Aussie Advertising Industry Gets Ugly With New Independent Player

Aussie Advertising Industry Gets Ugly With New Independent Player

After 20 years in Europe, Anomaly Amsterdam founding partner and CEO Hazelle Klønhammer has returned to Australia to open a new agency with the help of two former advertising executives.

Ugly launches today with Gary McCreadie, former executive creative director at TBWA Sydney, and Ross Berthinussen, former head of strategy at M&C Saatchi Sydney, joining the fold.

The agency is based in the Sydney suburb of Pyrmont, and is actively recruiting.

With over five decades of industry experience between them, Klønhammer, McCreadie and Berthinussen are looking to collaborate on demand to suit client’s needs, and redefine the compensation model from time to value.

Klønhammer said she wants to position Ugly as an ideas company born of the belief that creativity can transform business.

“I see huge potential in Australia for a more progressive agency model that is stripped back, switched on and straight up,” she said.

Hazelle Klønhammer

“We’re here for clients who want to work in a more human, collaborative and efficient way.”

McCreadie said Ugly will mix and match strategic and creative collaborators from outside the agency and the communications industry, depending on the problem at hand.

“It’s easy not to love the game at the moment. A multitude of new pressures come thick and fast every day – pressures of perfection, at speed, for less,” he said.

Gary McReadie

“So, if you create an environment that’s friendly and open, in which you can make mistakes and say dumb shit and not be judged, then creativity flows way more freely.”

Ross said that in order to understand where to focus creativity, Ugly will apply CX principles to turn business problems into people problems.

“Starting with people’s experience of a brand allows us to pinpoint where creativity can have the most impact on our clients’ business,” he said.

Ross Berthinussen

“The answer may lie in the product or the experience around the brand. We don’t assume advertising is the answer.”

 




Latest News