{"id":849716,"date":"2026-08-10T01:28:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-10T01:28:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/849716\/"},"modified":"2026-08-10T01:28:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T01:28:14","slug":"the-new-wave-bounce-campaign-brief","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/849716\/","title":{"rendered":"The New Wave ~ Bounce \u2013 Campaign Brief"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t August 10 2026, 9:10 am | BY Ricki Green | No Comments<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"The<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t \the New Wave is Campaign Brief\u2019s Q&A series spotlighting the next generation of independent creative companies and exploring how the indie model is evolving. From structure and speed to culture and capability, we unpack where these businesses are finding their edge and what\u2019s driving client decisions today. Next up is Joel Chapman, Founder and Creative Director, Bounce<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

1. Give us the elevator pitch. Who are you and what do you do?<\/p>\n

Bounce is an independent creative agency established in 2018 and built for brands and marketers with a challenger mindset.<\/p>\n

The people we collaborate with don\u2019t come to us because they need \u201csome ads\u201d\u2026 They come to us because they care about creativity, want to be noticed, and want an agency partner that also cares about their brand as much as they do. We offer strategy, creative, production, content and all things social and shareable\u2026 all wrapped around the thing that still matters most: ideas people actually give a shit about. We help brands punch above their weight. Basically, we call it \u2018more bang\u2019.<\/p>\n

2. Are indies still challengers, or have they become the norm?<\/p>\n

I started Bounce in 2018 because I was frustrated with big, slow, conventional agencies. It was built on relationships, collaboration and proving ourselves through a genuine passion for creativity.<\/p>\n

Back then, as an indie, it often felt like you had to sneak past procurement through the back door. You\u2019d get in because someone client-side believed in the work, backed the relationship, and was willing to take a punt.<\/p>\n

Now, indies are much more accepted, which I think is only a good thing. It gives marketers more options and makes working with alternate agency models feel more feasible, not risky or rogue. But being independent doesn\u2019t automatically make you a challenger. Sometimes it just means you have fewer people to report to.<\/p>\n

I believe that the real challengers are the agencies still willing to make clients a little nervous for the right reasons. Sharper thinking, braver ideas, faster decisions and work that has a reason to exist beyond filling a media plan, or fitting within budget. So yes, indies have become more normal. But proper challenger energy is still somewhat abnormal.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t \t\t<\/p>\n

3. What\u2019s your unfair advantage over the networks today?<\/p>\n

We don\u2019t need to drag an idea through seven departments, three holding company layers and a budget alignment call with someone who has never heard of the client.<\/p>\n

Our unfair advantage is closeness. The people who make the work are in the room early. The people who sell the work remain accountable for the quality throughout the entire project. The people talking strategy are close enough to production to know whether an idea can actually happen.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve worked with some of the biggest brands in the world, but we\u2019ve tried to keep the mentality that got us in the door in the first place: care more, move faster, make the work better.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re also pretty intentional about what we take on. We only want work we care about, when we have the capacity to invest ourselves properly. Clients who work with Bounce should feel like they\u2019re a priority, not just another brief on the pile. Of course networks have scale. We have speed, taste, senior attention and a healthy allergy to all things boring.<\/p>\n

4. How are you using AI to compete above your weight?<\/p>\n

We see AI as a way to supercharge the team\u2019s capability, not replace instinct, taste or craft.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a thought I love about AI: it makes productive people more productive and lazy people more lazy. Which I think applies to all areas from process through to ideas and outputs. AI levels the playing field, which is exciting and terrifying in equal measure. It means smaller teams can suddenly explore, prototype, pressure-test and produce at a scale that used to require far more people and far more money.<\/p>\n

But the trap is using AI to make more stuff, quicker and cheaper, mistaking that output for better. We\u2019re trying to use it the other way. To accelerate ambition. To push beyond the first obvious answer. To build stronger sell-in tools that make brave ideas easier to understand, buy, and execute.<\/p>\n

AI can get you to average very quickly. Our job is to keep pushing past that.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t \t\t<\/p>\n

5. What kind of clients are choosing indies right now, and why?<\/p>\n

I\u2019m biased, because it\u2019s the kind we work with, but I believe the best clients have a challenger mindset.<\/p>\n

They might be established brands that need to behave differently and become less like wallpaper. They might be growing brands trying to push into a bigger category. They might be marketers inside big businesses who know the safe option isn\u2019t always the smart option.<\/p>\n

What they tend to have in common is a belief that creativity can still be a commercial advantage. They want senior people in the agency to care and be close to the work. They want ideas that feel built for their brand, not dragged out of a global network template and rebadged for Australia.<\/p>\n

And increasingly, they want speed to market, without the cookie cutter approach.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s where I think indies can really win. Not by defaulting to more, quicker, cheaper. But by using smarter ways of working to protect distinctiveness, sharpen differentiation and ultimately make the work better.<\/p>\n

6. What\u2019s next: growth, staying lean, or something else?<\/p>\n

For us, it\u2019s not growth for growth\u2019s sake. That\u2019s how agencies get slow, expensive and lose the spark that makes Bounce, bounce.<\/p>\n

The goal is to maintain momentum without adding unnecessary layers, becoming complacent, or losing the hunger to keep pushing interesting work out the door.<\/p>\n

We want to keep building Bounce around senior talent, creative courage, strong partnerships and AI-powered ways of working that let us take on bigger opportunities without becoming a big boring machine.<\/p>\n

So yep, we want to grow. But only in ways that make the work better, keep the agency sharper and the clients braver.<\/p>\n

The plan is pretty simple: stay independent, stay hungry, and keep making work that makes a bang.<\/p>\n

Check out the other New Wave Q&As below:<\/p>\n

Read 2045\u2019s Q&A here<\/a><\/p>\n

Read SICKDOGWOLFMAN\u2019s Q&A here<\/a><\/p>\n

Read Kill Boring Dead\u2019s Q&A here<\/a><\/p>\n

Read Weave\u2019s Q&A here<\/a><\/p>\n

Read Supersolid\u2019s Q&A here<\/a><\/p>\n

Read jnr.\u2019s Q&A here<\/a><\/p>\n

Read Emotive\u2019s Q&A here<\/a><\/p>\n

Read Taboo\u2019s Q&A here<\/a><\/p>\n

Read Oblong Creative\u2019s Q&A here<\/a><\/p>\n

Read HOOK\u2019s Q&A here<\/a><\/p>\n

Read GAME Creative\u2019s Q&A here<\/a><\/p>\n

Read Born\u2019s Q&A here<\/a><\/p>\n

Read The Many Australia\u2019s Q&A here<\/a><\/p>\n

Read Bureau of Everything\u2019s Q&A here<\/a><\/p>\n

Read Chello\u2019s Q&A here<\/a><\/p>\n

Read Hellion\u2019s Q&A here<\/a><\/p>\n

Read Rick Barry\u2019s Q&A here<\/a><\/p>\n

Read Art of the Possible ANZ\u2019s Q&A here<\/a><\/p>\n

Read Akcelo\u2019s Q&A here<\/a><\/p>\n

Read Dirt\u2019s Q&A here<\/a><\/p>\n

Read Apparent\u2019s Q&A here<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

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