The New Wave ~ Chunky Duck
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 Ryan Griffin, Co-founder and Managing Director, Chunky Duck.
1. Give us the elevator pitch – who are you and what do you do?
We are Chunky Duck, a creative performance agency.
We started as three freelancers just trying to save some coin on accounting fees, and have since evolved into a full-service creative performance agency.
After cutting our teeth in the pressure cooker of city-based agencies, many of us opted for a better balance in life, moving our skills and passion into communities all across Australia.
We know how to turn a big idea into creative that performs.
2. Are indies still challengers, or have they become the norm?
Indies are definitely becoming the norm these days.
The old model of one-big-idea that’s distributed verbatim to markets around the world is dead. Today, it’s the agencies that can adapt and move quickly that will continue to win business; something indies naturally excel at.
When an agency joins a network, the first thing that happens is they get their SOP-hooks into an otherwise agile and creative team.
It’s the beginning of the end, and soon enough a new indie will step up in their place.
3. What’s your unfair advantage over the networks today?
We’re a remote agency from the ground up.
We started on different sides of the country, and we’ve grown that model to date.
While so many of the networks are trying to adapt hybrid work-from-home models. What they really don’t understand is how different cultures are when they work from home. The processes, the communication, and the management of team members are so different. It’s probably why so many of them have given up and forced their staff back through return-to-office mandates.
We don’t judge our team’s performance based on how many hours they’re sitting at a desk. We look at what they can achieve in the time available.
With budgets getting tighter than a granny’s purse, big creative ideas need to be accountable, measurable, and demand attention from a brand’s audience.
4. How are you using AI to compete above your weight?
AI runs the business of our business. It takes care of the work that no one in our team likes doing; the agendas, the minutes, the action items, the summaries, the follow-ups.
No one really wants AI to do their creative, and when you take away all the worst parts of this job, you get a whole lot more time to focus on your craft and what makes you special.
We compete above our weight by having our team focus on what they do best and removing the minutiae of agency admin.
5. What kind of clients are choosing indies right now – and why?
The playbook for marketing cut-through has changed so much in the last year, not just from a creative standpoint, but from an algorithmic level as well.
Gone are the days of cookie-cutter brand guidelines with no room for flexibility. Today, brands embrace variation that targets the individual and speaks to them at a personal level.
The clients choosing indies are the ones looking for uniqueness, creativity, and direct impact from their marketing dollars,
As a fully remote indie, we get access to global talent without the overhead spent on exposed-brick offices. It’s a better return for their dollar, and a more enjoyable life for our team.
6. What’s next – growth, staying lean, or something else?
Growth is definitely our focus for the next year.
We probably scaled a little too quickly in our early days, adding in new team members before we had job descriptions, clear processes, or systems to manage the growth.
Today, it feels like we have the secret sauce from a creative and performance mix, and the time is ripe to scale our team and client remit.
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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