Est. in 1993 in Europe and since 2012 in New York City
Founded as one of the first European web agencies, The Reference grew out over the years to a global digital agency, serving SMB and Global Fortune 500 companies with relationships spawned from launch and continuing today.
The Reference now has offices in New York City, Ghent and Antwerp and counts over 160 employees. Since 2007, they are part of the international group Emakina (ALEMK), expanding their international reach even further.
When The Reference started in 1993, websites were just a separate goal. Meanwhile, websites have long evolved into powerful means of helping to realize the strategic objectives of a company. From the very beginning, marketers and technical guys teamed up at The Reference in order to realize groundbreaking projects. And guess what, we still do so today.
The Reference was born
Emakina Group becomes the new shareholder of The Reference
The Reference integrates the creative cell of Design is Dead Antwerp into its team
The Reference acquires New-York based digital agency Karbyn