‘We need to change’ isn’t a plan, but genuine differentiation is. Federation’s ROI2 approach multiplies long-term demand while converting short-term behaviour. It all adds up to growth.
Federation’s leaders sum up in two words where the next big move for marketers lies: be different. The agency, which builds strategic advantage for clients around ROI² – ideas that deliver compounding returns – can see the biggest opportunity ahead.
“CMOs and brand marketers already sense that 2027 has to be The Year of Be Different,” says Sharon Henderson, CEO and founder of Federation. “But it takes vision and focus to know exactly where to invest in being different. The challenges of recent years should be pushing everyone to question the way things have always been done. Staying the same isn’t an option. AI is redrawing both the opportunity and the competitive set, and economic shocks are so regular we barely blink – inflation sticky around 4.1%, job growth flat, oil shocks after a war nobody forecast.”
Build growth that lasts
Chief strategy officer Dan Bye says: “Saying ‘we need to change’ is a diagnosis, not a plan. The harder question is what you change, what is genuinely differentiated and what you keep for compounding growth.
“Here’s the test for any 2027 plan: if your media stopped tomorrow, how much of the growth gained in 2026 would still be there in a year? For many brands the honest answer is: not enough. Growth bought rather than built is growth you buy again every cycle, fragile at exactly the moment the budget gets cut. That’s when an enduring brand stops being the discretionary line the CFO eyes up and becomes a major asset.”
Henderson adds: “The brands that come out of this decade ahead won’t be the ones that changed most – they’ll be the ones that doubled down on being different, even when the ground moved under them.”
The agency that is different
Federation has applied ‘be different’ to its own agency, building the ROI² model that guides client business strategy as well as marketing, and opening a Wellington office in March under managing partner Aaron White. Three wins have followed, including the office’s first major government appointment and a significant hire in behaviour change specialist Sinead McLeod as strategy director.
“We’re in growth mode, and I’m intent on securing another major Wellington client this year, public or private sector,” says White.
“Federation’s deep capability in business as well as marketing means commercially rigorous thinking at a level that’s hard to find in an agency, real behavioural science rigour for our government partners and creative work designed for growth, not only awards.”
“When it comes to finding growth for clients, we’re relentless,” says managing director Olly Walker-Boden. “We target the best territories with our ROI² planning approach, multiplying long-term demand while converting short-term behaviour. The brands winning already are the ones investing in ‘different’ – genuinely differentiated category leaders who will only grow from here.”
Auckland Transport: three years of growing
Federation client Auckland Transport dominates the 2026 Marketing Awards with more finalists than any other organisation, including Marketing Team of the Year and Marketer of the Year. Federation has proudly partnered AT throughout its years of investing in different. Anna Lawrence, GM Marketing at Auckland Transport says: “We committed up front to be brave and resilient, working in a true partnership with our agencies to deliver something extraordinary for our brand.”
“AT stopped benchmarking itself against other public service operators and started learning from businesses that are excellent at being chosen again and again. Brands whose model depends on being picked repeatedly by people who had another option,” says Henderson.
Walker-Boden adds: “Alongside the AT team, we’ve doubled down on platform thinking, while showing up differently. The three-year brand platform ‘Mix your go’ embraced the car rather than fighting it. Public transport revenue rose $66.4 million in a single campaign year. With WX1, the platform itself became culture – an original Church & AP track naming every stop, released with no branding. Patronage has lifted 42%, and every feeder route with it.”
“With WX1, Aucklanders already had viable alternatives for 63% of their car trips, so the job was never to create demand, but to reframe the choice. That is what knowing where to invest in ‘different’, looks like,” says Henderson.
DoorDash: the compound growth brand
Talent, culture and creator moments are all levers of the DoorDash platform. ‘Dash’, the hugely successful strategy Federation built for DoorDash, plays the long game and gives every quick move a position to stand on. In August this year, the team created a showstopping partnership between DoorDash and adidas.
With the All Blacks playing three tests in South Africa, kick-offs land at 3am here, so adidas opened a branded store on DoorDash for match days – with a twist. Several lucky fans will open their doors to legendary ex-All Blacks arriving before dawn with their orders.
“Thousands of fans are setting alarms for 3am and making a real occasion of it,” says Rhian Bedford-Palmer, marketing manager at DoorDash New Zealand. “The adidas partnership is another differentiated moment that lifts DoorDash preference – ready to deliver, day or night.”
“The biggest opportunity in 2027 isn’t a new channel or a new tool,” says Henderson. “It’s the differentiated space in your category that is unclaimed, because being different is uncomfortable before it’s valuable. Come talk to us about how to claim it and own enduring growth for your brand that can’t be bought.”
This story is from NZ Marketing magazine issue 88, Sept-Nov 2026. Why not subscribe? Get four issues a year for just $50 (including delivery) if you autorenew.
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