DDB AUNZ Wants to Make Work That Couldn’t Exist Elsewhere: “We’re The Goldilocks Option”

Priya Patel and Matty Burton want DDB Group Australia and New Zealand to be a “Goldilocks” agency, making work that wouldn’t be possible in markets that are too big or too small, too bureaucratic, or too slow.

Earlier this week, New Zealand CEO Priya and CCO Matty were elevated to regional roles after Andrew Little stepped down, ending his 25-year tenure with DDB. His successor as regional CEO, Priya, tells LBB “evolution is necessary” and her job now is to distinguish the glass -- the bits that must be protected or else break -- and the mouldable clay.

“For us, the glass is our cultural DNA of ‘talented and nice’ humans,” she says.

“We always bang on about it and recognise it can sound simplistic and ‘Pollyanna’ - but think it is genuinely differentiating and true.

“We’re not hierarchal, we’re not political, we’re not constantly scheming or moaning. We operate in the best interests of our clients and the creative product, and we apply our talents to drive the work forwards. It is a team endeavour and not achievable if you’re a talented egomaniac or overly friendly layabout. AL [Andrew Little] hired to ‘talented and nice’ for 25 years, and we will continue to match those standards.

“But evolution is necessary, change has to be embraced, and the future is necessarily unpredictable. We see the competitive landscape is crowded – other networks, indies, in housing, AI tools. Matty and I don’t have crystal balls or magic solutions. But … we are prepared to experiment, admit failure, and celebrate wins, and so ultimately keep ‘moulding the clay’ and future-proofing the business.”

DDB’s global positioning is a promise to give businesses the ‘Power to Move’, creating work that builds emotional bonds between brands and the people who buy from them.

“Within that, DDB AUNZ has the opportunity to create products and ideas that potentially couldn’t emerge in other markets,” Priya proposes, “either because they are too big or too small, too bureaucratic or too slow. We’re the Goldilocks ‘just right’ option.”

Matty, who steps into the newly-created regional CCO role, says coming up with “odd shaped ideas” that couldn’t exist elsewhere starts with three tenets: “Create like an artist. Solve like an engineer. Act like an entrepreneur.”

“We have to blend storytelling, technology, and experimentation into everything we do for clients -- and often proactively solve for problems before we’re briefed,” he says.

“Our ‘simple’ ambition is to be the best place for creativity in the world that just happens to be from Australia and New Zealand.

“There are some agencies that are iconic -- Mother, BBH, adam&eve, Wiedens, Mischief -- and they all have an absolute obsession for great ideas that has propelled them, and their clients, to global success. That’s the level of ambition for DDB AUNZ. We want to consistently punch above our weight and set global benchmarks for what brilliantly-applied creativity looks like.”

DDB’s Australian and New Zealand offices are among the network’s strongest creative outfits globally. The Melbourne office has spent the past few years rebuilding, establishing new business and creative momentum, while DDB Group Sydney now faces its own rebuild.

In Aotearoa, Samsung’s ‘iTest’ converted iPhones into Android devices and collected a Black Pencil at D&AD, while ‘Correct the Internet’ petitioned Google to update inaccurate search results that failed to reflect female athletes’ achievements. The Melbourne team launched the world’s first dyslexic university and a stock market for creativity, and Sydney’s recent work includes a Volkswagen badge that saves kangaroos, and a revival of ‘The Original Mouthful’ for McDonald’s.

“Recently, we were going through the work globally, and you see the work from Melbourne, from Sydney, and I obviously know the work from New Zealand,” Matty says, “but when you look at it together, it is already on another level. If we started from that place, it scares me a little just how good I think we can be.”

Priya wants each office to “have its own identity and personality” and won’t take a “cookie cutter approach” to leading and building the three markets.

“But we want to align standards, ambitions, and attitudes and to be able to come together when the opportunity is right. That might be around a specific client, or training or a product that we can scale across all markets.”

The rest of the world can struggle to distinguish Australian work from New Zealand work, according to Matty, who acknowledges the similarities but points to differences in cultural truths, news cycles, and quirks in humour.

“Our best work, from both countries, is amongst the very best in the world. I think at that top end of work, there is not that much difference. The same things are true that go into making any great work -- true partnership with clients as well as time, space, and talent.”

Matty -- who co-founded Special Group’s Australian offices, and has had stints at the likes of Google and TBWA in Australia, Saatchi & Saatchi in NZ, and Droga5 New York -- moved from Sydney to Auckland in 2021 to take on the group CCO role: one of Priya’s first major hires following her promotion from Sydney MD to New Zealand CEO earlier that year.

“There is a community spirit in the creative industries in New Zealand that I really enjoy. You meet a lot of people in film, music, other agencies, and everyone gets on, hangs out,” he observes of the nuances between Australia and New Zealand.

“In Australia, there is just a bit more of everything. So whilst there might not be the cottage industry spirit, the flip of this is a few options on people to collaborate with when making.

“Each have their benefits. We’re going to be spoilt to be able to pick and choose for what is right for the projects.”

The duo will continue to be based in Auckland, and keep running the New Zealand agency, or “dual-hatting” as Matty describes it. Priya’s direct reports include Sydney CEO Sheryl Marjoram and Melbourne CEO Michael Napolitano, while Matty will lead a team of CCOs that include Gary Steele in New Zealand, Matt Chandler in Sydney, and Psembi Kinstan in Melbourne.

“The best bit is I don’t really have to do much,” Matty quips. “Matt, Psembi and Gary are weapons at what they do and the teams they have around them more broadly are more than capable of getting to great work without any input from me.

“So my job, as I see it, is to create opportunity, to create space, to remove the noise and get everyone to play a bit more.

“From a client’s perspective, it will be about listening properly and making sure we are crystal clear and ready to roll with what we are suggesting. It sounds basic, but to be honest, what we do is. We just tend to overcomplicate things and forget how important the little things can be.”

Priya wants those clients -- which include McDonald’s, Coles, Volkswagen, New World, ACCIONA, Vogel’s and COLORSTEEL -- to bring DDB AUNZ their problems, and give “us a shot” at creatively solving them.

“We also want to be an agency that clients just want to talk to and trust. A business that delivers brilliant ideas and sustained results, time after time,” she says.

“Matty and I have a ‘simple’ job which is to create the conditions for success – an environment and attitude of openness, collaboration and even vulnerability, so that our people can bring their creative genius to the fore, and our clients experience the best of our thinking.”