TDC&Co: Designing Difference
A company’s brand goes so much deeper than its colour palette and instore décor. It informs strategy, creates community, drives commercial success, and – importantly – nurtures feelings. TDC&Co is one of South Africa’s leaders in strategy led brand and environmental design and related services, and MD Marc Olivier is excited about the future.
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Building a trusted brand in South Africa has become a daunting task. In a market where consumer expectations evolve faster than ever — and where economic uncertainty and digital disruption continue to reshape behaviour — businesses are being tested on more than just their marketing. Success now depends on authenticity and delivery; brands that overpromise but fail to match words with experience risk losing credibility, loyalty, and ultimately, growth.
Despite shrinking by 26% in brand value in the past year, MTN somehow remains the most valuable brand in South Africa perhaps highlighting the challenging conditions faced by brands and the teams nurturing them.
Across Africa, the challenge multiplies. The Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA) has warned that success depends on local relevance, authenticity, and a unified message across all touchpoints. Consistency, cultural insight, and clear differentiation are the foundations of lasting brand equity.
This is the world in which TDC & Co has thrived for three decades — a world where strategy, design and storytelling must come together seamlessly. From its base in Cape Town, the company has built a reputation as one of southern Africa’s most capable design and fit-out specialists, blending creative flair with business strategy to help brands define who they are and how they’re experienced.
Interview with TDC&Co Managing Director, Marc Olivier
A LAYERED LEGACY
Founded in 1994 by CEO Derek Patrick, TDC&Co was originally a retail design studio, but its evolution mirrors the shifts in modern brand thinking. As Director Marc Olivier explains, the business “gradually morphed into documentation and detailing, and then procurement and project management, and we then added the brand and strategy side.”
That layering of capability — expanding with the market, listening to clients, and adapting when required — is central to the company’s identity today. Today, TDC&Co’s expertise stretches across retail, commercial and corporate environments, with a growing specialisation in revitalising tired or underperforming spaces.
“Typically, an architect would come in and want to knock down the existing building before redesigning and building back up” Olivier says of South Africa’s often unloved but always prized retail spaces.
“We want to look at how we can give new life to once meaningful spaces with real heritage – with a new or refreshed brand, essence, and personality – layering these onto the buildings exterior and interior public spaces rather than demolishing it.”
It’s a philosophy rooted in creative transformation, but also in sustainability and commercial pragmatism — making the best of what exists, while refreshing and re-energising the identity around it.
STRATEGY MEETS SPACE
At the heart of TDC&Co’s offering is its ability to bridge the abstract and the tangible — to take brand strategy and make it visible, physical, and functional.
“We like to think of the strategic work that we do as a way of transforming brands and businesses, more than just the physical,” Olivier says. “We want to find out how a business positions itself, and how that is reflected in the physical and online space.”
This thinking has strengthened some of the country’s most recognisable retail transformations. The company’s work with Shoprite Checkers Group is a standout example. When TDC&Co began working with Checkers in 2011, the retailer lacked clear differentiation in a crowded market. “Previously, Shoprite was the value offering, Pick n Pay sat in the middle, and Woolworths was the premium player,” Olivier recalls. “From a customer’s perspective, the Checkers brand had no tangible point of difference or positioning and the decision was made to try and bring it closer to the middle to upper LSM, closer to the likes of Woolworths, without losing the focus on value.”
The result was a complete repositioning — a focus on fresh produce, bakery, butchery, deli and wine experiences, and authentic yet elevated environments. “We created a market feeling,” he says. “Today, people go to Checkers to eat sushi – that was never heard of.”
The Checkers story captures the company’s wider method: identify a brand’s unique positioning and express it consistently through every layer — from messaging and design to layout, fixtures and fittings and customer interaction. “It’s pointless us elevating a brand position if a client is not selling that same essence and personality across every platform,” Olivier explains. “It’s online, it’s in an office, it’s in a store – it’s how I’m treated, how I’m spoken to, the way the space is designed and how it facilitates discussions.”
THE VALUE OF DIFFERENCE
In today’s hypercompetitive retail and commercial markets, a brand’s “point of difference” is more than a marketing slogan — it’s a survival mechanism. TDC&Co has built its approach around helping clients discover and express that difference.
Olivier describes how, for one major retailer, the absence of a clear differentiator became a risk. “They have a lot of stores and they are operating successfully, and that makes them a player,” he says. “But going forward, there must be a point of difference and you must think differently because others will catch up and do the same things but better.”
