About ThinkStory
ThinkStory is a creative agency that helps businesses of all sizes communicate their value with clarity and confidence. We take a strategic approach to web design, video production, brand messaging, and digital marketing, ensuring every piece of work serves a clear business purpose.
Great work starts with the right people.
ThinkStory operates as a growing network of creatives and specialists from around the world. This global approach means we can build custom teams around your specific project requirements, ensuring you get the expertise you need.
ThinkStory started back in 2014 with a heavy focus on production, rolling up our sleeves to help businesses create content that actually worked, and get ready for the digital age arriving around them. The company has shifted and grown plenty since: new areas, honest experiments, and the lessons from each one carried forward into how we work today.
Today we partner with incredible companies of every size, helping startups build brand identities from zero, and helping established businesses communicate more effectively with the customers who matter most. We're based in Johannesburg and Cape Town, with teams in both cities and our home office in Rosebank.
Our mission is to help businesses build brands that people recognise, trust and prefer in order to drive long-term market growth for our clients.
We set out to build the opposite.
Matt Masson founded ThinkStory in 2014. He had been working with business owners and marketing teams, and he kept hearing the same complaints about agencies: big promises and thin delivery, invoices that grew with no clear reason, work that impressed in the pitch and did nothing once it was live, and partners who went quiet the moment the contract was signed.
He heard it so often that it started to feel like the norm, and somewhere in those conversations the idea for ThinkStory took shape: an agency built to be the opposite of everything he had been hearing. One that people could actually trust, that would be honest and open, and that would give more than anyone expected of it.
That is still the brief we hold ourselves to. If a smaller solution will serve you better than a bigger one, we say so, even when the bigger one would earn us more. If something won't work for your budget or your timeline, you hear it from us early, while there is still time to find a better route. Matt tells the whole story in his letter on our philosophy page.
One team, from the first call to delivery.
The same team that scopes your work delivers it, and you have one point of contact from start to finish. You never brief one group of people and then find yourself chasing another.
Strategy, copywriting, design, photography, video and AI content all happen in-house. Our home office is at WeWork, 173 Oxford Road in Rosebank, Johannesburg, and we have a team in Cape Town too, including a shoot team. Around that core sits our network of specialist creatives from around the world, so every project gets the people it needs.
Matt describes himself as slightly obsessed with process, and it shows in the small things: how work moves, how quickly we respond, and whether a project is genuinely moving forward or just looking busy. We reply to every enquiry within one working day. Good process is what lets the creative work land on time, without the chaos so many people have come to expect from agencies.
What we do
Our work spans four services, built to work together. Brand strategy and messaging helps you understand your market and define what to say. Video production and creative content tells that story in films and visuals that connect with people. Custom web design and development gives it a home that turns visitors into customers, and social media and digital marketing keeps it in front of the right people, consistent everywhere it lives. We also make SuccessStory testimonial films, in which your own clients tell their story on camera, so their words do the selling for you; the film with Paul Barrow further down this page is one of them. To see the work itself, browse our success stories, or read what our clients say about working with us.
Four steps, no surprises.
Here is how working with us runs, from the first conversation to the results.
Discovery call
We start with a conversation, and we listen first. Once we understand your specific challenges, we share honest advice about what would work for your situation, even if it means less work for us.
Decide together
We come back with clear options and a fixed-fee proposal, agreed upfront. You decide on the best path forward before any work begins, so there are no surprises later.
Develop your plan
The same team that scoped the work develops a custom approach around your goals and budget, then puts it into action.
Deliver your results
We carry the plan out with regular updates and ongoing support, so you can see the progress and feel confident about your marketing investment.
Why we work on fixed fees.
Every project is quoted as a clear, fixed-fee proposal that we agree with you before any work begins. No hourly rates, no hidden costs and no surprise bills.
It goes straight back to why ThinkStory exists. Invoices that grew month on month with no clear reason were part of the story Matt kept hearing, and a fee agreed upfront is the simplest way we know to make sure ours never do. You know what you are paying for before you commit, and the conversation stays on what the work should achieve rather than how many hours it takes.
It keeps us honest about scope, too. We are not here to sell you another package or another line item. If a service isn't right for your business or your budget, we'll tell you, even if it means less revenue for us. Being open about pricing, timelines and recommendations is part of every partnership we take on.
Our clients mean everything to us.
Barrow is one of the most recognisable names in South Africa, and next year the family business marks its 130th year. Paul Barrow, Director of Properties at Barrow Group, sat down with us to talk about what it’s been like having ThinkStory as a permanent partner. Coming from a company that has been building for well over a century, it means a great deal to us.
A letter from our Director.
Our philosophy page sets out what we believe and the values we hold ourselves to, alongside a personal letter from Matt Masson on why he started ThinkStory and how we work with the people who trust us.
Do the best work of your career.
We're a growing network of strategists, filmmakers, designers, writers and producers who care about craft, and about each other. This is us on set, on the road, and everywhere in between. If that looks like your kind of team, introduce yourself.
Work with us
