Carolyn Kerr and Jane Sweeney
Anthem’s founders wanted to break free from traditional corporate comms to tell clients’ stories in new and expanded ways. After 10 years, the industry is still catching up.
When Jane Sweeney and Carolyn Kerr set up Anthem 11 years ago, they decided they wanted Arianna Huffington at their launch party.
“We thought, who was there in the media that we admire who’s a female entreprenuer that’s maybe a little bit older? Huffington Post, why don’t we give it a whirl?” says Sweeney.
“So we did, I raised the money and she came. We were only five months old and we had 900 people for our launch.”
Having the founder of an international media company travel to Aotearoa for their event showed them what was possible as an independent after years of working in agencies, adds Kerr.
“We felt unshackled, just that sense of independence gives you a boost in confidence and you realise you only have to ask yourself for permission. It means you can invest in people or initiatives that perhaps you wouldn’t have been authorised to do previously.”
A different way to tell stories
Anthem came to life on January 6, 2014. It was a result of Sweeney and Kerr’s shared belief that PR had been “boxed in” as simply being about media relations and earned media.
The co-founders explain they wanted to expand the way they told client stories, while helping those clients find their most powerful voice.
“We felt that modern methodologies, especially digital, were equally creative and could be equally applied to really solid corporate communications,” says Sweeney.
Within months, they were responding to briefs for multichannel solutions, and with significant changes to the media landscape, this has continued.
Gone are the days of issuing blanket media releases, says Sweeney. Instead the Anthem team are media savvy and pitch targeted angles to specific outlets or journalists.
That first year in business, Anthem did some market research where results showed most clients were looking for consolidation among their agency partners.
“It was very obvious to Carolyn and I that the old model of multiple parties wasn’t working for clients,” says Sweeney. “We actually had one client and we went to an agency planning day – they had
11 agencies in the room. I don’t even think they realised, so they ran an RFP.”
Rockstar teams
Armed with these insights and their years of experience, Sweeney and Kerr established Anthem with an agile model – a core team of staff that can be scaled up with specialists, from creative directors to economists, depending on the size and type of projects the agency is taking on.
Sweeney thought everyone would copy their way of working. But it’s taken the better part of 10 years before others in the market started doing the same.
“We’ve been at tables where we’ve brought the most rocking creative director to the table and we’re up against a large ad agency. They live in fear of little whippersnappers like us that can pull together a rockstar team,” she laughs.
Sweeney and Kerr’s dedication to partnerships with their clients has seen Anthem become a trusted adviser across both business and communications.
An important part of that is joining the dots between consumer and corporate communications, explains Kerr.
“In the old days, a lot of the focus was purely on the person who’s going to buy the product without due consideration given to others that make the business successful.
“So your marketing or communications message needs to go quite far and be adapted to lots of different audiences – so that was the heart of how we stepped up to the plate when clients came.”
Educate as well as promote
One of Anthem’s early campaigns – called Visa is Now – is a good example. The brief was to educate consumers about the benefit of contactless payments – before this method was the norm.
By featuring local SMEs, including Moustache Milk and Cookies, Anthem helped Visa make their budget “work harder”, showing the benefits for not just customers but businesses too.
Secondly, it’s about being the glue between a client’s brand building and reputation management, says Sweeney.
“You could have something going off with a brand launch while you’ve got a massive regulatory issue with the Commerce Commission.
“So we often find ourselves being the glue in that situation, saying we don’t advise you launch that product this week. And clients often say to us ‘I feel safe on your watch’ because of that. And that was always our purview from the beginning.”
The two founders say Anthem’s model and energy quickly saw them attract customers – they’ve had clients and made profits since day one – as well as “great talent” like Head of Integrated Communications Sarah Geel who celebrated her 10-year anniversary in February.
It’s all about the people
It helps that Kerr and Sweeney love working together.
“We’re joined at the hip, quite inseperable,” laughs Sweeney. “It’s ridiculous, we’ve worked together 20 years this February.”
For both Sweeney and Kerr, the people they get to work with is the reason why they do what they do.
“The thing we get the most satisfaction from is seeing other people’s careers flourish, grow and evolve. Whether they stay with us or whether they go offshore or into other businesses in New Zealand, that is incredibly satisfying,” says Kerr.
“To have seen team members go from interns to then be promoted three times over within the same amount of years is super fulfilling.”
Passionate about giving back
Giving back is a strong throughline for Anthem, from offering networking training to clients and team members to hosting a startup in their office space.
They work with non-profits and on causes the team feels passionate about – they have an ongoing partnership with the Institute of Directors Chapter Zero programme and their 2021 campaign, ‘The Domino Effect’, with the Aged Care Assocation, shone a light on issues plaguing the aged care sector.
The campaign ran until recently, reaching millions of Kiwis, and seeing the newly elected coalition government in late 2023 list the aged care sector as a key focus. It also won Excellence in Not-For-Profit Marketing Strategy at the 2024 YouTube NZ Marketing Awards.
“The work is meaningful for us and our team because you can see a clear broader benefit to society or the economy or the environment, not just about commercial gain for that client,” says Kerr.
“So you need to be able to believe in what you are promoting, from a consumer product right through to pay equity for aged care.”
They add that Anthem also likes to have fun. With Spark a long-term client, the agency has worked with the telco on the rollout of 5G, with activations at the America’s Cup race zone in Auckland in 2022 and the Spark 5G Street Museum, that featured Kiwi choreographer Parris Goebel and singer-songwriter Benee in 2023.
A place to thrive
Anthem’s physical location in Auckland’s CBD also ticks a lot of these boxes – as well as being close to other businesses, Commercial Bay and the Britomart transport hub, it’s close to the water and has a wonderful view, says Kerr.
The office space has allowed Anthem to reduce its carbon footprint, and helped create an environment where people can thrive physically and culturally.
It all speaks right to the agency’s values: care deeply, do it better and be the difference.
“Those values drive our team every day to care about our clients’ businesses, each other and the outcomes we’re shooting for. Do it better is about not resting on your laurels and finding innovative ways to solve clients’ business problems,” says Kerr.
“Being the difference is how are we making a difference to the clients but also for the environment we’re working in – physically and socially.”
This story comes from NZ Marketing magazine issue 82, March-April 2025. Why not subscribe? Get four issues a year for just $50 (including delivery) if you autorenew.
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