The IMAA, the national, non-profit industry association for independent media agencies established last year.
Since then, it has continued to expand its membership base and made a number of big announcements, including its own Trade credit business and a number of new media partners.
Media week profiled members of the IMAA – previous functions can be found here.
This week we spoke to the founder and director of Thump Media, Chris Franke.
Originally from Sydney, Franke spent four years at News Corp in Sydney and Brisbane for the Daily Telegraph and Courier Mail. During this time he developed relationships with key stakeholders and brands.
Thump Media was founded by Franke in Brisbane in 2015 to seize an opportunity for brands with medium budgets to get more out of their media partners and agencies.
“We were under no illusions that large agencies mostly have their place! But with a background in media sales and PR with News and AAP, we knew that there were many more brands that could benefit from media partners if agencies didn’t consciously create a separation between their customers and the media partners, ”said Franke.
“Thump has been trading transparency and developing a customer-centric, platform-independent media strategy that delivers results for everyone for nearly 6 years. “
Thump Media has assembled a solid customer base including TripADeal, Scenic Group, Greyhound Racing NSW, Seriously Digital Entertainment, and ZBET.com.au.
“Our only customer at launch was a small startup online travel company based in Byron Bay called TripADeal. They were 18 months old at the time, but during our relationship they were named Australia’s Fastest Growing Company two years in a row (AFR Fast 100 – 2016 and 2017) and were named Australia’s Best Online Travel Agent by AFTA in 2017.
“We are proud to say that we still have a super close relationship with the guys from TripADeal. As announced last year, Private Equity recently joined the TripADeal party and as their exclusive agency in Australia and New Zealand we are excited to be part of the travel recovery with TripADeal for the next 12 to 24 months. “
Thump Media is fully accredited in Australia and New Zealand to buy its own media and get competitive pricing. When asked about the agency’s specialties, Franke referred to a certain segment of the industry.
“Thump Media in particular has a deep understanding of the travel category. We recently formed an exciting partnership that allows us to manage search, social and performance media in addition to the activities mentioned above, which we have mainly focused on since 2015. “
Thump Media is also a member of IMAA, which Franke said was great for both the agency and indies in general.
“We love being part of IMAA! Sam Buchanan and the IMAA do a hell of a fantastic job advocating for indie agencies and the great job indies are doing in the marketplace. They recently negotiated an Australian first volume deal for India and trade credit insurance, and the education and industry leadership seminars give us boutique guys an opportunity to access resources we would otherwise not have. “
