Former TBWA\Sydney CCO, Evan Roberts, and whiteGREY CEO, Lee Simpson, have joined forces to launch Tightknit Studio. It’s a powerful reunion for the pair who have already produced much of their best work together at Clemenger BBDO Melbourne, Simpson as managing partner and Roberts as ECD. This includes TAC’s Meet Graham, the most awarded campaign in the World and NAB’s long-running More than Money platform.

It is nonetheless, a new start-up agency in a challenging market. The two industry experts know that. Their positioning has been developed to answer it. “We are seeing the world getting more challenging for organisations. Your readers are tackling macro conditions; competitors with deeper pockets; increasingly diverse and demanding stakeholders; almost infinite content in the world of finite human attention. Even the disrupters are getting disrupted. Tightknit Studio is built to tame the complexity that companies face daily. As our line says, we are Making the complex beautiful,” they stated.

…and their model intends to conquer it. “One of the points of difference is that we work with clients in three ways – an agency model; working tightly with in-house teams; and, perhaps most interestingly, as an outsourced marketing function across the full marketing mix. And, of course, have an AI strategy but also believe the skills of judgement, taste and curation are more valuable now not less.”

Of course, there’s also the expertise of the two founders, who have already been recognised as the industry’s most creative (multiple Cannes Grand Prix, D&AD Black Pencil); most innovative (4 x Fast Company World Changing ideas and an Australian Financial Review Most Innovative Company in ANZ); and most effective (Grand Effie, Gold at APAC and Euro Effies, WARC Global Effectiveness Grand Prix).

Roberts commented, “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 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.

“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.”

In his previous role, Simpson led the revitalisation of whiteGREY as CEO, transforming it into a top ten agency in APAC for creativity and effectiveness. Prior to that, Lee worked at highly respected agencies in the UK and Australia including Grey London, AMVBBDO London and M&C Saatchi Australia – earning over 200 industry awards across creativity, data, and technology, notably including two Cannes Grand Prix, a D&AD Black Pencil, and gold at both Euro and APAC Effies.

Roberts has built a reputation as one of Australia’s most respected creative leaders over two decades, creating some of the country’s most enduring brand platforms as well as world-first creative innovation. He’s worked across many of Australia’s, and the world’s, biggest brands including Mars, Apple, HEINZ,  Airbnb, NAB, CUB, TAC and the Australian Defence Force. His work has been recognised with the highest creative and effectiveness accolades possible including the D&AD Black Pencil and in his time at Clemenger BBDO the agency won Cannes AOTY, D&AD AOTY and he was ranked #1 creative director in the world as a result. Beyond Sydney, Roberts led global pitches for the TBWA collective and was part of reinvigorating 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 commented.

Tightknit’s launch clients range from start-ups to ASX listed across categories as varied as property, FMCG, fin services, charities and more.