Our story

Born from
client demand

“i” and “media” stand for interactive media. “9” is cloud nine, the cumulonimbus that rises above all other clouds. i9media is marketing to rise above.

A surfer walking a dune path to the beach

How it started

A surf publication first

Andre Niemeyer built his first computer at fifteen, in Brazil, to edit surf films of his friends. He called the first one Vernacular, after the local lingo of five kids learning the sport together. Surf, media and technology have travelled together ever since.

He competed, placing third in the state of Rio de Janeiro, then surfed for UCSD while studying philosophy, and went straight into the philosophy PhD program at USC. In 2007, with family to support and a recession closing doors, he left to build something that joined it all together.

With an $899 laptop and six months of learning to code, he launched My Local Lineup, covering surfing as a culture of sport, art and music rather than competition alone. It became the second-ranked surf website in the world by traffic, behind Surfer and ahead of Surfing Magazine, and led to My Local Lineup TV, airing nine times a week in prime time and at weekends.

Businesses started asking Andre to replicate that success for them. In 2011, i9media was born in San Diego. Since then the agency has helped partners across auto, lifestyle, furniture and technology overcome market challenges: turnarounds, e-commerce growth, and two acquisitions, Litra by Logitech and Lumenlabs by R-Zero.

The full record

My Local Lineup, 2007 · i9media, 2011

Born from client demand

Milestones

Nineteen years, in six lines

2007
My Local Lineup launches and becomes the second-ranked surf website in the world by traffic, behind Surfer and ahead of Surfing Magazine. Supconnect follows in 2010, one of the first five websites for stand-up paddling.
2011
i9media is founded in San Diego, at the request of the businesses that wanted the same results for their own brands.
2013
Flow Sports brings us in for SIC Maui and Flow Snowboards. SIC Maui grows from a Maui backyard brand into a global one, later acquired by BIC Sport; Flow turns around years of decline.
2017
Litra, a startup, grows into a global brand on i9media photography, video and campaigns, and is acquired by Logitech.
2021
Lumenlabs, a biotech startup, builds its brand and market presence with i9media, and is acquired by R-Zero.
2026
LaneLift, a lead-intake and business-insights platform built from nineteen years of partner work, opens to its first design partners.

What we believe

Because goodness and competence matter

Having great people, good and competent, by your side makes the journey better and more rewarding in more than one way. That is the company we try to be.

No ego
Do what it takes, learn from the rights and the wrongs, and iterate. The work is the point, not the credit.
Partnerships, not accounts
We measure ourselves in long-term value created together, and in the relationships that outlast any single project.
Competence through results
Net sales on lower discounts and smaller ad budgets. If the numbers do not move, the work is not done.
Purposeful innovation
New tools when they compress a month of work into an hour, never for their own sake. Technology in service of the partner.

Meet the team that adds meaning to marketing

Above & beyond

A core team of eight: the founder, two marketing operations managers, a creative director, two web developers and two media producers, plus a bench of specialist contractors we pull in as the work requires.