Ikon founder Gary Hardwick and former Saatchi & Saatchi boss Simone Bartley claim to have the formula for full-service 2.0 nailed with the launch of their agency TogetherCo.
It's not just media and creative under one roof, but production and brand strategy too. The launch of TogetherCo, which houses this latest industry model, is one cog in a plan as big as the founders' CVs. And they're looking to shake up the local media landscape with a New York twist.
TogetherCo reckons it's too big to be called a startup with 21 staff in both Sydney and New York and a list of heavy hitters that also includes former head of production at Viscious and producer at Saatchi & Saatchi London Tim Berriman also on board. The firm thinks strategy is the agency battle ground of the future and TogetherCo is looking for more firepower, with additional strategy heads for its Sydney office planned.
Speaking to AdNews, Bartley, who is chief executive and co-founder, said the model the company operates is different to other full-service agencies in Australia, which she claimed are really just media and creative working together.
“What we've done in addition to that, which I think is really important, is we've brought a level of brand and business strategy to the table too. It means we're talking to clients about their business challenges, not just their communication challenges.”
Bartley said TogetherCo's merger with content creation company Viscious allows it to create content in house, rather than having to outsource to a production company.
The aim for the company is for activity to be weighted towards paid media, but only just, with the balance to be spent in owned channels and content creation.
Bartley said the TogetherCo client roster includes this stage include Paypal, Target, Honest Tea, A&E, Breville, Reckon One, USA Today and Finnair, although they are largely US clients. Some work for clients has been full service, some has been project work, but Bartley expects more clients to take the full service option as it ramps up domestically.
TogetherCo co-founder and media lead Hardwick said across the offices in Sydney and New York, TogetherCo is expecting media billings of $50 million within 12 months, with much of the company's initial work likely to be project-based.
He added, however, that billings were becoming less relevant in terms of an agencies scale, stating that the split between paid and owned media for clients was edging towards 50:50.
“If the client is moving towards owned media than there are no billings attached to that, aside from some of the amplification strategies that you build around. So it's becoming less and less of a priority," he said.
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