The New Wave ~ Supersolid
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 Supersolid.
1. Give us the elevator pitch – who are you and what do you do?
Supersolid is a creative-owned independent agency that specialises in Super x Solid outcomes. A normal day is spent working on identity, storytelling, and disruption projects, underpinned by our guiding philosophy of ROIdeas®. But today is not a normal day. Today we’re moving to our new office in Surry Hills. In the rain.
2. Are indies still challengers, or have they become the norm?
Supersolid’s co-founder, Alex, is surrounded by half-packed boxes, presenting a campaign WIP to our newest client, [REDACTED UNTIL LATER]. It’s going well. I knock over a box trying to get to my desk. Something audibly breaks. Alex doesn’t.
We founded Supersolid in 2022, which makes us part of the second-wave of independent agencies in Australia. In the post-COVID world of WFH, it suddenly became possible to start an agency without the overheads. No premises (or moving boxes) required. Quite soon, arguably very soon, the investment to scale an agency will be similarly disrupted. If independent agencies aren’t already the norm, they soon will be.
3. What’s your unfair advantage over the networks today?
It’s almost impossible to find a park in Surry Hills. We park in a NO STOPPING zone. Or maybe it’s a bus stop. The signage is more complex than most of our MSAs, but what matters is that we’re undeterred, and this feels like a metaphor for something.
Every indie agency has the simple advantage of not being held to the traditional ruleset. We can reinvent the process, redefine the value exchange, and reach out to the best talent on or off the market. We can take the network agency’s spot at the boardroom table, but they have no idea how to take ours.
4. How are you using AI to compete above your weight?
It’s raining. Again. This is an important factor in the tensile strength of cardboard. Relatedly, the last words our Integrated Project Manager said to me the evening before Moving Day were “Can you take my orchid?”. If she’s reading this, the thing about orchids is they’re not as fragile as they look. They don’t need much soil or sunlight. Or careful handling.
AI implementation needs very careful handling. Supersolid has been bringing together Artificial Intelligence and Human Ingenuity since Day One –– when we put the first AI-generated image in a TVC for TikTok –– and our soon-to-be-released campaign for [REDACTED UNTIL LATER] is almost entirely AI-generated, with Supersolid leading the creative alongside one of the world’s largest network agencies leading the production. AI helps us compete above our weight but, more importantly, it helps us collaborate above our weight too.
AI isn’t the right solution for every project. Our recent FUJIFILM Australia campaign was very deliberately created without it, because their cameras and lenses are inherently celebrations of human creativity and the individual artistic spirit. AI might have enhanced the project’s efficiency, but it would have risked cheapening its message.
5. What kind of clients are choosing indies right now – and why?
Between packing boxes and lifting furniture, I’m running a virtual edit session in New Zealand. My laptop has spent the day balanced on a number of inappropriate work surfaces: the building fire escape railing, a City of Sydney parking meter, and, briefly, Alex.
Since we started Supersolid, we’ve worked in very different ways with everyone from solo-founded startups to Federal Government departments, as well as some of the biggest brands in the country: TikTok, Fujifilm, the NRL, and [REDACTED UNTIL LATER] among them.
More than the desire for direct problem-solving, world-class creative effectiveness, and our new office rooftop, I believe clients choose Supersolid because they know we have skin in the game. It’s our promise. Our reputation. Our investment. Our office desk drawers rolling down Albion Street.
We’ve been lucky to partner with smart, ambitious CMOs who can see the potential in building a super close relationship with an indie agency, and who have backed us to create standout work that delivers ROIdeas® against any scale of investment.
6. What’s next – growth, staying lean, or something else?
We’re hiring. We’re growing. We’re absolutely not moving again.
Check out the other New Wave Q&As below:
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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