The Rise of the Indies

Over the past two to three years, we’ve seen a clear rise in the number of independent agencies. They’ve popped up all over Australia and New Zealand and have been working away with determination and completely unafraid of the toil ahead. 

But the question that stands is why? Why have industry professionals chosen to leave the big offices with city views for smaller teams and the uncertainty of success? It is no secret that a bigger agency comes with a blanket of safety, a legacy that precedes them and, therefore, an in-built advantage when it comes to winning clients. 

However, this isn’t about pitting independents against network agencies. Rather, it’s about the positives of both. How do they both provide for the different needs and wants not only of clients, but also the people working within them? 

The industry's newest independent, Supermassive, has caused quite a stir over the past few weeks. Co-founders Jon Austin, Laura Aldington, and Simone Gupta, each stand with the opinion that gaining the opportunity to build something from the ground up is an exciting prospect. 

“It's very liberating to start with a blank sheet of paper and apply everything we've each learned over our respective twenty five year careers, working in agencies of all shapes, sizes and ownership structures. We get to be back to doing what we really love: applying our experience more directly to client challenges and opportunities" they said. 

Expanding on the positives, they stated that being independent has allowed them to ‘operate without some of the constraints that inevitably exist in more established agencies’ as legacies ‘tend to allow for evolution rather than revolution.’ 

Justin Hind, CEO of Reunion and ex-CEO of CHEP, added to this want and need for absolute freedom. “A lot of the founders come with seriously established pedigrees and experience, they want the unencumbered freedom to run and create new models with new momentum,” he said. 

Justin explored the point of view of the client stating that clients want to partner with leaders who ‘have real skin in the game’ and have a focus on creating value, living and dying on the impact they are making. While also touching on the fact that independents can often be more rewarding on every level, “creatively, strategically and financially if they get it right. Founders can create the models for the future they can see and possibly navigate change at a pace which puts them in the driver's seat of their own destiny,” he said. 

Micah Walker, founder of Bear Meets Eagle on Fire and industry legend, agreed that the idea of creating something from the ground up is wonderfully exciting. Reflecting on the decision to strike out on his own, he also touched on a few things that are prevalent within the industry. 

“It all came back to feeling like the typical agency experience wasn’t shaped around the things I believe are most important and a realisation that you could switch the names on their doors, and there wasn’t much of a difference between them, with obvious exceptions,” he said.

While Sam Stuchbury of NZ’s Motion Sickness, an independent that had no ties to industry leaders and yet has been thriving, provided a unique perspective.

“When you actually see how the sausage is made, it’s clear every agency does it in a slightly different way. To us the most important thing isn’t so much about the label, it’s about the work - and the thing that influences the work the most, is the culture”, he said. “Our disruptive and unique spirit is the thing we can fully control and protect. I would say creating amazing advertising means having a magical recipe that you don’t always have to follow, and I guess that’s what we do like about being independent. The finished cake tastes great, and we don’t really have to wash up many dishes.” 

Dalton Henshaw, founder of Bullfrog, another professional with no previous involvement in network agencies, observed how traditional advertising, although has its rightful place, isn’t the only form of advertising that brands should be pushing to create. With a world moving so fast and new forms of communications developing every day, he believes that the industry needs to be looking at advertising through a different lens. 

"I think independents can make decisions faster - that's what it comes back to”, he explained. “And it cannot be at the cost of creativity, or the cost of it's a great idea. Of course, there has to be a trade off and some compromise but it has to be something that we're fully going to believe in.”

The decision to go independent is one that can be born out of many different desires. Micah summed it up perfectly when he said: 

“Some people want more control, some have a unique opportunity on a particular client, some have a particular dream or ambition in mind. Sometimes, it even just comes down to ego.” 

Regardless of the decision, agencies, both independent and network alike, all possess their own unique advantages. What does seem certain, however, that the modern rise of independent agencies is bound to have a transformative impact on the industry. 

Whether this impact is for better or worse, only time will tell...