A start-up aimed at bringing a ‘new order’ of media advertising to the Middle East has launched in Dubai.
Richard Fitzgerald, former managing director of Brndstr, a tech start-up that allows brands to automate replies to Twitter activity, has founded the ‘new media’ company Augustus, which aims to fuse the agency model with publishing.
Based at Google’s Astrolabs in Jumeirah Lakes Towers and operated by a team of five, the company’s vision is “to establish and maintain a ‘new order’ of digital advertising with data and content at the heart of everything we do”.
The company provides services in social media, video creation and branded events. In addition to these, Augustus manages and operates the publishing brand Lovin’ Dubai, and acts as Middle East representative for Snapchat analytics and marketing platform Snaplytics.
Supported by a board of advisors including Zee Kane, former CEO of The Next Web, and Helen al-Uzaizi, founder of child entrepreneur program Bizworld UAE, Augustus has clients such as Café Nero, The Entertainer, Lacoste and Deliveroo on its company roster.
Fitzgerald said: “Augustus is a fusion between an agency and a media publisher, designed for ‘new media’. We are bringing that always-on mindset to brand publishing: we are not a traditional 40-hour-a-week company.
“We decided to look at media consumption today, and while many social platforms, tech companies and even publishing brands are being created to cater to the different ways people consume media, there aren’t many marketing companies created to provide services for the new mediums.”
Prior to joining Brndstr in August 2015, Fitzgerald held the position of MENA regional head of social media at WPP’s Mindshare for three years. Before that he worked at London agency We Are Social.
At the same time as leaving Mindshare, Fitzgerald founded digital publishing company Lovin’ Dubai, which specialises in lighthearted content such as restaurant reviews and entertainment guides to the city.