The New Wave ~ Chimera Project
The New Wave is Campaign Brief’s Q&A series spotlighting the next generation of independent creative companies and exploring how the indie model is evolving. From structure and speed to culture and capability, we unpack where these businesses are finding their edge and what’s driving client decisions today. Next up is Chimera Project.
1. Give us the elevator pitch – who are you and what do you do?
We’re Brendan Greaney and Jono Drapes. After years as ECDs in network agencies, we started Chimera Project in 2019 to get back to what we love – working hands-on with good clients on good ideas. Honestly, it’s as simple as that. There’s a lot of performative claims flying around at the moment, but we like to keep a low profile and stay behind-the-scenes, working with marketing teams to deliver high-end strategy and creative without big-agency layers, overheads and frustration. It’s about building their brand, not ours.
2. Are indies still challengers, or have they become the norm?
We’ve all seen the posts. Another new agency that’s absolutely not an agency. It’s certainly getting crowded in the indie/consultancy/hybrid/micro/collective/yurt space. Ultimately, we all do the same job as the networks, and we’re all businesses trying to earn money, but there is a difference. As an indie, you make the calls every day that you live and die by. Especially in a tough market like Brisbane. So you’d better deliver. It’s the freedom, hunger, fear, and exhilaration that comes with this that makes you a challenger.
3. What’s your unfair advantage over the networks today?
Not our name, no one can pronounce it! (Ky-meer-a) We love network agencies. They paid us for many years, taught us lots and provided a lifetime’s worth of stationery. They also give us something to push against now. At Chimera, we’ve squeezed all our experience and knowledge down to a really simple offering; big-agency thinking without the big-agency frustration. It’s just us. You call, we answer, we react immediately. As the world gets faster and more fragmented, it’s hard to find marketers who wouldn’t rather have a more direct relationship with the people doing the work. We keep our client numbers small so that we can do this.
4. How are you using AI to compete above your weight?
By its nature, AI struggles to come up with fresh ideas. But it certainly helps you show clients what a fresh idea looks like. While we firmly believe advertising is, and should always be, a human business, AI is a great tool for concept visuals, storyboarding, analysing research, augmenting production, tackling dispatch spreadsheets, and other background stuff that means we can stay focused on strategy, creative and service.
5. What kind of clients are choosing indies right now – and why?
There will always be clients who prefer the comfort, scale and boardrooms of big, traditional agencies. But a new wave of marketers are discovering that they can get the same high level of thinking from an indie, with a higher level of service…and a lower bill at the end.
We like the second kind of client.
6. What’s next – growth, staying lean, or something else?
We’ve never set out to build an empire. We’d rather stay small and agile, working closely with a small number of long-term clients. It keeps us focussed and fiercely loyal to those clients. It also gives us time to work on side projects.
When we need extra resources, we’re fortunate that we can call on an extensive network of trusted creative and production collaborators.
Check out the other New Wave Q&As below:
Read Today The Brave’s Q&A here
Read Tightknit Studio’s Q&A here
Read Bastion Australia’s Q&A here
Read We Are Different’s Q&A here
Read SICKDOGWOLFMAN’s Q&A here
Read Kill Boring Dead’s Q&A here
Read Oblong Creative’s Q&A here
Read The Many Australia’s Q&A here
Read Bureau of Everything’s Q&A here
Read Art of the Possible ANZ’s Q&A here
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