Founded in August 2022, Amaury Treguer and the team at Bread Agency have certainly caught B&T’s eye recently. In January, it picked up the global social media account for Modibodi and last month, it launched an unusual billboard-first recruitment campaign. Greg ‘Sparrow’ Graham caught up with the agency’s co-founder Amaury Treguer to get the low down on Bread.
1. You are a co-founder with Mary, how did this valuable business partnership begin?
I met Mary [Proulx] when I started my role as executive director social at Red Havas (now Havas Red). Mary was my 2IC. While I was in charge of the National team across Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, Mary was looking after the Sydney team.
We worked well together and we had a fantastic team around us. Then Mary got promoted to head up the Social and Influencer team at One Green Bean (part of Havas Group). Whilst I was happy for her, I did miss our working relationship a lot. So after a while, I decided that it was time again to launch a business (as I did in Paris 18+ years ago). Mary was on a career break so my job was to convince her to rally forces again and Bread Agency was born.
2. The agency name is quirky — why Bread?
We get this question a lot. After weeks of trying to find a name, and more importantly a business name with an available URL, we landed on Bread Agency. Bread is slang for ‘money’ so a perfect alignment with our core focus on Social Commerce. We help brands embrace the power of Social Media to sell. The other aspect I love is that bread is aligned with my French heritage. Let’s be honest, French people make the best bread!
3. I love the line in your creds where you talk about “truly give-a-shit folk who want to do great work with good people.” How do you ensure this is not just a PR statement?
Oh trust me, it’s far from being just a PR mantra. We are strict about sticking to this. We care about what work we put our name and we won’t stop unless our clients are extremely satisfied with the results. If they’re not, we will sit out on our fees – it’s one of our promises (it’s never happened to date).
In terms of the good people, that goes for both our team members and our clients. We have an extensive recruitment process to ensure that we bring the best humans on board — making sure that they align with our values and promises. The same goes for our clients, if we don’t feel the clients are right for us, we happily decline the opportunity. Our clients are ‘la crème de la crème’ and we like to connect and hang out with them — which means that we work well together and have transparency at the core.
4. What sets Bread apart?
Mary and I have both worked in the social space for a long time. I’ve been working in the Social industry for the past 14 years, which I love to say is 98 in social media years with all the new platforms, algorithms and formats popping up every day. We’ve worked on some of the biggest accounts, including Netflix, Amazon, Unilever, J&J, Toyota… We know our shit (excuse my French!). Our Social Commerce focus is unrivalled, including bringing innovative formats like Livestream Shopping to Australia. This is certainly a space that no other agencies are playing into.
5. You are passionate about photography and the Volvo Ocean Lovers Festival, what’s the backstory?
Typical tourist, when we landed in Sydney 15 years ago, my wife and I decided to move to Bondi Beach.
While I was training for the obstacle course Tough Mudder with a group of mates, I started to notice the ever-changing sunrise over Bondi and decided to take photos with my phone and post them on my personal Facebook in an album called ‘Morning Bondi’. Over time, I got hooked on this routine of waking up early to start my day down at the beach and photography was a big part of it. Every day I wake up early, take photos, go for a dip in the ocean and post all my photos on my Morning Bondi blog and social channels. Feel free to check my Instagram for the best shots.
When I met Anita and Caz, the Founders of the Volvo Ocean Lovers Festival, I loved what these two were up to and what the Festival represents for people like me who spend time down at the beach. When we launched Bread, Anita and Caz reached out and we started helping with their Socials. It’s a nice way to give back to the community and the ocean.
6. I know it’s like naming your favourite child, but which work are you most proud of?
Oh, that is a tricky question indeed. I have worked on a lot of campaigns that I’m proud of but one of the most recent pieces of work that I’m particularly proud of is a campaign for UCB (Union Chimique Belge) and Epilepsy Action Australia to raise awareness of epilepsy and the prevalence of the condition for World Epilepsy Day aka Purple Day.
We partnered with Lachy, the Purple Wiggle, to share his story about epilepsy. You can see the video on my LinkedIn here. Simple, yet effective and more importantly meaningful. We received some amazing feedback from people affected by the condition.
7. You start your daily routine at Bondi Beach at 6am, how does this set you up for a productive day?
My Morning Bondi routine is a MUST. It’s my ‘me time’. It sets me up for the day. I wake up every morning around 5 am to go down to the beach, exercise, take photos, hang out with friends and finish with a dip in the ocean.
My favourite bits are the coffee and swimming but I have to say taking photos is highly therapeutic for me. It’s my type of meditation. When I photograph, I don’t think about anything else other than what is in front of my camera. That’s pretty much the only time when I don’t think about work or business. My mind races at 1,000km per hour and my morning routine calms me down.
8. You have been involved in social for years how does that shape your business future?
We are the ‘Story Selling’ agency with Social Media at the core. For some clients that means social specific – for others that is creative and comms, including TV production. As the future of shoppable experiences evolves, so too will our remit.
We have the experience to back this up. I launched a Creative Studio/Production Company in Paris and have produced hundreds of TVCs, music clips and corporate videos. Mary used to work in PR and Content Marketing and our team members are coming from various backgrounds so we won’t be afraid to branch out in some of these spaces, as we are already doing with some clients.
However, our ideas will always be centred around human truths and conversation insights.
9. Can you share with us something that’s not on your LinkedIn profile?
If there is one thing that I never really talk about on LinkedIn, it’s my personal life. I’ve been married to my wife for more than 14 years and we have an adorable eight-year-old daughter Charlotte. I love them dearly and they support me a lot especially when life is busy between Bread, Morning Bondi and board members of the Alliance Française.
10. Do your parents know what you actually do?
150 per cent! We are all marketers in the family. My dad who’s also my unofficial mentor has been working in Advertising for over 40 years, my older brother is in Marketing, my younger sister works in Social Media and my mum had to cope with all of our marketing jargon at the dinner table.
At 10 years old, I already knew the 4Ps of Marketing and I was attending some of my dad’s TVC shoots. Marketing and Advertising are in my DNA and I never thought about doing anything else, except being a Vet but I was terrible at Biology.
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