Sydney, Australia – Evan Roberts and Lee Simpson, two veterans of Australia’s advertising industry, have partnered to launch a new creative agency called Tightknit Studio.
Roberts, formerly chief creative officer at TBWA Sydney, said, “Tightknit is a promise of how we work and what we deliver. We know business is more challenging than ever before. Tightknit Studio is a creative practice born to tame this complexity and turn it into something beautiful.”
Simpson, who most recently served as CEO of whiteGREY, added, “We’re on a mission to take creativity to new places and apply it across as many areas of an organisation as we can. This gives us more opportunity to tackle both familiar challenges and new kinds of problems. We’ve been busy exploring models to help us do just that – from operating in a regular agency model, to partnering closely with in-house teams, and, perhaps most interestingly, already acting as an outsourced marketing function across the Marketing mix.”
The pair previously worked together at Clemenger BBDO Melbourne, where Simpson was managing partner and Roberts executive creative director. Their collaboration produced campaigns such as NAB’s long-running “More Than Money” platform and “Meet Graham” for the Transport Accident Commission.
“Building an agency from scratch means we aren’t dealing with legacy structures and can set ourselves up for the emerging future as well as help clients find their place in it. It’s an incredibly exciting moment in time,” Simpson said.
Simpson is known for revitalising whiteGREY, transforming it into a top-ten agency in Asia Pacific for creativity and effectiveness, with recognition from Cannes, WARC, and Fast Company. His career also includes roles at Grey London, AMVBBDO London and M&C Saatchi Australia.
Roberts brings over 20 years of creative leadership, having worked with brands including Mars, Apple, Heinz, Airbnb, NAB, Carlton & United Breweries, the Transport Accident Commission and the Australian Defence Force. At Clemenger BBDO he helped the agency win multiple industry awards, and was ranked the world’s top creative director. At TBWA Sydney, he led global pitches and supported the Media Arts Lab in Australia.
“When I look back at the noteworthy projects I’ve been part of over the years, they all had two things in common: deep collaboration and creative discipline. Those are the fundamentals we’re building Tightknit on and in the increasingly fast-paced and fragmented landscape we work in, they’ve never been more important,” Roberts said.
