What is Plant a Flag specialised in?

Brand strategy & positioning, Marketing strategy, Brand identity & design, Website development, Campagne, Branding.

How big is Plant a Flag?

Around 3 full-time equivalents (financial year 2025).

Which sectors does Plant a Flag work for?

Industry & manufacturing, Public sector & non-profit, Technology & software.

Who are the clients of Plant a Flag?

Among others Polytek, Arcsom, Ecoso (vzw), De Poel (vzw).

Review: Plant a Flag: Marketing voor KMO’s en Non-profits

Plant A Flag, opgericht in 2014, is een full-service bureau uit Vorst. Op de loonlijst staan ongeveer 3 voltijdse equivalenten. De opgegeven expertises zijn strategie, branding & identiteit en webdevelopment.

Full service met gezond boerenverstand
Plant a Flag is een full service marketing bureau voor KMO’s en non-profits. Ze verzorgen marketingstrategie, branding, websites en content; en ontzorgen daarmee hun klanten op vlak van marketing en marketingtechnologie.
Ze werken projectmatig voor KMO’s en non-profits die een professionalisering in hun marketing willen inzetten; en ondersteunen daarna met een retainer of abonnementsformule.
Dat doen ze op dit moment met 10 VTE’s:

2 strategen
3 brand designers
2 copywriters
3 developers

Wat ze niet doen: performance marketing (wel via freelancer), tv/video.
Zelf omschrijven ze hun cultuur met volgende trefwoorden: open, positief, flexibel, autonoom.

Referentieklanten: Polytek, Arcsom, Ecoso (vzw), De Poel (vzw)
Tech stack: Drupal, Webflow
Gepercipieerde concurrenten: Strategies & Leaders, Shaved Monkey, Josworld, Bonka Circus
Voorbeelden: Bridgeneers, GRRR

Who do they see as competitors?

Josworld Shaved Monkey Strategies & Leaders

As indicated by the agency itself.

1

How this agency makes money

Revenue, margin and what an hour of work brings in. Everything on the earning side sits together here.

Revenue trendgross margin per financial year

20212022202320242025

Latest year: € 171.819 gross margin, growth -35,3% against a sector median of +1,7%.

Shrinking

MarginEBITDA / gross margin · value-added coverage

20212022202320242025

Plant A FlagSector median

EBITDA margin -34,3%, sector median 23,9%. Value-added coverage 0,74 (median 1,27).

Loss-making

Revenue per headGross margin per FTE, against payroll cost

€ 52.066

Median (2025) € 78.251

Against a payroll cost of € 69.816 per FTE. The ratio between the two is the coverage rate above.

Below the median

Yield levelYield per hour worked, against payroll cost

€ 30

Median (2025) € 49

5.745 hours worked, 1.741 per FTE. Against that sits € 40 of payroll cost per hour worked, leaving € -10 for premises, equipment, depreciation and profit.

Below the median

No hourly rate follows from this. Gross margin is already net of services and sundry goods, which mixes rebilled production with the agency's own overhead, and the accounts do not say how many hours were billable. Deriving a rate from this systematically understates it.

2

Can the agency take a hit

Buffer, cash position and payment behaviour side by side, so you can see where they disagree.

Bufferequity in months of payroll

Buffer: -16,3 months (median 5,8 mo). Equity in the latest year: € -313.581.

Critical buffer

Cash positionAvailable cash, and whether it covers short-term debt

Cash € 17.097. Liquidity ratio 0,68: current assets cover short-term debt not in full. Solvency -56%.

Not covered

Payment behaviourTowards suppliers and towards the NBB

Trade payables correspond to 101 days of supplier credit, sector median 54. The accounts were filed 212 days after closing; the legal deadline is seven months.

Pays slower than average

3

Signals and strengths

Events from the CBE and the Official Gazette over the past 24 months, plus positive markers derived from the figures.

