Risky decision to employ ahead of time pays dividends for creative storytelling company KOJO

A risky decision to employ ahead of time has paid dividends for KOJO. The creative storytelling company is in the midst of the busiest quarter of its 21-year history with a string of new clients and major projects across Australia and overseas.

For KOJO Managing Director Dale Roberts and Loewn Steel CEO (pictured), the contract wins have justified a high level pre-emptive recruitment drive to position the firm for future growth.

“We recently undertook a major review of our business and invested significantly to boost our capabilities ahead of time,” says Roberts.

“To stay relevant to our clients and grow our business nationally we needed to focus on improving our creative offering and finding new solutions in a tough market. We appointed a Creative Director and Head of Digital – creating two new national roles within the company – expanded our pool of producers and invested heavily in new equipment.

“This represented a significant investment for a company of our size. As expected it took some time for the market to come around but we’re now seeing the benefits. We took a calculated risk, it’s paid off and we’re now on a sharp growth path. We’re currently 14% ahead of our revenue targets so far this financial year.”

KOJO specialises in content, digital, events and post-production with offices in Adelaide and Melbourne as well as a growing presence in Sydney and Perth. The firm currently has work in production in Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, New York, San Francisco and Hong Kong.

In the past two months KOJO has begun working with several large companies and organisations including Sands Casino in Macau – advising on an experiential marketing project; Meerkats/Murdoch University in Perth – producing a series of television

advertisements; SLR Productions in Sydney – a 26 episode TV series; Banner Hardware Group – producing catalogues; Redken Hair Products – events.

Roberts said the appointments earlier this year of renowned storyteller Mike Wilson as National Creative Director and digital creative producer Emma Rhys to the position of Head of Digital & Integration have been instrumental in the firm’s recent success.

Wilson came to KOJO with 15 years’ industry experience having created internationally recognised campaigns for Vodafone, Stella Artois, MINI, NZ Lotteries and Pacific Blue. Ms Rhys previously worked overseas for leading international companies including Google and brands such as Budweiser, Sony and Virgin.

For a company that has worked on many Hollywood blockbusters, KOJO is increasingly focussed on creating live experiences, digital production and content for some of Australia’s leading companies including Mitsubishi, K-Mart, Office Works, Westpac and national creative agencies.

“Our expanded service offering is striking a chord with our clients. It’s satisfying to see our strategy working, with major projects in film and events booked through to 2014,” says Roberts.

“At the same time, our Melbourne-based events business is firing on all cylinders. On last count KOJO is managing 28 product launches, motor shows, gala dinners, conferences and fashion shows across Australia in November alone.

“After 21 years we have really focused on what we do best – storytelling. From TV screens, to film screens, mobile screens or event screens we are determined to make stories that connect.”