- Two former Australian agency executives launch New Work City, an ideas lab focusing on experimental creative approaches rather than traditional client work
- The venture operates between Perth, Sydney and New York, emphasising play, experimentation and embracing chaos in the creative process
- New Work City functions as a creative R&D layer, collaborating with agencies and brands to explore riskier ideas without disrupting core delivery
- The business model features a global team of specialists working asynchronously, without traditional hierarchies or conventional workplace structures
- The founders are building a team of strategists, designers, technologists and artists focused on creating impactful, potentially polarising work without fear of failure
As industries become less predictable and audiences more sceptical, safe marketing increasingly delivers invisible results, prompting a growing appetite for braver creative approaches.
While the agency model keeps glancing in the mirror and wondering if it still knows who it is, a duo based between Perth, Sydney and soon New York is running an open experiment on what might come next.
Today, Georgie Woods and Brett Novak announce the launch of New Work City. Not an agency, but an ideas lab built for a new era of creativity where experimentation replaces certainty, and chaos is simply part of the rhythm.
Having recently left two of Australia’s most prominent independent digital agencies, they’re not chasing clients. They’re chasing concepts. And they’re not waiting for permission.
Putting play to work
Between them, Woods and Novak have shaped brand platforms, digital ecosystems and campaigns for some of Australia’s most recognised organisations, from stadiums to start-ups, but coming into 2026 the duo felt it was time to shake things up for themselves and the industry.
The ethos is simple: rather than waiting on clients to be ‘brave enough’ to experiment in the wild, they’re doing it for themselves in a creative think tank format, combining new tech and traditional craft into initiatives and ventures that push even their own limits.
“In a new city, you can be anything, so instead of forever wondering ‘what if,’ you just did what others wouldn’t?” explains Novak, a former Chief Creative Officer and Director of Strategy, “We ask what innate potential sits in the wonderful minds of founders, marketers and creatives out there when given the conditions to actually try something different.”
“There really is no certainty or security in most industries these days, especially ours,” says Design Director, Woods. “So instead of trying to fight it, or worse, convince partners and clients that it’s business as usual - we’re building a new model, and that requires not just transparency but an unshakeable belief that there’s probably a more interesting way to do something.”
That’s the genesis of New Work City - a place where work is playful, alive and designed for impact.
“We behave more like a band than a business,” adds Novak. “We’re going full tilt on everything, experimenting and reimagining how to play together to find our own sound. And if we manage to drop a couple of albums in our time together, that’d be rad. But we’re here today and if it all goes pear-shaped, at least we’ll have some killer stories to tell!”
The new shape of work
Forget silos. Forget the org chart. Forget Sunday Scaries. New Work City is reimagining how a team should form, behave and function. A core crew of specialists spanning strategy, design, creative, tech, and experience - collaborating asynchronously, from anywhere in the world, dismantling hierarchy, trashing Slack and timesheets, and all without the fear of failure.
Projects aren’t the end goal here. They’re experiments too. Living, breathing prototypes of how modern creativity might evolve.
And they’re not just doing client work. Between projects, they’re producing their own, from art, to films to new business prototypes to cultural provocations.
“Anything that feels like it pushes the edges of what’s possible, and that doesn’t mean in terms of craft - but also perception,” explains Novak. “Everything’s an experiment,” adds Woods. “The work, the process, even the business model. It’s all up for grabs. That’s the fun of it.”
Citizens of New Work City
Woods and Novak are clear: New Work City isn’t here to compete with agencies - it’s here to collaborate with them. Think of it as a creative R&D layer - something agencies and brand teams can tap when they want to explore bigger or riskier ideas without disrupting core delivery.
“We know the grind, the deadlines, the constant push to deliver, and so our model is designed to slot in alongside,” says Woods. “For agencies or brand teams that need a bolt-on crew to push wide and maybe even a bit weirder with you, that’s where New Work City thrives.”
Novak explains, “We see agencies as bandmates in a wider orchestra, where together we can jam at a concept level. We’re pre‑production heavy, thinking through the work from every angle so everyone involved gets the good stuff: a holistic concept that hits different.”
The philosophy: burn the old playbook
For Woods and Novak, New Work City isn’t about finding stability in chaos, but more about making chaos the point.
“Life’s too short to worry about rules written by someone in a worse mood than you,” laughs Novak. “So why not try something new and get comfortably uncomfortable. You’ll probably surprise yourself.”
In an industry and wider landscape that can often be paralysed by risk aversion in pursuit of commerciality, New Work City is built to run straight into risk - to see what happens when you strip away the safety rails, the jargon, and the illusion of control.
"We’re not for everyone.” says Woods. “We know that some people need to go the long way to find out that playing it safe doesn’t get the job done. But when we step up to collaborate, we only do the things that light a fire in us. We’d rather graciously say no to an opportunity than feel obligated to deliver something that doesn’t tickle that mischief-making part of us.”
“Put ‘brands’ or ‘campaigns’ to the side - when was the last time you made something that made people feel something, even if the process and product felt polarising?” Novak explains. “It’s time to let go of the stories we tell ourselves that hold us back, and build for the moment. After all, the best ideas are the ones that make you a bit nervous."
A city in progress
The duo believe the future of creative work won’t be built by playing it safe - it’ll be built by those willing to experiment in public.
Right now, Woods and Novak are assembling their founding crew, a mix of strategists, designers, technologists, cinematographers, artists and provocateurs, with an initial line-up including industry heavyweights Luke Sargon (ex-Beautiful Pictures), Amy Burns (ex-For The People) and Bryce Gough (ex-Atlassian). As Woods puts it, “People who see the cracks in the old world and want to build something new through them.”
So here’s the invitation: if you’ve ever wanted to explore fearlessly and make something that genuinely moves people - perhaps even yourself. Welcome to New Work City.
Population: anyone brave enough to start again.
Contact details:
Amy Burns: [email protected]
