Someone on my team asked me this recently. And honestly, it stopped me for a second.
Where we are now, a full-service creative marketing agency with a team of 16 working with clients across Australia and internationally, is more than I ever thought we’d achieve. I don’t say that to be humble. I say it because when we started, success looked completely different.
We launched Unknown Group during COVID. There was no pitch deck, no business plan, no grand vision. The whole thing grew out of one simple idea: local businesses were struggling, and I wanted to help. Hair salons, gyms, hospitality venues. Whatever problems people had, I got stuck in and figured it out. That was it. That ethos, to show up, be honest and actually help, has stayed with us every step of the way.
As we grew, things got harder in ways I didn’t expect.
The client base expanded. The services expanded. And slowly, my role shifted. I was spending less time in the trenches with clients and more time managing people, running a team and teaching.That was genuinely tough for me. I never set out to be a business owner. I just wanted to help people. And suddenly I found myself further and further away from the part of the job I loved most.
The mindset shift came when I stopped focusing on what I couldn’t do anymore and started asking how I could use the team to do even more of it. Once I made that switch, everything changed.
Now, as we find ourselves in another tough economic climate, I keep returning to the same question I started with: what do small business owners actually need right now?Do they need to be locked into ongoing agency fees just to have someone post on their socials? Can they even afford it?
For a lot of them, the honest answer is no.
With the knowledge and team we’ve built, it would go against everything we stand for if we didn’t offer to train them to do it themselves. So that’s exactly what we do. No lock-in, no ongoing fees. Just real skills they can use.
It’s growing Unknown Group to a point where we can offer full strategy and creative services to larger clients, while never turning our back on the small businesses that gave us our start.
Whether you’re a major brand or a local business trying to figure out your next move, we’ll always have a conversation with you and tell you what’s best for your business, even if that means we’re not the right fit.
That’s the whole point. That’s always been the whole point.
Our portfolio is built on long-standing partnerships with brands that value creative thinking and meaningful outcomes. Below are some of the clients who have trusted Unknown Group over the past five years.
280-282 Crown Street
Wollongong, NSW Australia