Last year Mediaweek reported on the Labelium acquisition of Simon Ryan’s startup agency business RyanCap. Labelium is a Paris-based global digital performance agency owned by British private equity company Charter House Capital.
The three key brands in the business Ryan founded are independent media and communications agency Ryvalmedia, marketing data and technology specialist Foxcatcher and the scaleup consultancy tightrope.
Labelium and Ryvalmedia sponsored a midweek SXSW morning session. Also taking part in the SXSW takeover, held at Alex Hayes’ Clear Hayes House, was 1000heads, a global social transformation company that Labelium acquired in 2022.
The mirage of digital metrics: Finding meaningful signal in the noise
The first session of the day examined the advertising rollercoaster that sees marketers grappling with the challenges of old-school metrics and the world of impressions and engagement that the digital world brought with it.
The panel featured Ellie Glaves from Live Nation, Mediaweek contributor (and Ryvalmedia head of product and innovation) Jonathan Henshaw, and Meta ANZ’s Carl McLean.
Alex Hayes, Simon Ryan and Jean Kerboul onstage at SXSW Sydney
Building an agency business for the future of marketing
The heavy hitters then arrived for the main course. Jean Kerboul, Labelium CEO APAC, Simon Ryan, RyanCap founder & CEO, with Alex Hayes from Clear Hayes posing the questions.
Hayes started proceedings with each of the guests introducing themselves.
Kerboul started talking about Labelium’s presence in 19 markets. The company wanted to replicate the success they had in France into other markets. And Australia was identified as a key area for expansion.
Ryan talked about how from day one of RyanCap in 2020, there was an unrelenting focus on growth. That fast track saw them winning substantial numbers of clients every month.
Ryan wasn’t looking to sell the business, particularly this early in its life. He took a call one day about a sale, and initially, he said no. He later met some other potential investors, one of which was Labelium.
Ryan explained he decided to sell because the bigger group could deliver the certainty of support and longevity beyond what Ryan could provide.
RyanCap: Launching a holding company
When asked why he started a holding company, not an agency, Ryan said he was doing what he was good at. Running multiple brands and helping clients with different businesses. “What I love is running a parent company.”
To fast-track the business, RyanCap bought an existing agency.
“The acquisitions I did was rebranded immediately for day one. It gave us the launching pad to start pitching. In Melbourne we had 11 staff and most stayed. Most clients stayed too.”
Ryan launched Ryvalmedia first. Later came Foxcatcher, and then the consultancy business tightrope.
“I then went on a hiring spree, giving people I poached hope about their futures during Covid.”
He explained there were a number of options to continue growing the RyanCap the business: “We could have listed, sold some shares, did a trade sale, or just keep running it.”
When asked about international opportunities, Kerboul said they will be able to use RyanCap brands to attack new markets overseas for clients.
Ryan: “The attraction for us was to be able to align with Labelium. We are focusing on looking at how we can grow overseas. We look at Australia out, not how holding companies look at Australia with regard to what they can bring in.”
‘Are you guys on the acquisition trail still?’ was one of Hayes’ questions.
Ryan: “You never build a business to sell a business. Are we looking for acquisitions…yes.”
One audience member ventured forth with: What are you providing that is new with so many other agencies in Australia?
Ryan: “You must have products that are new and fresh…otherwise there is no point in any of this.
“Clients are looking for automation. A dashboard and a strong point of view on brands. We live in a performance world driven by daily dashboards. A lot of CMOs look at performance results daily which can have an impact long term on the brand.”
When asked about the attractions of the Australian market for Labelium, Kerboul said:
“All international brands say Australia is a very important market for them. It can be an expensive market to enter.”
Kerboul shared that of the 12 acquisitions made so far, RyanCap was the fifth biggest.
Unfiltered: How brands and creators are rewriting the rules of social
The final session of the morning discussed media landscape fragments many brands are turning to creators to connect with audiences, often in new and unexpected ways. Top creators regularly draw more eyeballs to a post than the biggest TV shows can command and 82% of consumers saying they act on creator recommendations.
The panel featured some of Australia’s top creators who revealed how successful collaborations come about, and what stopped some potentially brilliant partnerships from reaching their full potential.
Guests were Fiona Harris, 1000heads general manager, Jinny Maeng, -oodie content creator, Chantel Mila, content creator, Ramon Israel, content creator, and Nick Cole, tech YouTuber.
See also: Mediaweek with Simon Ryan – Labelium sale, M&As, brand building, competition