You can tell a lot about a business from its office. Not least its growth plans. And there’s an awful lot you can tell about Howatson+Company from its new, shiny Melbourne office.
The agency moved into its Sydney “forever home” two years ago. At the time the Howatson+Company moved in, we described it as “an old five-storey terraced house with a beautifully twisted and taut glass-and-metal structure attached”.
Its new Melbourne office, helmed by recently appointed general manager Kate Naylor, is an altogether different proposition.
Approaching the building on Stephenson Street in Cremorne, you’d have very little idea that you were outside the office of one of the country’s premier creative agencies. But that’s almost the point — Sydney and Melbourne are different cities with different cultures.
While the Sydney office puts its glories on show for all to see (like an underworked and over-gymmed man on Bondi Beach might), the Melbourne office makes you work a touch harder. It’s a sentiment that Chris Howatson shares, though not in those words necessarily.
“Sydney is very glamorous on the outside and on the inside. Whereas Melbourne’s a real Melbourne building, it’s unassuming on the outside but decadent, deep and complex on the inside. I come from Melbourne, so I can comment on the case!” Howatson told B&T following an exclusive tour of the new Melbourne office.
Walking into the building, you’re greeted by Ali Mosh on a small front desk. On your left, a capacious boardroom with an enormous boardroom table — far too big for the agency’s senior leadership. That’s not a mistake, however. Nothing in the office is.
Turn to the right, you’re greeted with a kitchen and dining space. It reminds one of a Brooklyn boutique hotel. The colours are warm, luxurious and calming. The light fittings, a beautiful shade of dark green, are something to behold. The marble in the kitchen and bathroom counters comes from Tuscany and France.
But most of all, you notice the imposing grand marble staircase. It’s quite the spectacle. Above the stairs is a wide skylight with beautifully rounded corners (again). It casts a beam of light onto the base of the stairs, inviting you in and up.
“We have definitely overcapitalised on offices,” Howatson said.
“But the whole idea is that it creates a culture of care. If you care about the space that you work in, I think that flows through your interactions and you care about other people, then that flows through to clients. You care about your clients and you care about the work. We definitely could have done it faster. We could have done it cheaper. We could have done it more transactionally. But the whole idea for us is that our space shapes the care with which we do things.”
Touches and flourishes
And a lot of care has been put into the design and fitment of the space.
As with the Sydney office, Howatson+Company Melbourne was designed by Chris’ wife, interior designer Liz Howatson.
“She designed it, project managed it, she did all the specifications, all the materials, furniture. She did the jobs of about six people!” said Chris.
One priority of Liz’s was to focus on Australian materials and design. The wood panelling along the ceilings and walls is Victorian flooded gum. So extensive was its use in the office that, for a time, Howatson+Company was in possession of the world’s entire supply. The furniture came from Jardan, with which Howatson+Company had partnered with to create bespoke furniture.
Head past the front desk and you’re greeted by rows of desks. As with Sydney, you pass through business management first, with the creative department off to the left. Naylor and the rest of the Melbourne leadership team, as well as HR, are tucked around the corner to the right, just behind the media department.
The soft, calming feel continues too. The carpet is spongy and bouncy, there are few sharp edges and corners. The ceiling is high, but it isn’t overly imposing.
Agencies love to tell trade press reporters that its clients are routinely in the office and choose to be so. But Howatson might have taken it a step further, Dulux, for instance, held the finale of its graduate training program in the boardroom.
“Everyone’s amazed at how much it doesn’t feel like a traditional space. It’s so warm and inviting,” Naylor told B&T.
“Clients can sense when they’re here that there’s a community vibe. Everyone here feels like they can relax and do what needs to be done and have the right space for whatever kind of mindset that they’re in.”
Take a wander up the gargantuan staircase and you meet the back office functions — finance, IT and so on. Both floors have an abundance of meeting rooms and pods.
But the top floor has a number of empty desks – the office has 175 in total. Again, that’s not a mistake, Howatson and Naylor plan to fill those chairs with staff who are focused on the burgeoning tech businesses, Plus Also Studios and Unicorn. Some can be booked as part of a co-working space, called Seventy Stephenson.
