A group of breakthrough independent agencies launch a new international network – Tribe Global.

The network, which sees its international launch take place in London on 27th January 2012, has been founded by 13 independent, owner-run and managed agencies from around the world, many of whom have worked on joint projects during the five eight years.

Those involved include: BJL, The AdStore, Family and Complete Media Group in the UK, Steam in the Netherlands, Dagré in France, Interact in Luxembourg, defacto.X and Punktzwei Markenagentur in Germany, gkBrand and Bolin Marketing in the USA, Gaudelli MCW in Mexico and Tempest Advertising in India.

Bringing together like-minded, dynamic agencies, the network aims to provide an international offering to both current and future clients, whilst nurturing and developing creative expertise through a talent sharing scheme.

BJL managing director, Nicky Unsworth, commented: “The founding agencies have worked together for several years on a number of international projects. In the last couple of years we’ve increasingly talked about formalising our relationship, and recent discussions between ourselves and clients have led us to believe that this is the right time to launch a global network.

“We have experienced an increasing interest from clients who seem to be electing to work with independent agencies and also see the benefits of doing so. You could say we’re more entrepreneurial, are better at making local decisions and are more agile in the current economic climate.

“The other networks out there tend to be open to membership rather than formed proactively by a group of agencies. We know of no others that exist in this format. In the coming months, we aim to extend the network to tap into the core markets not covered by the current founding members.”

Marco van Rookhuijzen, MD at Steam added: “The network’s hub will be based in Amsterdam which is well known as an international creative hotspot, bustling with talent and people who think differently – which is our core ethos at Tribe Global.

“Tribe Global requires an explicit commitment from its member agencies to support dialogue, exchange knowledge and pro-actively respond to market opportunities. We are not a club; we are a tribe. And we depend on each other to move forward.

“Clients want to work with agencies that are responsive to changing market conditions and understand commercial business needs in the current climate. We believe that an independent network of agencies consolidating this offer to clients will be compelling.”

Clients who have already benefitted from these international partnerships have included; Pilkington, Johnson Diversey, No2av, Erlenbacher and Luxembourg Tourist Office.

Collectively, the network has almost 650 members of staff and saw a joint gross profit of more than $50 million in 2011.