Thinkerbell.
More than one year since Thinkerbell's acquisition of creative agency Hardhat, the agency is working on ways to utilise new technology in the customer experience sector, while reflecting on what made the transition so efficient.
Hardhat ran for more than 18 years when former founder and now chief CX Thinker, Dan Monheit, decided it was time to look at bigger opportunities. He started to have conversations with consulting firms but didn’t know if that was the right path to go down.
He sought advice from his friend and founder of Thinkerbell, Adam Ferrier, who suggested after a long walk and conversations, that they should do it together. Within 10 minutes, discussions on Thinkerbell buying Hardhat began.
“We had a lot of success in the CX and digital experience world, and we were starting to build around creative as well," Monheit said.
“We very quickly got to the point of, if I'm going to sell to a creative agency, it's only going to be Thinkerbell, and if Thinkerbell are going to buy CX capability, it's only going to be hard hat.
“There is just so much alignment in our philosophies, people and even clients.
"The way people behave in the sales process is a good indication of how it's going to be when it's all said and done.
"Because this wasn’t driven by a holding company playbook, there was genuine humility and mutual respect on both sides, which made it feel right from the start.”
Moving a company of 25 people into Thinkerbell’s Richmond office meant engaging the onboarding like a ‘school’, said Thinkerbell’s head of community, Edward Brennan.
“We had a theme of First Day at School, kicking off with a group assembly, where all the south office came together and everybody was awkwardly introduced," Brennan said.
"Everybody got a buddy who was going to pair up with them for the first couple of weeks and then learn the company rituals.
"There's so much that goes into it, but the main feeling was that you wanted people to walk away from these first couple weeks thinking they've started somewhere they feel special about.
“We wanted to ensure that every single person felt like they were the only person starting that day."
High turnover rates and redundancies remain the primary concern surrounding mergers and acquisitions in the industry.
In an industry where turnover is 25% to 30% a year, more than 90% who came across are still at Thinkerbell more than 12 months in.
“All of the clients also came across and they're still here," Monheit said.
"Many of them have expanded their remits. Clients who were just doing creative have bought media and earned as well.
“We've also been able to keep delivering large-scale digital experience projects.
“We keep finding ways to deliver measured magic, which is what we do throughout the entire customer journey so that there is great earned first thinking, beautiful creative work, thoughtful touch points and a well thought out media plan.
“The superpower of these agencies is what we call the alchemy model, people from different skill sets collaborating on the same brief and same client.”
Thinkerbell was appointed the creative account for Flybuys only a few years after it also won the media account.
Thinkerbell CEO Margie Reid said that clients understand Thinkerbell's range of CX capabilities in the business.
“They have come to expect and know that we have far greater digital CX capabilities in the business, so that conversation has become one of those natural synergies,” Reid said.
Thinkerbell is working on a product launch for January 2026 that will help clients navigate the world of AI and product expectations.
Monheit described this new media era as "the world where brand's showing up starts a long time before they arrive in your store or your website.
“It’s about helping clients utilise AI tools,” he said.
“You've got to be able to adhere to these very strict technical rules to do well, and you also need really good cultural resonance.
"You need lots of people online talking about you, your brand and what you do.
"Traditional SEO agencies are very good at this on the technical side. Traditional earned or creative agencies are also pretty good on getting the product talked about.
"But to do well in this space now, you need to have both.
"It's the perfect product coming at the perfect time. We've got a couple of clients already working with us on this in beta."
Reid said that AI will become so natural in its integration that it will become "part and parcel" of what agencies do and how they do it.
“You can see what each platforms are creating and doing, and the speed in which it's happening is just next level," she said.
“One moment you think that there is something that is clearly defined and the next day it's not.”
Thinkerbell has had a strong year of client work, including TAC ‘The Deadliest Predator’, Cabot’s ‘Wood calls for Cabot’s, Aussie Broadband’s ‘Your Local, Internet’, BCF ‘BCFing Fun’ and more.
Menulog’s ‘What’s Good in Your Hood?’ campaign used live action food shots that were combined with AI trained models that regenerated everyday shopfront photos into images.
Monheit said that there is no right time to get involved in the industry, you just have to start.
“Hardhat spent most of its early life as a digital agency, and one of the biggest learnings I had from that is that it's an insider's game, and the best time to start is now,” he said.
“When we look at how agencies are responding to AI, the gap between those who have gone all in and those who are still waiting on the sidelines gets bigger every day.
“For Thinkerbell to have big, impressive work already out into the world gives me a lot of confidence that we're on the right path.”
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