DDB Group Australia has relaunched its Australian digital business Tribal Worldwide Australia with the group further aligning itself to not only working with technology but also creating it.
At a lunch held on Friday for the relaunch, managing director Tribal Worldwide Sydney, Phil Dowgierd explained that customers in Australia are ahead of the curve when it comes to being technologically enabled.
“In Australia penetration for smart phones is at 84%, customers are using this technology everyday to engage with brands and to make decisions,” he said.
“In this market, marketeers spend double on digital than their compatriots around the globe, that’s an outstanding figure, the risk is if you're a client how do you make sure investment doesn't become commoditized? In order to differentiate you need to innovate.”
Dowgierd said that the main driver behind the relaunch is, “We want to create innovative experiences for the experience economy. We want to leverage the investment that’s going into digital to make sure that investment is not commoditized.”
He said the concept behind the experience economy is creating something out of an experience that users have, for example one that is currently in testing by the agency is a rubber wristband with a button that allows users to leave their keys in the car when they go surfing or running.
This idea came off the back of one DDB staff member going surfing with his car key in a zip lock bag and because water managed to get into the bag he was locked out of his car without his wallet or phone.
In order to make this new vision a reality Tribal Worldwide Australia have bolstered its operation in the past few months bringing in people from overseas to take on the task of revamping the business.
Dowgierd and MD Tribal Worldwide Melbourne, Richard Lloyd both relocated to Australia earlier this year to take up their roles with Tribal Worldwide Australia having each led some of the UK’s strongest digital agencies in recent years.
Supporting Dowgierd and Lloyd are ECD Darwin Tomlinson in Sydney and head of creative technology Matt Oxley in Melbourne. Tomlinson joined the Tribal camp from DDB Sydney where he was Deputy ECD and led a number of award-winning digital campaigns, including TrackMyMacca’s.
Oxley joins the group from the UK in his role as head of creative technology. He has over 15 years’ experience in the space.
The new offering has a strong bent towards innovation with the group being relaunched from ideas out of the agency's innovation lab, °shaper, which will be utilised to not only help brands but also allow those working with Tribal Worldwide Australia to come up with technological solutions before having a brand's support.
“°shaper starts with a problem that needs to be solved and we find a brand to enable it," Tomlinson, a founding member of °shaper said.
"With Tribal, we are finding a solution with a brand already in mind. Ultimately we are looking at transformation and transaction and doing so through providing a use or utility – creating experiences, and more specifically, an experience around a brand.”
Tribal Worldwide Australia will be supported by the Tribal Worldwide network which has over 60 offices across 42 countries.
Sign up to the AdNews newsletter, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for breaking stories and campaigns throughout the day.
Have something to say? Send us your comments using the form below or contact the writer at sarahhomewood@yaffa.com.au
Have something to say on this? Share your views in the comments section below. Or if you have a news story or tip-off, drop us a line at adnews@yaffa.com.au
Sign up to the AdNews newsletter, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for breaking stories and campaigns throughout the day.