What Les Barbus does

Les Barbus is an independent, full-service advertising agency registered as a French SARL (Société à Responsabilité Limitée), founded in 2011 and headquartered at 189 rue d'Aubervilliers in Paris (75018). The agency operates a dual-market model with a second office at 51-53 rue Jules Ferry in Dakar, Senegal, and serves clients across France and West Africa, including Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire, Gambia, Guinea, and Ghana. Its core services span brand strategy and content development, integrated advertising campaigns across print, TV, digital, out-of-home, and influencer channels, visual identity and branding (including brandbook creation), digital campaign management and social media operations (AdWords, Facebook Ads), brand content production (including TV commercials and digital activations), seasonal/Ramadan campaign execution, and end-to-end strategic accompaniment. The agency is led by Elie Rebeiz (listed contact) and operates with 21 employees maintaining 40% gender parity, serving 39 active clients.

The agency's revenue model is professional services, quote-based and project-specific with pricing not publicly disclosed, ranging from one-shot campaigns to long-term strategic retainers. Customer concentration is spread across diverse verticals including banking (SUNU Bank, YUP/Société Générale), beverages (Wave, Monarch/American Cola), food and dairy (Lactalis/Bridel, Bisko), luxury (Hermès internal campaigns, NMP servicing Balenciaga/Dior/Chanel/Gucci/Fendi/Kenzo), retail (Batimat, BatiPro), transportation (Heetch), healthcare (Delta Medical), real estate (Nexity Studéa), media (ZOA), and nonprofit (Amnesty International). Notable long-tenure relationships include Batimat (since 2015, recently marked 10-year anniversary) and NMP (since 2012).

Les Barbus has earned industry recognition at the African Cristal Festival, winning Best TV Commercial and Best Film Craft in both 2022 and 2023, the latter for the 'Entendons Leur Souffrance' film produced for Amnesty International. The company is privately held with no external investors, no parent company, no subsidiaries, no disclosed funding rounds, and no M&A activity. There are no proprietary software products, no APIs, no patents or trademarks, and no AI/ML capabilities disclosed. Distribution is direct via enterprise field sales relationships with brand marketing teams, supported by digital marketing channels including separate Instagram accounts for Paris and Senegal, LinkedIn, Vimeo, and a blog/news section.

Name

Les Barbus

Legal name

SARL Les Barbus

Website

https://lesbarbus.net

Company type

Private

Founded year

2011

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Les Barbus is an independent French-Senegalese full-service advertising agency providing brand strategy, visual identity, integrated campaigns, and digital marketing for 39 enterprise clients across France and West Africa.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Paris

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Advertising and Brand Services: Professional services revenue generated through brand strategy consulting, visual identity creation, advertising campaign development, and ongoing client accompaniment. Services range from one-shot campaigns to comprehensive long-term strategic partnerships.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Les Barbus is a full-service advertising agency providing brand strategy, visual identity design, integrated advertising campaigns (print, TV, digital, out-of-home), digital and social media campaign management, brand content production, and ongoing strategic accompaniment for brands. The agency operates across the entire advertising value chain, from strategy conception to multi-channel campaign deployment, with particular expertise in the West African market.

Product overview

Les Barbus est une agence de publicité et de conseil en communication présente en France et au Sénégal (Afrique de l'Ouest). Elle ne commercialise pas de produit logiciel propriétair mais offre un écosystème de services intégrés regroupant : la stratégie de marque et le contenu, la conception et le déploiement de campagnes publicitaires (média et hors-média), les campagnes digitales et la gestion des réseaux sociaux (AdWords, Facebook Ads), la création d'identités visuelles et de branding (brandbooks, blocs de marque), la production de brand content (films publicitaires, activation digitale), les campagnes Ramadan et saisonnières, ainsi que l'accompagnement stratégique global. Ces services couvrent tous les leviers d'engagement — Print, TV, digital, affichage, influence — et sont déployés principalement en Afrique de l'Ouest et en France.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Stratégie de marque et contenu Development of tailored recommendations and brand strategies adapted to client ambitions, including content and definition of communication axes.
• Campagne de publicité intégrée Design and deployment of media and non-media advertising campaigns covering Print, TV, digital, out-of-home display, and influencer channels, delivered as one-shot or long-term engagements.
• Campagne digitale et gestion des réseaux sociaux Management of online advertising campaigns on search engines and social media platforms (AdWords, Facebook Ads), as well as social media content creation.
• Identité visuelle et branding Creation and redesign of visual identities, brand blocks, and brand platforms for diverse clients, including art direction and brandbook design.
• Brand content Production of brand content through storytelling, advertising film production, and creation of digital activation campaigns.
• Campagnes Ramadan et saisonnières Targeted advertising campaigns for key periods such as Ramadan, including promoted activations and digital content adapted to the African market.
• Accompagnement stratégique global Strategic communication consulting and global accompaniment of brands at each stage of their development, from strategy development to deployment.

Quantifiable outcome

• 2 awards at African Cristal Festival for Amnesty International campaign
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers15 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Amnesty InternationalnotableStrategic or Co-development PartnerLes Barbus produced the award-winning film campaign 'Entendons Leur Souffrance' for Amnesty International, winning 2 awards at the African Cristal Festival including Best TV Commercial and Best Film Craft for Outstanding Cinematography.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Regional players

• SO&U: Independent Nigerian advertising and brand communications group with operations across West Africa. Comparable on full-service brand strategy and West African enterprise client base, though focused on Anglophone markets rather than Francophone.
• Insight Publicis (Nigeria): Leading Nigerian advertising agency under the Publicis network and a dominant West African creative shop. Regional peer given overlap in West African enterprise clients (FMCG, banking, telecom) but not directly competing in Les Barbus's Francophone markets.

Direct peers

• TBWA\Africa: Omnicom-owned creative network with strong presence across Africa. Comparable as a multi-country creative advertising agency serving regional brand campaigns in African markets.
• Havas Paris: Major Paris-based full-service advertising agency within the Havas network. Comparable on full-service 360° advertising and Paris HQ, though Les Barbus differentiates via independent ownership and dual African footprint.
• Romance (Paris creative agency): Independent Paris-based creative agency known for luxury and fashion clients (similar to Les Barbus's NMP/Hermès work). Direct peer in independent French creative-shop positioning.
• BETC Paris: Top-ranked French creative agency (Havas-owned) offering full-service brand strategy, advertising, and integrated campaigns — directly comparable in business model and Paris-market positioning to Les Barbus, though operating at much larger scale.

Broad incumbents

• GroupM Africa: WPP's media investment arm covering sub-Saharan Africa, competing with Les Barbus for media-buying components of integrated campaigns and as a strategic partner to the same brand CMOs.
• Ogilvy Africa: WPP-owned network operating across sub-Saharan Africa with full-service creative and advertising offerings. Targets the same enterprise clients that Les Barbus serves across Francophone Africa.
• Publicis Africa: Pan-African operations of Publicis Groupe (including Digitas, Saatchi & Saatchi, Publicis 133, etc.). Operates across Francophone Africa and competes for the same multinational brand budgets that Les Barbus pursues.
• Dentsu Africa: African arm of Dentsu International covering creative, media, and CXM services across the continent. Competes with Les Barbus for integrated brand assignments from multinational clients expanding into West Africa.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubevimeo.com/user66564382
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/showcase/les-barbus-senegal
• Instagraminstagram.com/lesbarbusparis
• Xx.com/lesbarbus

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

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 Les Barbus