Kemosabe

So, what exactly do you do?

‍

Well, in short: we make brands look good and sound of value to whomever they need to speak to. Kemosabe is a full-service creative and media buying agency, which is a fancy way of saying we do everything from the big ideas to the tiny details and everything in between.

We’ve got a soft spot for Travel & Destination marketing (someone’s got to test those beaches), but we also roll up our sleeves in Food & Drink, Tech, Finance and beyond.

Strategy? Tick. Branding? Tick. Creative Concepts, Websites, Social, Influencers, Digital, Print, Live events? Tick, tick, tick. Basically, if it needs thinking up, writing down, designing, producing or shouting about, we’re your people.

Who are your founders and what is the origin story of the company?

Kemosabe was born in April 2016, courtesy of Rebecca and Phill. We worked together at another agency back in 2010, just as the recession was still hanging around like an unwanted party guest. Fast forward a few years, and somewhere over the skies between Tokyo and London (with our client ANA), we had that classic “we can do this better ourselves” moment.

A year and a half later, Kemosabe opened its doors… well, technically, it opened its basement. We were illegally sub-letting on Rosebery Avenue, blue-tacking the back of a business card to the buzzer whenever clients came over, and roping in friends and family to “pretend to work here” so it looked like we were a bustling agency. Smoke, mirrors, and a lot of hustle.

Six months in, the hustle paid off. We pitched (properly), won back our flagship client ANA, and soon added Cisco and Southern Comfort and a bunch of other lovely brands to the mix. From there, things snowballed — the team grew, the client list grew, and the culture of integrity, humour and hard graft became the glue holding it all together.

Do you have a claim to fame moment, a proudest moment or time you made it into the news?

‍

Oh, we’ve had a few! One of our earliest wins (before we’d even officially opened shop) was naming and strategically positioning HIPPEAS — yes, the global chickpea snack brand. Sadly, back then Kemosabe was still more of an idea than an agency with walls and staff, so we had to hand the baton to another branding agency to finish the job. To this day HIPPEAS still acknowledges its success to be on its name and brand. So hey, every time we see a pack of HIPPEAS, we give ourselves a little wink.

Fast forward a bit, and our “we’ve arrived” moment came when we won The Drum Award for Viral Campaign of the Year. We partnered with Beyond Life to tackle the small, casual topic of… death. The campaign blew up (in a good way), sparking global conversations around funeral care and grief. We’re pretty proud of that one — not just because of the shiny award, but because it actually made a taboo subject easier for people to talk about.

And more recently, we cleaned the floor at this year’s Travel Marketing Awards — walking away with four gongs, including Trailblazer of the Year, Digital Marketing Campaign of the Year, and a shiny runner-up spot for Marketing Agency of the Year. We were proud as punch.

What’s the biggest challenge you’ve faced as a company?

‍

Like many in travel, the pandemic hit us like a rogue wave. We’d just finished putting the bow on our shiny new magazine Travel For Good, ready to launch on 17th March 2020. Right up until 24 hours before, the industry was still cheerfully RSVPing with gusto — and then… lockdown. On 23rd March, the world closed, and our big launch evaporated overnight.

The years that followed brought plenty of challenges, but perhaps none as haunting as the 1,000+ freshly printed magazines and tote bags stacked up in the office, forever waiting for their big moment.  

Do you have a favourite spot in Clerkenwell for lunch or drinks after work?

‍

Without hesitation: Café Kick. It’s basically our second office (but with better lighting and stronger drinks). During lockdown, we even resorted to Café Kick Zoom backgrounds just to trick ourselves into feeling normal.

Over the years it’s hosted pretty much every milestone you can think of — leaving dos, new hires, birthdays, pregnancy announcements, client wins, babies being introduced to the team, long lunches, quick catch-ups… you name it, we’ve probably toasted it at Café Kick.

AN OFFER....

‍

Kemosabe are offering 50% off our social media or website audit to brands and businesses that could be prospecting clients. This is your chance to take a step back, review the landscape, check out the competition, set the benchmarks and have a packaged-up strategy to take forward.

Please contact us if you’re interested to find out more!  

Rebecca Adair – Managing Director  

Rebecca@wearekemosabe.com

‍