Klønhammer, McCreadie and Berthinussen join forces to launch ideas company Ugly in Sydney

After 20 years in Europe, Anomaly Amsterdam founding partner and CEO, Hazelle Klønhammer (centre) has returned to Australia to open Ugly with Gary McCreadie (left), ex-executive creative director of TBWA\Sydney, and Ross Berthinussen (right), ex-head of strategy at M&C Saatchi, Sydney.

As CB reported exclusively, McCreadie departed TBWA\Sydney back in February, to take the ECD role at an agency partly funded by M&C Saatchi. With the launch of Ugly, this has now come to pass. McCreadie, along with creative partner Wesley Hawes, joined TBWA\Sydney in September 2014 from BBH London.

Berthinussen (left) joined M&C Saatchi as group strategy director in October 2014 following a storied 12-year career in London, including nine years as a key cog at strategy powerhouse BBH.

Ugly is an ideas company, based in Pyrmont, Sydney, born of the belief that creativity can transform business. Easy to claim but hard to do, especially within traditional agency structures, Ugly creates the right environment for creativity to thrive.

Says Klønhammer (left): “I see huge potential in Australia for a more progressive agency model that is stripped back, switched on, and straight up. We’re here for clients who want to work in a more human, collaborative and efficient way.”

Reshaping client and agency relationships, the company thrives on collaboration with small, experienced teams. Ugly isn’t bound by traditional agency roles. They mix and match strategic and creative collaborators from outside the agency and the communications industry, depending on the problem at hand.

Says McCreadie (above): “It’s easy not to love the game at the moment, a multitude of new pressures come thick and fast every day. Pressures of perfection, at speed, for less. So, if you create an environment that’s friendly and open, in which you can make mistakes and say dumb shit and not be judged, then creativity flows way more freely.”

To understand where to focus creativity, Ugly apply CX principles, to turn business problems into people problems.

Says Berthinussen: “Starting with people’s experience of a brand allows us to pinpoint where creativity can have the most impact on our clients’ business. The answer may lie in the product or the experience around the brand. We don’t assume advertising is the answer.”

With over five decades of industry experience, Klønhammer, McCreadie and Berthinussen are looking to collaborate on demand to suit client’s needs.

They’re redefining the compensation model from time to value, and creating hyper tailored solutions in the process.

Ugly is actively recruiting.

Ugly

100 Harris Street, Pyrmont, NSW 2009

Email: hazelle@ugly.sydney

Visit Ugly’s website.