tackling e-commerce, mobile applications and large scale social media campaigns; agency never felt fully accurate!

Fast-forward a few years and a lot of growing up in the space – the results and solutions we kept delivering for our clients became the proof points and supporting material to answer the question, “So what do you guys do?”. Something that you grasp immediately on joining the team, is a refusal to box ourselves in one simple term because of the broad capabilities we bring together.

What’s in a Positioning, anyway?

As a now 15 member-strong team today, we continue to redefine ourselves as we go. The background of our team members is quite diverse – from corporate, ad agencies, entrepreneurs and the outlying creative industries that adopted technology very early on. We are a collective of innovators, thinkers, storytellers joined by our passion for digital. What has served us particularly well thus far, is this slight aversion to limiting the kind of work we can achieve. Technological advancement allows us to be all-encompassing!

To quite a few decision-makers and leaders in business, the only thing that can answer the question of what you are better than anything else is by demonstrating what it is you do. You tend to only get briefs for what you demonstrate a capability of. Thankfully through sheer dedication to purpose, our track record of designing and implementing digital strategies and digital solutions that move businesses and brands forward is filled with a resume of brands from African Bank, Absa, Dis-Chem to Vodacom. 

Design is in our DNA.

Solution architecture for our clients, whether it is a situational project brief or longer-term challenge, starts with a team process of design thinking in practice. We take on the perspective of our clients, where the entrepreneurs in all of us work to understand underlying causes that can provide sustainable solutions. We unpack and redesign the process, service or product before we start creating the solutions. For us, that is several steps before creative and implementation. We put on our client team ‘uniform’ as we collaborate and trouble-shoot for that innovative gap. 

Leveraging technology from end-to-end.

What do you get when you put together a team of the friendliest bunch of rebellious, cool nerds? Innovators through technology. There’s a code, app or tool for whatever it is. That defies the traditional conventions of a traditional digital agency. What we do differently is in how – once we have understood the facts, market and context, we personalize the problem to infuse intuition that moves your audience. The people that engage with whatever tool, platform or campaign that results from our process are all Humans, at the end of the day. By understanding technology and applying experience to innovate – we create to connect. And that is how we innovate. 

Are we an agency? Are we a Lab?

The short answer is, Yes. And yes again. An agency is defined as a business or organization that provides a specific service on behalf of another business. In the advertising and marketing services industry, the collective definition is that of combining creativity and design to help companies make their products or services known and relevant to people. We certainly deliver on that. We deliver on brief, as efficiently as possible, with insight-driven strategy. 

The concept of a Digital Lab is not as pervasive though. As the challenge to solve business problems through new digital ideas, products, or systems grows – the digital lab by definition is also more than a playroom of high-end gadgets, with code flying everywhere. This would be a centre for tapping into new value creation using the wide spectrum of technology to create the best solutions. Platforms, campaigns or experiences uniquely designed for the problem and objective at hand using the collective capability of the team. 

We are a solid team that exists at those few steps before creative and implementation, carrying a business or brand through innovation from end-to-end. We’re definitely still nerds who welcome new challenges.

• We partner with you to bring a complete perspective to the challenge or brief.
• We get down to insights that will drive your desired results, designing a range of solutions from a wide range of available tools and technology.
• We design and build intuitively for Humans – who are your audiences.
• We apply the same principles of creativity and its deployment based on a strategy.
• We measure and improve until we reach your desired results. 

Welcome to Altivex. A design and innovation lab.