Wonder was founded in 2021 by industry heavyweights Gareth McPherson, ex-managing director and chief creative officer at Publicis Machine, and Helen Ludwig, former managing director at Saatchi & Saatchi.

"We believe cross-functional is a high functional approach," says McPherson. "We wanted to plug in with a global leader in communications media and digital technology."

Wonder says that with the affiliate agreement in place, it can remain lean and flexible. It can now also access the Publicis Groupe with the following:
  • global capabilities on a project-by-project basis
  • purpose-building teams
  • strategies and implementations to meet clients' growth expectations, and
  • execute large projects at an immense scale.
The Publicis Groupe says that it is a unique platform with capabilities in:
  • communication
  • media and digital technologies
  • data leverage, and
  • development and digital transformation.
Alongside acquisitions of Transcend, Epsilon and Sapient, Publicis has also built affiliate relationships with incubator start-ups and niche agencies.

This approach saw Publicis Groupe named Ad Age's Holding Company of the Year in the publication's annual A-List & Creativity Awards in March 2022.

The award says that it recognises "forward-thinking leaders, top agencies and creative innovators who pursue game-changing creativity, bold leadership and have helped point the industry in new directions."

"Publicis Groupe believes strongly that to lead in a platform world, we need to be at the forefront of innovation. [We also need] to work with like-minded partners to scale our tools and platforms and help bring change to clients together," says Jonty Fisher, senior vice president of Publicis Groupe Cape Town.

"We have worked with Wonder since their launch and are pleased to partner with them in this way," Fisher adds.

Ludwig says that Wonder has a legacy partnership with Publicis. He adds, "We've tried this model with them, partnering on a number of projects and across multiple industries and clients. It's delivered results and it's working. The affiliate agreement is recognition of Wonder as an innovative agency."

Since Wonder's launch on Thursday, 11 March 2021, the team has expanded with a few key hires, and so has the client list, which includes:
  • Unitrans Africa
  • Sealand
  • Old Mutual Wealth
  • Currency Hub
  • Score Energy Drinks
  • Ascendis Health Solal
  • TFG's Jet
  • Fynbos
  • I love Coffee
  • Fitch & Leedes, and
  • the Craft Design Institute.
Wonder's services run across:
  • CX strategy and brand development through to content marketing
  • UX design
  • data and technology solutions
  • PR and influencer campaigns
  • experiential and activation opportunities, and
  • through-the-line communication.
The group says that brand values centre on curiosity, creativity, collaboration and purpose. It adds that there is a strong impetus to support and partner on initiatives like Love in a Bowl's feeding programme and I Love Coffee's vocational training project for the hearing-impaired.

According to Wonder, the last two years have reframed clients' thoughts on where they're going to invest their energy and on how to get the job done in ways that have evolved from where we've come from.

"We're excited to provide that creativity and agility. We know our platform works, we know our model is unique and we know it's future-fit for the world we're going into," concludes McPherson.

For more information, visit www.wearewonder.co.za. You can also follow Wonder on Facebook or on Instagram.