What is Wave specialised in?

Campaign concepts & big ideas, Campaign execution, Organic social content, Social strategy & platform mix, Events & experiences.

Around 9 full-time equivalents (financial year 2025).

Who are the clients of Wave?

Among others Telenet, Super 8, Crelan, RBFA, Mercedes, Pro League, AB InBev.

Review: Wave

Sinds 2014 is Wave actief als creatief bureau uit Aalst. Er werken ongeveer 9 mensen, uitgedrukt in voltijdse equivalenten. De opgegeven expertises zijn creatie & reclame, social media en events. Sectorieel richt het bureau zich vooral op sport en muziek, fan-/merkactivatie voor brands, clubs en steden en eventorganisatoren. Tot de publiek bekende klanten behoren Telenet, Super 8, Crelan en RBFA.

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: € 797.142 gross margin, growth +20,9% against a sector median of -0,1%.

At or above sector pace

MarginEBITDA / gross margin · value-added coverage

20212022202320242025

WaveSector median

EBITDA margin 29,9%, sector median 22,3%. Value-added coverage 1,44 (median 1,20).

Healthy margin

Revenue per headGross margin per FTE, against payroll cost

€ 93.781

Median (2024) € 72.309

Against a payroll cost of € 64.294 per FTE. The ratio between the two is the coverage rate above.

Above the median

Yield levelYield per hour worked, against payroll cost

€ 54

Median (2024) € 45

14.668 hours worked, 1.726 per FTE. Against that sits € 37 of payroll cost per hour worked, leaving € 17 for premises, equipment, depreciation and profit.

Above 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: 0,1 months (median 6,9 mo). Equity in the latest year: € 6.715.

Critical buffer

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

Cash € 26.741. Liquidity ratio 0,90: current assets cover short-term debt not in full. Solvency 0,8%.

Tightly covered

Payment behaviourTowards suppliers and towards the NBB

Trade payables correspond to 299 days of supplier credit, sector median 73. The accounts were filed 239 days after closing; the legal deadline is seven months.

Filed late

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

1 red flag(s) (24m)

Signals in the last 24 months

Zichtbaarheid verschoven · 1 Sep 2026 · Google Autocomplete
Late filing · 27 Aug 2026 · NBB
The annual accounts were filed after the statutory deadline. Over a third of the sector does this, usually because of the accountant's calendar. Rarely a story in itself.
Zichtbaarheid verschoven · 1 Aug 2026 · Google Autocomplete
Sharp drop in equity · 31 Dec 2025 · NBB
The financial reserve shrank by more than 30% over two financial years. A dividend, buying out a partner and a loss-making year all look the same here. Ask which of the three it was.
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.
Board change · 30 May 2025 · Staatsblad
Appointments or resignations on the board. Routine during growth, succession or a new partner. Ask about it when several changes follow each other closely.
+ 1 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

Gross margin grew 4 years in a row
EBITDA margin above the sector median (29,9%)
Value-added per euro of payroll above the sector median (1,44)

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	€ 310.517	€ 442.940+42,6%	€ 650.872+46,9%	€ 659.269+1,3%	€ 797.142+20,9%
EBITDA	€ 49.927	€ 53.475	€ 71.945	€ 34.749	€ 238.014
EBITDA margin	16,1%	12,1%	11,1%	5,3%	29,9%
Staff
FTE	2,3	7,2+213%	8,4+16,7%	9,4+11,9%	8,5-9,6%
Gross margin per FTE	€ 135.008	€ 61.519	€ 77.485	€ 70.135	€ 93.781
Payroll cost per FTE	€ 113.246	€ 54.062	€ 59.420	€ 66.622	€ 64.294
Balance sheet
Equity	€ 63.574	€ 75.077	€ 81.372	€ 5.912	€ 6.715
Cash	€ 106.541	€ 129.377	€ 32.280	€ 2.210	€ 26.741
Liquidity ratio	1,44	1,33	1,20	0,99	0,90

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 27/08/2026. 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 14 Sep 2026. Sector medians based on financial year 2024: the last year for which nearly all accounts have been filed.

What the agency actually does 5 services

Advertising & Campaigns

Campaign concepts & big ideas Campaign execution

Social, Influencer & Community

Organic social content Social strategy & platform mix

Events, Sponsoring & Activation

Events & experiences

Sector focus

TelecomFood & beverageFinance & insuranceAutomotive & mobilityMedia & entertainment

Publicly known clients

TelenetSuper 8CrelanRBFAMercedesPro LeagueAB InBev

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

1

People 10 people mapped

This team is built around client service: 5 of 10 are account & project. Within that core, Klantbeheer, Relatiebeheer and Sales Support stand out. The titles skew top-heavy: lots of seniority, few juniors — you're mostly buying experience. Notably, no declared strategists in sight — this agency would rather make than philosophise.

BV

Bertel Van Gansbeke

Creative Director

KT

Kurt Tuypens

CEO & Founder

LV

Lars Verleyen

Account Executive

LD

Lien De Baerdemaeker

Account Manager

LC

Louis Cremers

Account Manager

MB

Maarten Babeliowsky

Account Executive

TS

Tom Sercu

Account Director

FB

Fien Beeckman

Creative & Copywriter

GD

Glenn De Kerpel

Video Creative

YS

Yannis Samar

Senior Creative & Copywriter

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

€ 64.294

+5% versus the median

Team composition

8,5 FTE

23% women
77% men

€ 64.294

Median Creatief bureau (2024) € 61.047All agencies (2024) € 59.069

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 2022

86,1%

Median for this type of agency (2024): 32,5%

Inflow 2022

91,7%

6,6 FTE in, 6,2 FTE out

Net team change

+0,4 FTE

20212022202320242025

Figures for financial year 2022: in 2025 this agency published no inflow or outflow.

Exits are clearly above what is usual for this type of agency. That may reflect project-based staffing, but it is a reason to ask in the pitch how much of the proposed team was already here two years ago, and to contractually fix your permanent contacts.

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 2024: the last year for which nearly all accounts have been filed.