Indie Boom or Slow Fizzle: Can New Zealand Sustain its Independent Agency Scene?

The Australian and New Zealand markets feel like two different worlds, according to Daylight’s CEO Lee Lowndes and ECD Charlie Godinet. While in Australia, the rise of indies has dominated headlines for the past few years, and there are plenty of founders breaking away from traditional agency models, it’s not quite the same across the ditch.

“Indie agencies here are having to be more strategic - streamlining, merging, or finding new ways to stay resilient as they navigate the next six months of this recessionary period,” Lee and Charlie said.

A large number of agencies are “chasing RFPs”, they said, and the market is competitive. With even smaller marketing budgets than those in Australia, “the work isn’t there to sustain the same level of indie growth,” they explained.

“In short, we think indie and network agencies are going to find it tricky this year. But that’s where creativity often thrives. When things are humming, we’ll continue to see some of the best work in this country, and the work will come out of indie agencies. 

“Hopefully 2025 will bring a fresh wave of energy to the market, and we start seeing more brilliant ideas lighting up screens and streets and beyond.”

John Marshall set up trans-Tasman indie jnr. with former Ogilvy colleague Ryan O’Connell a year ago. He believes there is an “indie revolution” happening in New Zealand. “We have long had incredible independents as the mainstays of the agency scene here,” he said.

“Just like in Australia, the media climate has helped the independents here in Aotearoa. Customer wallets are shrinking, therefore clients’ are too. However, demand and an increasing competitive market, plus an oversaturated media landscape has made it harder for brands to cut through.”

New Zealand’s media landscape has been battered across the past year. Warner Bros. Discovery closed its Newshub operations, resulting in 300 job losses last April. On the same day, TVNZ closed a number of shows. And The Spinoff, an independent news site which sits in the The Spinoff Group stable with Daylight, published an open letter “to ask for your help”, detailing the challenges of financing journalism while remaining free-to-view. 

Heath Davy, CEO of Yarn, also pointed to a changing media landscape and squeezed advertising spend as a reason why a brand might choose to go independent. He said the independent scene is thriving, although smaller than “what we see across the Tasman. Here big agencies continue to dominate, but things are shifting.”

“We’ll see more brands turning to independent agencies,” he predicted. 

“With economic pressures and evolving marketing needs, businesses want partners who can move fast, adapt quickly, and deliver real results. This plays to the strengths of independent agencies, who aren’t weighed down by legacy structures and can tailor their approach to each client.”

Special Agency is NZ’s largest indie export. Set up 10 years ago in New Zealand, it has gone on to open offices in Sydney, Melbourne, Los Angeles, London, and New York, working for clients such as Uber Eats, Kathmandu, Virgin, and more. 

Sam Stuchbury, ECD of Motion Sickness, the agency he founded in 2013, acknowledged Special’s impact on the landscape. “There's never been a better time to be an indie in New Zealand,” he said.

Sam suspects strong network agencies will continue to succeed, and “back up their name regularly with great work for the New Zealand market today—not just relying on scale or yesterday’s heritage of their global brand.”

Jessica Allison, GM at the two-year-old Aotearoa outpost of Thinkerbell, also admired the network agencies holding their ground. “It’s a small market,” she mentioned, “relationships run deep and those traditional structures don’t just crumble overnight.”

Jessica noted that indies aren’t thriving just because they are independent, but rather because they are “built differently.”

“They’re sharper, faster, and not weighed down by layers of bureaucracy. We [at Thinkerbell] blend creativity with commercial thinking, proving that great ideas don’t just look good—they deliver too,” she said.

“Looking ahead to 2025, the opportunity for indies is huge. Think smarter, move faster, and create work that actually earns its place in culture. Traditional media is under pressure—smaller budgets, bigger expectations, and brands looking for impact that doesn’t just rely on paid media. That’s where indies have the edge.”

A client recently told Motion Sickness’ Sam they weren’t looking for “a shiny shoes agency,” leading him to believe client perspectives are changing.

“From where we sit, some clients are a bit disenchanted with how things were done in the past. The agency’s size, tech, process, global teams and networked opportunities seem to maybe have lost some weight in decision making. 

“We are supposed to be creative companies that make unforgettable advertising, over-complication of that can sometimes just be a red flag. At the end of the day, it’s all about how unique your collaborative thinking is, how strong your craft is and how good the final output is right here in New Zealand. Right now. Sure, I’m biased—I run an independent agency—but it’s what we’ve seen.”