What Listen Up does

Listen Up is a South African full-service marketing communications agency founded in 2006 by Adilia Joubert, headquartered in Johannesburg with representation in Cape Town and Durban. The firm originated as a PR agency serving entertainment-industry clients (local celebrities, musicians, bands, DJs) and was reorganized around 2016-2017 into an integrated marketing communications and business development consultancy under the leadership of co-founder Malcolm Joubert. Its service portfolio spans two pillars: Business Development Consulting, which diagnoses operational gaps and builds growth blueprints, and Marketing Services, which covers brand strategy, publicity and PR, copywriting and content creation, social media management, web development, and monitoring/evaluation. Both pillars are unified by a proprietary 3-phase methodology (Explore. Plan. Engage.) that the firm positions as its key differentiator.

The business model is professional services delivered on a sales-led, direct-consulting basis with quote-based pricing; the only publicly disclosed price point is a motorsport sponsorship workshop at R1,850 per person. The firm reports a team size of 11-50 and is founder-owned and bootstrapped, with no external funding rounds, parent company, or public listing. Customer segments are diversified across three verticals — corporate/SMB (primary), entertainment, and motorsport competitors — with named clients including Simply Asia, UJ Leadership Convocation Conference, EvenMe!, and Lardiere Fine Foods. A reciprocal partnership with Cape Town-based agency Mango OMC extends cross-regional capacity. The firm maintains an active social presence (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn), a content-marketing blog, and email/newsletter channels to support top- and mid-funnel demand.

Name

Listen Up

Legal name

Listen Up

Website

https://listenup.co.za

Company type

Private

Founded year

2006

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Fourways

HQ country

South Africa

HQ region

Africa

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Business Development Consulting: Strategic consulting services to help businesses evaluate operations holistically, identify gaps in business processes, and develop plans for sustainable growth. Includes business diagnostics, process development, and implementation support.
2. Marketing and Communications Services: Full-service marketing communications including marketing and brand strategy, publicity and PR, copywriting and content creation, social media management, web development, and monitoring and evaluation.
3. Sponsorship Workshops: Interactive workshops teaching motorsport competitors how to secure and manage sponsorship deals. Workshop covers sponsorship strategy, proposal development, personal branding, and social media marketing.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Listen Up is a full-service marketing communications agency that provides integrated business development consulting and marketing services to businesses. The company delivers these offerings through a proprietary three-phase methodology (Explore, Plan, Engage) that combines business diagnostics, growth strategy development, and implementation across brand strategy, PR, content creation, social media management, web development, and monitoring/evaluation.

Product overview

Listen Up is a full-service marketing communications agency founded in 2006, offering integrated marketing and business development services. The company provides two core service lines: Business Development Consulting and Marketing Services, unified by its proprietary 3-Phase Methodology (Explore, Plan, Engage). The Marketing Services umbrella encompasses specialized sub-services for customer engagement, publicity and PR, copywriting and content creation, social media management, web development, and monitoring/evaluation. The company has expanded from its origins as a PR agency for the entertainment industry to serve corporate clients across Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Durban.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Business Development Consulting Strategic consulting service that uses a three-phase methodology (Explore, Plan, Engage) to diagnose business challenges, create customized growth blueprints, develop business processes, and provide hands-on implementation support for businesses seeking sustainable growth.
• Marketing Services Full-suite marketing communications offering covering brand strategy, publicity and PR, copywriting and content creation, social media management, web design and development with SEO, customer engagement campaigns, and monitoring and evaluation of marketing performance.
• Motorsport Sponsorship Workshop Interactive workshop teaching motorsport competitors how to secure and manage sponsorship deals, covering understanding competitive and sports finance landscapes, sponsorship sales stages, sponsorship strategy development, proposal creation, personal branding, and social media marketing.

Quantifiable outcome

• Growth and innovation that helps break through to the next level
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Mango OMCcoreGTM or Marketing PartnerPartner agency based in Cape Town. Listen Up works with Mango OMC on accounts together, sharing insights, tips, and tricks. The partnership allows both agencies to learn better ways of doing things while providing expanded service capabilities to clients. Nicole Capper, owner of Mango OMC, has a strategic mind focused on constantly improving systems and procedures.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Mango OMC: Cape Town-based marketing communications agency that already partners with Listen Up on shared client accounts. Directly comparable boutique South African agency offering integrated PR and marketing services to similar SME and mid-market clients.

Regional players

• King James Group: Award-winning independent South African creative and communications agency. Comparable in offering integrated brand strategy, PR, and creative services to corporate South African clients, but with a larger portfolio and broader award recognition.
• Joe Public United: Large South African independent agency group providing advertising, brand strategy, and communications. Comparable in targeting South African corporate clients with full-service marketing offerings, but at meaningfully greater scale than Listen Up.
• The Jupiter Drawing Room: Established South African creative and marketing agency. Overlaps with Listen Up in serving South African brands across integrated marketing and brand communications, though typically larger clients and bigger campaign scopes.

Broad incumbents

• Ogilvy South Africa: South African arm of the WPP-owned Ogilvy network, offering advertising, PR, and brand strategy at global scale. Competes with Listen Up for corporate marketing budgets in South Africa but serves much larger enterprise clients with broader service lines.
• Publicis Africa: Africa operations of the global Publicis Groupe. Overlaps with Listen Up in integrated marketing communications and PR but competes primarily on enterprise accounts with significantly greater media-buying leverage and geographic reach.
• TBWA South Africa: South African presence of the TBWA global advertising network. Comparable in offering brand strategy and communications, but with global creative resources and significantly larger client rosters than Listen Up.
• BBDO South Africa: South African arm of the BBDO Worldwide network under Omnicom. Comparable in providing integrated brand and communications services to South African clients, though typically larger budgets and broader geographic campaigns.
• Dentsu South Africa: South African operations of global agency group Dentsu. Provides integrated marketing, PR, and communications at scale, competing with Listen Up for corporate clients but with significantly deeper technology and data capabilities.
• WPP (parent of Ogilvy, VMLY&R, etc.): Global marketing communications holding company with multiple South African agency brands. Sets the structural competitive context for Listen Up by aggregating the largest media-buying scale and cross-discipline capability in the South African market.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/ListenUpPr
• Facebookfacebook.com/ListenUpPR
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/listen-up_2

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Listen Up