Prime Mover Recruitment founder Simon Hadfield talks shop with Digby Richards, one half of Richards Rose's founding partners.
Tell me how Richards Rose was founded Digby, it’s a fun story.
Adam Rose and I had been running AJF Partnership Sydney together for five years and had built a strong business with a great team. Then we had the opportunity to pitch for the Mitsubishi Motors account. The curveball was that AJF Partnership Melbourne already had Holden, so we first needed clearance to even pitch. That approval was given locally, and we went on to win Mitsubishi — a major moment for a business of our size at the time.
The bigger curveball came afterwards when Holden’s parent company, General Motors, stepped in and viewed it as a conflict. So, between the Melbourne partners and Adam and me in Sydney, we amicably agreed to separate. We valued the business, acquired the Melbourne partners’ shares, and Richards Rose was born in July 2016.
Importantly, our clients stayed with us, as did our team. We also had Mitsubishi Motors join the business — and nearly 10 years later, they’re still a valued client.
The agency operates to the philosophy ‘Move the Many’. Tell me a bit more about that.
For years, we had been creating organising ideas for our clients and their brands, and eventually we looked in the mirror and asked ourselves: what’s ours?
Ever since Adam and I worked with Michael Miller to create “We’re for Sydney” for The Daily Telegraph — which has since evolved into “We’re for You” across News Corp mastheads — we’ve believed deeply in the commercial power of emotion. When emotion is paired with a clear organising idea and consistently expressed through messaging, behaviour and experience, it can move an entire business forward.
Early on, we expressed that as “When we move people, we move business.” Over time, that evolved into “Move the Many” — a philosophy grounded in marketing science, System 1 thinking and Ehrenberg-Bass principles. It’s about creating emotionally distinctive ideas that scale and effectively compound over time.
We’ve applied that thinking across every client partnership, helping create platforms that have genuine longevity and performance — from “The Biggest Deal in Entertainment” for Stan, to “Trust is Earned” for Perpetual, and “Nothing Can Frighten a Triton” for Mitsubishi Motors.
The agency is about to turn 10, that’s a nice innings.
Thank you. We’ll be celebrating the milestone in August with our team and clients, past and present.
While it’s a chance to reflect on the work and impact, the bigger reflection is really on the relationships. We’ve been fortunate to build a business with long-term people and long-term partnerships. Our team tenure averages more than five years, and our leadership group averages more than six.
That stability has helped foster enduring client relationships. Lindt has been with us for more than 12 years, Mitsubishi Motors for almost 10, Great Southern Bank for six, BlueScope for more than 10, Adelaide University for over six, Acenda for more than five, and Team Global Express for four.
In an industry that often changes quickly, we’re proud of the consistency and trust we’ve built over time.
What observation do you have regarding running your own agency that most folk wouldn’t have known or realised?
Both stability and quality create confidence — especially when you’re working on large-scale brand transformation projects with C-suite and board-level stakeholders. A stable, high-quality team helps smooth the business through inevitable economic ups and downs. Clients feel that confidence too with our team often referred to as an extension of their teams.
The other thing is the importance of honesty and care. Adam and I have always tried to create an open environment where people support one another. Everyone has moments where they feel overwhelmed, or times when family needs to come first. Building a culture that acknowledges that matters enormously over the long term.
Do you have any observations on the media / advertising / marketing industry?
I tend to focus less on the industry itself and more on our clients and their challenges. What do they need? Where’s the tension? Where’s the opportunity?
At Richards Rose, we’ve stayed committed to the belief that people make decisions emotionally first, rationally second. That principle underpins our “Move the Many” philosophy across brand transformation, product innovation and advertising streams.
At the same time, we’re embracing AI and smarter systems to improve efficiency and free up more time for original thinking. Ironically, as machine-led shortcuts accelerate the rise of the average, truly distinctive strategy and creativity become even more valuable. That’s what the best clients are looking for.
Any creative work you’ve seen recently that you admire?
I admire a lot of Uncommon UK’s work at the moment — particularly Monzo Money, Airwallex’s “Sparks” and British Airways’ “An Original British Briefing”.
It’s ambitious, confident work that genuinely makes you feel something. But it’s also stylistically entertaining and original. You can see the care in the thinking behind it — work that goes far beyond simply producing a beautiful film. Each brand has a very clear and distinctive role to play.
What advice would you give your younger self?
I think people can start businesses much younger than they realise.
I often tell my children: if you have an idea, have a real crack in your twenties — ideally before family responsibilities arrive. You generally have more time, more energy and enough life experience to back yourself properly.
Side hustles can work, but most meaningful businesses eventually require full commitment. Run towards the fire, not away from it.
What is something about you that no one — or very few — would know?
I helped create a ready-to-drink alcohol brand called doozy alongside AFL players Will Hayward, Ollie Florent and Isaac Heeney, as well as Will’s brother Harry.
It’s been a fascinating ride with plenty of G forces. Together with the Richards Rose team, we built a distinctly social, culture-first brand with a clear product portfolio, strong distribution and a loyal following.
What it’s also given me is enormous empathy for clients. Building and scaling a consumer business is incredibly hard — especially with economic pressures, distribution challenges and Australia’s excise structure, where tax is paid well before revenue arrives.
But it’s been invaluable experience. We’ve learned a huge amount and developed what I’d call some very positive scar tissue along the way.
If you hadn’t ended up in creative agencies, what career path do you think you would have loved to pursue?
Running a brand-led business.
I think I was probably built for some form of entrepreneurial pursuit. The doozy experience reinforced that for me — I love the energy, pressure and unpredictability of building something from scratch and seeing how far it can go.
Outside of business, what keeps you out of trouble?
Family, footy and fun.
With some luck, I married incredibly well with Kerry, and we have three great adult children who all still live at home — along with a rotating cast of partners and friends. Add a Kelpie and a Jack Russell and it’s a pretty lively household.
I’m a huge sports fan, especially AFL, and I still enjoy a bit of golf and keeping fit with old and new mates. This energy helps offset the love for entertaining that Kerry and I enjoy doing with family and friends.
What have you learnt in the last five years?
Happiness is a discipline.
Stay positive. Distance yourself from negativity and gossip. I try to follow a simple framework I call F.E.D.S.:
- Family and Friends — make time for them every week
- Exercise — move three times a week
- Diet — enjoy food and drink, but stay moderate
- Sleep — don’t shortchange it
If I can stay at about 7/10 across those four areas, life generally works well. I’m not perfect at it, but it’s a discipline that helps me manage workload, travel and pressure more sustainably.
What are you driving, what are you listening to and what are you watching?
Russell Coight’s favourite — a Mitsubishi Outlander.
My 17-year-old son Hugo has got me back into Midnight Oil and Red Hot Chili Peppers lately. And Kerry and I are very late arrivals to the gritty Peaky Blinders.
Where is your next holiday?
We’re heading to Japan and Vietnam as a family in 2027.
My wife and I lived in Asia for around 10 years and all three of our children were born in Hong Kong, so it’ll be special to return and share those places with them properly.
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