The New Wave ~ CORE
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 Christian Finucane, Founder & Creative Partner, CORE.
1. Give us the elevator pitch, who are you and what do you do?
We’re an independent creative company with a model and a mindset built for those aiming up. Multi-skilled and mini-layered. It’s how we’ve built the agency. Small enough to move fast, experienced enough to move smart. In five words: we help brands punch above.
We create the kind of thinking that comes from a tight team who care, and the kind of work that comes from people who’d rather create it than just talk about it.
2. Are indies still challengers, or have they become the norm?
Indies are always going to be challengers. It’s in the DNA.
Whether that’s challenging the shrinking networks, or going up against the growing army of other indies out there, the moment you stop challenging is the moment you stop being one.
It’s not a phase you grow out of – it’s the operating system.
3. What’s your unfair advantage over the networks today?
We’re set up to solve creative problems at speed. Whether that’s advertising, branding or business ideas.
There’s no speedbumps to get to the thinking. No laborious admin or committee between the problem and the answer. The people solving it are the people who’ll be held accountable for it, which changes how fast and how well problems get solved.
Great clients increasingly want to collaborate with the people who actually work on their brands, not a layer of inbetweeners.
4. How are you using AI to compete above your weight?
We’ve integrated AI into every part of our business. It’s a commercial necessity as the revenue time crunch means you have to achieve more with less.
While the industry focus has been on the use of AI for creative cost saving, we have also created a bespoke tool that estimates new jobs to free up admin time for strategy development and enable better value for our clients.
In terms of creative we use AI to write and render work, from social tiles all the way through to scenes in TVCs. Though, as with all tools, what you get out is only as good as the human operating it.
AI can be truly incredible, but it isn’t the magic button many think it is. We use it for the legwork, not the headwork.
5. What kind of clients are choosing indies right now and why?
It usually splits a couple of ways. There are the refugees from big agencies who are done with paying for all the fluff, and the new breed of marketers who are already on the same page as us.
It seems most clients want a direct relationship with the people actually doing the thinking, not a rotating cast of go-betweens. More often than not, their brand is an unloved gem, one that hasn’t been given the time or attention it deserves, lost in a Holdco as one account among many. We give them the opposite of that.
As one of our clients said, “Core are our true partners, strategic, fun, creative, just fabulous to work with. We felt like the brand everyone wanted to work on.”
6. What’s next – growth, staying lean, or something else?
We’ve always been lean. It keeps the thinking sharp and our operating model efficient for clients.
For us, growth isn’t about adding headcount – it’s about continually getting better at creating the things that clients actually need. All while protecting the same core team feel that has ensured we’ve been part of the ‘new wave’ for over 18 years now.
Check out the other New Wave Q&As below:
Read The Digital Picnic’s Q&A here
Read Paper Stone Scissors’ Q&A here
Read Curious Nation’s Q&A here
Read cummins&partners’ Q&A here
Read Connecting Plots Group’s Q&A here
Read Jacko Jacko & Jacko’s Q&A here
Read Chimera Project’s Q&A here
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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