South Africa, Feb. 20 -- Sometimes it's choosing depth over scale, people over pace, and long-term impact over short-term wins.

That insight didn't come from theory. It came from building a full-service communications agency in one of the most crowded, competitive markets I've ever worked in and deliberately choosing not to follow the traditional playbook.

4 lessons learnt

Here are some of the lessons we learnt.

More is always better (not)

In our first year, Comms Reddy encountered many "firsts" from first clients, first hires, to first financial realities. Like many new (and old) agencies, we could have chased volume.

Instead, we slowed down. We invested time in defining a purpose-driven foundation: a clear brand identity, a commun...