Chris Russell and Shea Bennett believe that brands are the great entertainers of our time. If that is optimistic, they’ve launched an entertainment company to make it true.

Chris Russell, previously Sony Music, Universal and Octagon, and Shea Bennett, previously Last Humans, and Chello, have launched ENTER.

The Sydney business has developed its own methodology to assess how entertaining a brand currently is, identify where the biggest opportunities lie, and turn those findings into an entertainment strategy.

With production at the heart of the business, that strategy carries through into how the work is developed, crafted and experienced by the audience.

“We’re seeing brands take entertaining audiences far more seriously,” Russell stated. “Coca-Cola has launched its own record label. Red Bull has built an entire entertainment ecosystem around its brand. Locally, Rexona created RIVALS, which became Fox Sports’ number one non-live sports show and Rexona’s highest-performing sales campaign.

“They’re big examples, but they point to the same shift: brands are recognising that the things they put into the world need to do more than simply turn up – they need to entertain. While not every brand needs its own TV show or record label, brands can create work that is built to entertain an audience. That’s where we saw the gap.”

Co-founder and business director, Russell has spent 13 years working across sport and entertainment in Australia and internationally. For the past six years, he has worked across Universal Music and Sony Music in London and Sydney, helping brands build cultural capital through music and being nominated for two ARIAs along the way.

Co-founder and creative director, Shea Bennett brings deep production experience to ENTER.A Sydney-based director, cinematographer and editor, Bennett has worked across drama, documentary and commercial filmmaking throughout his career. In 2024, he founded Last Humans, a story-led production studio built for brands.

Bennett said production quality was inseparable from ENTER’s ambition to make brands more entertaining. “You can have a brilliant strategy and a brilliant idea, but the audience only ever experiences what you actually make,” he commented.

“That’s why production can’t feel like an afterthought. The craft, the storytelling and the execution all matter. If you want people to give something their time, you have to earn their attention – and we believe entertainment is the best way to do that.”

Cover image l-r: Chris Russell & Shea Bennett