Here at BizCover we take great pride in shining a light on some of the customers we serve and being able to showcase the amazing work they do.
Today we’re looking at Auckland-based advertising agency, The Goat Farm.
The Goat Farm is New Zealand’s best-connected advertising agency. They specialise in using those connections by turning them into business results for their clients. Their work covers advertising strategy and production across all media, brand and packaging design, social media strategy and execution and more.
By operating on an “Avengers assemble” model, having a team of heroes in their respective field coming together for specific projects, rather than a standing army, they deliver better value, better results and better client satisfaction than the old-fashioned alternative.
Vaughn Davis, the creative director at The Goat Farm cites multiple sources of inspiration to start the agency.
“I was creative director across three New Zealand branches of a multinational advertising network and became interested in two things: the potential of social media for our clients and reinventing the agency model to move away from a dependence on media commissions.”
Vaughn discovered that both of those ideas go hand in hand. “The Goat Farm was born on the idea of knowing lots of good people and bringing them together to do interesting stuff. 7 years later we’re still at it. “
As for Vaughn’s favourite part of his job, it’s about “creating real value for client businesses – not just running a clever ad.”
“When we co-create a product that ends up selling millions of units worldwide and employing heaps of people here in New Zealand, that’s a good outcome. The opportunity to support the people who work with us in a way that lets them fit family around their careers is really rewarding too.”
Vaughn let us in on the secret to convincing his clients to keep coming back to The Goat Farm:
“I think our clients would say we put their results ahead of our own egos, and always remember this is commerce, not art.”
“We also have a really good donut shop near the office, and fly clients to lunch in Raglan or Great Barrier in our company plane, rather than going to Prego like everyone else does.”
A story Vaughn shared with us that best showcases the work The Goat Farm does involves their client Invivo, wine, and Graham Norton.
Invivo wanted to place more emphasis on how Graham drinks and serves their wine on his show. Their response was to create a Graham Norton wine brand, personally blended by Graham and sold worldwide. The range now includes Sauvignon Blanc, Rosé, Shiraz and Prosecco. The Goat Farm has created all the labelling and marketing material, and this year shot video content in London of the blending session which has been widely used in editorial media in NZ, Australia and the UK. And now they’re working on a gin!
Vaughn also had some sage advice to offer to those who might be looking to start their own business:
“There’s never been a better time. Client companies – even big ones – are more open than ever to working with small businesses. While legacy businesses steam along in their aircraft carriers, smaller ones are killing it in our kayaks.”
“You don’t need much infrastructure. Cloud software platforms are cheap and awesome. Use social media to grow your partner and client networks. Think differently about contractors and employees. Look after people and don’t be a dick.”
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