Marius De Jager
Wilderness Head of Creative
Marius joins Wilderness in October 2022, bringing with him a passion for storytelling and brand building. He has a wealth of international marketing experience, having worked on many recognised campaigns. He looks forward to successfully impacting Wilderness’ marketing messaging.
Marius believes a successful brand is built on creating stories to grow the business, inspiring and engaging consumers along the journey. This ethos has always been at the core of his marketing approach.
Marius grew up in the bustling town of Kariega (formerly Uitenhage), in the Eastern Cape. Growing up just a short distance from Addo Elephant National Park, he was introduced to nature from a young age, spending many happy family holidays in the park. He completed his schooling in 1985, before furthering his studies at art school, where he graduated in Graphic Design, majoring in Photography and Design. He was called up for national service with the South African Defence Force, and in the army, he had the opportunity to follow his ambition and spent a year working as a photojournalist for the Defence Force magazine, Paratus.
1990 presented Marius with his first role in advertising – Junior Art Director – in a world before social media and the internet, where clients had budgets for TV commercials. He continued his career in Cape Town until in 1999 he was headhunted to join an agency in Bahrain, a small island in the Arabian Gulf. He spent 16 successful years here, creating TV commercials for Coca-Cola and numerous campaigns for Qatar Airways, as well as real estate developments in North Africa, the Middle East, India and Eastern Europe.
In 2009, Marius founded IDESIGNBRANDS, his vision being to assist SMEs searching for brand direction. Motivated and building on his international experience, Marius was in the perfect position to build company success stories through branding and marketing campaigns. A career highlight was creating a brand for a local family of jewellers; it went on to become one of the most famous luxury brands in the Arabian Gulf.
After 16 years exploring the globe, his heart called him home. In 2014 he joined South Africa’s leading real estate company, Pam Golding Properties, as Creative Director. Here he developed their first-ever TV campaign, ‘I am Pam’. This proved to be a highlight of his career, creating an emotive brand campaign with the company’s founder, the late Pam Golding. Her values were at the core of the campaign, breaking down preconceived ideas and showing the world their true human spirit and values.
A few years later, Marius returned to IDESIGNBRANDS. Conceptualising brands in industries like health, crypto finance, real estate and sustainable fashion. When an opportunity at Wilderness beckoned in 2022, Marius knew it was the right career move and he looks forward to making an impact in the conservation hospitality space.
Marius is excited to join the Wilderness family: “My focus has been, and will always be, to respond to consumer needs and desires. To tell stories that capture their hearts and minds. This is my focus for Wilderness. I have created brand stories for many industries that put profit before passion, and I look forward to working with the Wilderness team, who are dedicated to something far greater than the business. The world is hungry for experiences that feed their souls, and I look forward to creating campaigns with meaning, purpose and passion”.