RCA: full service agency
RCA is een communicatiebureau dat verschillende expertises samenbrengt: HR & recruteringscommunicatie, PR en crisiscommunicatie, digitale communicatie, branding en marketing.
The content of this factsheet is in Dutch.
Cartel Agency is al meer dan een halve eeuw actief als creatief bureau uit Hasselt. Het bureau combineert creatie & reclame, strategie en branding & identiteit. Sectorieel richt het bureau zich vooral op nationale merken, retail, mutualiteiten/zorg en financiele/professionele dienstverlening. Tot de publiek bekende klanten behoren Wibra, CM (Christelijke Mutualiteit), Goed zorgwinkel en Accountants Van Morgen.
Per-head and per-hour figures say too little here: too few people are on the payroll. This factsheet therefore shows growth, profitability and balance sheet.
Expertise collectief
RCA is een communicatiebureau dat verschillende expertises samenbrengt: HR & recruteringscommunicatie, PR en crisiscommunicatie, digitale communicatie, branding en marketing.
Ze omringen hun klant met die verschillende expertises, maar blijven ook de afzonderlijke diensten aanbieden.
Hun klanten zijn evenredig verdeeld over B2C bedrijven, B2B bedrijven, en publieke organisaties; 20% van hun clienteel is Limburgs.
RCA bestaat uit een team van een 80-tal VTE, verdeeld over ⅓ creatief, ⅓ account/PM en ⅓ consultants. Onder andere:
- 3 strategen
- 6 developers & UX/UI
- 4 performance marketeers
- 2 media planners
- 4 social media managers
- 1 podcaster
- 13 personen in studio (copy/design)
- 2 recruitment marketeers
- 2 employer branding marketeers
- 4 corporate & crisis communicatie
Wat ze niet doen: complexe technologie, promomarketing.
Zelf omschrijven ze hun cultuur als: klantgericht, expertise gedreven
Waarin ze willen groeien: toegepaste data.
Referentieklanten:
Gepercipieerde concurrenten: LDV, Famous, BBDO, Happiness, Weber Shandwick, Walkie Talkie, Bossdata
Tech Stack: Drupal, Webflow
Voorbeelden: Dept
Ondernemingsnummer: 0432.741.843
Gemiddelde klantgrootte: 100k
2× Effie Awards BelgiumAs indicated by the agency itself.
How this agency makes money
Revenue, margin and what an hour of work brings in. Everything on the earning side sits together here.
Can the agency take a hit
Buffer, cash position and payment behaviour side by side, so you can see where they disagree.
Signals and strengths
Events from the CBE and the Official Gazette over the past 24 months, plus positive markers derived from the figures.
Continuity
Warnings active- Late filing · 27 Aug 2025 · NBBThe annual accounts were filed after the statutory deadline. Over a third of the sector does this; rarely alarming in itself.
- Sharp drop in equity · 31 Dec 2024 · NBBThe financial reserve shrank by more than 30% over two financial years. Watch whether the trend continues.
What this agency does well
- EBITDA margin above the sector median (27,5%)
- Profitable in every one of the last 3 years
- Strong buffer: 10,7 months of payroll in equity
- Team grew (+6,5% FTE in the latest year)
- Value-added per euro of payroll above the sector median (1,36)
- Healthy working capital (current ratio 1,39)
- Equity was earned, not injected (reserves 15,8× the capital contributed)
- Turnover below the median (21,0%)
All the figures
Reference material, not a starting point. Expand it if you want to read the series yourself.
3 financial years, 2021 to 2023Result, staff and balance sheet
| 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Result | |||
| Gross margin | € 3,91 mln | € 4,72 mln+20,6% | € 4,41 mln-6,4% |
| EBITDA | € 1,82 mln | € 1,78 mln | € 1,21 mln |
| EBITDA margin | 46,5% | 37,8% | 27,5% |
| Staff | |||
| FTE | 39,0 | 46,5+19,2% | 49,5+6,5% |
| Gross margin per FTE | € 100.231 | € 101.402 | € 89.138 |
| Payroll cost per FTE | € 58.641 | € 65.365 | € 68.334 |
| Balance sheet | |||
| Equity | € 1,84 mln | € 2,34 mln | € 3,03 mln |
| Cash | - | € 1,08 mln | € 256.597 |
| Liquidity ratio | - | 1,25 | 1,39 |
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.
- This agency files an abbreviated or micro scheme and therefore publishes no staff data. Seniority, turnover and hourly level cannot be derived. This is entirely legal and says nothing about quality.
- The figures cover financial year 2024, filed on 27/08/2025. 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 27 Jul 2026. Sector medians based on financial year 2024: the last year for which nearly all accounts have been filed.
What the agency actually does 35 services
Sector focus
Publicly known clients
Based on IKAg research and public sources. Incomplete or outdated? Let us know.
People 48 people mapped
The heart of this team is creative: 16 of 48 profiles are makers. Within that core, Design, Art Direction and Copywriting stand out. The titles skew top-heavy: lots of seniority, few juniors — you're mostly buying experience. There are 3 strategists around — expect thinking first, pixels second.
Based on public profiles. Something wrong? Let us know.
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.
Figures for financial year 2023: in 2024 this agency published no inflow or outflow.
Source: annual accounts and social reports (NBB), collected by IKAg. Financial year 2024. 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.