Having started Atomic Marketing from his folk’s garage while he was a marketing student in 2005, Lopes identified a unique need in the supply chain to offer manufacturers powerful solutions to quantifiably interact with consumers in an engaging manner. Having successfully pitched as a one man agency against one of the largest activation agencies in South Africa, Atomic Marketing was born to service the South African Consumer Goods Retail channels in 2005.

From never having worked in the industry prior to that, Lopes brought a fresh ideology to an otherwise stagnant, and sometimes banal, environment.

This is key to the success story that helped shape retail in South Africa ever since. Driving organic engagement between a consumer and a brand’s product or service offering, and building brand believers is something that sets Atomic apart from the rest, and something they do extremely well.

“They say time flies when you’re having fun; I can’t believe it’s already been 10 years. What started as a part time venture while studying has been a rollercoaster of taking brands from good to great, through our passion for sales and marketing. We’ve met great people through all walks of life, we’ve made mistakes and we’ve made great strides with some incredible brands. Ultimately, what still amazes me is seeing this firm grow from strength to strength, getting so many great people to jump on board and believe in my views, plans and brand strategies, getting so many to enjoy this ride with me. This company has become more than just one man – it’s now a firm defined by all its amazing staff and great clients,” Lopes says.

Lopes affirms that a big part of Atomic’s success is attributed to the balance brought forth by his right-hand woman, Nadine Rodrigues, who has been a part of Atomic since day one. Rodrigues started as an AEG promoter and is now second in charge at Atomic. “I bounce everything off of her and really value her opinion, I rarely consider any major decision without her take on it,” says Lopes. 

This relationship is one that has been built on the greatest base of trust and the fact that Rodrigues balances Lopes in his approach. “I am quite ‘bullish’ in my approach to most things, it is Nadine's attention to detail that has pulled me from running off a cliff many times. It’s this difference in our outlooks that makes our relationship so successful. She has not only become an asset to the company, but is a foundation to everything we have achieved and I seriously question if it could have been achieved without her. Nadine is responsible for conceiving and implementing most of Atomic’s systems that are vital to our winning client-delivery formula.”

Atomic Marketing services over 20 niche global brands, and was recently chosen as the preferred supplier for Hirsch’s, one of South Africa’s top retailers. This is testament to the work ethic and innovative approach by Atomic with each of their clients – all based on trust, and their belief that Atomic will deliver real results and valuable returns. When looking at their client portfolio you’ll find some of the top global consumer brands including: Robert Bosch, Siemens, Reckitt Benckiser, Whirlpool, Smeg, LG, AEG / Electrolux, Hisense, Snappy Chef, Nutribullet, Philips, among many others.

One of their most noteworthy and successful client campaigns was run with Finish (a Reckitt brand.) About five years ago, Finish approached Atomic with a problem: they were the clear market leaders in dishwashing tablets, but were selling low volumes of their product. Why? Because only 2% of the South African market owned dishwashers. Reckitt approached Atomic to create a partnership, as they (Atomic) had extensive experience within the durable consumer goods space. Together, Atomic and Reckitt (the leading dishwasher detergent supplier and manufacturer) came together to build on dishwasher quarterly campaigns which increased dishwasher sales out by over 215%.

The first quarter of the promotion, over 20 000 dishwashers were sold, which is testament to Atomic’s innovative approach to marketing within the retail space. The more dishwashers that were sold, the more Reckitt expanded within the market, which in turn, resulted in higher sales of their Finish product.

Not only has the agency built up and worked with some of the biggest brands in the country, but they also up-skill and empower people, which is something important to them. They do this by means of providing students with a platform to gain experience in the retail world, whilst they continue with their studies.

“Our staff become part of a product specialist team that are devoted to one brand/client. When our clients have internal job opportunities or internships, they start looking at our pool of talent. A prime example of this is one particular individual who started as a product specialist with Atomic about eight years ago, who progressed up the corporate ladder and is now the global product manager for Africa for Whirlpool,” notes Rodrigues.

In 10 years, the agency has retained their independence, individuality and authenticity, which, in itself, is of immense value for the clients and the brands they work with. Over the years Lopes and his team have built strong personal relationships with brands and retailers, whilst offering other value added services - an all in one package deal.

With the passion and ambition that drives the Atomic Marketing team, they are bound to see many more noteworthy achievements and milestones in the years to come, with brands celebrating in their successes too.

For more information on Atomic Marketing, visit www.atomicmarketing.co.za. Alternatively, connect with them on Facebook or on Twitter.