“Sometimes the industry is just so full of hot air you get sick of reading about what people are planning on doing,” said The Monkeys co-founder Justin Drape recently. Hot air or not, there is plenty to talk about.
Taking out the top gong at the AdNews Agency of the Year Awards as an independent was a massive achievement. But it was backed up by more ground-breaking work including Ikea’s Klippbok app as well as creative for Ice Break and Oak. Gongs at AWARD Awards, the Australian Planning Group Creative Strategy Awards and the global Facebook Studio Awards proved The Monkeys’ worth.
It continued to push boundaries by taking a stake in design agency Maud, run below the agency office in Redfern. It was four partners, minus Micah Walker, rather than the agency as a whole that purchased into Maud, but it still sees the design shop working closely with clients of The Monkeys.
Bad news. Was there any? There certainly was. Major client Diageo moved on after 15 months citing not enough work for the two-agency model – Leo Burnett was the other agency. And creative partner Noah Regan also departed for Host Singapore.
Sourced from AdNews Agency Report Card, May 31 2013 edition.
