Founded in 2017 by Jim Ingram, Adam Ferrier and Ben Couzens, and led by forth partner Margie Reid, Thinkerbell is a full-service agency with an array of clients including Furphy, Vegemite, 13 Cabs, Accor Hotels, IAG, Tourism Australia and Sukin. With over 50 employees across offices in both Sydney and Melbourne, Thinkerbell aims to bring together science and creativity – or, as the agency calls it, ‘Measured Magic’.
VITAL STATS:
- Agency Leader/s: Founder, Adam Ferrier; Founder & Chief Creative Tinker, Jim Ingram; Chief Creative Tinker, Ben ‘Cuz’ Couzens and Managing Partner, Margie Reid
- Offices: Melbourne and Sydney
- Number of Staff: 54
- Major Clients: 13 Cabs, IAG, Vegemite, Tourism Australia, Sukin, Lion Beer and Accor Hotels
- Holding Company: PwC has a minority, passive investment
- Website: https://thinkerbell.com/about
“They promise a great deal by reputation – top-class strategic thinking and storied creative leadership.”
– Expert Panel
Creative Output: 16.5/25
The expert panel said it is still early days for Thinkerbell, but not so early that you can’t expect one or two very famous campaigns. Vegemite was a great tactical stunt from a cheeky upstart, however, it felt tactical rather than strategic and played into the business’s earned strength more than anything.
Significant new business was noted by the expert panel with the expectation that a lot of new work would be coming from those clients, allowing Thinkerbell to show what it is capable of.
“Our Watch’s [Doing Nothing Does Harm] is a clever campaign delivered with digital smarts but the scale of the result is unproven. Definitely one to watch.”
– Expert Panel
Business Outcomes: 18/25
Thinkerbell’s client list is rapidly growing. While they are new business guns when they choose to compete, the more established agencies have Thinkerbell beaten on sheer scale, diversity of clients and work.
The agency doesn’t yet have those two or three big, influential brands that drive culture and conversation. In the words of one panel member: “It’s fine for an emerging agency, but I’m not sure how long they can classify themselves as that.”
The thinker/tinker model certainly has a lot of advantages and should contribute to a better business model.
Key Business Statistics 2018-2019:
– 511% increase in revenue
– 809% growth in billings
– 304% increase in profit
“Thinkerbell’s profile has risen quickly and I expect it to continue to do so. It has an original model built from a coherent perspective about the future of communication, it’s Australian and it has a high profile brand spokesperson in Adam Ferrier.”
– Expert Panel
Effectiveness: 18/25
The agency is on a growth trajectory and has almost doubled in size to 54 staff.
In 2018 alone the agency had 43 new client wins across media, PR and creative. Meanwhile, its successful Our Watch campaign also showed strong results with over 11.3 million cumulative impressions and a cumulative reach of 3.4 million, plus further PR reach of 18.8 million and 6,000 card clicks.
It is definitely early days for Thinkerbell so to definitively score it on effectiveness is tough. With so many award and new business wins already the agency is off to the right start.
Awards the agency has won in 2019:
– AdNews Creative Agency of the Year
– Emerging Agency of the Year at the Mumbrella Awards
– B&T’s Emerging Agency of the Year
“Thinkerbell’s expansion into Sydney also suggests there is demand for the agency and shows promise.”
– Expert Panel
Culture: 19/25
Thinkerbell excels in its culture and is certainly personality based, the panel said. The founders are often the representing faces of the agency and are positive role models for both the agency and the industry.
“Thinkerbell excels here – Adam, Margie, Ben and Jim are all vocal, sensible and well-known voices on industry and craft issues and are usually on the money. They command huge respect across the agency and marketing community, and do so with an impressive level of honesty and integrity.”
– Expert Panel
Score
Overall, Thinkerbell is one to watch. It is very early days for the agency and the business model seems to be constantly evolving, diversifying, and growing, and its work is reflective of this. Congratulations to the agency for achieving so much in a short amount of time.
Thinkerbell said:
“It’s been a good year. Thinkerbell is proving to bring a bit of Measured Magic to the marketing communications landscape. We’ve been making an impact and we’re stoked it’s all coming along so well.
Our Thinkers and Tinkers are enjoying reinventing the way that agencies work, and for the most part our clients are benefiting from an agency that doesn’t get lost in the bullshit of how things used to be. We’re proud of the impact that the work is having too. We’ve been doing a lot of strategy consulting working with clients and their existing agencies, as well as proving media, creative, and earned services for some amazing brands and businesses.
Our impact also spreads beyond the industry and we’re having fun doing work that’s making the mainstream press here and around the world for brands like Vegemite, CGU, NRMA Insurance, Old El Paso, Accor and several others.
Along the way we’ve launched a new conference/festival-type thing called s p a c e, a spanking new Sydney office, an insights company called Hocus Focus and we’re working on a couple of other big things which will launch in 2020. The numbers are all in place too with a 250% increase in revenue and we’re over 60 people strong. Like we said, it’s been a good year.”
This Report Card was published on the 7th of May 2020.
