Campaign Brief Q&A: David Vale on leading HSLR through rebrand, growth and innovation

Since rebranding to HSLR earlier this year, the creative production studio has expanded its capabilities and taken a fresh approach to creative production. In this Q&A, David Vale, Founder and Creative Director of HSLR reflects on how clients have embraced the new identity, the challenges of maintaining quality across multiple channels and the principles that underpin the studio’s success. From building strong agency partnerships to managing budgets without compromising creativity, Vale shares insights on what it takes to stay ahead in a fast-paced, high-volume content landscape – and where HSLR is headed in the next five years.

 

Since rebranding to HSLR, what has surprised you most about how clients are responding to the new identity and expanded services?

It’s been refreshing to have our clients come along on this journey with us and really embrace this next phase of our business. We have an incredible list of very long-term agency partners and clients who have shared in the excitement with us, as though they’re a part of our core team. So, for HSLR it’s more than a rebrand. There’s a real sense of community in how much our clients and agency collaborators have embraced us over the years, and their support of us moving forward has been a real motivating experience; knowing that we’re on the right path in growing our through-the-line offerings.

In which channels are you seeing the most demand and how do you balance creative quality across so many formats?

We’re seeing demand across the full spectrum of channels, from out-of-home and TVCs to VOD, social, and even e-commerce. That’s actually been the purpose of our rebrand: to respond to how production has evolved, and to bring all of those services together in a way that delivers real strength and growth for our clients and our partners.

The key for us is to look at a brand holistically. Our team is diverse in both their creative talents and their understanding of strategic application, so we’re able to ensure that every piece of content, regardless of format, is delivered with the same level of thought, care, and quality.

Gone are the days when you could just focus on one big TVC and call it a success. Now, quality has to be reinforced across every touchpoint, whether that means producing a higher volume of shorter-form content at scale or creating bigger campaigns with more foresight and longevity. Either way, our focus is always on consistency of quality and making sure the strategic messaging is strong across every platform.

When it comes to budget constraints, how do you maintain high production quality without exorbitant production costs?

We’ve always been transparent with our pricing and, after 11 years, we’ve really found our place in the market. A big part of that is having an incredible team of in-house talent. This allows us to service clients more personally while also managing budgets and costs more competitively.

We’ve also formed really strong agency partnerships over the years, which has presented us with opportunities to collaborate and create more efficient productions for our mutual clients.

When it comes to budget and creativity, the culture of our business ensures that everything leaving our doors gets the same love and attention. The beauty of creative is that you can make something impactful at any budget. It’s about finding that spark. Sometimes that means coming up with a clever idea for a low-budget production, and other times it means making sure every dollar in a larger production is used strategically to deliver maximum value.

At the end of the day, our goal is always the same: to ignite creativity and deliver quality, no matter what the budget is.

With content moving faster and clients wanting more frequent output, how is HSLR evolving workflows or production processes to meet speed without sacrificing quality?

The shift of social media and sheer volume of content were the driving forces behind why I started the agency; we are 11 years in the making for this exact purpose.

Content wasn’t really a word back then, and if you knew what it was you probably knew that we were the agency for you. Obviously, our landscape has changed and evolved dramatically over the last decade, but that ethos and that reason why we founded the agency – to really understand quality creative and what our clients actually require – is still the founding reason for why we operate today.

Our number one purpose is to find efficiencies, find ways to work smarter and drive our clients dollars further from a quantity perspective, with no sacrifice of quality. There’s basically no room for it. Our output always has to be of the highest quality to meet the demands of the frequency, and the production process. This theory informs the way we manage volume, creativity, and budgets, and outcomes for the client.

We’ve built, developed and refined a robust team and process around this. And because we built our business so long ago, we’ve had time to perfect, and continue to improve on it; adding valuable resources to our team who predominantly sit within our business.

Specifically about your agency partnerships, how have you managed to maintain strong relationships in a competitive landscape?

Cost transparency, a collaborative approach and a sense of quality they can rely on. Because our partners know our fee structure, they know how we work, and have had great experiences working with us, they know they’re productions will work smoother and without any nasty surprises. They know they can count on us as an extension of their teams, because we understand their processes and by extension the needs of their clients. We look good when they look good. In this case, great relationships are our competitive advantage.

Earlier on you mentioned a theory, the one thing that underpins what HSLR is. How would you clarify this theory in just one short caption?

Resourceful. We have resourced HSLR to be an accessible bolt-on for our partner agencies and clients; with the people, the power, and the processes to facilitate production of all levels, easily and immediately. We’re not building teams, we’re not going to market, we have our crew ready to go on the ground, at the drop of a hat.

In 2025, what makes a content production agency stand out in Australia? What should clients really look for when selecting a partner?

My personal values really come down to care. I think partnering with an agency, regardless of the service that they’re offering, is some type of a relationship. Whether it’s your agency, director, account manager, whoever you’re working with: if the chemistry is not right, or you don’t feel like they are with you in your business, then you might not want to date anymore, right?

Gone are the days where you walk into an agency, and the advertising agency owns the client. Where the client has to do what the agency says, and you kind of hope for the best result on the other end. Collaboration and relationships are what’s most important now, and because we are working at such pace, at such volume, we’re working more strategically in how we need to operate. But finding an agency who partners with you, who cares about you, is really important. And that goes both ways. As an agency, I want to make sure I’m caring for my client, and my client cares about the work that we’re doing. So really, it’s down to care and chemistry for me.

What’s the one thing you wish more clients understood about working with a full-service creative production studio like HSLR?

I wish that more clients understood that they could, how they would, what they should expect from their agency. I think going back to my relationship analogy, we’ve built a business that can, and does care, and has the team to offer that level of support to a client. And I’ve had so many clients come over to HSLR. And when they start working with us, there’s just a sigh of relief when it comes to, I guess, being understood. I also wish that some clients would realise that they can get much more for their budget and from their agency partners, and that they can work a lot closer with people like us in the industry when you find them. Collaboration is so important and totally possible between brands and between agencies. The goal is just to do great business together.

Lastly, where do you see HSLR in five years?

We are currently seeing a lot of growth in our strategic design department. That includes design, CGI, and AI-style productions. We certainly see AI as a tool that will play a big role in our business moving forward, and is already starting to come into play at the moment. I see a great opportunity for growth in our style of production in the industry. Surely, our production department will become even better, even stronger, and continue to improve as the years go on. In five years’ time, I can see us leading a very solid way of working, that is more expected in the industry, and hopefully we are the ones who are trailblazing that, as we have done with the work that we have done over the past 10 years.