European production-led creative agency Whale expands into APAC with new Melbourne office

Following a hugely successful first five years in Amsterdam, production-led creative agency Whale has expanded its global footprint by opening an APAC offering based in Melbourne. Australian co-founder and executive producer Rachel Perry has returned to her hometown after 15 years to open the APAC office.

Whale joins a new generation of creative agencies in the APAC region offering alternative and agile ways for brands to connect with consumers, make world class creative work and deliver on business goals.

Australian-born Perry (pictured above right) co-founded Whale with business partner and executive producer Ezra Xenos (above left) from New York, after they met working in Amsterdam at Sid Lee. They both worked for 10 years in production departments at various brands and agencies in Amsterdam, including Nike, 72andSunny, Wieden+Kennedy, 180 Amsterdam and Anomaly.

Perry and Xenos founded Whale five years ago to work at the nexus of business, craft, creativity and production. Their flexible model comprises in-house experts and specialist collaborators that are curated to each brief according to its needs, all focused on delivering creative excellence efficiently and effectively. With its production-led approach to every brief, Whale has delivered global campaigns for a range of clients across multiple sectors, including adidas, Diageo, McLaren, Montblanc, Netflix, Nike, Polaroid, Samsung, Turkish Airlines, AJet, and WeTransfer.

About her return to Australia, Perry says: “It’s been an incredible experience to live in Europe for so many years, to launch Whale at a time of such industry change, and now to expand to Australia. I’m excited to be back in Melbourne, not only to be closer to family and introduce my children to everything Australia has to offer, but also to establish Whale’s APAC HQ. I’m bringing with me a wealth of global experience which will shape our approach here. We’re going to be helping our clients shift towards more bespoke and efficient ways of working with multiple collaborators, along with dynamic methods of optimizing creativity to solve business problems.”

Xenos says of Whale’s expansion: “This is the latest exciting step in continuing to evolve our global offering for our partners.  There are a wealth of creative opportunities throughout the APAC region and we’re hungry to get stuck in. Having Rachel in Melbourne is going to be a benefit to our existing and future clients. We look forward to being a part of the creative community in APAC and helping to drive the quality of work throughout the region. I’m continuing to lead our business based in Europe and the States, and as always, Rach and I will be partnering on client projects.”

Photo by Paul Barbera