Untangld: Redefining Brand Strategy Across Continents
Launched in Melbourne in 2020, Untangld has swiftly carved out a niche in the strategic consultancy landscape, boasting a diverse client roster spanning the US, Europe, and Australia.
Co-founded by Danish Chan, Jamal Cassim, and James Needham, and later joined by Lawrence Heath and Emily Gray who only last year established the London office, Untangld distinguishes itself with an action-biased approach to brand and customer strategy.
Operating beyond traditional consultancy models, the agency specialises in brand, customer, research, technology, and media, delivering effective and iconic campaigns, by sourcing the right partnerships for the job.
With accolades including the 2018 IPA Effectiveness Silver for Hello in Elephant and the 2014 Cannes Lion Creative Effectiveness GRAND PRIX for Guilt Trips, LBB’s Olivia Atkins highlights their commitment to ambitious, straightforward solutions that drive significant impact.
LBB> How did Untangld begin?
Danish> All of us co-founders worked at CHE Proximity previously. We were constantly seeing CMOs (and heads of marketing) getting fragmented advice from different agencies, which was disparate and made their roles overwhelming. It meant no one was able to be the perfect partner. We realised the need for a strategy studio that is agnostic and focuses on providing the right answer, regardless of execution. So, we created the perfect partner for modern CMOs and started Untangld in March 2020. And then two weeks later, covid hit, so we decided to get rid of our office space and work remotely, which actually helped us win clients globally. It didn’t matter where we were based or how big our office was, it was the people in the room and the quality of the work that mattered. And we started winning international clients because we can be flexible.
LBB> Are all the founders strategists?
Danish> We have three co-founders. Two are strategists by trade, and the third is a business and operational director with experience as a managing partner across PR and digital agencies. He ensures our work has a strong commercial focus. And then we've put senior experts in data, research and experience roles to support our strategy.
LBB> What sort of projects or clients did you work with in the early days of Untangld?
Danish> That's a good question. A lot of our foundational clients were very trusting and open-minded, like gambling company Betfair, who asked us to double their business in three years. It was an open commercial brief and technically, we were allowed to do anything to achieve results. It was a real opportunity. We deep dived into their data sets to understand their customers to draw up the initial brand strategy, before deciding who were the best partners to bring on board to make it a reality. The strategy was about leading everyone involved and it was a much more efficient process because of it - it really became an archetype of the sort of work we love to do.
Emily> We work like a Swiss army knife, cutting across siloed agencies focused on specific areas like advertising, PR and digital products. Untangld connects everything, ensuring seamless integration and expert guidance. The Betfair project showcases our ability to unify different business aspects and maximise strategic impact.
Danish> Our proposition is clear, we help ambitious businesses redefine their success. We engage with companies at three critical stages> start-ups - which make up 30% of our portfolio and need help building their brand; scale-ups, where we strategize to scale from thousands to millions of customers by identifying and engaging high-value audiences; and established blue chips that are stuck in their ways and need assistance changing how they operate to ensure continued growth in evolving markets. During covid, we witnessed a surge in start-ups and transformations in traditional businesses and we're kind of seeing that shift again.
Emily> We serve various verticals, including telcos, finance, banking, big tech and luxury brands. Experience design is also a big focus for our clients - we have quite a unique offering, we talk about our experience being an organising system that blends brand, customer and employee experiences.
LBB> What was the motivation behind opening a London office?
Danish> As founders, we’ve spent a lot of time in the UK - James and I lived here and Jamal is actually British. So, given our strong ties to the UK and a 50% international client base, London was the obvious choice for our next location. We wanted to better service our global clients and grow our presence. We’ve worked with Lawrence and Emily in previous lives so we knew we wanted them on board and could trust them to manage operations for us. We made a very unsubtle phone call asking them how much they loved their jobs and how much they liked us.
Emily> Timing is everything. We only opened the London office in September of last year and we’re still establishing our presence and growing our local clients. It allows us to serve global clients more effectively without odd-hour calls. Lawrence is an experienced strategist and world-class CX practitioner, whereas I have experience in client comms having worked at various Omnicom agencies. CX is so important particularly as marketing becomes more complex and you have to connect brand promises to the user’s experience. We’re connecting everything up and focusing on a more comprehensive experience practice - to exceed the expectations of many CMOs.
LBB> How have you differentiated yourself in London?
Emily> The UK is a very saturated market, even more so than Australia. So, for us to have cut through in this market, we have to have the best talent - that’s our whole business model. We pride ourselves on having local partners with global expertise and working full time on client problems. We also aim for partners with credibility, who are the best within their categories and at what they do. We’ve also a founding member of By The Network, providing global access to a network of the world's best independent creative agencies, so we’re incredibly lucky to have these additional partnerships at our fingertips.
LBB> How do you approach strategy?
Danish> Our strategies are cultural artifacts, not just documents. They define who customers are, how to innovate, and guide on-brand actions. They live through an organisation, they’re not just catch phrases or taglines. We strive for unexpected, innovative strategies that unlock new opportunities. Which is crucial when budgets are tight.
LBB> How do you handle partnerships?
Danish> We're a partner business, collaborating with independent ad agencies, developers, PR firms, and more. We aim to supercharge efforts with clever thinking.
Emily> We support internal agencies by providing external perspectives in an easy-to-access manner. This approach, combined with our focus on problem-solving, makes us an attractive alternative to big consultancies. We're not a retainer-based business - you give us a problem and we'll solve it.
LBB> How do you position yourselves in the market?
Emily> We describe ourselves as a strategy studio, emphasising craft and talent. Our model is talent-based, leveraging local partners with global expertise. We work in strategic sprints, providing actionable solutions quickly, which is a refreshing change from long-term retainers.
LBB> What's next for Untangld?
Danish> We want to continue solving big, meaty problems for audaciously ambitious clients. Whether it's rebranding or finding new growth avenues, we want to redefine how businesses win.
Emily> We're focused on establishing our presence in London and building local client relationships. Our flagship product in experience design is gaining traction, and we're excited about expanding our work in the luxury brand space.
