G Squared founders George Pappas and George Photios have launched Mercantile Co. as the parent company for four specialist digital agencies. The group brings together businesses spanning performance, social media monitoring, AI, technology and digital experience.
The move formalises a multi-agency structure that has developed around G Squared, founded in 2012 and expanded over the past four years with three additional agencies. The combined group employs more than 70 people.
Mercantile Co. includes G Squared, which focuses on paid media, SEO, performance creative and data; Burrow, a social media monitoring, listening and community management agency launched in 2022; Wordie, which develops and supports WordPress services; and GammaDX, an AI-focused digital experience agency launched earlier this year.
Pappas will lead GammaDX, while Photios will continue to lead G Squared. Burrow is headed by Chief Executive Officer Manuel Kambos, who joined in 2025. Under the new structure, each agency will retain its specialism and client relationships.
The founders said the decision reflects increasingly specialised client needs in digital marketing. Instead of operating as a single broad agency, the group has chosen to position its businesses with separate identities and more clearly defined roles.
Clients across the agencies include Endeavour Energy, P&G, the University of Sydney, Bunnings, Monash University, Meriton Suites, Mitsubishi Electric, Jemena, Toshiba, Mirvac, the National Rugby League, Region Group and National Storage.
Group structure
Photios said clients were seeking specialist expertise rather than generalist agency models.
"Clients don't need agencies trying to be everything to everyone. Now more than ever, they need deep expertise, great people and partners who understand how their particular discipline can drive their businesses forward," said George Photios, Founder, Mercantile Co.
"Mercantile Co. gives us the structure to build exactly that. We've reached a point where the agencies have developed their own identities, client bases and areas of expertise, so it made sense to establish specialist agencies to better serve client needs," he said.
Pappas said the parent company model would also allow clients to draw on more than one agency when needed.
"Where a client has a broader challenge, we can bring the right Mercantile Co. agencies together, combining their capabilities to solve the problem without compromising what makes each agency distinctive," said George Pappas, Founder, Mercantile Co.
"It gives clients the best of both worlds: deep specialist expertise and the ability to access a broader set of capabilities when they need them," he said.
Origins
The Mercantile Co. name comes from the group's Sydney headquarters in the former Mercantile Bank building at 151 Regent Street in Chippendale, a site dating to the late 1800s. The founders tied the new name to that location as they reshaped the organisation around specialist agencies.
G Squared began as a single digital marketing agency and grew into a broader collection of businesses as demand expanded across marketing, technology, reputation management and digital experience. The launch of Burrow in 2022 and GammaDX earlier this year marked two of the clearest expansions beyond the original agency.
Wordie adds WordPress-centred web development and support, extending the group beyond media and communications services. Together, the agencies now cover a broader range of functions that clients may previously have sourced from separate providers.
Photios said the new parent company was designed to reflect the market's direction.
"We started G Squared because we saw an opportunity to do digital differently. As we approach our fifteenth year, the opportunity is much bigger. Mercantile Co. allows us to keep building specialisms that are relevant to where the market is moving, rather than where it has been," he said.
Pappas said the aim was not to create scale for its own sake.
"Mercantile Co. is not about creating a bigger agency for the sake of being bigger, but about building sharper expertise and a clearer role in our clients' success. And there is a lot more to come," he said.