To address this, TDC&Co brings together key stakeholders in what Olivier calls “brand articulation workshops” — collaborative sessions that align brand vision and execution. The process is holistic:
“When we have the true understanding idea of the brand, collectively we get everyone on the same page, we look at all workstreams and create a strategy by factoring in the impact on brand, people and place.”
The company’s multi-disciplinary structure enables that integration. “Our ability to deliver across the strategy and refresh of a brand and physical space, onboard the right mix of suppliers together, and oversee manufacturing and fit-out allows us to think end-to-end,” he says. That turnkey control, from strategy to opening, means fewer disconnects between intention and outcome — something few design consultancies can match.
PAN-AFRICAN PERSPECTIVE
As South African retail and property markets mature, many firms are turning northward. TDC&Co has been doing so for years, delivering projects in Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, the DRC, Mauritius and beyond.
“We are working a lot in Africa as part of our new vision to grow internationally, with an Africa first focus. From a business perspective, working in Africa is good business. We have enjoyed our working relationships and performed extremely well in all of our African endeavours.”
One of the firm’s most recent and meaningful projects was with Namibia’s O&L Group, where TDC&Co helped transform 34 former Pick n Pay and Pick n Pay liquor stores into a new, proudly local retail brand: Model. “Together with the client, we designed the brand strategy and corporate identity, we developed a new store design, we created Everyday Café that sits within their spaces, we designed their liquor store, and all the branding that goes across all of their different formats,” Olivier says. “It is now a proudly Namibian brand, created by Namibians for Namibians.”
That project embodies TDC&Co’s belief that local culture should inform brand expression, not be overshadowed by it. It also shows how the company’s mix of strategy, design and project management can support not just businesses, but communities.
“There is so much good we can do in Africa,” Olivier says. “The way these businesses engage with their communities and our ability to assist with a business plan is a great mix – it allows for such positive change.”
WORKING WITH, NOT FOR
Partnership is another defining trait of the business. Olivier is clear that collaboration is fundamental to how TDC&Co operates. “We love working with people. ‘With’ is the key word. We don’t want to work for people or have people work for us,” he says.
That sentiment is reflected in the company’s name itself — ‘TDC&Co’ The Design Company— a conscious nod to collaboration. “The &Co is about ‘the company we keep’ and we deliver our projects together with our world class supply chain.”
This collaborative model fosters genuine partnerships that outlast individual projects. It’s why, after more than 30 years, TDC&Co continues to work with major clients such as The Foschini Group, Checkers, Hyprop, and international retailers like Zara, but also suppliers such as Pan African Shopfitters. “We have never advertised,” Olivier notes. “We work in a small circle and people see our work at the likes of Checkers or Sport Scene and they contact us directly.”
That kind of sustained, reputation-driven growth is rare — and speaks volumes about the company’s reliability and creativity.
REVIVING TIRED SPACES
As South African retail and property owners face stagnant growth, the need to refresh existing assets has never been greater. TDC&Co has recognised a growing market in the refurbishment of “tired spaces” — older malls, offices and commercial environments in need of renewal.
Olivier sees this as both a creative and commercial opportunity. “We are working with a mall in KwaZulu Natal – the Pearls – which is an older mall but now has a lot of newer offerings around it,” he explains. “We are working to reposition it and create a beautiful market space at the centre.”
Beyond malls, the company’s skills are increasingly in demand among property developers looking for strategic guidance on underperforming assets. “They have all the marketing and data, but they need to find that point of difference,” says Olivier. “This type of work is not just about physical spaces, it’s about thinking differently and sometimes challenging plans that are already in place but in a like-minded way.”
As cities across Africa adapt to new economic and consumer realities, this ability to rethink existing environments — without losing their character — will become essential.
CONFIDENT OUTLOOK
Despite local economic uncertainty and global instability, Olivier remains upbeat about the company’s trajectory. “I feel very confident,” he says. “We have always said that whenever the market has been disrupted, we have grown. What we do effects meaningful change.”
That confidence is grounded in clear plans for expansion. “Our international growth, especially in Africa, is key. Our relationships with existing clients are essential. Our diversification into commercial corporate, and a focus on tired spaces – whether that is malls or tired brands – is uplifting for us.”
Ultimately, for TDC&Co, great design is not simply about aesthetics. As Olivier puts it:
“If someone walks into a store and all they remember is that the store was nice and looked good, and not what product is sold, services on offer or importantly how the brand made them feel, then that is not great design.”
In a continent where brand values teeter and brand experience, community connection, and strategic design are fast becoming competitive differentiators, TDC&Co’s integrated, people-centred approach sets it apart. It is an African business shaping how African brands look, feel and perform — one inspired space at a time.