The Digital Café becomes The Media Lab

Today, The Digital Café officially becomes Wellington’s largest independent full-service media planning and buying agency – relaunching as The Media Lab. 

Since founding The Digital Café in 2016, media veterans and co-founders, Matt McNeil and Antony Young, have built the company on the back of being more strategic with clients social and digital media. 

The duo has now decided to officially expand their business model. 

“In a way the new brand name change is about catching up with our reality. Last year our TV budgets matched our Facebook spend as our clients looked to us to help them scale, and the mix of briefs we are working on has shifted more to a multi-media solution,” says Antony Young. 

Matt McNeil says that the move to be a full-service media planning and buying agency is a logical and timely step that meets the evolving needs of their clients. 

“Our clients look to us for support to solve business issues and communication challenges through media. Offering the full suite of media platforms, including digital, out of home, television and radio, lets us use media creatively to deliver the results that are needed. 

“As Wellingtons largest independent media agency you wont find us shoehorning global data sets and tools into multi-millon dollar campaigns but rather applying our understanding of the nuances of NZ businesses, bringing ideas to life through clever use of media.” 

Over the last five years The Media Lab has been working with some of the most prominent Wellington brands and businesses. These include: Te Papa, Wellington Rugby, Central Pulse, Greater Wellington Regional Council, Wellington Metlink, and Wellington Water. It has also launched meaningful public communication campaigns for Ministry of Education, Ministry or Business Innovation and Employment, Ministry of Social Development and Water Safety NZ. 

With its team of 15 based in Cuba Street the agency is unashamedly Wellington, and is committed to being local and connected to the heart that makes the country tick. It has strong ties to Victoria University of Wellington Te Herenga Waka through its graduate programme, works with a variety of local government agencies, and partners with local creative independents in a way other media agencies aren’t able to. 

One of The Media Lab’s points of difference is putting social at the heart of its media strategy. 

“Our starting point is planning the unpaid media first. We put a lot of focus on leveraging social media channels before the paid activity kicks in, and then how we extend and add more depth to a plan through social engagement. We manage over 200 social media accounts. Our team is creating 

content every hour of every day. That gives us a strong sense of what’s fresh and relevant with consumers,” adds Young. 

Prior to founding the Digital Café Matt McNeil was Managing Director or OMD, New Zealand’s largest media agency network, while Antony Young ran media agencies in New York, London and Asia before returning to New Zealand. 

McNeil says that while in some ways it feels like a return to their past, it is anything but. “It is refreshing and exciting to operate as a true New Zealand media independent – bringing our combined experience to the table for New Zealand businesses to benefit from.” 

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