What gives Aotearoa’s networked agencies their power? A Kiwi way of thinking with global backup.
‘Local hustle and global muscle” is how CEO Catherine Harris describes what agency TBWA\ NZ offers both its clients and the industry.
What this means is having access to talent all over the world, a powerhouse of thinkers, platforms, resources, she says. And that is hard for a lot of other businesses to match.
She adds that, throughout her career, she has never worked for an agency as well connected.
Harris lists examples of what this looks like – from a massive data offering in Singapore that can be tapped into any time to an AI offering that is global and locally led. TBWA\ NZ can contribute to and use global studies, as well as run annual events on emerging trends to create disruptive growth.
Trademarked as the “Disruption Company”, TBWA\ NZ describes itself as a collective of 11,000-plus creative minds spanning 40 countries.
Disruption as methodology
Disruption is a positive, says Harris.
“Look at the confidence that you get when you stand for disruption – you are not upset and threatened by the world changing, evolving, moving on. You are embracing it because the world is not a static place.
“Disruption doesn’t mean the breaking of things, willy-nilly. It’s a strategic approach where you know what you want to disrupt and why.”
For TBWA\ NZ, it means looking for how its brands can grow into unoccupied spaces or by doing something others aren’t, she adds.
It’s been TBWA\’s global methodolgy for the last 30-plus years, and can be applied to any problem in business, says Chief Creative Officer Shane Bradnick.
“It allows some common language on how you can approach problems. How is everyone else doing it? And you either choose to keep some of those conventions or you play in a different space – which means your work, your thinking and your brand stand out so you find that clear space.”
Autonomous but global
It’s powerful to be very local and autonomous in Aotearoa yet have access to so many other thinkers and creatives. “It’s a really special alchemy,” says Harris.
Many network agencies NZ Marketing spoke to say the same.
At media agency PHD, General Manager of Planning James Davidson says global connections are of huge benefit – it means you don’t have to reinvent the wheel, instead using the network to access insights and solutions for shared problems.
Managing Director Abby Parkin agrees, adding that the agency delivers thought leadership and opportunities for training and development really well to its team as well as clients.
“We are in an industry that is constantly changing, so keeping our marketers of all levels and our team upskilled is incredibly important… We wouldn’t be able to do that if we weren’t the size we were and we didn’t have the diversified services and specialists that we have.”
The constant dynamism of the industry is what gets the PHD team fired up about their work.
The agency is grateful both for the strengths gained from its indie origins as well as its position in Omnicom Media Group (OMG).
CEO Nikki Grafton says one key to PHD’s success is the tenure of its nine-strong leadership team, who have worked together for a long time – there’s lots of camaraderie but they challenge each other, too.
Head of Investment and Media Helen Brown says it’s worth noting the sheer scale of PHD and the impact that has in the market.
“We really see it as a responsibility to support our clients and where they are investing. Shifts in terms of where investment is going does have an impact on media partners.”
The whole is greater
Ogilvy New Zealand CEO Steve Kane describes the agency’s competitive edge as its borderless way of working – a trans-Tasman network of 90 creatives across Australia, NZ and even Bali.
Kane’s 30-year career has spanned brand strategy, PR, production, as well as leadership roles across both independent and networked agencies. It’s given him a well-rounded perspective.
He left his role as Managing Director of indepedent agency True before taking up the CEO position at Ogilvy a year ago – he says it felt like coming home.
“I do like the infrastructure of an agency, and I like the fact that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.”
For example, his team in Auckland is “boutiquey in size”, but its borderless model allows it to distribute briefs to the people best suited to the job, or scale up when necessary – all while focusing on getting the best “return on creativity” for its clients, says Kane.
“I always liken it to a restaurant: agencies are creative, plus account planning, digital and PR – and every agency has a version of that. But it is the alchemy and chemistry of that particular mix of people that makes the difference.
“We’re the size of an indie but with the capability, depth and talent of a global agency.”
Ogilvy itself has 131 offices in 93 countries and has been around since 1948, founded by David Ogilvy in New York.
Full-strength sausage roll
Kane says the great thing about the market in Aotearoa is that people are brave, innovative and willing to take risks.
He points to Ogilvy’s recent campaign with bp’s Wildbean Cafe, “Drives you cravey”, in which they vinyl-wrapped a tanker to look like a sausage roll.
