Howatson+Company has launched a sister agency, Plus Also Studios.
Plus Also Studios is an AI-enabled creative technology company offering brand asset creation, personalisation and automated orchestration, with complete performance attribution.
It exists independently of Howatson+Company, which was co-founded by data and technology leader Hoang Nguyen. It operates under the leadership of Jessica Coulson, managing director, and Effie Athanassiou, creative director.
“2024 was the tipping point of AI being a viable alternative for branded asset creation and high-quality creative rollout,” said Hoang Nguyen, co-founder, Plus Also Studios.
“Where other market offerings have aligned to an AI partner, we remain agnostic, creating value in how we train, secure, fine-tune, and combine multiple AI models to create the perfect, highly crafted output to the brief. It’s not unusual for over 50 AI models to be ‘canvassed’ to create a campaign visual indistinguishable from the traditional production process. In this way, the Plus Also difference is in the people, compliance and process. We leave the AI development to well-funded global tech innovators”.
“Plus Also Studios offers a blend of traditional and AI production methods, but most importantly is investing in people and processes with a view that 85-90 per cent of brand asset creation will be informed by AI in the next 3 years. PAS will ensure all our clients benefit from the most cutting-edge applications of IP-compliant AI in marketing communications,” said Renee Hyde, group managing director, Howatson+Company.
Plus Also Studios has welcomed Endeavour Group as its foundation client.
“At Endeavour Group, our vision is to be the leading platform enabling social occasions. A key part of this strategy is to deepen how our customers experience the benefits of Endeavour Group as a whole, more fully than the sum of their engagement with each brand alone. This experience is core to Endeavour’s transformation from being a family of retail, hospitality and product brands to an intuitive ecosystem of beloved brands that come together to make good times happen for customers,” said Jo Rose, chief marketing officer, Endeavour Group.
“It was the combination of creativity and innovative technology that spurred us to establish this market-leading capability that transforms the traditional production mindset to deliver both efficiency and effectiveness. Endeavour is delighted to be Plus Also Studios foundation client,” added Katie Dally, general manage of brand, creative and operations, Endeavour Group.
“With Jo and Katie, we have built a world-class team, inverting the traditional focus on rollout that exists in production models and reinvesting in upstream strategic, creative and technology roles. This enables content to be more strategically aligned to audience and business needs, and therefore play a more fundamental role in commercial performance. This is not a me-too AI capability. Instead, Plus Also Studios reflects 3 years of significant investment, application and testing to create a market-leading proposition,” said Chris Howatson.
Plus Also Studios is licensing its technology to enable internal production teams at Qantas, Foxtel and Petbarn across static, motion and email use cases.
