For The People opens its first Tasmanian office
Brand agency For The People has opened its first office in Tasmania, after launching in Sydney five years ago.
The move is a nod to For The People’s ethos of ‘changing things up’. Over the past half-decade, the agency has created work for clients including Ball & Doggett, Queensland Theatre, Sydney Film Festival, Streamtime and Hire-up.
Co-founder Jason Little said the business has been looking to change the game since it launched.
“Not just for ourselves, but for the industries we work in. And for clients craving a new, more human approach,” said Little.
The new office, in Launceston, makes total sense for For The People’s next stage of growth, said co-founder Damian Borchok.
“The name For The People means just that; we’re interested in the social and cultural influences infused into brands. Because that’s what makes brands richer, more interesting. And therefore more engaging. Brands for humans,” said Borchock.
Recently, the agency has completed work for clients including City of Sydney, the Snowy Valleys, and the West Coast of Tasmania.
Little said the agency is focused on staying true to itself, and is not looking for a buyer to fund its next stages.
“The current trend of selling to a larger agency group is just not For The People’s style. So we approached scale with the same spirit of shaking up expectations and putting people at the heart of our process,” said Little.
“The creative spotlight has been on Tasmania for some time; on the back of the Mona effect, a burgeoning start-up scene and an increasingly thriving and passionate local design community.
“Interesting and surprising work that encourages people to pay attention comes from cities such as Melbourne and Sydney which have specialist brand consultancies — both international and homegrown. There is a huge opportunity to be part of the movement in Tasmania to create further capability in this area. And we want to support that.”
The agency is also joining a local collective of companies in the area – the New Creative – which will focus on designing systems and products that support the emerging creative class. New Creative founder Chris Billing said the collective’s school – Foundry – is just the beginning of what it hopes to achieve in the industry.
“New Creative has a global vision to develop solutions that impact creatives, and a hyper-local mandate to support the emergence of Tasmania as the home of creativity and design in Australia,” said Billing.
“This includes education, infrastructure, technology and design. With feet firmly already in Tasmania following their successful West Coast rebrand, their balanced approach to fusing social and cultural facets of a brand (as well as their personal passion for the state,) For The People were the perfect alignment with New Creative’s ethos,” he said.
Borchok added: “The New Creative model is in line with our ambitions, to focus on building brands which serve a dual economic and social purpose and to continue to shake up the industry. It’s exciting to be working as part of this collective to reshape what it means to be a creative as we concurrently work with clients to reshape what great creative looks and feels like.”
For The People’s Tasmanian office will be headed up by husband and wife Jo Roca, as creative director, and Little, with the full backing of the Sydney team.
“We’re excited to meet the local industry, hire promising up and coming talent, and find ways to work together to elevate and empower Tasmania’s creative scene to win bigger and better work. We know from our experience that you don’t need to be in Sydney, New York, or London anymore to compete on the world stage,” said Little.
