The New Wave ~ Today the Brave
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 Today the Brave.
1. Give us the elevator pitch – who are you and what do you do?
We’re Today the Brave, an independent full-service creative agency built on the simple belief that brave work grows brands.
What that bravery looks like is different for every client, category and problem. Discovering that for our clients is where we excel. Helping our clients find their Brave.
That belief shapes the agency we’re building too: this is a place where talented people are trusted, supported and given the freedom to do the best work of their careers. Because brave work requires brave clients, brave people and an environment that brings out the best in both.
2. Are indies still challengers, or have they become the norm?
Indie has become normal enough that just being independent isn’t a differentiator anymore. The exciting part is what you do with that freedom. The ownership structure itself is almost beside the point. What clients experience is the culture it creates. The passion, drive and entrepreneurial spirit to move quickly and make things happen. The best indies use their independence to make deliberate choices about the talent they hire, how they structure their teams and where they invest.
3. What’s your unfair advantage over the networks today?
Networks can throw more people at a problem than we can. Our advantage is that we throw the right talent at it and give those people the space to make decisions quickly.
Just as importantly, we operate as one business. The trap we avoid is operating as a collection of departments competing to sell their own solution. With fewer vested interests between the problem and the answer, senior people are free to recommend what’s right.
4. How are you using AI to compete above your weight?
AI has made possibilities seem limitless. Unfortunately, those possibilities are not limitlessly good.
Like most agencies, AI now touches nearly every facet of our business. Unlike many agencies we have built a bespoke AI systems for Today the Brave.
Our ambition when it comes to AI isn’t just efficiency. Of course we want to remove the burden of time-consuming and mundane tasks, and protect the time required for our people’s creativity. But more so, we want to build systems defined by our values and way of working.
If every agency is using essentially the same technology, then the answers run the risk of all looking and feeling the same.
We want AI to make Today the Brave, even more Today the Brave, rather than dragging us to a central point of “group-think”.
5. What kind of clients are choosing indies right now – and why?
Looking at our list of awesome partners, it seems to be two fold.
Firstly, a brand problem can be many things; a social problem, a media problem, a retail problem or a reputational one and increasingly we see our clients choose us because they’re tired of being the integration layer between five different agencies. Really, they just want to sit down with a group of good people who are grown-ups and who understand their whole business, not one small segment of it.
Secondly, there’s the human connection between agency and client. The feeling that we’re in their business, not just on it. Being able to call someone when you need them rather than jump through layers of meeting bureaucracy. Knowing there are people thinking about and caring for your brand between meetings and not just during the next WIP
That all sounds incredibly simple. But maybe that’s why it matters.
6. What’s next – growth, staying lean, or something else?
We have no interest in pursuing a headcount. We want Today the Brave to be the best place our people have ever worked. That means hiring the best people. Creating the best environment. Partnering with the best clients. And giving everyone the opportunity to make the best work of their careers.
If doing those things makes us bigger, then great, but never at the expense of anything else.
Check out the other New Wave Q&As below:
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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