Founder of CUB’s in-house agency, Chris Maxwell, has launched lution, a marketing, data and technology consultancy focused on helping brands to build and optimise in-house agencies.
Maxwell, ex-CUB marketing director and the architect of CUB’s move to the in-house agency model, said the move to agency in-housing was transformational for CUB, and believes there’s never been a better time for clients to build an in-house agency model.
To launch lution, Maxwell has teamed up with Nick Garrett (main photo), ex-CEO of Clemenger BBDO and one of Australia’s most awarded creative leaders, Andy Gibson, global CMO for Foster’s, Bacardi and Walgreens Boots Alliance and Marty Wirth, founder of Present Company one of Australia’s leading independent agencies.
The founders identified a need to champion a new model for marketing that brings together the speed, efficiency and effectiveness of an in-house agency with the creative diversity of an external agency.
Maxwell explained: “At lution, we bring digital, media, creative and production services in-house, closer to the business and more tightly aligned to the brand, to enable faster, more effective and efficient work.
“We are working with partners like Betfair and MYOB to design and implement in-house agency models, data and technology solutions that enable automation and personalisation. In Betfair’s case we connected them with our Enhanced Creative Panel to enable fast simple access to some of Australia’s best creative talent, to develop their brand relaunch and upcoming brand campaign.
“We know that the biggest problems require the best talent. Our model improves the efficiency and effectiveness of your day-to-day marketing so you can invest more of your time, energy and resources into your biggest growth opportunities.”
The founders of lution believe now is the time for brands to take greater ownership and control of their marketing strategy, their brand voice and their data. To drive the creative agenda further the business has curated a panel of independent strategic, creative and production talent available to lution clients, designed by Garrett.
Garrett said: “I got excited when Chris came to me with his idea because I genuinely believe it is an opportunity for positive change in the industry I love, hence I became a partner and joined the board. The wealth of talent has never been greater and many of the smartest and most passionate people are now either working for themselves or helping grow independent offers and we are really excited to see where the new breed of indies and creative consultancies can go.
“Ultimately we’ve set up our Enhanced Creative Panel to enable brands direct access to elite talent on a project basis and the talent is picked bespoke for the task vs being forced on you because of a large retainer. You get access to the creative leaders directly and consistently instead of having to go through layers of agency people before you can have a meaningful conversation about what matters – the work.”
Nick Thomas – Betfair Marketing Director said of lution: “We partnered with lution to help Betfair design and implement our internal agency model, encompassing creative, production and media. As a result of the early value and insight the team were providing over and above the scope of the brief, we subsequently agreed an extended program for them to design our data and martech infrastructure to support the internal agency and growth agenda.
“The team on our project is senior, focused and experienced, having built this and done this before. The models and frameworks they use are some of the best I’ve seen, and at each stage of the project I have felt like there’s an agility and personalization in the way they work. I highly recommend lution and am delighted with the work they are doing with us.”
lution’s consultancy services include strategy, planning and implementation of the in-house agency model; martech, adtech and data infrastructure design and implementation; marketing automation, process optimisation; and, brand strategy, creative and production services through the panel.
Founding clients include Betfair, MYOB, MightyCraft, Wanderlust, Jetty Road Brewery, Park SSC and ENGO.
