When asked for an example of stand-out commercial work on Stink’s 2009 reel, EP Daniel Bergmann thinks for a moment and says Toyota “Better Together”. Directed by Ne-O for Saatchi & Saatchi, Sydney, it’s a charming, single-take modern dance spot about two office workers who perform one job with the benefit of four hands.

It’s small, but smart. “I would say it’s very Stink,” he says. “Ne-O is very much the spirit we like to have here… our directors are not workhorses. They have a lot of other activities. A lot of them have other projects or film projects happening. So commercials might be just part of what occupies them.”

In the past year, Stink accrued a raft of other occupations. It became a serious player in the digital realm; rejuvenated affiliate Rokkit; formed a partnership with animation company The Ebeling Group (after Psyop departed for Smuggler in April); and eyed the long-form/feature world by adding directors Neill Blomkamp, Paul King and James Marsh. Late last year it opened the experiential art boutique Direkt Art.

But the company’s biggest success story from ’09 is easily Stink Digital, an interactive company that began the year with nothing and ended it with a portfolio of campaigns for Shelter (House of Cards), Cadbury (Nibbles Boutique), and Weetabix (Inside Your Search). Not to mention a Film Grand Prix at Cannes for Philips “Carousel” via Tribal DDB, the freeze-frame crime caper that became a pop culture phenomenon.

Stink Digital is planning to add creative directors and art directors to its staff and Bergmann is now looking at opening offices in Asia and the US, where he’s already launched live-action company Skunk with EP Matt Factor.

“At the beginning of the year, our strategy was really about pitching hard for projects that had a strong film element,” says Stink Digital EP Mark Pytlik. “I think Tribal was also smart in that they sensed we had a lot to gain from [“Carousel”] and we put a lot of work into it.”

On the film side, Ne-O delivered a pair of contrasting visual spots for Audi (“Economy Drive” and “Injection”), plus the manic anti-drug PSA “Braincrashers”. Ben Dawkins radically re-imagined EastEnders (“Peggy”), James Brown comically celebrated fanboy adoration in “Eva Mendes” for Santo and Vodafone, while Gaelle Denis created the charming anime-styled “Badminton” for Nike Women and AKQA.

BBH, London producer Olly Chapman has worked with Stink five times, most recently on Ne-O’s two Audi spots. Stink, he says, are candid, creatively engaged early on, have a global profile and offer “high production values for a good price”.

“Clients are asking for the same output in production, the same delivery but with a substantial cut in budget,” says Chapman. “Agencies have to find a way to retain business and make it work for our clients. Collaboratively with production companies and good creative, it’s all doable.”
Bergmann says Stink has weathered the worst of the economy thanks to nurturing the right talent and through the prevalence of less-expensive, high-quality equipment.

“With the progress of technology this nightmare of low budgets is improving a little bit,” he says. “Stink always came from the philosophy that no matter what it takes we will do it. Believe me, even in the good times, with the good projects, most of them had very little budget.” Q

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