Laura Aldington, co-founder of the independent creative agency Supermassive, has spent over 25 years advising some of the world’s biggest brands across the UK, US, and Australia.
With a passion for non-traditional, earned creativity grounded in solid brand strategy, Aldington and her team have quickly made their mark in the industry.
Recognised for her leadership, Aldington’s influence extends beyond her agency role as she serves as the deputy chair of the Advertising Council of Australia. In this Fast 10 with Sparrow, she shares insights on launching an indie agency, creating “disproportionate impact,” and her approach to leadership.
1) You’ve had a massive first year, see what I did there … if you had to pick only 1 highlight what would it be?
Aldington: Yep, it had it all! Vintage Ferraris, assembling a precision crew, overcoming the odds and winning big (basically, the plot of a Fast and Furious movie). But if we had to choose one highlight, maybe winning an Emerging Agency of the Year trophy after just 9 months, because it reflects all the best bits – the strength of our Client relationships, the impact of our work, the wins, and the momentum behind our positioning.
2) How did you, Simone & Jon meet & decide to launch an indie agency?
Aldington: We’ve all worked together in different combinations and at different agencies for well over a decade and we share a philosophy around both what modern brands need to do to be more effective, and how agencies could better service that need. We realised whenever we’d brought our different skills together, we’d done the most effective work of our careers.
3) Your positioning is about ‘creating disproportionate impact’ – how did that come about?
Aldington: We set out to measure success by the cultural and commercial impact of our creativity. We love the word impact because we think it requires the three things we do at Supermassive. 1) Robust strategy to create consistent, enduring brand platforms and assets 2) unignorable creativity and 3) an innate understanding of how to amplify that in earned as well as paid. So, we can entertain rather than just interrupt, lean into culture rather than just compete with it, outsmart rather than just outspend and make things people aren’t actively trying to avoid or ignore.
4) When deciding on a name, you have been very ambitious, I assume that’s around the work versus your agency size?
Aldington: Haha, yes, absolutely. And we wanted a name that felt like it could be its own brand in culture. It seems antithetical to persuade Clients of the commercial value of a strong, distinctive, consistent and well communicated brand, and then steadfastly ignore that when it comes to your own business.
5) I love your merch, so thank you. Besides the cool sweatshirt, how did the Room Spritz come to life?
Aldington: Thank you! Our merch game is another expression of our ambition to create a desirable brand that people want to engage with. Running on Fumes was designed to celebrate our first birthday. We initially thought we’d make our own scented candles, but trying to run a high performing creative studio while standing in our kitchens at midnight measuring essential oil proved insane. So, true to our model, we brought in a specialist (Oliver Woolf) to help us capture the unique scent of our first whirlwind year.
6) As an industry, what’s one thing you would change to make us all better?
Aldington: Talk more about effectiveness. We love to judge work (and even award it) before we’ve seen or understood its impact. Our credibility (and everything that will bring) will come from us caring more about what our work delivers outside of our industry, and less from obsessing over its reception within it.
7) You hold a post-grad in Organisational Coaching & Leadership. How does that inform your leadership style?
Aldington: Coaching has taught me two invaluable lessons – the first is how to ask really good questions. The second, to actually listen to the answers. When you coach, you realise how little time people spend listening to each other and what a rare thing it is to be genuinely heard.
8) With the current economic headwinds are your clients still investing in impactful ideas?
Aldington: Ours are, definitely. And even when you phrase the question like that, the alternative – investing in ideas designed not to make an impact – feels a bit bonkers in any economic climate, right?
9) What’s one thing that’s not on your LinkedIn profile?
Aldington: Everything you can learn about B2B marketing from scented candle making.
10) Important last question: do your parents know what you do?
Aldington: It’s hard to say if my Dad could tell you exactly what we do, but he often wears his Supermassive sweatshirt around London, so I’m hoping he thinks it’s something pretty cool.
