In the June-August 2026 issue of NZ Marketing magazine, we asked agency founders to tell us the story behind why they started their agency, their favourite thing, what they’ve learned and their best advice.
Bad Magic
- Founders: Tom and Julie Darlow
- Year founded: 2025
Tell us the story behind founding your agency.
Bad Magic is predicated on the idea that everyone should be able get the magic of creativity, without the sleight of hand that usually comes with it.
We want to be more collaborative than that, so think of ourselves as clumsy magicians. Like, we’ll still saw our assistant in half, but you’ll see how it’s done. And there may be a little blood.
Tom and Julie Darlow started Bad Magic in 2025.
What’s your favourite thing about running your own agency?
No layers of hierarchy. No politics. We can go with our guts. And our clients have direct access to us at all times.
Proof of that is we have an office in the BNZ building – they’re a client. The hallway convos are awesome for bouncing ideas off each other.
What’s the most important thing you’ve learned?
The absolute coolest thing we’ve learned is how supportive the indie community is.
Coming from big agencies, that was a shock to us. Everyone is helping each other out with contacts, advice and office space. It’s epic.
Tom: We are learning so much – I’m a total nerd, I love learning stuff and I reckon I’ve learnt more in the last year than the decade before that. I’m learning about how to run a business which was foreign to me beforehand.
But I’m also learning more about what clients want. In big agencies, it was a bit like ‘us’ and ‘them’ with the clients. And now I’m delivering more of what’s actually important to them.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve received or given out?
Never go with a hippie to a second location – Jack Donaghy.
This story comes from NZ Marketing magazine issue 87, June-August 2026. Why not subscribe? Get four issues a year for just $50 (including delivery) if you autorenew.
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