Top marketing agencies are outside the budget of most SMEs, but a new venture aims to make experienced marketing talent more accessible for Kiwi businesses.

Originally founded in the UK, Art of the Possible arrived in New Zealand last year. It brings a distinct local model that gives businesses direct access to top marketing and creative talent, without the extra costs associated with traditional agency structures.

Art of the Possible’s ANZ director Adam Brami knows his way around big agencies. He previously held senior roles within networks owned by global holding companies such as WPP and Omnicom. He has now brought this new form of marketing consultancy to New Zealand.

Bespoke teams based on sector expertise

Unlike the traditional agency model, Art of the Possible ANZ’s approach builds bespoke teams of senior marketers for clients based on their sector expertise.

“I’ve built something which is catered towards people who are willing to forego all the red carpet traditional agency structure,” Brami says.

“Let’s say you’re an auto brand. I come in, I look at my team, who’s got minimum 20 years of auto car experience? If it’s strategy, I present to the client three heads of strategy with suitable auto experience and we build the team together.”

A pitch to SMEs and start-ups

With more than 250 senior marketers now at its disposal, Art of the Possible is making the pitch to Kiwi SMEs and start-ups to try its new agency model, rather than doing all their marketing themselves.

“I target the people who are really, really good at what they do and have established themselves. They tend to be product people, really focused on getting something tested and working that people love,” Brami says.

“They often think that ‘If you build it, they will come,’ but it’s not necessarily the case.

“Once you’ve got something you really want to shout about from the hilltops, you need to focus your marketing spend and find context where the product or the problem you are solving is relevant.

“You also don’t want to show up as just a list of features. What does that mean to the person? Turn that feature into a benefit. That’s that kind of stuff that we focus on.”

The best minds, outside big agencies

Big agencies are often perceived as the best places to find top-level marketing talent, but Brami says recent industry restructuring and redundancies have meant more senior marketers are increasingly available outside their walls.

“One of the reasons I’m doing this is that I’m in my 40s, and like a lot of my colleagues in a similar world, we become too expensive to retain by those big holding company models and still be able to pay out their shareholders. So there’s heaps of us,” he says.

“I’ve got just over 250 contractors now who are all peak of their powers. They’re the sorts of people that you usually can’t tap into unless you go through the golden doors with the red carpet and the San Pellegrino in the beautiful location down on the harbour. All that stuff costs extortionate amounts of money.”