“That was a fantastic client who went, ‘Sure, you do the ads.’ And so now that tanker exists and is driving around the North Island,” Kane laughs.
“I’ve worked in the UK, which has got some fantastic work, but the layers you’ve got to get through to get something great up is a lot. Whereas we [in Aotearoa] have an ability to go to market faster and the ideas tend to get there without having been watered down too much.”
Information bombardment
Auckland CEO of FCB Aotearoa Paul Wilson says one of the big challenges to the industry as a whole is the sheer complexity of the modern marketing landscape.
Clients are bombarded with information from every direction – new technologies, changing cultural and market dynamics – all of which are important but require money, time and energy.
What an integrated, collaborative and connected agency like FCB offers is the simplicity to navigate these challenges, says Wilson.
The largest full-service agency in Aotearoa, FCB has offices in Auckland and Wellington. It is unique for having all of its disciplines, including strategy, creative, media, data and technology, under one roof, rather than a suite of brands connected by a network, says CEO Wellington, Sean Keaney.
“Our people get regular exposure to diverse capabilities and expertise. Integration isn’t a model for us, it’s a set
of behaviours… We have a commitment at FCB to staying curious and a belief that ideas get better when we collaborate. The added benefit is that our people get more opportunities to grow their breadth of understanding and experience.”
The team counts itself lucky to partner with ambitious Kiwi organisations who have the power to affect significant change – the likes of Waka Kotahi, Pak’nSave, Four Square, Mitre 10 and Mercury – says Chief Strategy Officer, Matt Kingston.
He gives a shoutout to the work the agency has done recently with Pak’nSave’s Stickman.
“The last year has been really rewarding, in the way we’re building on the ruthless consistency and commitment of Stickman with really interesting plays into technology data and disruptive media tactics.”
True collaboration
With the brand motto: “Make it Right – Make it Magic – Make it Work”, Publicis Groupe New Zealand prides itself on the way it drives industry collaboration.
Describing itself as a connected platform, Publicis brings together a stable of agencies from across Aotearoa, including media agency MBM, media innovator Spark Foundry, creative stalwart Saatchi & Saatchi, and digital and data specialist Digitas.
Together they use this phrase as inspiration to work together across all of their capabilities and specialisms to bring new business solutions to clients and removing brand silos while they’re at it, says Publicis Groupe Chief Connection Officer and Saatchi & Saatchi CEO, Mark Cochrane.
For example, MBM has a team of 115 locally, but through Publicis it has access to the brains of over 1,800 from across the Tasman, says CEO Lee-Ann Morris.
Part of the success of this model comes from having a single point of contact – the 20 agencies in Australia and Aotearoa report to Publicis Group ANZ CEO Michael Rebelo and the closely connected leadership team.
Radical transformations
Rob Harvey, who has been CEO at dentsu Aotearoa since 2013, says the business has transformed radically over his tenure – from a small agency of 30 to now 300 working across media, creative, brand experience, data and technology.
“Despite joining what was at the time, a media agency, I have always held a strong belief in the power of integrated solutions for client problems,” says Harvey.
“We have worked hard over the last 10 years to build deep specialist capability that is connected across the organisation.”
Work is now as varied as consulting on brand architecture and digital transformation to systems integration to creative campaigns and media planning, as well as data and analytics.
This looks like denstu launching and helping to grow TVNZ’s on demand service, TVNZ+, as well as its Salesforce team building the national immunisations register for Te Whatu Ora. Another activation, Aid Aisle – a pop-up supermarket set up as an aid station during the annual Kepler Track race as an ad for FreshChoice – recently won multiple awards at the 2024 Cannes Lions Festival.
Harvey identifies two main ways dentsu stands out from its competitors: the breadth of its capabilities and the depth of the specialism in each, and its ambition to be a B2B2S company.
He explains that this means business to business to society, where the goal is to have meaningful impact on the world through its initiatives around diversity and inclusion, sustainability and mental health.
While incredible innovation happens in Aotearoa, the scale and expanse of global technology means businesses, like dentsu, that maximise their connections and talent, have more opportunities, says Harvey.
This was first published in the 2024 September-October NZ Marketing Magazine issue. Subscribe here.
