Introduction
The Media Image (TMI) has secured two accolades at the 2026 US Agency Awards, winning Silver for Independent Agency of the Year alongside Operations Professional of the Year for Elrize Rossouw. The victories highlight our sustained cross-market momentum, advanced data science capabilities, and robust operational infrastructure designed to drive enterprise value across global client portfolios.
About the Award
The US Agency Awards recognize outstanding performance, operational excellence, and technical innovation among independent and integrated agencies. The Independent Agency and Operations categories evaluate overall commercial growth, workflow automation, team leadership, and measurable performance delivery.
"Sustained growth over a prolonged period reflects strong market positioning and execution, while the development of an innovative technology solution recognised by Meta provides notable external validation. Overall, this is a well-rounded agency with strong commercial success and positive social impact."
"This is an outstanding operations case, demonstrating significant and clearly evidenced improvements in efficiency, consistency, and organisational effectiveness. The impact is validated through internal feedback, strong employee endorsement, and measurable gains across reporting, workflow automation, onboarding, and content processes."
Why We Won
- $315M+ Media Under Management: Scaled global operational capacity supporting enterprise accounts across 8 countries, 4 continents, and 16 time zones with 24/7 coverage.
- 33.5% 10-Year Revenue CAGR: Ranked #125 on the Financial Times list of Europe’s Long-Term Growth Champions, proving long-term commercial efficiency.
- 150% AI & Engineering Expansion: Scaled our dedicated data science team from 4 to 10 specialists, producing a proprietary agentic AI co-pilot integration recognized in an official Meta case study.
- Operational Process Automation: Engineered agency-wide efficiency gains, streamlining client reporting, cross-market onboarding, content workflows, and internal task execution.
- Purpose-Driven Talent Pipeline: Onboarded high-retention cohorts via our South Africa Paid Media Graduate Program, achieving an 85% Black, Asian, or Mixed Race intake to cultivate elite performance talent.
Leadership Perspective
"This recognition is particularly special as it celebrates both our enterprise growth engine and the operational backbone that makes it possible. Elrize was one of our founding South African team members and has been integral to TMI for nine years. Watching her lead our operational architecture to win Operations Professional of the Year is exceptionally well-deserved, and it reinforces our commitment to expanding our global footprint through elite talent and scalable systems"
