As we head into the 2020’s, GM Australasia, Kelly Stambanis reflects on the decade that has been at Thrive. From singing jockeys to hanging with The Hoff, from birthdays to royal wedding dresses, with new offices and new faces, one thing is certain - every moment has led to a thriving opportunity!
First stop Australia, next, the world…
From our beginnings as a small agency based in Leilani’s apartment, to one of Australasia’s largest independent PR agencies, Thrive’s expansion across multiple markets has definitely been a highlight of this decade. In the past few years we’ve opened in Brisbane, the Gold Coast and Auckland; formed an alliance in Perth; and most recently announced the launch of our Asian Communications division. Our plans for world domination are coming together - watch this space!
We love a party
At Thrive we celebrate wins daily, big and small, so it is no surprise that we don’t hold back when it comes to major milestones. We wrapped the previous decade with an 8th birthday party, because why wait for a ‘typical’ birthday to celebrate? We jumped into this decade in the same way with big bashes to celebrate our 10th, 14th and 18th birthdays. You just never know when we will throw a party, but you do know that they will always be a night to remember.
One team, one dream
Collaboration across offices and teams is a constant of Thrive life and one of the benefits that differentiates us as an agency. We’re constantly pinging updates, questions, shout outs for support and high fives in our chats … and when words aren’t enough we turn to GIFs!
Relocating to The Grounds
In 2010 our Sydney team moved into their current office space at The Grounds in Alexandria; possibly our best move of the decade. This thriving, vibrant community and coffee hub could have been made with Thrive in mind. We’ve loved establishing ourselves in this locale, particularly with the unique thrive360 event and content creation space.
If it’s worth talking about… we’re there
Thrive has been part of some of the biggest news of the decade through our incredible client work. Whilst there are too many highlights to mention, some of the standouts include working with Twitter for the past six years including announcing the opening of Twitter’s Australian office… driving Spotlight’s ‘royal wedding dress’ campaign, which made world news when we recreated Meghan Markle’s wedding dress overnight… and working with ANZ Bank on award-winning campaigns across their Australian Open and Mardi Gras sponsorships, including the Cannes Lion winning ‘Signs of Love’ campaign this year. Over the ditch, there were loads of milestones including our first piece of work with Lion, launching their new Little Creatures brewery and more recently the ground-breaking launching of NZ’s first carbon neutral beer for Lion brewery The Fermentist.
Once a Thriver, always a Thriver
The team is everything at Thrive and I’ve loved welcoming back some ‘old’ Thrivers this year including Jane Hutton, who started her career with us back in 2003, and Sophie Maguire who also kick-started her PR career at Thrive. We always say if someone leaves the family, that our doors will always be open and it’s incredible for me to see these team members go out in the world, gain invaluable experience and then return to Thrive.
Building on this, seeing our team members grow and flourish every single day is the ongoing highlight of working at Thrive… something that I know will continue into the next decade.