TBWA\ANG, one of Malta’s oldest advertising agencies, has closed down.

The agency was founded some 58 years ago by Godfrey Grima, a well-known figure in the Maltese media industry who passed away in 2021.

His daughter Julianne Grima, who has run the company for the last 15 years, announced that the agency has closed to clients and will be liquidated.

Ms Grima recounted her long history with the agency, which started from childhood, when her father promised she would one day inherit the business. She said that although she never having a genuine interest in the industry, she still showed up for him.

Indeed, she said that when her father handed her full ownership of the business, she felt as though a “weighted blanket had dropped over her shoulders”.

And she said she knew she would close down the business the moment her father passed away five years ago.

Godfrey Grima - Photo: TBWA/ANG

“My obligation had always been to my father. Once that purpose was fulfilled, the weight of continuing felt unnecessary,” she said.

“In the years that followed I waited patiently, though often feeling as though I was sinking beneath the combined weight of grief, responsibility, and a loneliness that leadership rarely allows you to voice.”

“Owning a business often requires you to be the bigger person, again and again, while witnessing behaviour that can be shockingly vulgar or ignorant.”

“And still, you remain composed, truth be told, hardly my strong point. Bert (my partner) joined me for the last two years. I suspect he hoped that sharing the responsibility might somehow soften my determination to close the business. It did not.”