Jaimes Leggett on Zoo Republic Acquisition: “Top of List” Since M+C Days, “Everyone Gets Something More, Nothing Less”

Today The Brave’s acquisition of  The Zoo Republic has been years in the making. Founder of the independent creative agency, Jaimes Leggett, initiated a conversation with the retail, shopper, and experiential shop when he was still CEO at M+C Saatchi .

“I've known The Zoo Republic for a long time. When I was running M+C Saatchi and I was looking to scale that business, I wanted M+C to be vertically integrated,” he told LBB yesterday, soon after announcing the deal. 

“We had big client relationships like Woolies or Commbank, and [wanted to] be able to provide the advertising, the media, the brand, all the way through to that in store, retail activation.

“In that world, I had looked at the best shopper retail experiential agencies, and The Zoo had been at the top of that list. We had started a conversation then, and for one reason or another, we couldn't find a way to do the deal at that time. But that's how I came to know The Zoo.”

Since launching in 2022, Today the Brave has built strategy, creative, and production capability in the way you “scale a startup.” These days, Jaimes said the agency’s “superpower is big brand platforms – these big, pervasive thoughts which run through the entirety of an organisation, from the advertising through to the internal culture of the business, through to what the customer experience is in the real world.”

Now in 2025, Jaimes said, “It became time for us to take the next step, which is that shopper retail, the last three feet, the experiential piece.

“I started looking at who else was out there, what else was out there, and started chatting to David [Lo, founder and managing director of The Zoo Republic] again. What we found was that actually, we were simpatico in terms of ambitions as businesses and cultural beliefs.”

The acquisition was completed in August, with Today The Brave now owning 100% of the business. The Zoo Republic’sclient roster includes Brown-Forman, Arnott’s, Ampol, ANZ, Bentspoke Brewing Co, and Cranky Health – and all clients make the move across.

The entire Zoo Republic team will also join Today The Brave, with David staying on for the next three years. 

“David will stay with the business … to help us make sure that we are continuing to deliver for their existing clients. Because for both our clients and their clients, everyone gets something more, nothing less,” said Jaimes.

“For their existing clients, they've got all the same people doing all the same work in all the same way, but they've got access to a broader pool of people in the Today the Brave team, who have a different set of skills and expertise. Now Zoo can offer its existing clients a broader set of capabilities, and Today the Brave can do the same. It's a win-win for everyone in that respect.”

The Zoo team has already moved into Today The Brave’s new offices, located in Sydney’s heritage-listed Hibernian House, with the two teams “working as if we've always worked together.”

For the time being, Zoo will keep its name, with plans to fully integrate under the Today The Brave banner in time. In total, nine people are making the move across, taking the team to 35.

“We've actually had a pitch that's come in, which has come in through the Zoo guys. It’s looking for advertising as well as the activation stuff, which has been great for them because before, they would have struggled to have delivered that, whereas now they can say, ‘Of course, we've got creative teams, we've got designers, we've got strategists, we've got all the stuff that Today the Brave has’. 

“We're already seeing the benefit of it – we haven't won that pitch, but we'll see what happens.”

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Read also:Today the Brave Has Turned Hibernian House Into an Art, Character, Friction-Filled Home