Award-Winning LA-Based Indie The Many Launches in Australia

​LA indie agency The Many has landed in Australia, bringing its “participation-first” model to a market already buzzing with new players.

Co-founder Damien Eley -- an Aussie who returned four years ago after 20 years abroad and has been working remotely since -- said the agency isn’t here to compete with local indies, but to rewrite the rules.

Damien told LBB he “didn’t want to open in Australia just for the sake of it”, given there is already a stable of “good independent agencies”.

“It wasn’t until … we became confident that we had something really different to offer,” he said.

“The participation-first model that’s already delivering great results in the States can now be tailored for one of the world’s most digitally savvy and creatively ambitious markets.

“We're not here to shout louder; we’re here to invite people in.”

Last week, Kerfuffle became the latest indie agency to launch in Australia, following Hellions, whose launch LBB revealed in January. They join a crowded stable of fresh indies that includes the likes of Supermassive, It's Friday, Today the Brave, jnr., Rick Barry, Pembleton, Bureau of Everything, and Reunion.

The Many’s expansion into Australia also follows fellow US agency Wieden+Kennedy’s entrance into the market, revealed by LBB earlier this year.

“Australia doesn’t need just another indie creative agency," Damien said, "it needs a new kind of partner.”

The Many Australia will start by pulling talent from its LA office, but it intends for the Australian offering to eventually stand alone.

“Rather than opening another satellite agency, we are building a new model of creative business development for APAC – modular, flexible, and responsive," Damien explained.

"This vision encompasses smart, culturally tuned creative solutions for Australian brands, a hub for participatory branded content with monetisation potential, and a strategic base for regional expansion, innovation, and even potential acquisitions, particularly in the immersive tech space."

He continued, “We’ve built a borderless model where strategy, media, tech and creative work seamlessly across the time zones, but we’ll absolutely build locally, with a deep respect for Australian insight, culture, humour, and pace."

He described the model as a “creative operating system” allowing clients to plug into a single service or an “entire ecosystem” depending on their needs.

“I think this will be really attractive to APAC clients who haven’t looked at partnering with an agency on the backend like this. The Many Labs offers our AI Creator Engine, which matches brands with the perfect creators based on deep audience alignment, participation metrics, and engagement quality rather than just follower counts.”

The Many’s capabilities include strategic brand work (The Many Agency), brand content and IP (The Many Studios), AI-driven innovation (The Many Labs), media (The Many Media), and design and strategy (The Many Brand Partners).

Damien explained that The Many Studios developed a new branded content model whereby, "rather than asking for millions upfront, we ensure the show pays for itself by designing an attractive media plan, factoring in the brand, determining the media spend required, and then backing out the production."

“This isn’t a traditional agency launch and we’re not here to just work for hire."

“We’ve really tried to purpose-build this for an increasingly fragmented, fast-moving, and more audience-led world. We want to participate in our partners’ goals.”

From co-created IP and creator-led storytelling to AI-assisted campaign development, Damien described the company’s ethos as turning “brand fans into collaborators”, explaining that audiences should have “real roles”. In the US, The Many works with brands including Tripadvisor, Panda Express, and eBay, and has launched work including ‘However You Panda’ and ‘Between 2 Rides’.

“‘Participation’ isn’t just a buzzword -- it’s a business strategy that drives deeper engagement, richer data, and more durable brand love,” Damien said.

“Whether that’s remixing content, contributing ideas, or influencing product drops, participation becomes the measure. We look at time spent, content shared, communities built, and business impact driven, not just impressions. When a consumer becomes a fan and then feels like a co-creator, the brand grows with them.”

The difference between the participation model and a traditional agency is, as Damien said, “pretty fundamental”.

“Traditional models often build for audiences -- we are building with them.”

Building with audiences is key to how The Many remains robust and creative.

“For LA Tourism, when LA wanted to welcome visitors affected by Trump’s travel ban, instead of doing some traditional ads pushing out a message, we created a human-powered billboard at LAX, welcoming flights coming into LA in their native languages.

“For the beverage brand Mixwell, where the tagline was 'A mixer for people who mix well, and not for those who don’t’, we provided a ‘Do-it-yourself Boycott Kit’ so haters could set the product on fire and post it to their right-wing socials.

“Recently, for Diablo - Vessels Of Hatred, instead of just advertising the video game, we reimagined the mercenary characters who help you out in the game as a terrifying cross between Chuckie and your childhood companion doll -- and then provided the merch, a whole new way to interact with the brand, in a separate channel.”

Damien set up The Many in 2009, and previously had stints at agencies like Mother, Ogilvy, and BMF.