Mumbrella360: The big agency top dog who went indie
In a discussion hosted by SI Partners’ Australian director Julia Vargiu at Mumbrella360 this morning, Chris Howatson, founder and CEO of Howatson+Company, said going independent is not as scary as some may think – and he’s still working just as hard as when he launched the agency.
“There seems to be this belief that working at a holding company is safe, while independent is scary … And I don’t really believe in that provocation,” Howatson told the room.
Howatson at this morning’s discussion
“I think in many ways, the reporting cycle of holding companies is quite risky, you don’t have time to respond quickly to things. Being indie, there isn’t the same pressure of having to please stakeholders, and you’re able to spend more time focusing on clients and your staff.
“Sure, you don’t have the safety net of a big network, but we’re ducks on the water, we’re working really hard … And now we’re in the market competing against these networks,” he said.
Howatson compared working in advertising to riding a rollercoaster: “You could have a week that is smooth and nothing goes wrong, and then the next you could be hit by mini missiles every day.”
The beauty of being independent, according to him, allows you to work quickly and collaboratively to react appropriately to daily mishaps.
Howatson+Company launched in 2021, originally named Howatson+White, and now has a headcount of 120 employees.
An advantage of an independent, according to Howatson, is the lack of administration work at the management level – which allows for more time client-side.
“Leaders at holding companies will spend probably a quarter of their week just doing admin. They’ll be spending time on exhausting conference calls that just don’t add value to their clients,” he said.
When launching an independent agency, Howatson said, “you need to spend all your time on the work, and very little on the admin,” and being independent allows the liberation of doing “your own thing”.
“Being independent means you don’t have to deal with stakeholders and the same level of administration, so that liberation is is a huge advantage.”
Howatson+Company now boasts a client list comprising of Allianz, GMHBA, Belong, Maurice Blackburn, The Guardian, PetBarn, Matilda Bay, TK Maxx and Doordash amongst others.
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Lauren McNamara was the associate editor at Mumbrella. She joined in November 2022 as editorial assistant, after completing a Bachelor of Communications (Journalism) at UTS. She left Mumbrella in August 2025.
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