​The roots of Johannesburg-based creative agency Monarchy lie, improbably enough, in a 2010 wedding that its two founders had planned in the months prior to the company’s birth.

The wedding was their own, and while planning it, Nicci and Delarey Hattingh realized they worked really well together.

So when “a little birdie” told the pair three months later later that South Africa was about to see the launch of the country’s first-ever HD movie network, Mnet Movies 1 HD, the pair decided it was time to take the leap and go into business for themselves. At that point, both had been on sabbatical after nearly a decade earning their professional stripes both in South Africa and abroad.

They were receiving calls from all of the major players in the country’s small but talented creative agency community to come on board as freelancers for the pitch process. But the newlyweds had a different idea: ”why help them when we can do it ourselves?” said Nicci Hattingh.

They received permission from Mnet to craft their own pitch for the project, even though they didn’t have a company name, employees, or an office yet. In fact, they didn’t really have a company.

In the end it was a risk worth taking: the team that would eventually come to be known as Monarchy won the job developing the channel imaging for Mnet Movies 1 HD:

The two founders brought very different work experiences to the table: Nicci Hattingh’s background was in design and animation—she was one of the youngest creative directors in South Africa while previously at Clearwater—while Delarey Hattingh had focused more of his professional life on directing and post-production.

A year after launching with Mnet Movies 1 HD, Monarchy went international in 2011. Monarchy’s client roster—which includes Fox, DirecTV, TV Land, A+E Networks, SundanceTV, Syfy, and National Geographic Channel—often requires the Hattinghs to shuttle back and forth across the Atlantic for pitches and shoots. .

Along the way they also picked up the 2012 PromaxBDA Global Excellence Agency of the Year Award, with Monarchy attributing their win to the strength of a campaign called “We Tell the Best Stories for Mnet Movies.”

“It was a big theme piece that was also a passion project,” says Delarey Hattingh. “it shows the copy, the emotion, the amazing animation, and speaks to what we want to do: we want to tell the best stories in any kind of way.”

Another project for the local South African market has been the opening seqences for seasons one and two of The Wild, an ambitious daily drama that has been called the biggest soap to come out of Africa.

The show is designed to appeal to a more exclusive audience, while bridging the lingering racial divide in the country.

“Our concept was ‘all that glitters is not gold’ to show what really goes on behind the doors of these high-end bush lodges,” said NIcci Hattingh.

Monarchy did everything on that first shoot from putting pianos in a river to filming underwater with crocodiles to having naked models in the bush.

Stateside, Monarchy worked for ABC on season sixteen of Dancing with the Stars to create a buzz-building spots that featured Pitbull’s “Feel This Moment,” the series’ pro dancers, and images of the new cast members.

“Nicci came up with this great idea that the dancers should do battle on a chess board,” said Delarey. The team drew inspiration from the 2012 Alexander McQueen runway show. A black and white, monochrome, almost futuristic look, according to Nicci.

Two more recent projects in the U.S. include the new promo package for the upcoming season of American Idol at Fox, as well as new title sequences for The Exes at TV Land. Monarchy also created the opening video for this year’s PromaxBDA Africa Conference.

As they’ve grown from two employees to 20 full-time staff in the past four years—although that number can increase significantly depending on whatever projects the company is working on—Monarchy has embraced a mission statement that aspires to create the “best creative work possible in the least restrictive environment,” according to the Hattinghs.

“Our main thing is that ‘Idea is King,‘” says Nicci Hattingh. “We always try to come from a very strong concept, because pretty pictures are pretty, but it can be very forgettable if it isn’t anchored.”

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