Wonderful’s Matt Barbelli Talks Inspiration, Goals and All Things Digital Agency

I wasn’t very good at school. I didn’t go to university. I self-taught myself the adobe creative suite and started as a graphic designer. My first job was doing the night shift at Sensis creating ads for the yellow pages from 5 pm to midnight. I did that for a few months then put together a makeshift portfolio and literally, door knocked ad agencies until I got a job in a small independent agency. 

Fast forward a few years on and I started Frank Digital at the age of 26. We started around the time of the GFC with the purpose of providing our clients with value and transparency. I had no idea what I was doing but faked it until I made it. Things started to take off for us after we delivered the “What’s On” platform for the City of Sydney. We won loads of awards locally and internationally and it all kind of snowballed after that.

I also founded a cool little start-up called Social Playground along the way - https://www.socialplayground.com.au/

After 10 years of running Frank, we were acquired by Jaywing. It was great to learn and understand the performance side of digital marketing. After three years with Jaywing, I decided that it was time to go it alone again, and wonderful was born.

Hands down it’s watching our people succeed. I get the most satisfaction in hiring a junior and watching them grow and develop into a leader. We’ve been extremely fortunate to have low churn rates over the years. It all comes back to treating people how you would like to be treated. If you give a little bit it comes back in big ways but you have to be willing to invest.

I get bored quickly so being in an industry that’s constantly changing and evolving means I’m always looking for new and better ways to do things. At the end of the day, I just try to outwork the next guy. Hard work, consistency and perseverance.

I like to keep fit, I think in my 30’s I took this for granted a bit and probably burnt the candle at both ends a bit. These days I’m up at 5 am and will usually have an ocean swim in Cronulla then get into the office by 7 am so I can be home early to hang with the kids. I play a bit of tennis and love the F1.

It’s hard, especially in the first couple of years. I just try and do my best. The most important thing for me is early to bed, early to rise. I need to maximise the hours in the day and if I can carve out 30 minutes for a swim or a ride then it’s a good day. 

I think Branson is the coolest cat. He was a true pioneer. His ability to tap into a culture and inspire a movement was second to none. The ultimate entrepreneur, I’ve tried to take a lot of his approach to company culture, values and staffing principles. I’ve just recently started applying the Rockefeller principles for my own goal setting. It’s a really good approach to keep me focused on what’s important and focusing in on what moves the needle. 

If you’re entrepreneurial, hard-working and love constant change then digital is a great industry to get into. There’s never a dull moment and always something to learn. 

If you had asked me this question pre-kids I would have had a very different answer. Success for me is no longer measured by how much money I make. Doing great work, having great relationships with my clients, being trusted and respected to deliver great results and creating an environment for our people that’s encouraging and fulfilling all while combining lots of family time, fun time and being able to be present at the moment. To sum it all up, love others, be grateful for all you have, be kind and be mindful. Oh, and "Never say no, just keep going until you succeed.

My wife. Honestly, I don’t know how she does it. Three kids all under 5. There is some real truth in the old saying behind every great man is a greater woman. She has always been my biggest fan and critic. Lu used to work in advertising as a suit for Saatchi and MC before moving client-side and taking a role in marketing for Westpac so she has a real unique ability to bring a few different viewpoints to any challenge I might be facing. 

I also really appreciate the network I’ve built up over the years and have some really smart and experienced people I lean on from time to time. I remember when Covid struck there were a bunch of us that were running agencies and every few days we’d have a remote roundtable. Over multiple bottles of wine, we’d discuss the challenges we were interfacing with and strategies to overcome them. 

I think it’s a more grown-up version of a service offering for today’s economy. Our old business was great and did punch way above its weight but because we were constantly chasing a number, especially in the last 3 years of the earn we really didn’t spend a lot of time on the business. It became quite one-dimensional and again because the plc was putting profits first, pushing the boundaries wasn’t really part of the business model. We kinda lost what made Frank great. 

This time round it’s for legacy, I’m building a business that I can be proud of and hopefully someday my kids want to be a part of in some way. 

We exist to drive sustainable business growth. Our business is borderless. We work with the best talent globally bringing real diversity and a strategic creative lens that just can’t be replicated by a group from one particular walk of life. It also means we are set up to work with companies globally, not just in Sydney or Melbourne. 

When I started we were designing websites in Photoshop and user experience wasn’t even a term, these days there are new tools like Figma that are purposely created for digital creatives. These tools have allowed us to accelerate and refine the design process. Data has obviously come a long way, what we can track and measure has never been so detailed. Sometimes it’s hard to keep abreast of everything without becoming too bloated. I think we’ve found a nice balance with our process where we can still get deep into the data and user testing without blowing out the ROI for our clients.

It’s constantly evolving, hybrid working models and building an entirely new team from scratch has their challenges. I would suggest we are finding a nice balance between pitching, celebrating the wins, doing great work and learning. It’s definitely not a party. I would suggest it’s a more mature design-focused business than previously. We value our people and support a good work/life balance.

Our goal for 2023 is to establish our reputation in the Australian market. We want to build our client list across our three practice areas: Digital Transformation, eCommerce and Product Innovation. We’ve already had some great wins and have put together a world-class team to execute this.

In terms of the internal vision, we are building a culture that is people-focused first. We want our people to be in a safe, flexible and innovative environment where they can maximize their potential holistically, not just in their craft. Ways of working have changed dramatically and we are adopting our processes and practices to be aligned. Mental health days, maternity/paternity leave policy and self-development are all areas we have redefined in 2023.  

Once Australia is operating at full steam we will look to open up in other regions such as Singapore and the UAE. Our long-term vision is to be a borderless business working with a global roster of clients. Working with International talent will give us a better understanding of the broader world businesses operate in.