Plus Also currently has around 60 staff on the books, Howatson+Company has about 100 staff in Sydney and 80 in Melbourne.
It also features 128 solar panels, making it very close to energy self-sufficient (and helping it save a small fortune on energy costs).
It also features a private studio space, including content creation space as well as three e-commerce photographic studio spaces and a full film and photography studio.
Standards and provocations
Artwork is a major part of the Howatson+Company Melbourne office, as it is in Sydney. It features three pieces from Australian photographer Dean West and two from Michael Wolf. There is art from David Bromley, Vincent Aguado, André Butzer and more.
“I don’t know anything about art,” Howatson said.
“So if I see it and it provokes, it feels unique and different then I think we should have it. We should have that same effect on people, that’s the guiding principle.
“The other thing I found out is that we can depreciate art over a 20-year depreciation schedule. So when I divide everything by 20, it doesn’t feel so bad!” Howatson said.
Howatson declined to say how much the office cost, but said the agency got good value. But that’s not the point.
“I was heavily influenced by working at Clemenger when it was a family company. They used to do stuff like this,” said Howatson.
“They had beautiful furniture and beautiful art. I think that’s why people come in every day, clients come in every day, industry people come in every day. I like to think that it says we care. We care about the creative industries, we care about artistic expression. These are all things that people just don’t seem to invest in anymore and I don’t know why.
“We’re in an era of efficiency. It’s nice to contrast that with a bit of indulgence and a bit of hedonism. Art for centuries has made people feel something and I like the idea that before people even see our work, they look at the walls and they feel something. It conditions everybody to a standard and a sense of joy that has been budgeted out of the workplace,” Howatson continued.
“Workplace fitouts now are about how many people you can fit at a square metre cost. .. There’s no way that any nice embellishments are possible. So you get a vanilla environment that people don’t want to work in. You can’t attract the best talent, you can’t get people to come into the office. We have no problem attracting great talent and getting people to work in the office every day.”
Naylor said that getting staff back in the office “hasn’t been a hard sell”.
Victorian ambition
Naylor, who has returned home to Australia after a decade or so in New York working for Rethink, BBH and Joannes Leonardo, said her top priority for Howatson+Company Melbourne was to attract the best talent.
“We want to find the best talent, help grow them and be the place in Melbourne that people say, ‘I want to work at H+C because they have amazing brands, amazing people working here, an amazing office and an amazing culture’. My hope is that we’re at the top of the list for anyone looking for a role,” she said.
Attracting that smarter talent will also help Howatson+Company stave off the effects of a contracting market, as will its sister tech-focused businesses.
“As you know, scopes are getting smaller and smaller at the moment. Projects are shrinking. So how can we help identify pockets of growth within the businesses that we’re working on?” Naylor said.
“That’s a skill that can happen from anyone, it’s not just a business management role.”
It’s a skill, too, that Naylor and Howatson alike think is most readily discovered when staff are working in the office, together and collaborating.
One thing that Howatson is very clear about, however, is that Howatson+Company is a national agency with offices in Sydney and Melbourne. They are not distinct businesses.
That an agency’s two offices might become each other’s greatest competitor is a “valid concern,” Howatson said.
Currently, the agency is avoiding the issue by avoiding city-based leadership. While Naylor is Melbourne general manager, the media team in Melbourne reports to James Turner in Sydney. The entire creative department reports to Sydney-based Richard Shaw. The design team reports to Melbourne-based Ellena Mills-Stainer.
“It helps find the best people for the best location. That might mean that their managers are in a different city,” said Howatson.
“But it’s far cheaper for us to spend more money on travel than it is just to replicate those roles and it prevents cultural competition across cities. We try to ban any geographical lexicon within the agency. You talk about your team, the client, the job.
“I was recently on a call for a project and the creatives were in Melbourne, the planner in Sydney and the suit was at a client meeting in Brisbane. Technology brings us together but physical space creates the attentive culture,” he said.
Howatson+Company has found its forever home in Sydney. And now its forever home in Melbourne. Or at least for the meantime.
“It’s in a high density zoning area, so in 20 to 30 years time, it might get taken for development into a high rise,” said Howatson.
Proof, perhaps, that no one can have it all.
