"We're Not a Scary Ad Agency"

One of the great things about this whole AdTown lark is the millions of dollars we rake in every week. Its just so much fun going to sleep at night on sheets made out of hundred dollar bills stitched together, taking baths in goats milk and all the other necessities of life. OK, so maybe the $4 we earn every week means we dont enjoy those kinds of things. What we do enjoy, is getting out and about and meeting some of the fine people who make up this crazy industry of ours. Some of them weve even known for years but for some reason, weve just never really known much about them or their businesses. So it was cool to finally sit down with Rhys Sandery of Deep Blue Water Communication for a cup of tea and a biscuit. You know, minus the tea. And the biscuit.

Like a lot of ad people, Rhys has been something of a journeyman, having worked at the Adelaide Review, as a paste up artist, in web stuff at the now defunct N-Space and having even helped set up The Event Shop for Venue Tix. But when he quit his job back in 2001 it was time to take stock. I was literally sitting in the kitchen. Id just quit my job, was just about to have a baby, and we were building a house. I sat down with my phone book and started ringing people going do you have a job?. I had no idea what I wanted to do coming out of the web industry. Eventually I called a company and they said they needed some business cards designed and thats where it started. And so Deep Blue Water Communication was born.

We came from a design background where everything was designing logos, brochures, a lot of corporate work, education department work he says, but today theyre very much a ridgey didge full service ad agency. At a time when many agencies are looking to call themselves something else, its a label Rhys is more than pleased with. And he makes no secret of the fact hes happy to be sitting on the ad side of the fence these days, explaining In a town like Adelaide where you have 136 design agencies popping up every year because every student becomes one, its a very competitive market.

Some would say its no less competitive on the ad side of things, but thats not something thats stopped DBWC growing with a fairly juicy list of clients including a big chunk of ABB grains work, Mitcham Square, the Horse Trials, Water Aid, Royal Flying Doctor Service and St John Ambulance to name just a few. And other than a few small efforts at self promotion like the time they sent underwear out to people, its all been pretty much good old word of mouth. So what exactly are they doing right? Were not ridiculously cheap Rhys says. People ring up and ask how much is that costing and Ill tell them. Ive always been straight forward with people. Its just advertising. No-ones going to die, theres no smoke and mirrors. Oh, come on, where's the fun without the smoke and mirrors? Especially those distorted ones that make you look all googly with a tiny body and a massive head - you know, like a 12 year old catwalk model.

With a modest goal to Continue providing good work, Rhys says Most of our clients view us as an extension of their business. Weve built quite a good reputation as a little agency that big companies like to deal with. Were not a scary advertising agency that charges them a shit load of money, were a cheap staff member. Just dont call them niche or boutique just because they dont have 30 or 40 people working there. Were not niche. Were mainstream . Were just not a big agency in terms of size. Were a boutique agency without the stigma of the boutique agency he says. Talking about the results they produce in spite of their compact size, he might even have gone so far as to jokingly add (and yes, we know we sort of promised we wouldnt repeat this but hey, we had our fingers crossed) Were the Yaris of advertising agencies.

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