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Meet the Members: Insight Creative

As Managing Director of Insight Creative, Steven Giannoulis leads one of New Zealand’s most established strategic design agencies. For nearly five decades, Insight has helped brands tell their stories with clarity and creativity – from brand development and campaigns to digital and immersive experiences.

For those who may not be familiar, could you introduce Insight Creative and share the types of projects your team typically delivers?

We’re a strategic creative design agency which means we help our clients solve communication challenges and opportunities. We work on brand development and experiences, campaigns, staff engagement and investor communication programmes, and lots of other marketing/comms activities, both online and off.

What type of clients do you work with?

We work with many of NZ’s top corporates and brands; lots of Government agencies; small businesses and some NGOs. The variety is one of the things I love the most.

Insight Creative has been around for nearly five decades – what do you think has been the biggest factor in building that kind of longevity?

Two reasons: (1) We’re focused on effectiveness, value and results for our clients. That’s why many of them have been clients for 10+ years; and (2) Adapting. What we do hasn’t changed much in 50 years but how we do it has changed a lot. It used to be mainly print design but over the years we’ve continued to embrace new technology and these days we do a lot more digital and interactive work, including augmented and virtual reality.

How would you describe the type of projects that excite your team the most?

Our vision is Create Powerful Work. The projects we feel most proud of are those that push us to be creative in our ideas and design (create); those that really connect with their audiences (powerful); and those that have a real impact with the results they deliver (work).

What makes the culture at Insight Creative unique? How do you keep the team creative and motivated?

We have an inclusive, team culture and that keeps people with us for the long term. We do lots of our own projects which keep people learning, engaged and connected. For example, we wrote, designed and built our own interactive (AR) kids book that had everyone involved. We also developed our own award-winning cookbook, which everyone contributed to.

 What do you enjoy most about working at Alberts day to day?

The atmosphere and the variety of spaces make a huge difference. We have our own nook [Agile Suite] for focus, but I can head down to the Club Lounge for a change of energy, and be around that buzz of people. It is motivating and the premium design makes it feel like a place you actually want to work in.

You’ve got a mix of strategists, designers, and digital experts – how do you bring all those skills together on a project?

We’ve got a well-tuned process that ensures everyone working on a project understands what’s needed and how we’ll get there. Our inhouse strategists, designers and experts do the initial thinking and solution design. And then we use a mix of inhouse people and contracted specialists to deliver it to the highest standards. The strategist, designer and project manager stay across a project end-to-end, ensuring our solution deliver what the client needs, on-time and on-budget.

Hybrid working has reshaped how many teams operate. How does having an office at Alberts support the way your team balances flexibility with collaboration?

We’ve been here for six months and love the flexibility and control it gives us. We work from home when we need quiet time to get things done; from the office when we need to engage with colleagues; in the Club Lounge to catch up with clients; or in one of the meeting rooms when collaborating on a project.

What aspects of the environment at Alberts do you value most?

It’s a really creative space which is perfect for us. It’s located close to where many of our clients are. We love the variety of meeting spaces and the many opportunities to connect and engage with others in the building. Overall we just love the energy of the place.

The creative industry is always evolving – how do you keep the business adapting while staying true to its values?

We’re a people business, and that won’t change. Delivering the things that matter to clients is still what drives us. We deliver this through the ideas and skills of our people, so fostering a culture where we can all do our best work, remains a key priority.  We’re constantly learning and adopting, embracing new technology and ways of doing things so our people can do things better, faster, smarter for our clients.

What’s next for Insight Creative – are there any areas you’re excited to grow into or explore with your team?

In recent years we launched an Innovation lab called Mīharo, and through this we’ve extended into developing our first VR game, Colorway Antics. It’s available through Meta and other global gaming platforms, and is also licensed to VR learning providers in Spain and the US. And we’ve just launched NZ’s first games playtesting service, called Playful. There’s no doubt more exciting innovation to come – for us and for our clients.

Guided by Steven’s belief in the power of great ideas and strong relationships, Insight continues to evolve – embracing new technology while staying true to its purpose: creating work that connects, inspires and delivers results.

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