Elle Bullen and Mike Doman Launch Hellions, a “Rowdy” and Rebellious Indie

Elle Bullen and Mike Doman have become the latest ad execs to leave agency jobs to launch a start-up, LBB can reveal. They hope their new shop, Hellions, will embody a spirit of rebellion and cheekiness. 

“A Hellion is a rowdy or a mischievous child,” Mike told LBB. “I think Ellie and I have been referred to as rowdy and mischievous children more in our careers than we'd be proud to admit. 

“It came from this spirit of kids who are up to no good, are always looking for opportunity. And throughout our careers ... that's where we've found the most interesting, fertile, fun, creative work.”

In launching the “creative joint”, the pair leave their roles at Melbourne-based indie agency Bullfrog, where Elle was executive creative director and Mike executive strategy director. CEO Dalton Henshaw thanked the pair for being "incredible contributors to Bullfrog's rise over the past couple of years."

"Their impact has been felt across the board, both at Bullfrog and in the ad community," he said.

"While it’s bittersweet to say goodbye to these wonderful people, they leave as dear friends, and I couldn’t be prouder to see them have the courage to step out on their own and have a crack together. It feels special that Bullfrog is a chapter in the part of their incredible careers prior to wonderful moment. I can’t wait to see them soar."

It’s not Elle’s first time setting up her own agency. In 2016, she became creative founder at SICKDOGWOLFMAN, but was forced to step away when she was diagnosed with cancer whilst pregnant with her second child. She left the agency, and industry, in 2021, and three weeks later was re-diagnosed with cancer. After a year away, she started at Bullfrog as ECD one day a week.

“I kind of felt like being a founder with two young kids and health concerns and a preference to continue working part time wasn't able to be a reality,” she said of becoming a founder this time around. “But you know, better [to] have a go.”

Hellions isn’t designed to fill a gap in the indie market. In fact, Elle said the launch is about her and Mike, not the industry.

“A big motivator is for us to step back from managing teams so much and do the things that really actually make us happy.

“So it's really stemmed from that, rather than being a reflection of the state of the industry.”

Mike agrees that “the goal is to be creative people and continue to be creative people, rather than being management people.”

Upon launch, Pembleton’s founders said its model would remain purposefully flexible to service clients rejecting agency-of-record relationships and bringing capabilities in-house. Hellions will similarly shirk a rigid model and growth plan in favour of finding its shape organically and over time. 

The pair are open to working in-house for chunks of time, taking on traditional advertising work, and collaborating with “a network of indies to deliver bigger solutions.”

“Both of us have the ambition to build something that we're really proud of. What shape that looks like, I don't think we're tying ourselves into,” Mike said. 

“There's a lot of danger in really rampant ambition that goes well, 'This needs to be 20 people or 50 people, or we need to be in 10 different markets'. That's not how Ellie and I are motivated.

“We don't have ambitions to grow this thing and flog it off. We love what we do, we're passionate about what we do, and as long as the stuff coming through the door is of a shape that's interesting and engaging, and we continue to know people who can solve these problems, and we can bring them in as and when we need them, or hire them full time if it's something that gets to that, that's more what we're motivated by.”

Within the trend of ad leaders leaving (usually network) agencies to launch an indie, another trend has emerged: creatives and strategists pairing up, as art directors and copywriters do. There’s Cam Blackley and Emily Taylor’s Bureau of Everything, and Alex Derwin and Hugh Munro’s Rick Barry. 

Elle and Mike want to stay close to the work - as Mike said, “there’s a real joy in being a technician” - which means entangling the creative and strategic processes. That’s why they will each hold the position of partner; they found it difficult to distil their philosophy into typical creative and strategic job titles.

“Our process is like a squiggly line between us that just goes back and forth and it's messy, but the magic's in the mess,” Mike said, “and, actually, mess is okay, if you still know where to find things in the mess.”

They don’t have a client wishlist, in fact, “I would feel like we've done our jobs if the least expected person came to us and we could help them solve a problem in a really interesting and extraordinary way,” Elle said.

‘Extraordinary is everywhere’ is a positioning of sorts, a unifying thought that means Elle and Mike are just as interested in working with start-ups as they are blue-chip clients.

“Our job is to find extraordinary in anything, and that doesn't necessarily need to be a great piece of work,” Mike said. 

“We also see it as our responsibility to find extraordinary in the team that we build around us. If someone comes on board, it's our job to get extraordinary out of them. It's our job to get extraordinary out of our clients, or make them better marketers.”

Mike recalled a day spent at Elle’s place recently, tossing ideas back and forth, and “throwing back [a] borderline disgusting” amount of tea. It was one of the best days of work he could remember. He wants his weeks to be filled with days just like that at Hellions: “hang[ing] around with one of my pals”, making work the way they want to make it.

“It's not what we're trying to build, it's why we're doing it,” Elle said. “And the why is because we want to spend time together every day, solving problems, and as long as we can continue to do that, that's success for us.”