The Monkeys former Melbourne leadership trio have unveiled their new venture, creative agency Kerfuffle.
Chief creative Ant Keogh, CEO Paul McMillan and chief strategy officer, Michael Derepas, departed The Monkeys in October and announced at the time that they would be launching a new agency together.
Keogh said Kerffufle would be “unashamedly about creativity” and would double down on its value for its value for businesses at a time when the ad industry is “under threat from all angles”.
Keogh added that it aims to be a “safe haven for the best creative minds in the country”.
Among those best minds are group account director Jessie Roper (formerly of Bullfrog), ex-DDB Melbourne senior copywriter Carly Dallwitz, ex-AJF Partnership senior producer IIona Phyland and fellow ex-AJFer, creative partners Josh Stephens and George Freckleton.
“At the end of the day, the best strategy is only as good as the work it creates. To earn brands their precious piece of mental real estate, you need rock-solid strategic foundations. Only then, can the creatives leap further, and release big creative ideas that command actual human attention – the kind of work we want to create at Kerfuffle,” said Derepas.
Explaining the agency’s name, Keogh said it reflects clients’ needs.
“Our clients need to make a noise, get noticed, create a commotion. Unless you do that first, everything else is academic. It comes out of that. Or maybe we just thought it sounded funny,” he said.
“Kerfuffle is a small group of smart people with huge experience. Collectively we have made a lot of great work with many wonderful agencies, clients and colleagues… now it’s super exciting to be backing ourselves and having a crack as an independent,” added McMillan.