Lee Stephens has launched his new agency offering to the market, Meerkat Media, aimed at reshaping the way brands engage with audiences in an increasingly complex media landscape.
By leveraging media, technology, and AI, Meerkat Media will create compelling media moments that cut through the clutter, helping brands connect authentically with their audiences.
“The reality is consumers now engage with content across multiple channels simultaneously, making traditional audience tracking methods obsolete,” Stephens said.
“Meerkat focuses on creating standout moments that inspire audiences to follow and engage with brands. By tapping into what makes each brand unique, we build media moments that not only capture attention but also generate actionable results.”
“Meerkat Media integrates cutting-edge technology to design smarter, data-powered media strategies. The platform gathers and analyzes data from various sources—internal sales, media performance, or trusted third-party providers—to create predictive and practical campaigns. Meerkat’s mission is to transform raw data into insights that deliver measurable impact for its clients,” he added.
Stephens, who has been a key driver of media innovation for over 20 years having worked with Fairfax Media, Emitch Media and Aegis, will be joined by Per Tinberg as the agency’s managing director.
As commercial director of Fairfax Digital in the early 2000s Lee’s team brought Fairfax’s digital arm to profit, after years of significant losses. Moving agency side, he became CEO of ASX listed Emitch Media, the digital arm of Mitchell Media, (now Dentsu), and raised over $200m in shareholder value.
Per Tinberg and Lee Stephen
He moved on to global media buying group, Aegis Media in 2007. During his tenure the struggling Australian and New Zealand businesses were the fastest turnaround countries in the world. Lee was also head of digital for APAC, introducing global search brand iProspect to the region and established Aegis Australia as a media, activation and digital group in a hyper competitive market.
In late 2010 he moved to become a key shareholder of independent digital agency, Switch Digital. Over 12 years the business delivered successful outcomes for Australia’s most iconic brands and regional advertisers.
Tinberg has over ten years of experience working across independent agencies. In 2013 he joined the Digital Marketing Agency and assisted in growing sales for several brands across Sydney.
In 2016, he moved to Switch Digital and oversaw major media strategies for brands such as Football Australia, Nokia, Jenny Craig and Nufarm Australia.
Tinberg led his teams through a media industry in upheaval and transformation. He was also a valuable contributor to the launch team of industry first innovations including Australia’s first independent CTV platforms, EngageTV and onthefarm.tv.
“AI and privacy protection are the modern angst of marketers. Failing to leverage data from your marketing investment squanders an opportunity, while misusing it risks eroding customer trust. At Meerkat, data security is at the heart of our AI and Privacy services,” Tinberg said.
“We collaborate with partners to craft custom AI solutions that reliably predict audiences and locate areas of demand based on real data and your current marketing investment. Every solution is unique, tailored to drive impactful growth for our clients and unlock future opportunities for creating compelling media moments,” he added.
The agency launches in Sydney with 4 key staff and clients, including a financial services brand, soon to be announced.
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Top image: Lee Stephens and Per Tinberg