Howatson+Company

In 2025, Howatson+Company celebrated its fifth birthday. And while the agency is still relatively young, it seems to be an exemplar for many more established businesses in the sector.

Its client list grew significantly in 2025 with 26 new accounts across a variety of scopes of work. Its biggest win, perhaps, was Myer which awarded the agency strategy, design, creative, production and social work. It also had a very important win with TPG Telecom, which it won via a competitive pitch to run Vodafone parent’s strategy, design, creative, production, social and data.

But you knew about those two. It also won Shell Energy’s strategy, design, creative, production and CX via competitive pitch. It signed retentions with Allianz, Greencross Pet Wellness, UNSW Sydney, Unicef and Qantas. 

Howatson+Company would keep the hits coming in 2026, too, being named the creative agency for CommBank—a mammoth win for a business of its vintage.

That said, it lost two clients. It resigned a project for TK Maxx when it won Myer. It lost a big chunk of the full-service account it had for Honda, however. Eva Barrett, the Japanese automaker’s top marketer, reappointed its previous media agency Zenith to handle media planning and buying, and Special, with whom she’d worked with at Kathmandu, took over the auto portion of the creative account. You can’t win ‘em all.

But when band leaders Chris Howatson and Renee Hyde sit down with the beancounters, everyone should be pleased. Revenue climbed 34 per cent year-on-year with those 26 new clients contributing significantly.

The band’s main recording studio in Sydney’s Surry Hills, a triumph of design, to be sure, has also proven to be a fertile ground for strong creativity. Chief creative Gavin Chimes and deputy Richard Shaw (Howatson+Company has no chief strategy officer, a deliberate choice) have led the team to produce some great work.

Its ‘Care You Can Count On’ for Allianz became one of the most well-recognised ads among the general public in Australia. ‘If You Can Take It, It’s Yours’ for Selleys was playfully fun and a great channel-specific execution that picked up metal at the 2026 Cairns Crocodiles Awards.

The ‘Appeal Appeal’ for UNICEF would take home trophies at the 2025 Cairns Crocodiles and B&T Awards too. Its Triple J rebrand would also win trophies at the B&T Awards and D&AD. The agency’s Melbourne office also won Victoria Agency of the Year at the 2025 B&T Awards.

In total, Howatson+Company picked up 72 awards across 22 shows, including being named Campaign Asia’s Independent Agency of the Year. It also won a wood pencil at D&AD and picked up metal at Spikes, Gerety Awards, Mumbrella, AdNews, AWARD, The Drum, Shots and the Best Awards.

Howatson+Company’s Plus Also Studio, which automates high volume creative through artificial intelligence, also proved to be a hit with brands. It signed wins with News Corp, oOh!media, the ABC, Snooze and Myer.

A number of staff (not least Chris Howatson, Hoang Nguyen and Renee Hyde) are shared across both companies, hence Plus Also’s efforts listed here.

Plus Also was named in the AFR BOSS Most Innovative Companies list in 2025. Its creative director Effie Anthanassiou would win the Martech Award at the 2026 Women Leading Tech Awards, though the latter is not counted in this judging period. 

Howatson+Company’s team grew by 31 people from 2024 and it is perilously approaching what lead singer Chris Howatson called the agency’s ‘intimacy inflection point’ of 200 people. 

It isn’t hard to see why, either. Not only is the client list desirable, its people policies are strong too. For instance, it pays superannuation contributions for the full 12 months of parental leave—on top of 12 weeks of fully paid leave. 

It also spends 5 per cent of revenue on training and development, and provides every team member 24/7 Sonder access, offering doctors, counsellors and safety resources.