Espial acknowledged for top design

"Competition in this category was tough, so to walk away winners means that Espial has delivered some pretty awesome work over the past 12 months," says Rudi Kruger, CEO. "This award is testament to an exceptional effort from staff, complimented by a portfolio of committed clients."

2005 was a good year for Espial with revenue up by 71%, thanks to accounts like the SABC design tender, Barclays Bank Africa, General Motors, Furniture City and a strong penetration into the government sector.

Kruger says that 2006 will see even greater creativity emerge from the company. "We have streamlined our business units and are going back to our roots, focusing on branding, design and digital." Espial will reabsorb their advertising division, which previously operated as Espial-Loves-You, a stand-alone entity.

Projects completed during 2005 created opportunities for Espial to adjust its future growth strategies by forming three new internal divisions that will eventually be spun out as new businesses in their own right.

The first division is Espial Enterprises which is a division that will sell conceptual, graphic, audio, visual and product solutions to their customer base as well as to the larger market. In this regard, Espial has contracted to the SABC to become a content provider.

The second division is Espial Mobile that will provide ring tones, wallpapers, interactive mobile games, etc to the Mobile Industry on a revenue sharing basis.

The last and most exciting division is Espial AsianBrands. This division will concentrate on facilitating inward trade, re-branding and product substitution from Asian countries, in particular from China. Espial signed a contract with a major Chinese based organisation that will act as their agent in this regard. Super Group appointed Espial to do the CI development and roll-out of their Beifang Benchi Commercial Vehicle franchise. This will be followed by the introduction of lighter commercial vehicles and later on passenger vehicles and motorbikes.

Espial is anticipating a revenue growth rate in excess of 100% in 2006 and is at present staffing and restructuring the organisation to facilitate the additional demand. "We have set the bar high; we have embraced transformation and we hope the rest of the industry will follow," concludes Kruger.