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Noisy Beast was established back in 2012 initially as a joint venture with Swisse Vitamins and three directors at the time.

Since last year, Noisy Beast has separated from the supplements brand to become its own growing independent full-service agency.

Managing director David Brown spoke toMediaweekabout buying out management during the pandemic, its diverse range of clients and investing in digital for the future.

Noisy Beast was initially set up more than a decade ago as a joint venture with Swisse Vitamins.

After the original directors had left, Brown explained that he joined the agency in 2018, an in-house agency for Swisse and other client wins outside of the brand.

Last year, the agency formally parted ways with Swisse following the completion of a management buyout from Hong Kong-based H&H Group.

Brown was previously group managing director of DDB Melbourne, managing director at M&C Saatchi and managing director of RAPP.

The managing director said that coming from holding companies to Noisy Beast as fully integrated: you definitely see some of the issues in the industry of when it was decoupled and how a lot of agencies are still trying to put it back together.

Brown noted Noisy Beasts benefit as an independent is being fully integrated. He said: not have any silos, not to have to fight between channel and clients budget, and always giving the best opportunity for the client instead of worrying what should fit the group.

As the global managing director, he oversees the Melbourne, Sydney and the UK offices. We try and run a generic culture, but something that can be quite local for each market. We always try and support each other; we dont try and replicate skill sets, he said.

Brown said that part of his role is to ensure the company maintains a strong culture and finance and that their work for clients is powerful.

The managing director noted that the agency is a small and mighty team specialising in creative, conception work, branding, and brand design. He also said that they have a fully functional and content arm of the business.

Its integrated into how we work and the traditional and performance side of digital media. Were full service, and I think those arms work very in a specialised manner individually but also work very powerfully together, he said.

As a result, Noisy Beast has quite a diverse range of clients, and some long-term key partnerships include King Living Furniture, Suzuki, Xero, and Drummond Golf.

Noisy Beast also counts Porsche and, more recently, UniSuper as part of its client list.

Brown shared that theyve given back to the community through their work with not-for-profits and charitable projects such as Monash Health and Murdoch Childrens Research Institute.

Were very passionate about giving back to clients that we can help, he said.

The clients are a good mix of discipline and tenure, which helps support our model. I think our model also helps support what clients are trying to achieve at the moment, Brown added.

Agencies across Australia have had varying reactions to the pandemic, and for Noisy Beast, it was a unique journey.

Brown explained the management buyout midway through the pandemic was a massive leap of faith in a world of uncertainty.

However, I think we were so confident that the model was right and that our clients supported us in what we wanted to do. It became quite an easy decision as hard as it was to decouple the Swiss business and lose people that worked on that account, which is always the bad part of our industry, he said.

Most people have gone on into different directions, but then our agency has just gone from strength to strength, he added.

The managing director admitted that it was a tricky time as they had no precedent to work from but said that the talent shone through from his observation.

I dont think its because people were working from home or suddenly because people were working in the office. I think a lot of that hid behind the fact that your strong talent is always your strong talent, whether theyre working from home or in the office, he said.

Brown noted that because the pandemic made working environments challenging, they have become flexible.

We work in a fully flexible environment. People come and go as they please. We have full confidence and trust in all of our staff to deliver for the clients, deliver for the team, and support each other. So, theres no issue where people work.

In terms of the business, Brown revealed that Covid had, in fact, accelerated growth.

Its got businesses to think about what their strengths are and what their core strengths are. For us to have that fully integrated offering has just helped us become more integrated and to be able to invest in those skill sets content and digital to help grow the business, the managing director said.

Brown added that while the first year of the pandemic was very uncertain, Noisy Beast was confident in its positioning in the second year.

Its always been a great time to be in advertising, and I genuinely think that now is also a great, fascinating time as the worlds moving at such a rate of knots. Its an exciting time to be around, Brown added.

The managing director revealed that the agency has been heavily investing in the digital side of its business in the year ahead and explained: I think thats probably been on the back of the pandemic. Whats happened is that buyer behaviour has changed.

I think a lot of clients have lots of data, lots of clients have had their digitalisation accelerated over the last couple of years, we are now in the process of very quickly and rapidly building out the extension to our media team and in the digital sense.

Were very much expediting the digital side of our business, as well as the content side of the business. So, once you have the digital channels, it needs content. Within the agency, we built a content studio. Weve had clients in his shooting work, and we shoot the work ourselves.

Brown also shared that their team is expanding with new appointments in the digital media space of the company.

Noisy Beast joined the IMAA last year, and Brown praised the organisation for unifying independent agencies across the country and giving them a forum to network and support each other.

The managing director also praised the IMAA for offering platforms and tools that they wouldnt have been able to access.

Brown said: as soon as we had the opportunity to get into it, we did. I think theres a great network of people on there. There are some great brands and some really good businesses on there, and it feels like a good community.

Top image: David Brown

VOZ shows Total TV reached 19.064m Australians. 55% of the population viewed exclusively on linear TV, 5% viewed exclusively on BVOD and 13% viewed on a combination of both linear TV and BVOD in week 18. Click for more

Originally posted here:
Noisy Beast MD David Brown on the management buyout in the pandemic - Mediaweek