Multi-award-winning creative leader Jay Morgan has launched POPULA, a creative brand agency on a mission to redefine brand advertising for a mobile-first world.
Working as a creative and innovations director at The Monkeys from 2017 – 2020, Morgan saw a gap emerging in creative content. “We were asked to create content for more and more and more channels but thinking about it from a TV first point of view. And it was weird because it was really clear by 2020 that more eyeballs were on mobile channels than they were anywhere else,” Morgan told B&T.
Moving over to Meta, it only took Morgan a few weeks to notice the huge gap that still existed in the mobile space. “There are not a lot of creative partners who are thinking like this. There are plenty of awesome influencer agencies and branded content agencies, which I think are definitely part of the mix. But there weren’t a lot of great creative agencies thinking of or delivering great brand mobile creative.”
“On a monthly basis for the four years I was at Meta, I would have these conversations with CEOs and senior marketers. They were very honest about where they thought they were winning and where they were not. The consistent message that kept coming up was we just know we’re not getting what we need to make these channels really hum”.
And thus, POPULA was born, designed to evolve brand advertising to be most effective on the most dominant screen in our lives—the mobile.
Australian consumers are already spending more time on their mobile devices than any other, with research showing it is the dominant device for viewing content. Research indicates 63 per cent of total ad spending by 2028 is projected to be generated from mobile in the digital advertising market. Additionally, more than half of the traffic generated on any website comes from mobile devices, accounting for 56.86 per cent.
“It’s no secret that our behaviours have changed. Audiences of all ages are now mobile-first, but for various reasons, too few agencies are giving their brand partners campaigns that are created for this screen. And I saw first hand during my 4 years at Meta how critical mobile advertising is to the success of customer-first businesses,” said Morgan.
POPULA has been born to turn this problem on its head, starting with mobile as the primary screen and creating ideas that extend out from there – Morgan isn’t aware of any other creative agencies offering this approach.
“There’s a myth that you can’t build a brand in mobile, but that is simply not true. We care deeply about craft and brand building, and we’re approaching creative briefs to work brilliantly in mobile environments first, because that is where most customers are spending their time now. It’s an approach that’s already reaping benefits for the brands we’re working with,” Morgan said.
POPULA already boasts an impressive body of work with campaigns for a notable roster of clients, including BHP, Commonwealth Bank, Canva, Meta, Quad Lock, Red Cross, BIG W, Woolworths Group, and Mindset Health.
“The clients have so far really appreciated and benefited from our approach. I think they find it really refreshing, particularly because we’re not just social media, and we’re not just offering mobile creative – we’re offering integrated work, but we’re just coming at it from a very fresh point of view that matches where the consumers are,” Morgan told B&T.
“Our plan from here is to grow with our clients, to work with clients that really understand that there is this gap and that they’re not getting what they need from their current partners”.
