Page three media, PHD Worldwide form strategic alliance

Page three media MD, Anne Dearnaley and directors Lynnette Heyns and Ilan Lazarus retain a 30% shareholding and will continue to drive the agency that in four years of trading has reached billings of over R1 billion.

PHD Worldwide CEO Mike Cooper says page three media is an excellent fit for the PHD culture. "We believe it will faithfully deliver our thinking and approach to clients in South Africa. All of us across our 72-office global network are really excited to be welcoming them to PHD Worldwide."

"Match our unique DNA"

The directors say that "to achieve the goals we have set ourselves we needed to match our unique DNA with an international leader, and the decision went with PHD Worldwide."

In the past month PHD has picked up the USD$200 million media planning and buying account for mobile handset company Sony Ericsson and won hotel group Hyatt's global digital media planning and buying business. The page three media team, under the PHD Worldwide banner, intends to create a similarly dominant presence in Johannesburg to that which they have in Cape Town.

From the platform of the new alliance they will tap into the collective intelligence of the PHD network and cutting-edge thinking from across the world of marketing and the social sciences - from behavioural economics and cognitive psychology through to econometric meta-analysis. PHD uses sophisticated tools and systems that allow for investment setting and allocation, target audience refinement, channel selection, flighting, integration, measurement and monitoring.