What you need to know:

• Affiliate deal will see Flow become MDC Partners' media agency across Australia and New Zealand.
• It will plan and execute for existing global clients, and join integrated pitches for new business.

Full service indie agency This is Flow will provide media planning and buying for global ad holding group MDC Partners across ANZ while remaining 100 per cent independently owned.

MDC Partners, which is finalising a protracted merger with Stagwell Group, works with the likes of Disney, Fiat Chrysler, MasterCard, Microsoft, Mondelez, Netflix, Nike, Pepsico, Target and Walmart.

Described as an “anti-holding group”, the merged company, with former Microsoft chief strategy officer Mark Penn at the helm, aims to take on advertising holdcos and consultants globally. Affiliates are a major plank of its strategy, taking the group’s footprint to 32 countries and around 10,000 people.

The partnership marks the start of a new phase for This is Flow. Founder and CEO Jimmy Hyett has made major strides since leaving MediaCom in 2016 to develop the full service agency, one of the standouts among Australia’s increasingly rich pool of agile and ambitious independents.

This year, Flow picked up Coors, now a shared client with MDC, following a strong 2020, in which it won Vodafone-TPG owned telco brand Felix, and ended the year with a string of wins in the healthcare sector.

It has already collaborated with MDC Partners and Stagwell on recent deals in the region, including a global integrated partnership for junk removal firm 1800-GOT-JUNK?

The affiliate pact opens doors to deeper resources, technologies and planning tools, and makes Flow a genuine contender for global brand business in ANZ, while bringing those resources to bear for local clients.

As Hyett put it: “Adding a global footprint through MDC Partners means our clients can now harness the combined value of local and global passion, knowledge and experience.”

He said Flow’s success was down to “the smarts of our people, who deliver data-led strategy that’s reshaping business across Australia and New Zealand”.

Mark Penn, Chairman and CEO, MDC Partners, and President and Managing Partner, The Stagwell Group, welcomed Hyett and team into the partner programme.

“In collaboration with the team at Flow we’re excited to build upon our existing footprint in Australia,” he said.

“Providing creative, connected and effective capabilities that leverage both global scale and local understanding is a fundamental part of our expansion strategy.”