Howatson+Co launches AI-powered sister agency, signs Endeavour Group as foundation client
Howatson+Company has launched an AI-enabled creative technology company, with Endeavour Group as its foundation client.
Plus Also Studios has been described to pioneer quality brand asset creation, personalisation, and automated orchestration via AI, all with complete performance attribution.
Co-founded by data and technology leader Hoang Nguyen, the agency exists independently of Howatson+Co, and will be led by managing director Jessica Coulson, and creative director Effie Athanassiou.
“2024 was the tipping point of AI being a viable alternative for branded asset creation and high quality creative rollout,” said Nguyen.
“Where other market offerings have aligned to an AI partner, we remain agnostic, creating value in how we train, secure, fine-tune, and combine multiple AI models to create the perfect, highly crafted output to the brief. It’s not unusual for over 50 AI models to be ‘canvassed’ to create a campaign visual indistinguishable from the traditional production process.
In this way, the Plus Also difference is in the people, compliance and process. We leave the AI development to well funded global tech innovators.”
(L-R: Katie Dally, Hoang Nguyen, Jessica Coulson, Renee Hyde, Joanna Rose, Chris Howatson, Effie Athanassiou
Renee Hyde, group MD at Howatson+Co, added: “Plus Also Studios offers a blend of traditional and AI production methods, but most importantly is investing in people and process with a view that 85-90% of brand asset creation will be informed by AI in the next 3 years. PAS will ensure all our clients benefit from the most cutting-edge applications of IP compliant AI in marketing communications.”
The agency has launched with Endeavour Group and its portfolio of brands, including BWS and Dan Murphy’s, as its foundation client.
“At Endeavour Group, our vision is to be the leading platform enabling social occasions. A key part of this strategy is to deepen how our customers experience the benefits of Endeavour Group as a whole, more fully than the sum of their engagement with each brand alone,” explained Jo Rose, chief marketing officer at the retailer.
“This experience is core to Endeavour’s transformation from being a family of retail, hospitality and product brands to an intuitive ecosystem of beloved brands that come together to make good times happen for customers.”
Katie Dally, GM of brand, creative and operations at Endeavour Group, added: “It was the combination of creativity and innovative technology that spurred us to establish this market leading capability that transforms the traditional production mindset to deliver both efficiency and effectiveness. Endeavour is delighted to be Plus Also Studios’ foundation client.”
Chris Howatson, CEO of Howatson+Co, said that with Rose and Dally, the agency has built a “world class team”, inverting the traditional focus on rollout that exists in production and creative.
“This enables content to be more strategically aligned to audience and business needs, and therefore play a more fundamental role in commercial performance,” he said. “This is not a me-too AI capability. Instead, Plus Also Studios reflects 3 years of significant investment, application and testing to create a market leading proposition.”
Plus Also Studios is also licensing its technology to brands including Qantas, Foxtel, and Petbarn, to enable their internal teams across static, motion, and email use cases.
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Lauren McNamara is the associate editor at Mumbrella, covering the creative and PR beat. She joined in November 2022 as editorial assistant, after completing a Bachelor of Communications (Journalism) at UTS.
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topics
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Chris Howatson
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Endeavour Group
Hoang Nguyen
Howatson+Co
Howatson+Company
Jo Rose
Katie Dally
Plus Also Studios
Renee Hyde
Separated so as to not undercut their main agency creative business and to pick up production business from Hogarth and Wellcom that don’t have AI capabilities.
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But why is this simply not part of the main agency? Surely Howatson should be providing these services to their clients?
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