18 years of Creatik: built with great people

This month Creatik turned 18. And while there’s plenty I’m proud of, the milestone has made me think less about the work we’ve produced and more about how we got here, through trust, relationships and great people doing great work together.

Eighteen years

Apparently that means Creatik is officially an adult. When I started the business in 2008, I definitely wasn’t thinking about what it would look like 18 years later. I was probably thinking about getting the next job through the door, doing a really good job of it, and then hopefully getting another one.

And somehow, here we are. A lot has changed in that time. We’ve grown from me, to a team. We’ve worked with some of Australia’s biggest organisations and brands. We’ve done work I’m incredibly proud of, won awards, solved some very complicated problems and had opportunities I never would have imagined when I started.

But turning 18 has made me think less about what we’ve done and more about how we got here.

And the answer, overwhelmingly, is people.

If I mapped it, it would look like a crime wall

When I think about the relationships that have shaped Creatik, it gets complicated pretty quickly. Some go all the way back to my Rothschild days in 1999. There are people who supported Creatik when Adelle and I were renting desks in the city. One of those people introduced me to a client we’ve now worked with for well over 15 years.

Another relationship led us to Zurich. People moved organisations and took us with them. Someone introduced us to someone else. That introduction led to another client, which led to another relationship.

We have clients we’ve worked with for more than a decade and others who have come into the Creatik world much more recently.

If I actually mapped all of those connections, it would look like one of those murder-mystery crime walls, photos everywhere with red wool criss-crossing between them. But that slightly ridiculous image captures something quite important:

A huge part of Creatik has been built that way.

Through relationships. Through referrals. Through someone trusting us enough to put our name forward to someone else. I don't take that lightly.

Trust is probably the most valuable thing a client gives us

A referral sounds simple. But what someone is really saying is: I’ve worked with these people. I trust them. I’m comfortable putting my reputation behind them. That means a lot. Because I know what’s at stake on the other side of an agency relationship.

Our clients are often senior marketers carrying significant responsibility. They have stakeholders to manage, deadlines that aren't moving, budgets they need to defend and a long list of things competing for their attention. They don't need an agency creating more work for them. They don't want to chase timelines, repeatedly explain the brief, discover unexpected costs, manage personalities or worry about whether something will actually get done. And they certainly don't want to be standing in front of their CEO or leadership team explaining why the partner they recommended hasn't delivered.

They need to be able to trust the people around them.

Of course the work has to be excellent. That’s a given.

But a great agency relationship is about more than producing great creative.

It’s about understanding the problem properly. Knowing when to challenge and when to listen. Thinking ahead. Doing what you said you would do. Making complex things feel manageable. And caring about the outcome as much as the person who trusted you with it.

Ultimately, I think the best partners give their clients something incredibly valuable:

Confidence.

Confidence that it’s under control.Confidence that the thinking is sound.Confidence that the work will stand up internally.Confidence that when they say, “I’ve got a team who can handle this,” we will.

That’s the standard we want to keep raising.

Long relationships aren't something you get to take for granted

We have clients and collaborators we’ve now worked with for 10, 15 and even more years.

That’s something I’m incredibly proud of. But longevity isn't simply about keeping a client for a long time. It’s about continuing to be useful to them.

Over 10 years, a business changes. People change roles. New challenges emerge. Priorities shift. Teams grow and shrink. The answer that was right three years ago may not be right today. And sometimes our clients move to an entirely different organisation, and call us again. That’s probably one of the greatest compliments we can receive. Because you have to keep earning your place. You have to understand where the client is now, not where they were when you first met them.

You have to keep bringing value, keep making their job easier and keep delivering at the standard that earned their trust in the first place.

The people behind Creatik

I could never reflect on 18 years without acknowledging our team. The relationships our clients have with Creatik aren't mine. They're ours. There are people behind every piece of work that leaves the studio. Some our clients know incredibly well. Others they might meet occasionally. And some are quietly making things happen behind the scenes.

They care about our clients. They care about the work. They care about doing things properly.

I’m enormously proud of them.

And I’m particularly grateful to Adelle, who has been beside me for such a huge part of this journey. She has grown with Creatik, helped shape what it is today and is now helping me lead where it goes next.

That matters because the next chapter of Creatik can't be dependent on one person. Our clients need depth around them. Senior people who know their business. A team that can anticipate rather than simply react. People who take ownership and make things easier, not harder.

That’s the business we’re continuing to build.

The Minister for Data

There’s also one person who rarely appears in the Creatik story publicly but has lived virtually every moment of it. My husband, Phil, or as we joke, the Minister for Data. Creatik started just after we got engaged, which means our marriage has never actually known a version of me that wasn't running this business.

Phil has seen all of it.

The wins. The stress. The excitement. The uncertainty. The ambitious ideas. The occasional spiral. Anyone who runs a business knows the feeling. Some days you’re completely all in. The work is great, the team is firing, clients are happy and you think you have the best job in the world.

And then there are the other days. Phil has always been there with a pep talk when I need one, perspective when I've lost mine and, inevitably, some data to prove whatever point he’s trying to make. So I think congratulations are probably due to him on 18 years of Creatik too.

I genuinely couldn't have done it without his support.

Growing up, without losing what got us here

We recently took the Creatik team away for our offsite and spent time looking ahead to the next three years. We have ambitious goals. We know where we want to grow. We're raising our standards, strengthening how we work and being very deliberate about the kind of business we want Creatik to become. At 18, it does feel like the business has grown up. But growth for me isn't about becoming bigger for the sake of being bigger.

It’s about becoming better.

Better at understanding our clients. Better at anticipating what they need. Better at removing friction. Better at bringing strategy and creativity together. Better at giving senior marketers the support and confidence to do great work inside complex organisations.

Because our clients don't need more things to manage. They need people around them who understand what they're trying to achieve, who can take ownership and who they know will deliver. And however much Creatik grows or changes from here, there’s one part I hope never changes:

Great people doing great work together.

That’s what built Creatik. It’s why clients have stayed with us, recommended us, brought us into new organisations and trusted us with the next challenge.

And it’s exactly what I want Creatik to still be known for when we’re celebrating the next milestone. To everyone who has worked with us, referred us, challenged us, supported us, joined our team or trusted us with something important over the past 18 years:

Thank you.

You’re a much bigger part of the Creatik story than you probably realise.

Kylie Gould

Founder & Director, Creatik