Susan Young on the Undeniable Chemistry That New Zealand Has with the World
Chemistry, the New Zealand-based independent creative agency, is on a mission to provide brands with bespoke business and brand strategies partnered with first-class creativity, production, and media.
Founded in late 2012, by Susan Young, Mike Larmer and Joseph Silk, the company has worked with some of New Zealand's most iconic brands, such as TAB, Caltex, Huckleberry Farms, MTF Finance, Red Rat, and Jaguar.
This year, Chemistry released a hugely successful political statement for Age Care Matters. Confronting former prime minister Jacinda Ardern and her finance minister Grant Robertson with portraits of their 80 year old selves, while presenting them with the reality of the number of aged care nurses and facilities that will be needed by the time they are in their 80’s.
Susan, describes her decision in founding Chemistry as ‘the best decision’ she's ever made.
LBB’s Casey Martin caught up with her to chat about the 11- year journey as an independent agency in New Zealand and what the country has to offer.
LBB> What unique point of view do you believe the New Zealand industry has?
Susan> This may sound like a cliché, but having worked in South Africa and the UK for many years before working in New Zealand for fifteen, I have found Kiwis to be incredibly ingenious in their approach. I’ve never met a more can-do bunch of people keen to bring an idea to life, regardless of the budget. At Chemistry, we’re lucky enough to have some amazing partners who always find a way – even if it means building something from scratch or calling on a friend to do a favour.
You’d think this would be a recipe for uncertainty, and there are definitely some bumps along the way where we all sit around scratching our heads going ‘how on earth are we going to do this?’, but it always surprises me just how good the final product is. And this means we can always deliver a beautiful job for our clients, which is what it’s all about.
LBB> And what can the rest of the world learn from it?
Susan> I often speak to people in other markets who are amazed at the work we pull off here with a fraction of the budgets and crews they enjoy. I think it teaches you to be open-minded in your approach to every job – saying ‘what can we do?’ rather than worrying about the limitations. There’s also definitely something to be said for the lack of hierarchy in smaller independent New Zealand agencies like Chemistry that builds a strong sense of teamwork. Even if you’re working with a world class creative, director, photographer or DOP, no one brings any ego to the party – everyone’s just keen to muck in and get the job done. This means that everyone can contribute their thinking, which only makes the idea more powerful. And again, this only benefits our clients.
LBB> What do you love about the industry and what challenges you?
Susan> As I’ve said, I love the ingenuity and innovation in the New Zealand industry, and a desire to tap into this spirit is what made us start Chemistry in the first place.
We also attract excellent people from around the world to our small island, which means we have a wealth of world class talent to choose from. And I’m always genuinely surprised (and envious!) at how multi-talented people are – I think you must be to survive in an industry of this size. Everyone has at least one side hustle and can wear more than one hat, which brings a wonderful richness to every job. Sometimes it would be nice to have access to all the bells and whistles and technical tricks in the toolbox which a bigger budget affords, so that can be challenging from time to time, especially when you’re trying to do something new. But we don’t let that get in our way.
LBB> What trends are specific to NZ?
Susan> I think we’re seeing a return in New Zealand to good old-fashioned character development and storytelling, which really resonates with the Kiwi audience, especially if it has a good dose of down to earth humour. Our audience is surprisingly discerning, and anything that doesn’t resonate or come across as genuine just gets scoffed at, or worse, ignored. We also don’t let the aesthetics take over from the essence of what makes a good idea, or add unnecessary bells and whistles. I have seen some international jobs with incredible special effects, but I love the fact that New Zealand still puts a great script first. And that’s something we strive to do at Chemistry too.
LBB> How have you seen the industry grow and where do you believe the industry will be in the future?
Susan> At the moment everyone’s talking about AI and how that means we’re all going to be out of a job in a few years. But I still believe that only human minds can come up with original creative ideas that solve a particular problem, so they won’t get rid of us that quickly! From a production perspective, I have already noticed a real growth and appetite for more mid-level content, and I think this is only going to become more important as algorithms and AI dominate the way people consume things. But for agencies, this shouldn’t mean putting quantity over quality, because this just erodes the value of the idea and our client’s brands.
Rather, it’s about creating great, watchable stuff that doesn’t necessarily have the high-end polish that you’d need for traditional brand advertising. I believe we’ll continue to see a need for both, so we all need to continue to refine our capabilities in this area.
