This article was originally published on Brandon’s LinkedIn.

Picture of Brandon Friesen

Brandon Friesen

CEO, Just Global

I love history. Aside from being fascinated by our ancient past, I never like to forget my personal roots, and as CEO of Just Global, I also like to never forget our business roots.

With that, as we enter our next Episode in business, I must express my gratitude for the countless teammates, customers, and partners over the decades who have guided us to where we are today.

In the fast-paced world of B2B tech and marketing, growth and evolution are constant. At Just Global, our belief in continuous improvement has guided us through various phases and challenges. As we step into a new chapter with Trilliad, it’s a perfect time to reflect on our journey, the adversities we’ve overcome, and the promising future ahead.

Episode 1 (1995-2005): The Early Days

The story of Just Global (then Just Media) began with Sarah du Heaume‘s vision in 1995. From humble beginnings in the UK, we serviced B2B clients like Tektronix and Tandem Computers. The groundwork laid by Sarah and her team established a strong base, driven by a mantra we still uphold: Stay curious! This curiosity and dedication to excellence saw us through our early years, even as we faced market shifts and the ultimate sale of the UK operations to Aegis Media in 2005.

Sarah du Heaume founded the original version of the agency in 1995.
Episode 2 (2005-2012): The US Rolls On

After the sale of the UK business, Just Media (as it was known at the time) left a small yet mighty footprint in the San Francisco Bay Area. Tara Harju, who established the US presence, Dick Reed, and trailblazers like Frauke Cast powered on. With clients like VMware, RSA, CA, EMC, and Autonomy, they became the go-to media agency for B2B tech growth brands. In turn, Dick Reed, CEO of the US agency for 14 years, became synonymous with B2B marketing innovation.

Dick, Frauke & team innovating on social media circa 2011 (minus a few, this was the whole team).
Tara Harju circa 2007. Tara started the US agency on Federal Street in San Francisco.
The snazzy Just Media homepage circa 2006.
Episode 3 (2012-2019): Expansion and transformation from traditional media to modern platforms

A new character entered the series in 2012 (yours truly). I had the privilege of joining forces with Dick and a passionate team to help transform the agency. Together, we expanded beyond traditional media planning and buying, evolving into a B2B force with deep digital expertise.

We won some great accounts like AWS and Intel. A whole host of new faces – and good human beings – joined the cast as we started building out proper teams around search, social and programmatic. In the early days, we had to explain to clients how simple things like retargeting worked.

When we won “Boutique Agency of the Year” from sfBIG in 2014, the Bay Area’s leading interactive group, we were over the moon. Forbes even sent us a cake. By 2017, we expanded from the Bay Area to Austin Texas and reached 100 employees. Our team and our clients made every moment so special.

Just’s annual “Day the Races” event was always a good time. Circa 2015.
Dick and I feeling the love at the Just annual partner appreciation event circa 2012.
Then, Just Media hit 100 employees in 2017 between the Bay Area and Austin. Since then we’ve almost tripled in size
Episode 4 (2019-2024): Full-service expansion and the birth of Just Global

Dick passed away from a several year battle with cancer on May 24, 2019. I was attending the annual BottleRock music festival in the middle of watching Imagine Dragons when I got the news. My smiles turned to tears as “Radioactive” (appropriate for Dick) was blaring to a pink and purple sunset. We were all devastated. It was a trying time for the agency and for me personally.

However, like a phoenix rising, and with Dick’s incredible spirit and legacy as the wind in our sails, we soared into our next era.

We launched a creative and content business for the first time — hello full-service — and we continued to deliver ground-breaking marketing work for our customers. We even launched the Dick Reed Awards, which recognizes the best of the best media, publishers, platforms, data, and analytics providers in B2B. This past February marked the 5th year of the event.

More than that, we launched a brand-new company: Just Global was born in 2020! By integrating Enigma Marketing, led by founders Martin Simcock and John Langstone, we expanded our reach and enhanced our team with exceptional talents across strategy, media, creative, ABM, and analytics on a global scale. Since then, we’ve over doubled in size.

This period of growth was punctuated building even more relationships with incredible customers, winning multiple B2B Agency of the Year awards, and establishing ourselves as a key player in the industry. From humble beginnings, we grew operations to four continents with our team extending across more than a dozen countries around the world.

Just Olympics in the sand, San Diego retreat 2019.
The Just Global and Send teams celebrate at the B2B Marketing Awards 2023
The UK team celebrating a Global B2B Agency of the Year Award circa 2023.
A scene from the 5th annual Dick Reed Awards circa February 2024.
Just Global 2023 Teammates of the Year honorees gathering in San Francisco from around the world.
Episode 5 (2024 and beyond): The Era of the Growth Services Provider

Today, we’re thrilled to announce we’re joining forces with newly formed Trilliad in a move designed to create the world’s first Growth Services Provider. This strategic play, led by industry legends David Williams, Craig Dempster, and Erin Hutchinson, aims to unify services and solutions for marketing, sales, and customer experience. It’s an exciting step that aligns perfectly with our mission to innovate and push boundaries.

We are also gaining some best-of-breed new allies under the Trilliad umbrella, including Andrea M. Tarrell and the team at Sercante, and Dave Braun and the team at Sandler.

We are excited to blaze new category trails with this group to drive growth for the B2B Enterprise. And why not? CMOs and CROs now share revenue goals, and AdTech, MarTech, and SalesTech are increasingly integrated. It’s only logical to create a new category to support these connected worlds with data- and tech-enabled services.

As we release Episode 5 into the world, we remain committed to our core values and to delivering unparalleled results to our clients. This new phase is about more than just growth; it’s about creating a lasting impact in the B2B space. We’re excited to continue our journey to becoming the world’s most influential B2B agency, leveraging our history of overcoming any adversity to drive future success!

PS — There are so many people I wanted to shout out and recognize in this post. Many are pictured above. Thank you to all of the passionate Just teammates, customers, and partners who played a key role across and within our past Episodes over the years. Your contributions ensured the show goes on. Tune in for what we do next!

Learn more about our future with Trilliad here.

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