Continuity

4 red flag(s) (24m)

Signals in the last 24 months

Zichtbaarheid verschoven · 1 Oct 2026 · Google Autocomplete
Zichtbaarheid verschoven · 1 Sep 2026 · Google Autocomplete
Zichtbaarheid verschoven · 1 Sep 2026 · Google Autocomplete
Zichtbaarheid verschoven · 1 Aug 2026 · Google Autocomplete
Low value-added coverage · 31 Dec 2025 · NBB
Every euro of payroll generates less than 95 cents of added value. That happens in a build-up year, with a lot of subcontracting, or under pressure on rates. Ask what explains it here.
Critical buffer · 31 Dec 2025 · NBB
Equity covers less than one month of payroll. At an agency that pays out its profit every year this means something different than at one that is losing money. Ask where the reserve sits.
+ 4 older signals within 24m

Click a signal for a plain-language explanation. Each signal is a fact from a public source, without the agency's own context. Best to ask them directly.

What this agency does well

Turnover below the median (30,3%)

Each point is a fact from the filed annual accounts, measured against the same thresholds and sector medians as the signals above.

4

All the figures

Reference material, not a starting point. Expand it if you want to read the series yourself.

5 financial years, 2021 to 2025Result, staff and balance sheet

	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025
Result
Gross margin	€ 501.766	€ 124.599-75,2%	€ 272.213+118,5%	€ 265.705-2,4%	€ 171.819-35,3%
EBITDA	€ 89.505	€ -301.504	€ -75.536	€ -49.429	€ -58.973
EBITDA margin	17,8%	-	-27,7%	-18,6%	-34,3%
Staff
FTE	8,4	7,9-6%	0,0-100%	4,3	3,3-23,3%
Gross margin per FTE	€ 59.734	€ 15.772	-	€ 61.792	€ 52.066
Payroll cost per FTE	€ 37.477	€ 53.425	-	€ 67.364	€ 69.816
Balance sheet
Equity	€ 205.996	€ -185.080	€ -68.949	€ -188.311	€ -313.581
Cash	€ 1.413	€ 66.069	€ 19.621	€ 18.638	€ 17.097
Liquidity ratio	1,10	0,51	0,41	0,61	0,68

Payroll cost per FTE comes from the social report where available, otherwise from the Remuneration line. Both are gross costs including employer contributions.

What this factsheet does not know

How good the work is. Figures do not measure creativity, strategy or chemistry.
How the client portfolio is spread. Concentration is not in the accounts.
Freelancers and subcontractors are not in the FTE figures. An agency with 40 staff may in practice run with 70 people.
The figures cover financial year 2025, filed on 31/07/2026. At a fast-moving agency reality today may differ.

Based on publicly filed annual accounts (NBB) and official records (CBE, Belgian Official Gazette). An indication, not financial advice. Sector medians calculated on 2 Nov 2026. Sector medians based on financial year 2025: the last year for which nearly all accounts have been filed.

What the agency actually does 4 services

Strategy & Insights

Brand strategy & positioning Marketing strategy

Branding & Design

Brand identity & design

Digital Experience & Tech

Website development

Sector focus

Food & beverageTelecomEnergy & utilitiesB2B servicesTechnology & software

Publicly known clients

Torann, Connect Europe, Nodis Consulting, PSD, Pietercil Foodservice, Brioval, Krok & Ko, De Kaai, Cirkels tweedehands, Ecoso, Make Day, 3Wplus, Polytek, Cornelis, Bike&Co

Based on IKAg research and public sources. Incomplete or outdated? Let us know.

1

People 2 people mapped

JR

Joost Renson

Founder & Inspirator

P

Pieterjan

Based on public profiles. Something wrong? Let us know.

2

Seniors or juniors?

Payroll cost per FTE is the best public proxy for a team's experience level. Higher is not automatically better, but it says something about who sits at the table.

Payroll cost per FTE

€ 69.816

+16% versus the median

Team composition

3,3 FTE

31% women
69% men

€ 69.816

Median Full-service bureau (2025) € 60.368All agencies (2025) € 62.294

Read with care. Directors and partners invoicing through a management company are not in the payroll cost. At small agencies this skews the picture downwards considerably.

3

Will your team stay?

Inflow and outflow from the social report. This series only counts people on the payroll: freelancers who invoice do not appear in it. A low figure therefore means two very different things, a stable permanent team or a small core with heavy outsourcing. A high figure usually points to short contracts. Compare only within the same type of agency.

Exits 2025

30,3%

Median for this type of agency (2025): 31,1%

Inflow 2025

/

20212022202320242025

Source: annual accounts and social reports (NBB), collected by IKAg. Financial year 2025. Calculations by IKAg; an indication, not financial advice. Sector medians based on financial year 2025: the last year for which nearly all accounts have been filed.