By Carey Finn. Tanya Schreuder talks daily discomfort, and being “a bit of a cowgirl” with creativity.
Tanya Schreuder has seen it all. The CEO of Juno Media “stepped in” to the world of media nearly three decades ago, and “never stepped out”. Her journey, she says, has been an incredible one, and she’s witnessed the industry evolve — and then evolve some more.
“[At Juno], I’ve gone back to the roots of why I joined media,” says Schreuder, who launched the independent media agency in September 2022. Since then, Juno has frequently partnered with Joe Public, and forms part of the United Growth Group.
“The joy from Juno, and being part of a creative agency – I’m like a kid in a candy store,” says Schreuder. “Good creative is the DNA of good media, and [we prioritise] solving clients’ problems as a team. We are not just a line item, solving strategies after creative has been sold. I think that’s been the success of Juno.”
Take risks, be creative, win stuff
Schreuder started her career in full-service creative agencies, where her passion for collaboration and integration with creatives quickly became evident. Her career track would see her opening the Johannesburg office of Nota Bene in 2000, and then launching Vizeum South Africa in 2007. Vizeum was part of Aegis, now dentsu, and Schreuder stayed in the network until the opportunity to launch Juno came along.
Fast-forward four years and Juno has grown to a team of 22, with billings of R1.4 bil. Key clients include Chicken Licken (for which they won a Gold at the 2025 Bookmark Awards), Hippo, Coronation Fund Managers, Takealot (“a recent ‘biggie’”), NetcarePlus, and Dr. Reddy’s — “another lovely feather in the cap”. The agency is a Level 1 B-BBEE contributor, and the United Growth Group has 63.24% black ownership. The majority of Schreuder’s team are women of colour.
Schreuder says that Juno has been an amazing journey for her so far. “In this world of media, global connections are generally quite important,” she says. “When you go into big pitches, clients go, “What network are you part of,” and so on, so it was an interesting leap to leave that and join a 100-percent locally owned agency. And it was probably the best time to do it, because I think we all have access. This world is no longer small and defined by networks. We’ve got so many tools and technologies available. We haven’t felt that we have lacked access here.”
When it comes to the agency’s selling points, Schreuder uses the words “awesome” and “purpose” frequently. “We are very much anchored in our purpose, to awe with what is possible through creative media solutions,” she explains. “We truly believe it’s a mindset — the positioning of creative and media.” She’s found Juno to be a refreshingly entrepreneurial space where she can be “a bit of a cowgirl”; there is loads of space for creativity, and the team can take risks, test and learn. “It’s extremely fulfilling. I needed that,” she says.
Future-proofing with delivery and agility
Schreuder makes it clear that everything the team does at Juno is intended to elevate the role of media together with creative. “We’re very passionate about being briefed at the same time as a creative agency,” she says. Growth is something they want, but top priority is ensuring that the clients they have are happy, “that they feel they are getting senior talent on their business, that we are pushing them and their business beyond the norm,” she adds. This mindset is something that she has maintained since the days of Nota Bene. Unpacking it further, Schreuder says that “it’s around sustaining this journey we are on,” and “keeping the basics brilliant”.
Schreuder is no stranger to challenges. “We know that we face a dynamic space,” she says. “I’ve been doing this for 30 years, and I don’t think there’s been a year where we go into budgeting where we don’t feel the impact of stuff that isn’t always in our control. I think it’s just our industry. I think it’s agile — it has to be agile. It’s about building a business that is healthy and sustainable, and for me culture sits at the top of it. No matter what, we are a business about people.”
Looking — and thinking — ahead is also another key part of the puzzle. “When I started, I remember presenting trends, and a trend was, you will be able to pause live television in 5-10 years,” Schreuder laughs. “How did we ever think you wouldn’t have to print a billboard and post it? We happen to be in an industry that’s so impacted by technology, and because we are about consumers, we’re always going to be forward-thinking. AI 30 years ago? Hell no.”
Lack of research and benchmarking a concern
There is one area that Schreuder worries about, on the back of Nielsen’s announcement of their withdrawal from audience measurement in South Africa. “I think one of the biggest challenges for this industry is research,” she says. “How do we measure TV and radio? In the media market space, we’re sitting at an interesting place where media owners are having to do their own research; we’re almost all trying to figure out — what’s this one thing we can use, this benchmark, that we don’t have?”
There is also the “challenge of the YouTubes, the Metas”, Schreuder adds. “The information out there versus, you know, what really is real,” she explains. “We don’t have a common base of what consumers are actually doing. We’re having to utilize a whole lot of different forms of research to have a full view on how consumers are consuming media. We’re seeing contradicting figures come out.
Feeling comfortable is not a sign of success
Challenges aside, the media industry is “very much still alive and kicking”, says Schreuder. “I don’t know what the next ten years look like, but I didn’t know what the next ten years were looking like ten years ago,” she says. “One thing I’ve realised is that I feel uncomfortable every day. This is a space where you can never know everything – and that’s what I love about it. I learn from young people every day — once you start feeling comfortable in the world of media, it’s not a good thing. It’s such a dynamic space. And that’s probably why I’ve never left it, or been anywhere else.”
Carey Finn is a contributing writer to MarkLives MEDIA and MarkLives.com.
